T-Mobile ToGo per-minute rate false advertising

[heistp]

I am writing to see if other T-Mobile ToGo customers have noticed this same case of false advertising. The following URL advertises the number of minutes given for each refill:

Unsupported Browser

(Apologies for the Unsupported Browser text above. Apparently Firefox is not supported in these forums, but the link does work.)

However, these rate advertisements are false. I purchased a $50 refill, which according to this page, and to the T-Mobile support reps that I'm having an ongoing email conversation with, has a decrement rate of $0.125 / minute. That comes from the advertised rate of 400 minutes for $50. However, the ACTUAL decrement rate for me is a much higher $0.20 / minute. I make a one minute phone call and my balance goes from $41.11 to $40.91. Thus far, T-Mobile has not corrected this issue.

Has anyone else had this same experience? I'm looking for specific confirmations that what I'm experiencing is exactly what other customers are experiencing as well, rather than general responses of anger, satisfying though they may be...

Thanks for any responses.

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by heistp

I am writing to see if other T-Mobile ToGo customers have noticed this same case of false advertising. The following URL advertises the number of minutes given for each refill:

Unsupported Browser

(Apologies for the Unsupported Browser text above. Apparently Firefox is not supported in these forums, but the link does work.)

However, these rate advertisements are false. I purchased a $50 refill, which according to this page, and to the T-Mobile support reps that I'm having an ongoing email conversation with, has a decrement rate of $0.125 / minute. That comes from the advertised rate of 400 minutes for $50. However, the ACTUAL decrement rate for me is a much higher $0.20 / minute. I make a one minute phone call and my balance goes from $41.11 to $40.91. Thus far, T-Mobile has not corrected this issue.

Has anyone else had this same experience? I'm looking for specific confirmations that what I'm experiencing is exactly what other customers are experiencing as well, rather than general responses of anger, satisfying though they may be...

Thanks for any responses.

The actual decrement rate will vary based on your current balance and the amount of your refill. The issue has been covered inside and out over at HoFo.

[heistp]

Thanks for the response, but I don't see a thread a HoFo that covers my case. Even the Wiki.

I'm working with a T-Mobile support rep who gave me an example that I understood. A user starts with 1000 minutes for $100, then adds 150 minutes for $25. He now has 1150 minutes. His new decrement rate should be $0.109 / minute so that he receives 1150 minutes.

I started with 30 minutes for $10 then added 400 minutes for $50. Instead of 430 minutes at a decrement rate of $0.140 / minute, I now have 250 minutes at a decrement rate of $0.20. I am not a gold rewards customer, and I understand this, but I haven't received the minutes that I paid for.

[heistp]

Finally, after a 45 minute phone conversation with 3 representatives, T-Mobile seems to have understood my problem and are changing my decrement rate to the proper number ($0.125). So, although I'm still losing a few dollars, at least it will be close. Apparently, somehow this issue was caused by the fact that I converted from a monthly account to a prepaid. Somehow that conversion fixed the decrement rate at $0.20, even though after my $50 refill it should have been a much lower $0.125.

I will make a final post once it's officially resolved or not resolved, but this is really shady what's gone on here. I had to write 6 emails, with graphs and charts and spend 45 minutes on the phone to recover about $20 which would have been outright stolen from me. How many other people does this happen to that don't even notice this?

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by heistp

Thanks for the response, but I don't see a thread a HoFo that covers my case. Even the Wiki.

I'm working with a T-Mobile support rep who gave me an example that I understood. A user starts with 1000 minutes for $100, then adds 150 minutes for $25. He now has 1150 minutes. His new decrement rate should be $0.109 / minute so that he receives 1150 minutes.

I started with 30 minutes for $10 then added 400 minutes for $50. Instead of 430 minutes at a decrement rate of $0.140 / minute, I now have 250 minutes at a decrement rate of $0.20. I am not a gold rewards customer, and I understand this, but I haven't received the minutes that I paid for.

There was a sticky or two describing in greater detail the example and different scenarios that the rep gave you. There's also a spreadsheet buried somewhere in there that allows you to maximize the effect of the rounding that occurs when you're adding a refill. Anyway, it sounds from your subsequent post that your problem was a real issue and I'm glad to hear that it was fixed.

[Quint101]

I just noticed the same thing... although at a much smaller scale. I am a GR customer who only buy the $10 cards. My effective rate should be around 0.28/min but I am being debited 0.29/minute... I think I lost a minute somewhere LOL