Scam company of the year goes to: T-MOBILE!

Current mood: aggravated

So I work as a flight attendant for the very few of you that
didn't know... and as a side gig I run myspaces for people. I design
them and keep them up so I need constant internet connection. While I
am in Atlanta I can work by picking up an internet hotspot. So this
story goes back to May of 2008. I was based in New York at the time and
we fly out of 3 airports. Each airport has a different hotspot. So I
signed up for Boingo which was 9.99 I believe a month with NO CONTRACTS
and I signed up (reluctantly, I might add) to T-Mobile for 19.99 a
month. Now I have to admit that I have not always had the tightest
reign on my money and I can be a little absent minded about signing up
for contracts such as this T-Mobile incident.

In June I got transferred to Atlanta and the Hartsfield Intl Airport
supports both Boingo and T-Mobile. So I called and tried to cancel the
more expensive service... that being of T-Mobile. This is where I
discovered I was on a contract for a year. If I canceled this service I
would be charged $200. So I kept T-Mobile and being that I preferred
Boingo I kept Boingo until about November.



In November I thought well I need to start taking better care of the
money that I barely have so I canceled Boingo and started using my
T-Mobile account. Little knowing that it would have been cheaper to
keep paying full price for both services. In my head it made sense to
pay one account for $19.99 and use it rather than pay for both. Simple
math, right? Wrong.



In December I notice a withdraw from my account of $44.95 for a
T-Mobile hotspot. I thought that was peculiar and made note that it was
probably some scammy fee that was hidden in the contract for the new
year or something stupid like that. I made a mental note to call them
and ask them about it but I forgot as I usually do.



Today, In February I notice another $44.95 withdraw from my account for
a T-Mobile hotspot. This time it affects the rest of my bills being
that I alloted (like any normal person) a certain amount to each bill
and just like the rest of America and the world right now I am on a
tight budget. So the $300 that was set aside for my car payment has now
been tampered with because someone took more than was budgeted. Yay for
overdraft fees!



So I call up T-Mobile. If you have a customer service number you
probably want it to be a very clear number to prove you have good
service. Well I could barely hear them through the static so we were
off to a good start. I got transferred 3 times until I got connected to
the right guy. I tell him the situation and he tries to figure out what
was going on. He seemed completely baffled at first just as I was. He
tells me that I acquired roaming fees.



"Roaming fees?!", I said.



"Yes."



"Sir, I go to work at the Atlanta Airport every time and log into my
account in the same way every time on the same Airport web page every
time. Sometimes I get a $44.95 bill sometimes I get a $19.95 bill.", I
said.



He says, "Do you sit in different places of the airport? Like outside
the airport or in a different concourse or a crown room or a starbucks?"



"No. I go into the A concourse, I go downstairs to the flight attendant
lounge and I even sit on the same couch every time. It's yellow so I
know its the same couch. And I have never been to a crown room and I
cannot afford starbucks when you are withdrawing $44.95", I said.



"Do you notice a different screen when you log in?", He said.



"No, sir, I've never seen any other page besides the airport page that
has a T-Mobile button on it which I proceed to click every time where I
log in and do my work."



"Well you've been roaming."



"What? Seriously? Same yellow couch every time. I don't even roam from that couch."



So we proceed to fight back and forth for 30 minutes relentlessly.



I ask him if perhaps he could admit that it did seem weird and that
maybe there was some sort of kink in his system. He said that there was
no way that his system would be wrong. I asked him if he had 100%
confidence that his company didn't make a mistake. He said yes. He said
he believes ONE HUNDRED PERCENT in his company. I said "Wow, I don't
even believe that much in my company. That's amazing!" (I kinda said
that a little sarcastically though). :)

Finally when I realized he was getting me no where I asked to be transferred to his supervisor. I waited about 5-10 minutes.



The supervisor gets on and tells me go to the hotspot web page where it
clearly tells me all the roaming locations. Sure enough. It did. But do
you think I was surprised that they covered their own butts? Of course
not. I'm growing accustomed to fine print backstabbing me months down
the road. I tell him that I think that what they are doing is shady. I
told him that his customer service is also shady. I told him that for
future reference that T-Mobile should talk to the Atlanta Airport and
have a place where when you login it tells you that you are roaming...
whether it's a click box or whatever. But in my understanding if I see
a T-Mobile button for wireless internet hotspot, I think. HEY! I pay
$19.99 for that service I must be able to login here. And sure enough
it logs me in with no problems. I don't think about roaming fees in the
biggest airport ever. In fact I haven't thought of roaming fees since
the late 90's and early 00's when I used to have a T-Mobile phone which
I canceled over 7 years ago and have been a faithful and happy
Cingular/ AT&T customer since.



So I told him all that and I also asked him when my exact sign up date
was because it doesn't tell me on the website when I login. It just
tells me that I have been paying them for nothing for 9 months. He
muttered and stuttered around and said "... Um... I think it might be
in May." I said, "You THINK? no. Not good enough. I need an exact date
so I don't get charged any shady $200 cancellation fees." He told me to
cancel my account before May 17 and that he would also give me a free
month of service in March. I told him that would be fine especially
considering that I will never logon to my T-Mobile Hotspot again. I
will be going back to simple Boingo that has no roaming fees for half
the price.

As usual I do my civic duty to share with you about the corporations
who are ripping off the little people and the crazy things that get
made up as you reason with these poor saps. Don't use T-Mobile. If you
google T-Mobile Customer Service you get a LOT of threads of unhappy
people talking about that specific corporation being a scam. They
haven't heard the last from me... and neither have you. :)

T.G.L.F.A.B.

Current mood: cooky/wacky
(The Glamorous Life of a Flight Attendant Blog)

So starting on Christmas day...
(first things first... you must know that as an Atlanta flight attendant we have 6 "A days".. which is on call days... they can send you anywhere at any time for 6 days)
... So ok, Christmas Day. I was on my first A day and I got scheduled standby for 4 hours until 11pm. So I got there in the morning from TX and chilled all day... I watched movies on Netflix, crocheted some scarves, finished my Mandela biography, and chatted with friends. I didn't get called out for anything. So day one was over and I checked my schedule for the next day and it said I had standby again for day 2. I was irritated but whatever. So I slept in the lounge in a smelly little room... by little I mean maybe 5 ft x 5 ft with 2 small plastic reclining chairs in them. They smell weird and they are creepy. But I slept in there until about 9 or 10 am... not very comfortably... but better than the couch. I wake up, do my airport beauty routine put on some jeans and check my schedule again. It tells me I have standby on day 2 and day 3. I check open time (which tells us which trips need to be covered for the day) and it shows all these amazing trips. I called scheduling and asked them for one of those good trips. The guy tells me I can't have any of those trips because I am the only flight attendant in the lounge that can be used for more than 4 days... I kinda didn't believe him... and I let him know that I was on to him. I told him I commuted from Texas so I needed a bed and shower at the hotels... he asked me if I had considered moving to Atlanta... I told him I had a family. haha whatever. It is not his business where I live. So then I told him that if I was on standby for one more day then I would start to smell soon because I needed a shower and I cannot afford a hotel every night I have A days. He didn't care about my body odor.

So I'm sitting around in my jeans and t-shirt watching Netflix... and the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport kicks me off the internet. I call them. I pay for that internet... I should be able to use it anyway I want. Here is basically my conversation with the internet tech guy after we established introductions.

Me: "So I have a boingo account and your internet keeps kicking me off, and I pay for it and I need to have it urgently."

Guy: "ok lemme check a couple things... ok here you are, I see your screenname"

Me: "Listen, I really need y'all to stop kicking me off. I'm here all the time and the internet is the only thing that keeps me sane... for the safety of my passengers, I need the internet back."

Guy: "Where are you?"

Me: "Downstairs"

Guy: "um... why? where?"

Me: "A concourse, Flight attendant lounge. I am a flight attendant sitting on stand by and my only contact with the outside world is your internet. I need it. Please give it back."

Guy: "ok, lemme see what I can do"

Me: "Listen, I don't have windows down here, I don't even know if the suns out... I need the weather bug back, I need my netflix back. I am going crazy."

Guy: "hahaha ok, your back on, reboot and your good to go"

Me: "Thank you so much sir, my future passengers thank you too."

So then around 1pm (3 hours before sign in) I hear over the loud speaker that scheduling has already used all of their standbys and are asking for volunteers. I walk to the front desk to see what I can do. They tell me that I might need to put on my uniform cause things are a little crazy... understatement of the day.

3 hours before sign in scheduling started to call me to help them board airplanes because some flight attendants hadnt come in yet. So I walk in 3 inch heals with al my bags to the other side of the airport. Do you think anyone called me to let me know that the Flight attendant had shown up already before I had gotten there? No. So I trekked across the airport just to go straight back down to the lounge. Then they call me to send me a on a crappy domestic rotation for 3 days. I told the guy (with a little bit of attitude) that I was told earlier that I was the ONLY person in atlanta that could fly for more than 4 days, and I was sure that they could find someone for a 3 day trip. :) They said they couldnt and I fought some more but he told me I was definitely going to Indianapolis... sigh... so I go to find my crew... then I hear my name on the loud speaker... scheduling wants me to call them... they say that they changed their minds and want me back on standby. I snort out a laugh and try not to say 'I told you so'.... but I go back to my couch to not loose my place in the lounge.

Now to save you the reading and exhaustion I will tell you that over the next 8 house I was sent out on over 5 different assignments and taken off these assignments. I was being put through phsycological testing and I lost. I was so tired and fought for my rights. I probably spend one solid hour on the phone just with scheduling alone off and on. Ridiculous! To make a long story short, I ended up with a long layover in San Diego that night. I slept for about 15 out of 22 hours. I needed it after that day.

This is a VERY long story... so I'm trying to cut it short...
We had a medical emergency on the red eye from san diego to atlanta... got in at 5:30 am and then slept for about 2 hours in the lounge then got sent out on a 3 day domestic trip.... with a short layover in new orleans and a short layover in raleigh, nc... unfortunately i'd never been to any of those places and I didn't have enough time there to go explore... so I will have to go back. Finally after all my 6 days were up and scheduling couldn't physically use me any more I got to go to TX.

On the plane back to TX, I was sitting in the back of the airplane on the jumpseat... just tired as anything.... and a passenger in the last row looks at me and tells me... "I dunno who's bag this is, but its in my spot." I told her it was my bag. She said oh. Then muttered something about supposing she'd just put her bag under her chair. Note to YOU as future flyers... the compartment over your head does not have your name on it... You can put your bag anywhere past first class if your flying coach... just as long as the bins close... but really someone should be enforcing the bag size... it used to be only the size of a briefcase... people are bringing on body bags... and 2 or 3 of them. So that spot in front of your legs... yea that is yours for luggage... you can fight for that spot... but the overhead... its supposed to only be for overflowing luggage... in a perfect world. :)

I was so happy to be over with it all and to have new years off! I got to spend New years with my man in san antonio and with some good friends. Definitely a good way to start off the year... and with rockband 2. :)

So my next set of A days started on the 3rd... and my birthday is the 4th. I had International standby on the 3rd but didn't get called anywhere... They already assigned me a trip on the 4th... which is now... to Managua, Nicaragua... so we shall see what is to come... I still have 3 more days after that to come... who knows what will happen.