Abuse of a Mobile Phone Contract

[paco1955]

I believe T-Mobile is abusing the contract that I sign with T-mobile and their business practice is unethical. On October 4, 2006, my girlfriend and I went to Stonewall Mall in Downey, California, to a T-Mobile station to renew her account (and add me to it). The process went well; both phones were working fine. On October 18, 2006, I see that my phone cannot pick up a signal. When I call technical support, the technician tells me that I need to give her the new sim card number because I changed the sim card of the phone on October 17. I did not change the sim card. Eventually T-Mobile admits that "a representative changed the sim card number in the system in error." I can see that in the process of initiating the account, the representative enters into the system the wrong sim card number in error, but that would mean that the phone would not work from the moment that the account is initiated because the number of the sim card has to match with the number in the system of T-Mobile. But my phone worked until October 18, 2006. That means that the sim card number matched with the number in the system until a T-Mobile representative changed the sim card number in the system. I do not believe that to go to my account, delete the existing sim card number in the system, and to enter another one is an error. For that reason, I want to cancel the account, but T-Mobile says that a $250.00 will be charged to my credit card because I sign a contract that if I cancel the account for whatever reason, my credit card will be charged $250.00. I believe T-Mobile is abusing the contract; that is unethical.

What can I do? Thanks!

[GreatGadsby]

if they agree to change the SIM card number back, and credit the account for the days that you were without service, I don't see how you would have cause to breach the contract.

[paco1955]

why change the sim card number in the first place? it was changed unexpectedly without me knowing about it. i felt vulnerable and without control of my phone. i had no possession of the service i am paying for. i don't trust T-Mobile as much as i did when i first opened the account with them. that is why i want to cancel; i feel uncomfortable now, yet i am forced to keep the account against my will unless i pay $250. i believe the contract is unethical because its intent is to put me in this uncomfortable situation. it is to some degree stupid because i wont forget. instead of offering stisfactory service (which i am paying for) T-Mobile has created for themselves an enemy. why? incomprehensible.

[GreatGadsby]

the intent of the contract is not to put you in some uncomfortable position. the mistake with the SIM card was just that, a mistake. Shit happens. you will either have to suck it up and continue service, which is hopefully better from here on out, or pay the 250.

[paco1955]

the mistake with the SIM card was just that, a mistake.

if it was just a mistake, i can understand. for example, if the salesperson enters the wrong sim card number in the process of initiating the account, i can understand. but to go to my account, delete the existing sim card number, and enter another one (two weeks after i opened the account, behind my back, and when everything was working fine) is difficult for me to understand as a mistake.

if it is a mistake, it is a more serious mistake than one might think because the person acted knowing that what it was doing was wrong. i am guilty of the same. what goes around comes around. i accept it. i am sorry. i understand now. thanks.

[Ranger]

You can sell the new phone you got in exchange for signing the contract and recover some of the money. But careful the EFT is 250 per phone!

The part I don't get is with GSM the SIM doesnt affect service, you can switch them out at will, unlike CDMA(Sprint & Verizon).