T-Mobile Customer Service Fiasco – Small Scams and Big Downside in a Social Media World

I have a short, “real life” story to tell which demonstrates some of the dangers of customer communication in a social media world. It’s also relevant to larger marketing and brand discussions. First the story:

I activated one of our company phones with the local Costa Mesa T-Mobile store the other day. The rep was great, I got the pricing I needed.

During the sign up process I told the rep that the charger jack on my phone doesn’t work so well. You have to connect the cord just right to get it to work. He told me to sign up for their $6 insurance plan and then file a claim with Asurion, T-Mobile’s mobile phone/cell phone claims company. I’d get a new phone and be set, he assured me.

Sounds too good to be true, ay? But you know what they say, “Sales people are the easiest people to sell to.” I’m a marketing guy, but I consider myself a sales pro, too (it’s part of the whole process – selling with words). So I was caught up in a feel good sales process, getting a new plan set up, and looking forward to getting the Blackberry Curve activated and working. I love this phone. I’ve had others, but this is my favorite.

Anyway, a few days later, I ask James, the sales rep, how to start the claim process. He emails me back with the phone number of a company in Fountain Valley (CA) that repairs phones.

I scratch my head and then call James to figure out what the deal is. I explain to him who I am and what he suggested when we first set up the account. He says I should file a claim with Asurion but that they’ll charge me a $130 deductible. “Really?” I say, “because you didn’t mention that earlier.” So he says that the repair place can fix the charger problem in a matter of minutes. I just take my phone in and they’ll resolder some wires. Quick fix – no problemo.

That sounds good to me. So I ask James if he can cancel the $6 insurance plan. He tells me to check out the repair shop first and then make sure it’s worth it. I scratch my head again.

I call the repair place, and they charge $85 for the repair. Hmmm. I’m starting to feel like a sucker at this point.

So, in the final analysis, communication and misunderstanding are at play here. I think there was some deception involved, too. If James were transparent about the deductible from the get go, I never would have wasted time tracking down service and claims options (or writing this article, for that matter).

But here’s the kicker.. and the crucial moment where an opportunity for a solution was fumbled away. During my first visit with James, I told him that I really like the new Sidekick LX. I mentioned that I’d probably upgrade to that sooner or later because I had one of the first gen devices and loved it (just a bit too clunky, but they’re slimmer now).

The thing is… James probably could have sold me one there and then. It was the solution to a *specific* problem I was having. They had 2008 models in the for $100 (less than a $130 deductible, cough, cough). And I was there as a new customer in activation mode.

But now I don’t want to give that store my business. I’d rather get an unlocked Sidekick on Craigslist or eBay and then bring it in an have them hassle with the activation and migration – which is a big, costly customer service exercise for them. I take up more of their staff’s time, I divert their attention from other customers, and other customers get peeved because I’m hogging all the time with this complicated migration issue.

From a marketing and customer service perspective, the whole situation is a lose-lose-lose for T-Mobile.

James doesn’t know that I’m a technology blogger and SEO consultant with a big following on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere. I didn’t tell him, because I don’t want to be “that guy.” I’m sure they have lots of people pull the blogger card.

So, I’ve got good keyword density in this post. I’m reminding my marketing and advertising clients/readers about customer service in this brave new social media/social networking world. And, I have a place to vent about T-Mobile, Asurion and cell phone repair shops.

By the way, don’t ever get the insurance plan. The numbers don’t work out (as you can see above). And the repair places seem kind of scammy, too. James was telling me that this is a 5 minute procedure to fix a bad charger jack. $85 for 5 minutes is not reasonable, especially when you can find them all over craigslist and ebay.

I’m sure you’ve had experiences similar to this with a wide range of companies. Please comment below to tell your story or post a link to your own blog. Meanwhile, I’m off to Twitter and Facebook to link this post.

Happy Friday, btw. Phil  – not bitter, just smarter today

Another note: I’ll be scheduling this one on TweetLater, too. What do you bet a T-Mobile Twitter monitoring employee contacts me (if they have a clue)?