T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round four (getting stood-up)

This is the fourth in a series of articles that detail my recent experience as a T-Mobile customer. As an 8 year customer, my goal is to upgrade my phone without paying more than a new customer would pay for the same phone.  You can see the prior article here.

Round three ended with an unhappy customer. My request was escalated to someone who was less than professional, having to be guided with both a script and someone standing next to him, telling him what to say. His performance was an embarrassment to T-Mobile and far below what I have come to expect from them.

Using a subjective point system to keep track, T-Mobile is now at negative 17 points for this customer service issue. My next step was to contact their executive customer service team. It’s their job to handle situations their standard customer service channels fail to resolve. They’ve done well in the past so I was optimistic they would turn things around.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

After ending my call with “Albert” (see round three) I called T-Mobile’s executive customer service team. It was evening so my call went to a voice mail. But it was a real person’s voice mail. She said she would return my call as soon as possible.

After three days I had no response.

At this point, things do not look good for a positive outcome. When their top customer service people fail to respond, it tells me the company is not placing a high priority on this issue. I’m going to deduct 3 points for not responding to my voice mail. This puts them at negative 20 points for this customer service situation.

As a customer, this makes it difficult to believe all the times I heard them say they value my customer loyalty. Words are fine until they are found to be empty. If your actions do not align with the words you use, your customers will get a mixed-message. Then which message should they believe?

They will believe the message your actions send.

I have at least one more customer service channel to try. It’s more of a back-channel. And a customer should never have to do this. But I will try just to see if we can turn this customer service issue into a win for both the company and the customer.

Stay tuned for Round Five coming soon.

Other articles you might like:

• T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round two (the change-up)
• T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round three (the foul-up)
• T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round one (the setup)
• For More Loyal Customers, Manage Your Points of Experience
• Little Things Make the Difference