Every once in a while, you get a particularly troublesome vendor, and you feel it is your public duty to point it out to your fellow human beings. To avoid a lot of grief, avoid T-Mobile. Text of Complaint filed with California Public Utilities Commission about T-Mobile, July 3, 2003

1. Poor service, not as promised. For instance, I specifically asked if they serviced the Ft. Miley area of San Francisco since I spend a lot of time at the VA [hospital located there]. They said they did, but the phone rarely worked there.

2. I was billed for a service I did not order, namely a game. I asked them to remove it, and they claimed that I had to do it despite the fact that I never ordered it -- that they were only an agent. After five months, it was finally removed. (I suspect that they have a deal with the game provider or that some employee of T-Mobile is giving out the names of new subscribers as a sideline.)

3. They cut me off after claiming that I hadn't paid a bill. First they called me and demanded that I make an electronic payment. After nearly a half a year of grief, I no longer trusted them, and refused since I had written the check. The day after they cut me off, the check was returned because I had forgotten to fill out the payee. Since they had cut me off, I assumed the account was closed.

4. But no! I was now being charged $22.50 a month for "maintenance" without any service forthcoming. My original bill was $30 a month. I called and closed the account (or so I thought). I told them to send a final bill, and that I would go over it and negotiate whatever I might still owe them. I have not received such a bill, but am being called four out of five business days (more than a dozen times thus far) despite my having told them at least six times that I did not want them to call me. I wanted to keep a paper trail of any further business so I would only accept mail from them. They persist in calling me, no doubt hoping that I would relent and make an electronic payment for what they claim I owe them.

It is my understanding that once a vendor is told not to telephone, they may not legally call. I do not know where to contact them by mail since no one at their end would give me an address when I was still talking to them. They offered a fax number, but you cannot send a letter, "registered mail," by fax.

At this point, I just hang up when they call. A complaint to you is my next step,

Thank you for your kind attention.

Yves Barbero

A similar and updated complaint was filed with the FTC July 19,2006.

T-Mobile Complaints by Others