One of my personal conviction is generosity. So that conviction, combined with good service (especially paid ones) usually produce a desire to reward the service giver beyond the typical means. I personally don't think this is unique to me - for example in tipping your servers in a restaurant, when you are getting excellent service, some people will give more tip, etc.
In this particular experience, I was getting superb service from T-Mobile and this blog post is a way of rewarding them of their excellent efforts to me as a customer.
Why use T-Mobile in the first place?
- Excellent price for my family voice plan. My voice plan (family plan, grandfathered) is 500 minutes for $49.99 with FULL upgrade eligibility every 2 years.
- No bundled text or data. My wife is using 300 SMS for $2.99 (she does not use data, only WiFi). My 5GB data plan is $24.99 (I don't use SMS). Hard to beat price, really - and 5GB (not 2GB).
- Plus T-Mobile lets me (and all of you I imagine) to keep my old-grandfathered plan. Some carriers forces you to change into newer more expensive plans/bundled/combo.
- All my friends use T-Mobile. Since T-Mobile to T-Mobile call is FREE, I virtually never use my minutes. With 5 people in my family plan with 500 minutes, we usually use around 350 - 400 minutes. With half of it probably my wife or me calling our home land-line.
- HSPA+. Some people call it 4G - but whatever it is, the network connection is FAST. T-Mobile has 2 HSPA+ phones now (G2 and myTouch 4G). It works great too where it matters the most for me (at home, at work, and my friends' places).
- Great phones (for the most part, there are some crappy ones too): Nexus One, Samsung Galaxy, Nexus S, HTC HD7, HTC HD2, G2.
- Excellent customer service - both in store and over the phone. This is mainly what this blog post is about.
- I recently added 3 lines into my family plan (maxing out my family plan allowance) - every single one went great without any problems. My voice plan is an old plan which is not offered anymore - so it's grandfathered. It's cheap and works for us - and obviously I don't want to upgrade this plan or change anything in it. I was afraid that I have to change my voice plan if I add new lines or get a new phone. But, none of that happened, and everything went smooth and I am happy. Awesome!
- One of my new lines is for a BB Bold 9700. But not a week after I got it, there is news that Bold 9780 is coming out within 3 weeks. T-Mobile has a 14 days return policy which I took advantage in this case and returned the Bold 9700. It took about 4 weeks for my account upgrade eligibility to be restored, but it was restored and my money got refunded without any problems.
- I added a new line into my family plan, getting the G2, and transferring an ATT number into that new line. The customer rep in the store pre-filled everything and assigned a temporary number until the old number was ported. Rebate form was pre-filled by the rep and all I need to do was just signed it.
- When I bought the G2, the rep was also well informed enough to understand my plan and actually suggested ways I can save more money (like student discount) instead of pushing more services or accessories (and try to take my money). She even recommend that I do not change my plan ever, since changing it will cost me more.
- I was also aiming for the Windows Phone 7 when it came out on November 8th. So on November 8th, I called 611 (Customer Care) and asked the rep on the phone to find me a store that have the newly released phone in stock in local stores in my area. No problem!
- With the information of my local store, I went and got the phone using my upgrade eligibility without any hassle. Again, the rebate form was pre-filled, no need to cut out the box or anything like that.
- When the Bold 9780 came out, I went and got it for one of my lines. Again, without a glitch, everything when smooth. The only thing was that the store was a bit crowded, probably because of the timing (near Christmas).
- I also ported a line from a pre-paid into my family plan. This line has no data, just voice and text. So since I added a line - I got a new free phone (non-data). Sweet!
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3 comments:
My experience is not always good though. As someone who call Tmobile 611 more than most people, I would say that 20% of the time I had a great experience like yours, 50% of an OK cust. service, and 30% where I felt like banging my head on the wall. A sampler of this 30% experience: they say they will make certain changes in my account and it didn't happen until 3 times 611 call, they make a mistake and put the service on wrong line which ends up overcharges me unless I noticed, etc.).
So I guess it all comes down to statistics, and whether you are lucky enough to fall on the tail end or the middle of the bell curve.
But at the end of the day, I think it is right for you (and I do too when i had one) to appreciate them when you had an excellent experience like yours.
Combining the great & the OK makes 70% good experience - which is quite good, I think. Especially when compared to AT&T bad reputation or Comcast or BofA. Or awful store experience @ BestBuy, Verizon, and Sprint.
Hello,
T-Mobile is relying on Omnivex software, this tarnishes the brand and defeats much of the purpose of a very expensive campaign. It provides the information that wireless dealers need to maximize business efficiency and profitability. Thanks a lot...
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