[Turb007]

Hi

I got an MDA Vario from them in July on an 18 month contract. All was well until Monday when the USB port became loose and I was unable to charge or connect to a PC.

I rang tech support and spoke to guy for about 20 mins who told me that the quickest way to get it fixed was to take it to my local store ( Oxford St ) and they will give me a loaner and the phone will be returned in 4 - 5 working days . he would even email the store so the loaner was ready and it would take no time at all.

Got to the store and no email had been recieved so I went through the whole process again and walked out an hour later with a sagem 5010. The Sagem has been pretty unusable ever since I got it as it freezes when opening txt's or I have a conversation over 5 mins or every hour or so I get a sim problem and have to reposition the sim to get it working.

I rang T-Mobile today to see when my phone would be ready and they said they have not recieved it or had any record of it being sent from the store. the guy on the phone tried to ring the store 4 - 5 times and they wer'nt answering.

Got to store and found out they only sent it off today , it will take 10 - 14 working days to be returned if I'm lucky and they dont have another loaner for me to use

I rang customer services to complain and the guy on the phone told me that I should have been given at least another Vario to keep me up with the services I originally purchase ( push email, voice text PDA and data facities )
He said if i went back to the store there would be a note on my account stating that and the store will swap.

Got to the store who denied it was the case they rang CS and surpise surprise no note on the account.

So I still have an unworkable phone with no sign of getting mine back and working anytime soon. i've spent about 4 hours on the phone and to and from the store with nothing to show for it.

I can understand a hiccup sending the phone off for repair to a degree but the fact that NO-ONE at T-MOBILE is willing to accept responsibilty or do anything to rectify it + getting BS'd by customer services about repair times and getting a like for like swap out. I'm furious and fed up with unaccountable sods on the end of a phone that can say what they like.

I am thinking of cancelling my direct debit with them and fighting this through a county court when they come after settlement of 15 months ..has anyone had any experience of this or could advise me of basic rights .?

Also anyone thinking of T-Mobile ..its all good when it works and soooooo bad when it goes wrong

I was with them for 10 years (going back to one 2 one days). last year i had a phone that went off for repair 3 times in 8 months and there customer service was terrible i told them i wanted a new phone and they said not our problem contact motorola. I cancelled my line with them at the end of the contract then they couldnt do enough, but i left and went to vodafone they are ok i would never go back. I would go to citizens advice before cancelling your direct debit and find out where you stand legally.

[Knyght_byte]

legal standing i wouldnt like to say whats definite.....only thing is if you have a special warranty with them that you pay an extra fee for (either monthly, quarterly, yearly or a one off, insurance style thing i'm talking here) then i'd check the terms of it..........i would say that if you have web'n'walk or similar extra net access package, then they should provide a handset capable of utilising that feature, otherwise, being honest, they only need to provide a handset to make/receive texts/calls on.....altho if it was a PDA type phone i'd agree it needs to be a PDA model....it doesnt have to be the same tho as they obviously wouldnt be able to keep a stock of each model for loan....

as for the bad service....well, most companies have their bad and their shiny moments.....obviously pursue a complaints procedure and see if you can get a little recompense for your hassle, but dont forget, just because you got unlucky and got through to a few call centre agents who wernt doing their job properly, doesnt mean the company is a bad company.......sometimes you just get bad employees who dont care and believe it or not, they normally dont last all that long......they only need to get caught lying on a QA (Quality Assessment, companies really do actually use those calls for training purposes as the message says, not just to cover their backs legally..lol..i know as i just finished 5.5 years in a call centre) and thats it, job over with........again, believe it or not, most companies do not like having staff who dont do the job properly.....the trouble is, they have to employ people.....and quite a lot of the people looking for call centre jobs want a cushy job where they just sit there and talk to people on the phone and get away with doing as little work as possible...

best thing to do is contact trading standards tho and register a complaint, also make sure when you call in to the contact centre, call from a landline phone number without the number being withheld.....make an exact note of the time you called, preferably what option numbers you pressed and make sure to get the name of the agent (yes they might not give their own name, but it still helps for the following reason...)....then if the same thing happens, you get TS to investigate the call to find out why this keeps happening, TS can take your details and go in to the companies IVR system (the system that tracks ALL calls coming and going from the main call centre lines, the only lines it doesnt track visibly are direct dial geopraphic lines) they can follow your phone number through every stage right to the person who spoke to you and there should be no problem obtaining the call, altho some systems dont allow access to the call till a few hours later or the next day....then they can find out if this person is doing this frequently and if so sack them.....

anyhow, hope you get your actual phone back sometime soon so you can chill out a little

[Turb007]

I pay 4.99 a month for fonesure tho I doubt they will honour it as its a fault with the handset and not accidental damage.

I do have web & walk also. At this point I have logged a complaint and will probably have to wait a week for them to respond

I was reading their T & C 's last night and there is absoloutly nothing that relates to handsets or equipment either responsibilty from them to me or visa versa.

TBH stuff them I will sign up with another provider ..If i have to pay the rest of the contract off then so be it... its a painful lesson learned it but it wont kill me financially.

I am an IT Consultant and have a few clients interested in Push Email and the like . Obviously I wont be recommending T-Mobile.

[Turb007]

As a footnote to this I have just rang telesales enquiring as a new customer and asked what would happen in my situation and was told AGAIN I should get a replacement vario or BETTER with in 48 hours depending on stock levels if my phone develops a fault within its warranty