T-Mobiles Hidden Charges - Where do I stand?

[Absomalutely]

I took out a contract Initially in january 2005 and I was up for a renewall at the end of June

So I phoned retentions and went through the upgrade procedure and was offered a flex tariff (flext 25, with an additional £20 credit as I had been with them for 18 months)

I explained over the phone that I was holding out for the k800i, and the lady on the phone was happy for me to carry on my contract with no phone with a discount on the account until the phone was released. So I was paying £13 a month until I decided to call up and choose a phone, but she stressed to me that the 18 month contract would start again from the time that I received my new phone. As I was happy with that, I agreed. At this point can I stress that she indicated no other charges would be applied to my account upon choosing the phone as it would probably be free.

So the time comes that the k800i is available and I call up and ask for the phone. Again, no problems and the phone is delivered to me. She advised that a £5 delivery charge would be added to my next bill which I agreed to.

Upon receiving my bill, both online and through the post I notice some mysterious 'Adjustment' charges, dated the time my phone was delivered. There are 9 of these mysterious charges totalling £24.76 including VAT.

Obviously a little bit stunned, I phoned billing enquiries and explained the situation. She explained to me that these charges are as a result of the discount applied to my account when I did not have a phone, and as I had chosen a phone, the discount had deducted this amount to my phone. She suggested to me that if I was unhappy with the charges, then I should log a complaint via the t-mobile website. She also added that these charges should have been explained to me when I agreed to the renewal of the contract.

How completly ridiculous?! Who ever heard of 'taking back' a discount which was applied to my account?!?! As I was given no notification of these charges either over the phone or in writing, where do I stand with regards to ever getting this money back? Or even cancelling my contract?

I have been a happy customer of T-mobile until this has happened, but to say this has cheesed me off is an understatement.

Should there be anything (iyo) that I should mention when lodging my complaint with T-mobile? The complaints form on the t-mobile site is only limited to 2000 characters, so explaining this in any detail is going to be difficult... Has anyone else had similar experience of this?

 

[mrochester]

By the sounds of it, what seems to have happened is that T-Mobile have changed their minds out when to start your contract. Maybe you should call to verify when the 18 months started, whether it was when you got the K800, or the few months before when your old contract was originally up.

 

[Absomalutely]

By the sounds of it, what seems to have happened is that T-Mobile have changed their minds out when to start your contract. Maybe you should call to verify when the 18 months started, whether it was when you got the K800, or the few months before when your old contract was originally up.

I was told that I would be tied to another 18 month contract when I received the k800i.

When a bill is almost twice the amount for a completly unexpected reason its a bit shocking, especially when I'm a student :/

 

[stu.artd]

Sounds like the CS rep got it wrong or an error has occurred in the billing procedure.

I had a problem a while ago with Orange where the CS rep didn't tell me everything they should have when I ended my contract with them.

Good luck with your complaint. I know it's a pain losing the money when you didn't expect to, but if the contract has started earlier than you were led to believe then at least you'll be out of it a little earlier as well.