I believe it might be time for a class action lawsuit against T-Mobile for raising rates on a promised fixed rate, never to change, Magenta 55+ plan. I realize that T-Mobile has incurred additional expenses as they say but if they think that this plan was a bad deal for them then I’m sorry to say that they made their bed and must lie in it (no pun intended for the lie).They are the third largest cell phone provider in the nation with 98 million customers. I don’t know what share has the Magenta 55+ plan but I’m sure it’s a lot. Please let us know if we have support out there. We mean no harm to T-Mobile but they have certainly harmed us as we incur additional expenses in our lives as well. Thanks!

Husband received letter 55+ rate was $30/month but when we went to T-Mobile store it was $115/month for husband plan & $40/month for my plan There wasn’t a $30/month plan unless get 2 lines for basic coverage and both people had to get exactly same plan? My $40 wasn’t $40 month either but $51.07/month! Just like you I feel

I submitted a complaint to the Washington State Attorney General, who relayed my complaint to TM.  I received a call back from a “Customer Resource Specialist” who I reported on previously on this chat group.  Today, I received the response that TM sent to the AG’s office and am including it here.  For anyone who lives in the State of Washington, I urge you to file a complaint with the AG’s office.  There is not much else they can do unless they receive numerous complaints.  For the folks at TM who are monitoring this chat group, know that what you have offered is corporate double speak, gaslighting, and  broken promises.  We are boomers and not dead yet.

July 8, 2024

VIA EMAIL

Consumer Resource Specialist

Consumer Protection Division

Washington State Attorney General

800 Fifth Ave. Ste. 2000

Seattle, WA 98104

Your File No. 669988

T-Mobile Account No. 960596759

To Whom It May Concern:

T-Mobile USA, Inc. (“T-Mobile”) is in receipt of your correspondence dated June 20, 2024, regarding the above-referenced account.

T-Mobile regrets any concerns Mr. M may have experienced regarding their account, and we appreciate the opportunity to respond. T-Mobile records indicate  M activated service on September 9, 2017, and maintains two voice lines of service ending in 4365 and 3448, subscribed to the ONE Plan Unlimited 55 rate plan at the monthly cost of $80.00, including taxes and fees. Additionally,  M is enrolled in AutoPay, in which they receive a monthly discount of $5.00 per eligible line while using an eligible payment method.

On January 5, 2017, T-Mobile announced Un-contract. Un-contract is one of many ways T-Mobile showed our commitment to providing the best value in wireless. With Un-contract, T-Mobile committed to its customers that if it were to increase prices and customers chose to leave as a result, T-Mobile would pay the customers’ final month’s recurring service charges, as long as customers notified T-Mobile within 60 days. Consistent with that commitment, customers who activated on an eligible rate plan between January 5, 2017, and April 27, 2022, can request to have their final month’s qualifying service charges reimbursed if their rate plan price increase and they choose to cancel service. Customers simply need to request the reimbursement within 60 days of the price increase.

From April 28, 2022, to January 17, 2024, T-Mobile began offering Price Lock on new account activations on qualifying rate plans. Price Lock guarantees that accounts activated with a qualifying rate plan, within the enrollment period, would not be subject to a price increase, so long as the account remained in good standing and the customer remained on the qualifying rate plan. If a customer migrates to a new plan not covered by Price Lock, the Price Lock guarantee will fall off the account given the customer is no longer on a qualifying rate plan. As  M’s account was activated before the above mentioned enrollment period, their account is not eligible for the Price Lock guarantee. Consumer Resource Specialist July 8, 2024 Page 2 of 2

P.O. Box 37380 Albuquerque, NM 87176 www.t-mobile.com

T-Mobile periodically reviews our plans and services to ensure that customers receive our latest benefits and features. As costs continue to rise, T-Mobile has made some small adjustments to the pricing of some of our older rate plans. On May 22, 2024, T-Mobile began notifying customers enrolled on older rate plans that their plan’s monthly recurring cost will increase as of their June statement.

T-Mobile notified Myers that their ONE Plan Unlimited 55 will increase by $5.00, as of their next bill cycle, June 10, 2024.  M’s plan type, benefits, and due date will remain the same. If  M is interested in shopping for a new rate plan or would like to review our current rate plan offerings, we encourage them to contact Customer Care or visit T-Mobile.com/cell-phone-plan.

On June 25, 2024, our office contacted M and advised them of the information above. T-Mobile regrets any inconvenience to M

Based upon the above, we respectfully request that this matter against T-Mobile be closed.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at the address listed below or at 425-***-****.

Very truly yours,

T-MOBILE USA, INC.

Alton L

Executive Response

Upon receipt of my email to the CEO (pasted previously), the office of the T-Mobile CEO has reached out to me.  A very nice lady who identifies as a “Senior Specialist, Team CEO” called me late this afternoon.  She was quite willing to listen to my story, and expressed her apologies for the fact that I was “disappointed” in the service.  Although she was totally cordial and professional, this was obviously a “CYA” followup.  She assured me that the credit for my last month’s cost would be applied.  Nowhere, however, was there a mention of the fact that a promise was ever made or broken.  She, once again, mentioned that “inflation” was hard on everyone, and that the price increase to those of us who were promised our monthly cost would NEVER increase was necessary.

Nuff said!

It is NOT the money… it IS the principles !!!

I;m going to hit up ADA with Accommodation request.(Disabled Vet on SSDI fixed income - This is a huge deal)), CPFB, FCC, state and federal congressional and senate members, AARP, anyone else I can think of or you can suggest.

Talking to USA customer service when they open.  Asian folks always end up screwing me in the end.

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/ This one is fairly new I believe.  Other govt. branches/officials did not succeed in shutting this down yet in 2016-2020, Although dude fought plenty hard for it.

Not sure if it was in this thread, but writing these 3 folks also, copying all in 1 e-mail:

• • • Mike.sievert@t-mobile.com CEO
    • jon.freier@t-mobile.com Pres. consumer group 
    • Pedro Montalvo
      • Sr. Specialist, Executive Response, Team CEO
      • Direct 425.403.1503 | Pedro.Montalvo@T-Mobile.com

Searching for Class Action, but nothing yet.  Plus they take a LONG time.  Most recent re:data breach has still not been awarded.  T-Mobile is appealing.
 

Plenty of anger energy today - Never seen something so sleazy. 

I’ll reply if anything hits.

For those asking about a class action lawsuit, it was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in the District of New Jersey, requesting a jury trial as a result of T-Mobile breaking their promise to not raise prices for those of us covered by the Un-contract and their Price Lock. For those wishing to have a look at the complaint, here’s a link:   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NuzIh7lhRBwDRxFxa_RxAU3fxSMDQO4f/view?usp=sharing

How do we go about joining the class action lawsuit?  Please advise - thanks.

This is pretty new, but I believe that members of the class will be notified by the court if it allows the case to proceed. In the meantime, you may want to go on the T-Mobile site and opt out of their arbitration clause. https://www.t-mobiledisputeresolution.com/en/TMobile/OptOut

That opt out is only good if you activated a line less than 30 days.

My attorney asked me to do it anyway. I wonder how many of us got a copy of T-Mobile’s Terms & Conditions when we signed up for the plan, and/or were told they had 30 days to opt out. I know I didn’t. It’s worth opting out unless & until the court decides that we can’t… it’s in their hands now.

Hopefully the governmental agencies like the FCC, State AGs, etc. will be more proactive and convince T-Mobile to rescind their “Breach Of Contract” rate increase.  Also if the national and local news report on the class action lawsuit, more affected individuals will join... 

I filed a complaint with the FCC. Thank you to the person above who suggested that and provided the link. I just received a form letter from T-Mobile. See attached. It is quite remarkable how they are trying to deny ever having made the claim, and conflating a different offer called the “price lock“ which they say was offered in April 2022 through January 2024.  I have a very clear memory, as many of you seem also to have, of the 55+ plan when it was first announced in 2017 with a “guaranteed price for life”.

I just can’t believe that nobody has any documented evidence of this promise that was made when we signed up. I I did some initial searching on the Internet way back machine (https://web.archive.org) but I was not yet able to find anything. 
 

I think overall T-Mobile is a pretty good company, but it does seem like they are in breach of contract here, and it seems like they should be called on it. It does seem like things may have changed since John Légère left. 
 

I filed a complaint with the FCC. Thank you to the person above who suggested that and provided the link. I just received a form letter from T-Mobile. See attached. It is quite remarkable how they are trying to deny ever having made the claim, and conflating a different offer called the “price lock“ which they say was offered in April 2022 through January 2024.  I have a very clear memory, as many of you seem also to have, of the 55+ plan when it was first announced in 2017 with a “guaranteed price for life”.

I just can’t believe that nobody has any documented evidence of this promise that was made when we signed up. I I did some initial searching on the Internet way back machine (https://web.archive.org) but I was not yet able to find anything. 
 

I think overall T-Mobile is a pretty good company, but it does seem like they are in breach of contract here, and it seems like they should be called on it. It does seem like things may have changed since John Légère left. 
 

 

There is documented evidence, and it’s still on the T-Mobile web site. Here’s a link to their January 2017 announcement:    https://www.t-mobile.com/news/press/un-carrier-next

You can also hear it from John Legere in this video interview he did about that same time:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVQuD_fTpcE

I remember there was a lengthy video event that Leger did to kick off this program, but I haven’t been able to find it, yet. T-Mobile is lying when they tell you that they’ve always had this “We’ll pay your final bill if you choose to leave if we ever raise your price” plan in existance. The earliest instance I can find is January 2024. Those of us who signed up under the Uncarrier Un-contract  and later, their Price Lock, know that we had what was supposed to be a lifetime guarantee that T-Mobile would never change the price we pay, and now they’re trying to reneg on that promise. They can’t be allowed to get away with that, and since complaints to various regulatory agencies seem to be ineffective, a class action lawsuit has been filed.

You’re right about things having changed since John Legere left. Legere was much more in tune with valuing T-Mobile’s subscribers, and doing right by us. Sievert is the anti-Legere, having destroyed all the goodwill that was built up during Legere’s tenure. Doing away with the ability to auto-pay with a credit card and requiring us to give them direct access to our bank with a debit card (or other means) was a bad decision, for subscribers, because they’ve shown they can’t protect our data, and debit cards have less protection than credit cards. There have been other things they’ve done, but the one that has upset their large subscriber base was the price increase on grandfathered plans, and then engaged in a campaign telling us that we were misremembering, and that they always reserved the right to raise the price we pay. It’s apalling that they think that little of us.

The plan was “GUARANTEED FOR LIFE”

 how can that guarantee be broken? Isn’t that a breach of contract?

This is clearly a breach of contract.

I have had multiple phone calls from T-Mobile’s Executive Response office.

In each case I have sent them a copy of the T-Mobile Press Release from 2017 which said:

Now, T-Mobile ONE customers keep their price until THEY decide to change it. 

T-Mobile will never change the price you pay for your T-MobileONE plan. 

When you sign up for T-Mobile ONE, only YOU have the power to change the price you pay.

I asked the representative from the Executive Response office to send me anything relating to my plan that said that T-Mobile could change my rate.

The best he was able to send me was a different press release which I had never seen from 2015, which was two years before I signed up for my plan which did have language that did provide some wiggle room.

So again, when it comes to the offer that I signed up for - “The T-Mobile One” plan, this is clearly a breach of contract on the part of T-Mobile.

For anyone that got the price increase on the magenta 55 plus plan, file a report with the FCC and your state attorney generals office!! I only got a response ( a actual phone call) from T-Mobile when I complained to the attorney generals office. They said yes it was a guaranteed to never increase plan but they couldn't forsee the future and unfortunately must raise their rates. I told them they should have never offered a guaranteed price plan if they had no intention of keeping it! I also told that that if they couldn't figure out that prices would go up in the future then T-Mobile is just plain ignorant! I now have their senior specialist phone number. I will continue to pursue this until I get the plan and pricing back to what I agreed too!! Do not let them win!

In my opinion:

T-Mobile is stealing money from the best, most loyal, older customers. I am not sure if it is criminal, fraud, deception, bait and switch, etc. I will file a complaint with the FCC.

The ERT’s talking point of “I also got affected by the overcharges” is immaterial. Since Paul, a top Boss on the ERT can’t do anything about the ripoff and has no authority, why even have an ERT??? 

This was a calculated business decision to breach the Price Lock Guarantee and cheat the T-Mobile Customers. We were not on the “Un-Contract,” we were on the Magenta 55 $70 Total Forever Contract!

The idea that the only way to get recompense for the many disgruntled customers is to leave T-Mobile is a joke. The concept that this payoff for T-Mobile to break the contract and raise prices is absurd because every bit of marketing was that there was to be no price increases. ERT’s Paul said he would send me the “fine print” yesterday. I eventually found it in SPAM! Did ALL T-Mobile Customers get this “fine print”?

The correct action for Mr. Sievert, the Board, and T-Mobile would be to apologize, revert back and honor our price locks. Heck, they may even be able to gain market share with the publicity. 

The FCC did nothing. They just listened to my my complaint, asked T-Mobile to respond, and then dropped it. I did complain to my states attorney generals office for consumer protection and they are going more in depth about the complaint. I sent them everything I had. T-Mobile actually called me. Gave me the usual jargon about how I can leave if I don't like the price increase, etc. I also told the attorney generals office that they called and broke their promise and now they just are basically saying too bad, you can leave. The attorney generals office is still looking into this!

I reported to the FCC and FL AG and after a number of back and forth communications where T-Mobile spewed a lot of Blue Smoke and Mirrors; the bottom line was ZERO, ZILCH, NADA.  I am DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED of both the FCC and FL AG - no wonder the citizens have NO TRUST in government agencies !!!

I’m not optimistic that it will accomplish much, but I’ve already emailed the office of my U.S. Congressman, and this week will do the same with my two U.S. Senators, which is something we’ve been told to do if we’re not getting anywhere with government agencies.

I’ll post any and all responses that I receive back from them.

Let me know if anything happens! I'm not letting this go!

Just wanted to provide an update and let you know that I just received an email from the Attorney General in the state in which I live (California) letting me know that they will be reaching out to T-Mobile on my behalf. While I’m not holding out a lot of hope that anything will change, I’m at the very least leaving no stone unturned in trying to get T-Mobile to honor their promise.

Also, earlier today I received a similar response from the BBB, asking if the complaint had been resolved. I told them it had not.

I’ll post additional info as I receive additional notifications.

I reached out to my attorney generals office also. They gave me the same response, they would reach out to T-Mobile. It did prompt a phone call from T-Mobile but nothing changed. I told the attorney generals office that they did call me but did not resolve my dispute with them. Nothing else happened. How many dead ends are there. FCC, FTC and attorney general, none are making T-Mobile responsible!!!!!