My Horrendous T-Mobile Live Chat Experience

Every now and then, you have a customer service experience so horrible that it completely turns you off from a company. That is how my experience with T-Mobile online customer service recently went. After over three hours, I was given no resolution to my issue and offered no further assistance than the bare minimum. I'm sure I'm wrong on some of the technical details in here, as well, but that almost becomes secondary to the robotic non-answers that I receive throughout the conversation.

12:32, You: WiFi calling will not work. Previously it did. I live in remote area of Alaska and do not have cellular service - only WiFi calling. This has been ongoing for several weeks

12:32, T-Mobile: We'll be with you just as soon as we can!

12:35, (T-Mobile Rep): Hey there, Andrew! I just got your message. Thank you for reaching Un-carrier, my name is (T-Mobile Rep). I know how important for you to use the Wi-Fi calling. This is not the service I don't want you to experience. No worries, I can definitely look for the best resolution to have our Wi-Fi calling resolve. If I may ask is the line you are referring 3328?

12:35, You: Yes

12:36, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for the clarification, Andrew. Please give me 3 - 5 minutes of Your time to look it up, and in case that the conversation went unresponsive may I know if I can call you back?

12:36, You: Can't call because my wi-fi calling does not work

12:38, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you for the confirmation, Andrew. If I may ask are you receiving an error message when you use your Wi-Fi calling?

12:38, You: It says "No Service" in the corner

12:39, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you for the clarification, Andrew. I will do what ever it take to make sure this will be resolve for today. Please bear with me.

12:42, You: Ok

12:44, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for patiently waiting, Andrew. Upon checking here on our resources we need to do some basic troubleshooting on the device. If I may ask are we available to do some steps for the troubleshooting?

12:44, You: Are you available?

12:46, (T-Mobile Rep): I apologize for the confusion, would it be fine if we do some basic troubleshooting on the device?

12:46, You: Yes

12:46, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for your cooperation, Andrew. First please kindly check if the wi-fi calling is on?

12:46, You: Of course it’s on

12:51, You: Is it going to take 5 minutes between every step?

12:51, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for the confirmation, Andrew. Second please kindly restart the device.

12:51, You: I already did that repeatedly

12:52, You: I cannot reset my router, either, because it is provided by a third-party satellite service

12:52, You: It worked fine with them before, also WiFi is fine on it

12:53, You: I read online that this could be associated with a SIM card issue

12:53, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you for letting me know about this, Andrew. Since we have already done the basic troubleshooting on the device the next steps that we need to do is to seek the assistance of our Technical support for the advance troubleshooting. If I may ask do you have an alternate number when I can call you and have you endorse to them?

12:54, You: I DO NOT HAVE CELLULAR CAPABILITIES IN REMOTE ALASKA. I AM TRUSTING THIS SERVICE TO HELP ME BECAUSE THIS IS ALL I CAN USE TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU

12:55, (T-Mobile Rep): I understand the situation you are having right now, Andrew. Please try to follow this steps for us to do some reset network setting kindly follow the steps: Settings General Reset Reset Network Settings

12:56, You: Tried that last week

12:56, You: Did not fix it

12:58, (T-Mobile Rep): I appreciate you have already tried it. No worries, what I will be doing here I will call our Technical Support and ask for the other steps that we need to do about this. Would it be fine?

12:58, You: Yes, I thought we were already there

13:00, (T-Mobile Rep): I apologize for the confusion, Andrew. For the advance troubleshooting needs to be done by our Technical Support which is need to be done over the phone.

13:00, You: So you're going to talk to them and then relay the information? Let's keep moving forward with this

13:02, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for your understanding, Andrew. I really appreciate it. Please bear with me.

13:06, (T-Mobile Rep): I'm already speaking with them. Please bear with me.

13:06, You: ok

13:08, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you!

13:10, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for patiently waiting, Andrew. I have already spoke to our Technical Support, they highly advice me that we do still have to do the reset network setting and you have to restart the device. I will be doing some refreshing of Your connection here on my end.

13:11, (T-Mobile Rep): I will keep our conversation open so you can still message me back.

13:11, You: Already did that while waiting just to confirm

13:11, You: Still shows 'no service'

13:12, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you for trying this. I will be refreshing the connection here on my end I will connect you to the nearest tower we have. Then after this kindly restart your device.

13:15, You: ok

13:17, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you. Please let me know if you have already restart the device.

13:18, You: Restarted. Again, I am in REMOTE Alaska, there are NO towers nearby

13:18, You: Which is why I rely on WiFi calling

13:19, You: Still 'No Service'

13:23, (T-Mobile Rep): I apologize for the confusion, Andrew. The device need to be restart after that we have refresh the connect.

13:23, You: I just restarted

13:23, You: It's ready

13:26, (T-Mobile Rep): Oh, sorry for confusion. If I may ask, are you able to access Your data connection at least?

13:27, You: What do you mean

13:28, (T-Mobile Rep): I mean your cellular data. Are you able it while the wifi is off?

13:29, You: Are you even listening to me?

13:29, You: Seriously

13:29, You: I have said THREE TIMES that I live in REMOTE ALASKA

13:29, You: THERE IS NO CELLULAR SERVICE HERE

13:29, You: THAT IS WHY I NEED WIFI CALLING

13:29, (T-Mobile Rep): That's actually part of the troubleshooting that's why I'm asking. Sorry about that.

13:32, (T-Mobile Rep): If I may ask have you also tried to refresh the router?

13:33, You: Can you please go back and read my responses?

13:33, You: Because I already answered that

13:33, You: Because I knew you were going to ask it

13:37, (T-Mobile Rep): I apologized about this. Let me check some other steps here on our resources to have your wifi calling working. Please give me at least 3-5 minutes of Your precious time for me to check on the account.

13:44, You: Ok

13:44, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for patiently waiting, Andrew. If I may ask have we updated the software version of the device?

13:45, You: Who is we? T-Mobile? I updated the IOS (Apple iPhone) about two weeks ago. WiFi calling hasn't worked before or after the update

13:45, You: It just quit working a month ago for whatever reason

13:46, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you for letting me know about this. Let me check other steps that was listed here.

13:52, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for patiently waiting, Andrew. I have done exhort all my resources and last resort that we have to done is to have this coordinate to our technical support. I will be needing to have you endorse to our Technical Support. The best that we can do for now is to look for an alternate number for us to contact you and have you endorse to our Technical Support.

13:54, You: This entire conversation shows me that you truly do not care. That T-Mobile does not care.

13:54, You: I have said over and over that I have no access to cell services and only have WiFi calling

13:54, You: How is it that I cannot speak to Technical Support directly on here?

13:54, You: Do You have a manager or somebody else that actually cares about my business that I can talk to?

13:55, You: I've been sitting here for an hour and a half just for you to tell me nothing.

13:55, You: Seriously, what am I paying for? I just paid a monthly bill for a service that I haven't even use

13:56, (T-Mobile Rep): I understand were you coming from. I have already seek the assistance of our Technical Support and they advice me if the troubleshooting is not working I really need to have this coordinate with them.

13:56, You: I need to speak with somebody at T-Mobile through this chat or online

13:56, You: That is my only optin

13:56, You: *option

13:59, (T-Mobile Rep): I apologize for the inconvenience. I know how important for you to have this issue resolved. This is the service that I don't want you to have since you are paying for it. I know this is not much would it be fine to do some credit on the account due to the inconvenience it may cost to you?

14:00, You: Yes, for starters

14:00, You: But that still doesn't rectify the situation that I can't use this phone at all

14:03, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for your considering this, Andrew. I understand the situation you going through right now. Rest assured once we have coordinate this to our Technical Support guarantee the issue will be resolve. I have successfully processed the credit on the account. You will be receiving a text message confirmation and within 0-2hrs it will be updated on the account. Just dial #225# to check the balance on the account.

14:05, You: I am upset because I chose T-Mobile for the WiFi calling feature and upstanding reputation but cannot seem to resolve this issue and am paying for something that is not working

14:06, You: Can I actually receive a text, since my WiFi calling does not work?

14:09, You: Plus, I cant dial #225# - WiFi calling does not work!

14:09, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you for bringing this up to our attention and we would love the opportunity to earn back Your trust! I hope that your experience won't affect your perception with T-Mobile as a whole. I have nothing but pure intention to help you. I hope you feel my deepest sincerity in helping you today. Yes, you can still be able to receive the text message.

14:11, (T-Mobile Rep): Thank you so much for letting me know. Rest assured the credit will be applied on the account.

14:11, You: But what about the Technical Support and WiFi calling issue?

14:13, (T-Mobile Rep): For the wifi calling. If you will be having an alternate number for me to call you for us to endorse you to our Technical support as there advice?

14:13, You: (T-Mobile Rep) ... I do not have an alternate number

14:13, You: I am in remote Alaska. I'm not making this up

14:13, You: I need to speak with them Online

14:14, (T-Mobile Rep): I know how important for you have to speak with them yet they cant be able to speak online the only way for us to coordinate with them is over the phone.

14:16, You: Then that is what you'll have to do. Because as of right now, nothing has been resolved

14:17, You: And a credit is nice (and somewhat expected since I had no service for the last month) but it doesn't fix the problem

14:21, (T-Mobile Rep): I know how important for you to have the issue be resolve your request is important for me as it is to you. I have already use all my resources and check the steps that we can be able to have this resolve yet the last resort that we have here is to coordinate this to our Technical support over the phone. I know that you are in a remote area in Alaska.

14:23, (T-Mobile Rep): This is the only option that we have to have this coordinate with our Technical support. I really want to help you about this and I need to seek the assistance with the help of our Technical support about this.

14:25, You: If my only option is to call technical support, which I can't because my phone does not work, then it is a catch-22. To me, my only option is to drop T-Mobile because you're essentially telling me that you can't help me

14:25, You: You keep telling a person who has no cell service to call

14:26, You: Stop and think about that ... I don't need a fake customer service response of sympathy to that. I want you to just think about what I'm saying. I don't want it to come to this, I really don't

14:26, You: But you're telling me that my only choice is to do something that I cannot do

14:30, (T-Mobile Rep): I understand where you are coming from, Andrew. What I will be doing here is to file a ticket about the issue. If I may ask have you tried to contact your Internet service provider to check on the connection?

14:31, You: Check what connection?

14:32, You: WiFi works on the phone ... but not WiFi calling

14:33, (T-Mobile Rep): I apologize for the confusion. You have to contact your wifi provider.

14:33, You: Contact them for what, though?

14:39, (T-Mobile Rep): I have check all here on the account and everything is all good. You need to contact your wifi provider there will be a possibility there was an issue on the connect of the wifi. No worries, I will still file a ticket for the wifi calling not working.

14:39, You: I just told you that the WiFi works

14:39, You: WiFi Calling does not

14:40, You: I don't see how the issue would be on their end

14:40, You: Can I speak to somebody, for real, that cares?

14:41, You: $30 for no service for an entire month? Seriously?

14:42, You: So I get a credit for almost nothing and then you tell me that you can't help me

14:42, You: (T-Mobile Rep), give me one reason why I should stick with T-Mobile after today?

14:42, You: Honestly, one good reason. That's all I need

14:47, (T-Mobile Rep): I know $30 credit is not enough to have the issue resolve. Let me add $20 for the inconvenience it may cost. I know how important for you to have the issue be resolved to be honest I do really cares a lot I am also looking for some other option for me to have this resolve since I can be able to call you as of the moment. Rest assured after that I have filed the ticket from our Technical Support our engineering team will make sure this will rectify to have this issue resolve. I don't want to loose such a loyal customer like you. I hope you can be able to give me a chance regarding file a ticket to our Technical Support.

14:48, You: So, is Tech Support going to assist me right now? In this coversation?

14:48, You: *conversation

14:50, You: Or if they receive the ticket, how will they contact me?

14:54, (T-Mobile Rep): I have to file a ticket about the issue you have regarding about the wifi calling. I have to monitor the response of our Technical support of the ticket that I have file. Rest assured the issue will be resolve using the ticket I will file.

14:54, You: You didn't answer my questions

14:54, You: Is it going to be taken care of during this conversation or not?

14:58, (T-Mobile Rep): Just to clarify, Andrew. Out tech experts are only available over the phone, so we really need to call and speak to them. As much as i would love to personally transfer you to our tech expert, they are asking me to connect you over the phone because messaging is not available for our tech.

15:00, You: You are seriously going to keep telling me this?

15:00, You: That I need to call them when I cannot?

15:00, You: Is Your manager seeing this?

15:00, You: Is anybody at T-Mobile reading this nonsense?

15:00, You: Would you tell a person in a wheelchair that the only way they can cross the street is to get up and walk?

15:02, (T-Mobile Rep): I really want to fix the issue as much as i wanted to its just that we have limited access only here in messaging and the best that we can do are only basic troubleshooting, It would be best to reach our international care over the phone on this line below, i understand how urgent we need to fix the issue but we really need to speak to them over the phone. Yes, Andrew. Our chat our being monitored and trust me we already exhausted everything that we have on our end, the next step that we really need to do is to speak to a tech expert and since they are asking to talk to you directly you can definitely reach out international care on their direct line below. TMobile international care: 1-505-998-3793

15:02, You: And don't get me wrong, (T-Mobile Rep), I haven't expected you to have the answers for me through all this. I totally understand that. But I do expect you to forward this to somebody who can help me.

15:02, You: I CANNOT CALL! I CANNOT ANSWER!

15:03, You: WHY DO YOU KEEP TELLING ME TO CALL WHEN YOU KNOW I CANNOT?

15:03, You: Can this chat be made public?

15:04, (T-Mobile Rep): I do understand that, Andrew. What I meant is, you can definitely reach our international care using a landline, is there any landline available?

15:05, You: No, I have told you that there is no alternative phone line and I should not be inconvenienced to the point where I have to search one out

15:05, You: I know my situation is unique

15:05, You: But that doesn't mean I should simply cast aside, especially considering that I am spending money for TMobile's service

15:06, You: Which again brings me to the thought that if T-Mobile does nothing for me, then why should I continue to pay for it?

15:06, (T-Mobile Rep): It is not my intention to cause inconvenience for you Andrew, as much as i want to talk to our tech expert on your behalf they are asking me to connect you to them. I hope you will understand, I have exhausted all of the options that i have to help you.

15:06, You: Tell them

15:07, You: Have you told them that I cannot speak to them?

15:07, You: Are they aware that I am living in rural Alaska and only have access to WiFi?

15:08, (T-Mobile Rep): I did, Andrew. They told me that they really need to speak to a customer directly.

15:08, You: Have you told them that I cannot?

15:08, You: Because I don't see how a Technical Support employee would possibly think the answer is to tell me to do something that I cannot

15:08, (T-Mobile Rep): I did, Andrew.

15:09, You: Are you able to escalate this to anybody in your company?

15:09, You: I have been on this chat for almost three hours and you keep telling me to call

15:09, You: And I keep telling you that I cannot

15:09, You: And I find it ridiculous that nobody at T-Mobile can contact me online regarding this

15:10, You: I haven't swore at you. I haven't called you names. I have kept my cool considering I have been on here for NEARLY THREE HOURS

15:10, You: But is this REALLY what T-Mobile calls customer service?

15:10, You: What am I supposed to do when this chat ends, (T-Mobile Rep)?

15:10, You: Serious question. What am I supposed to do?

15:11, You: I cannot call but you keep telling me to call. So when we end this conversation, what is my next step?

15:14, (T-Mobile Rep): I understand how frustrating it is being unable to use the service that you are paying for, i really want to resole the issue and the best that i can do for you is to file a trouble ticked if we cannot call our tech expert and what will going to happen is our engineers will look into issue and fix it, i would just like to set proper expectation that the process may take up to 27 hours. I really do understand that you need the service right away its just that since we cant talk to a tech expert then we will have to wait for our engineers to try and fix the issue, would that be fine with you?

15:14, (T-Mobile Rep): i mean 72 hours*

15:15, You: How will they contact me, though?

15:17, (T-Mobile Rep): They usually send out sms notification once the issue has been fixed and if in any case that we are still not getting any updates after 72 hours, you can definitely message us back for follow up with our engineers, i have nothing but pure intention to help you Andrew, i really want the issue to be fixed as soon as possible but the best option that we can do for now is escalate this to our engineers.

15:19, You: So, to clarify, IF they fix the issue, I will get an SMS Text. If they do NOT, however, and if I need to help on my end, I will never know because ... how could I? Then you say that I can 'definitely message you back for follow up with our engineers' but i cannot speak to the Engineers now so how can I do it then?

15:24, (T-Mobile Rep): I understand that we really need the service fixed ASAP, our engineers are an offline team and we do submit tickets to them using our system and rest assured that once the issue is fixed we will definitely get an update from them or a note on your account, I would love to personally handle this for you its just that we don't have a way to send message to our customers, we only receive incoming chats, i would love to follow up on you personally its just that we don't have a way to make an outbound international call. But i can strongly assure you that i will be escalating the issue and will do our best to help you.

15:26, You: But if it isn't fixed, when I message online again, how will anything be resolved? Won't I just be stuck with a customer service rep, like right now, that can't help me?

15:30, (T-Mobile Rep): No worries! if in any case that the issue is still not working, our engineers will leave a specific instruction that needs to be done to fix the issue so after 72 hours we will definitely get updates about the issue, we will not stop until we can provide a better resolution for you, i just do hope so that this will not affect on how you see T-Mobile as a whole, i will do everything on my end to make sure that everything will be taken cared of, rest assured that all of our messages are recorded so that the next rep can check our conversation so that you don't have to explain the issue all over again.

15:33, You: But how will I know if I need to contact you again? Shouldn't T-Mobile contact ME? Via e-mail, even? In either case, yes, this experience has completely soured me on T-Mobile and I do not plan on continuing with this service going forward. I'm sure nobody cares but that's $150 to $180 a month that won't be going to T-Mobile each month.

15:35, You: And just so whoever monitors this conversation knows, reprimanding (T-Mobile Rep) is NOT the answer. She is doing what you guys tell her to do which is almost nothing

15:38, (T-Mobile Rep): It saddens me to know that you are planning on leaving us but i do understand your frustrations and will do respect your decision, i am a customer as well so i do understand what you feel. They will send a sms message after 72 hours for updates if in any case that you did not receive a message after around 3 days, you can message us back so we can check the notes of our engineers. I really appreciate you being so understanding with me, i will definitely do my best to help you, and i will still try to message you on this app for updates after 72 hours, please monitor our chat from time to time for updates.

15:41, You: Do you believe in Artificial Intelligence, (T-Mobile Rep)?

15:43, (T-Mobile Rep): With modern time going by artificial Intelligence is really common now a days.

15:46, You: Yeah. As of today, I think I believe in it, too. Sort of like that AIM robot, SmarterChild. Thank you for your time.

Info: Conversation closed by You, 15:46