I have been with T-Mobile for more than 4 years now (ever since it was Voicestream). The feeling now seems like being married to your ex-girlfriend or ex-wife and still paying her alimony.

Here's a war story that will convince you that T-mobile is not for you. Do not be lured by their plans or by their phones. Their customer service is the worst service I have encountered EVER. You might ask me, "What do you mean by worst". Well how about "inconsistent" or "lies a million" is more like it. How would you feel if every time you call (I called 18 times in about 7 months) you get a different answer and a different promise? Let me get to the point.

It started in July 2004 when I was thinking of switching to another carrier from T-Mobile since the only place where I got a signal in my apartment was about 3 inches outside the window pane. This went on for about 18 months (now you understand the ex-wife analogy). I talked to a T-Mobile rep and asked him what they were offering. Besides a free phone (and the continuing stress from not getting a signal in my own apartment), I needed a convincing reason to continue with T-Mobile. I tried "successfully" to negotiate a deal with him and he gave me the following

Instead of 600 whenever minutes, I would now get 650 whenever minutes every month for the same price (39.99) and 250 bonus minutes for the 1st 90 days. Seemed like a nice incentive. Happy to have negotiated a deal, I renewed my contract for another year. 4 days later I got the new phone and activated it. Just out of curiosity, I checked on my new plan and guess what, the new rep had no information about the 50 extra free minutes. The 250 bonus minutes seemed like mockery since the rep casually shrugged off and said that seemed "too good to be true". Lesson "If something is too good to be true with T-Mobile, it probably is.

What could I do, I called back and talked to a supervisor after trying to make sense to rep# 3 who was equally lost as rep#2. The supervisor "apologized" (don't you feel like dancing when they do that?) and promised me another incentive. He gave me a VIP credit so that my 6th month would be free. Beginning in August that would be February 2005. Yet another 'tell-tale promise" made me stick with T-Mobile. The following months, dropped calls on city highways were the only reasons that frustrated me.

In December 2004, 5 months after I had entered my contract, I added another line for my wife on the Family Share plan. Sensing that I was dealing with a bunch of inconsistent and under trained representatives, I had to ensure that all the benefits of my plan would carry over to the new shared plan.Rep #4 and rep#5 who helped add the line and activate the extra line "promised" that the "6th month free" would still carry over.

Things never go smoothly when you are dealing with a T-Mobile rep, although I must admit they are patient compared to other reps I have talked to. A few weeks later in the 3rd week of January I called again to check if the "6th month free" would kick in February as promised. Rep#6 had no idea what I was talking about so she put me on hold for 15 minutes and read the notes on my account. The VIP credit was lost in eternity!! I HAD to talk to a supervisor! I must have spent about 8-9 hours in the last 6 months talking with T-Mobile reps.

After about 10 minutes on hold the supervisor "resolved" the issue and promised that February 2005 would be free as promised since this was the 6th month after I entered the contract in July 2004. Whew!! Finally! or is it? This time I wrote his name and rep ID in case I had to talk to a supervisor's supervisor. Alls well that ends well.... JUST KIDDING!!

2 weeks later I received my first bill after adding my wife's line. They had charged her $8.00 even before her line was activated. I do not like rip offs so I called (they should probably have a hotline just for me. I am not an irate customer. I am just a pissed off regular T-Mobile customer who wants to join hands with other such victims.) Anyway, Rep#7 took 15 minutes to figure out what was going on and offered to take off the $ 8.00 charge from my bill. The "apology" sounded like a yawn to me. Just out of sheer curiosity I asked her to ensure that the 6 months free VIP credit would kick in next month. HELL NO!! Are you kidding me? We are T-Mobile. Things don't function so smooth here. "Our apologies". This time I had to raise my voice even though it was 12:55 am. I asked to talk to a supervisor. I was put on hold for 40 minutes (NO KIDDING) after which the line was cut off. I called again, this time. This time it was Rep#8's turn to bite the bullet. Imagine having to repeat this whole story to her AGAIN!! I bluntly told her that I did not want to waste another 20 minutes what I had just told Rep#7 so she transferred me to a supervisor after 12 minutes on hold. Whew, double whew.

The supervisor "apologized" saying that her system was down and that I had to call again the next day. If I had a club, I would have hit her is she was in front, seriously. Imagine the plight of a customer who gets a different answer each time and each rep apologizes for the mistake of the earlier rep. That's what T-Mobilecustomer reps do best.

She finally promised that she would call me the next day to resolve this issue.

The perpetual lies of T-Mobile are enough to raise your blood pressure. There are hundreds of such known cases. T-Mobile needs a wake up call. Let's wake them up by cutting them off.

My advice: Unless you are willing to spend about 5-6 hours every month talking with different representative and narrating stories from the past, stay away from T-Mobile. Beware of their sweet talk. Do not take their word for it when it comes to promises or adjustments. Take everything in writing. They do not like it because they know how screwed up their system is.

Comments are welcome. If you have a similar story to share, I would be happy to post it here. Send e-mail to artononline@yahoo.com