Hassling T-Mobile for fun and frustration

[csziggy]

For a long time I've been getting debt collection calls. Problem is, not one is looking for me. My phone is listed as A. E. Ziggy in the phone book and I keep getting calls for people whose first name begins with "A" and the last name of Ziggy. Andrew, Andreas, Anthony, Amanda, Abigail, etc.

Most of the time there is a human on the line that I can tell (1) they have the wrong number and no one by the name of A----- Ziggy lives here and (B) Don't call this number again. Sometimes, it's a robocall but when I call back the number I can reach a human and tell the (1) and (B). It's worked, those companies do not call me again.

T-Mobile? Nope, no humans involved. It's a robocall. If I make any of the choices in the menu, I eventually get to a place where I have to have a T-Mobile phone number or account number to get to a customer service representative. I've never been a T-Mobile customer, so that gets me no where.

I reported them to the Do Not Call list but I kept getting calls. I called the local T-Mobile sales place, tried every T-Mobile number I could find on the web, still get the calls. This has been going on for months.

So I put in a complaint with the state consumer agency and for good measure, the state Attorney General. I got a nice letter from the consumer agency with a copy of a letter from T-Mobile. The T-Mobile letter claimed they had removed my phone number from their accounts and notified their debt collectors to put it on their do not call list. The next day I got a robocall from a T-Mobile debt collector looking for Andrea Ziggy...

I had already written a letter to the consumer agency telling them that while I appreciated that MY number had been removed from T-Mobile's list, that did not solve the problem of other consumers having no way to tell T-Mobile that they have the wrong number and that T-Mobile should not call it again.

Tonight I got a call from a T-Mobile customer service person. She was trying to convince me that T-Mobile had done everything they could to make sure I was not called by their company again. Uh, lady, you JUST called me. According to her, my number has been on their do not call list since December and I should not get any calls from them. So who was it claiming to be calling from T-Mobile LAST WEEK?

I warned her in the first minute of the call that I was antagonistic to any one from T-Mobile. I was polite and did not use any curse words, but was not pleasant. I explained to her everything I wrote above.

At the end of our discussion, she asked what she could do to make me happy. I told her "Nothing. T-Mobile will never be able to make me happy with the company. I've never been a T-Mobile customer, will never be a T-Mobile customer, and will tell everyone I know, in person, in emails and over the internet that they should never be T-Mobile customers."

I did tell her that I might be satisfied if I don't receive a call from T-mobile or anyone representing them for at least two years. Or never.

My husband tells people I don't hold grudges - I nail them to the wall and throw darts at them.

Oh yeah - DO NOT do business with T-Mobile.

[Chan790]

1. They're my ball-and-chain.

Been my phone company for years and I have years to go because they have fragile POS phones so whenever I get within a year of being rid of them, my phone shits out and I have to either pay full-retail for a new one or extend my contract 2-years from the end-date of the current one. I've been a T-Mobile customer since 2008 and I'll be one until 2014...and I've hated them every month I've had them.

Never again. At the end of this contract, I'm ditching cell phones. Getting VOIP for home phone service and for what I'll save on phones, I'll buy a tablet with included WiFi. I never use voice services anyways because I'm HoH, it's messaging and internet on my phone that's important to me.

[csziggy]

2. That's sort of like my parents and Verizon

Verizon is the only provider in their town for DSL. Their only other internet choices are cable or dial up, both of which are horribly slow.

But Verizon has the worst customer service I've ever seen. Minimum of 45 minutes hold time every time you have to call in. Last year when a fallen branch took out their electric, cable TV and phone lines, it took 30 minutes to get electric back, and an hour for a temporary cable TV hook up which was completely repaired in less than 24 hours.

Verizon took four days to get telephone permanently hooked back up and two weeks to repair their DSL. And over eight hours of my sister and I both calling Verizon customer service. This for an elderly couple who absolutely need a reliable phone line to call for ambulance service when my Dad has a medical crisis.

Since then Verizon has allowed their phone service to be slammed twice. My sister got put on their account as an authorized person the first time. The second time Verizon would not recognize the prior authorization until she had their attorney fax the authorization - and even that had to be done twice since Verizon gave the attorney's office the wrong fax number the first time.

If my Dad dies because Verizon turns off their phone service again and Mom can't call for help without running to a neighbor's house, I'm suing Verizon for wrongful death. They've been warned about the fragile health and age of our parents but they still keep screwing around with their telephone.

As for your cell phone, maybe get a cheap Tracfone and use it as needed. As long as you don't need a lot of minutes it's a pretty cheap way to have a cell phone. I think I paid $20 for my first Tracfone and averaged less than $10 a month for the years I've had it. But I don't use many minutes and don't use the phone much.

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

3. before you rail against t-mobile for this consider

1. 3rd party debt collectors will just try whatever phonebook/google listings to try and root out a debtor, so this could always happen again potentially...and probably will

2. removing your number from t-mobile's file for this person may be meaningless to some collection agency/software searching the phone listings

3. it often takes X number of weeks for removal of phone/addy info to catch up. example, opting out of mailing lists, you still might get calls/junk mail for a while before it stops.

4. also I guess, I gave up being frustrated at companies for things like this, since all you end up doing is berating some poor schmo who is just being underpaid to take our verbal abuse.

Anyway that being said, when I still get a random incorrect "looking for so and so" bill collector, usually telling them (nicely) that they reached a business or cellphone, will force them to remove the #. Sometimes takes a couple times but it usually works.

(I do sympathize with you... it is beyond FRUSTRATING to have the same company/bill collectors keep calling for someone else.)

Hopefully T-Mobile will stop calling you at least, for now!!

[csziggy]

6. I only escalated when the calls became more frequent

And I had tried every single possibility to tell T-Mobile that they had the wrong number. I do understand that T-Mobile may not be the originator for the wrong number calls - but I don't care. They are allowing whoever is calling to use their name and every call I had gotten directed me to call back to T-Mobile not to a debt collection agency.

I've gotten calls from debt collection agencies before and every single one of them had some way to call them and tell them that they had the wrong person for this number. Sometimes I had to Google the phone number and find the company name through some internet page where other people had complained about getting debt collection calls from a particular company. Every single one of those companies had some mechanism for contacting them and telling them they had the wrong number.

I am very aware that the poor schmuck I contact is not the one who controls the situation. If I am very angry, as I am with T-Mobile, I tell the person that I am angry or antagonistic and apologize that they are being put in the middle. I am not abusive to the person, I do not curse, but I am very very good at expressing extreme anger while telling the other party in detail why I am angry, what the company has failed to do to satisfy me, and what they need to do to get me off their backs. And at the end of my conversation with them, I again apologize for letting loose on them.

Years ago, I had problems with MCI calling many times a day trying to sell me their services, even after I asked them not to call me again. I did the same thing then as now - escalated my complaint through state agencies. I still have the letter from the then president of MCI promising that the company would never call me again. The only other call I have ever gotten from anyone associated with MCI was when Sam's Club got a contract to sell MCI services - and Sam's immediately heard about that in no uncertain terms!

The only way we can get the corporations to pay attention is to hit them in the wallet. T-Mobile has now pissed me off to the point that any time telephone services are discussed around me, I will say negative things about them, forever.

[graywarrior]

4. Amazing! I am on hold with them right now for the same reason!

[csziggy]

8. That is why I am still pushing on this - NO ONE should have to get these calls

Especially if they have no business relationship with T-Mobile!

Good luck with your complaint. You'll need it!

[graywarrior]

9. I got sick of waiting so without hanging up, I put the phone on the table and

and left it. I think Mr G finally hung it up.

[csziggy]

10. Yes, that does get old - real fast.

I hope you can get in touch with someone at T-Mobile, but don't count on it.

[graywarrior]

11. I guess I have better things to do.

[hobbit709]

5. There was a description in a David Weber book about holding grudges

"She held grudges until they died of old age and then had them stuffed and mounted."

[csziggy]

7. Oh, I love that line!

I'll add it to my stash of good quotes.