Plaidophile

So I signed up for one day of service (the "day pass" option) and used it to take care of Important Things while I was stranded at SFO.

When I got home I noticed that the email from T-Mobile said I was now signed up for the unlimited monthly plan ($39.99/mo, without any T-Mobile Wireless discount). Which is, of course, not what I signed up for. So I called customer service.

The CSR didn't apologize — in fact, he implied that I had made a mistake (if I did, that's pretty neat, because I specifically clicked the "I want a DayPass" button which is a completely separate path from the monthly options) — and said that he would cancel my account so that it would terminate at the end of this billing cycle.

I told him that was unacceptable, as I didn't want to sign up for a whole month of access, I just wanted a one-day pass while I was at the airport.

After he put me on hold several times (asking me one or two questions between each hold) he finally said that he'd refund me the $30 difference and would keep my daypass account open so that I can add more time whenever I want. (Which I'm pretty sure I won't want to actually do.) He said it'd take 7-10 days for the refund to go through. Whatever.

I wonder how many people sign up for a day pass and never notice they got the monthly billing until it was too late. Since it's a preapproved recurring transaction, the credit card company won't let you debate the charges. This is definitely one hell of a shady business practice going on there.

Completely unacceptable, and it's yet another reason for me to drop T-Mobile (after being a customer for 6 years!) when my contract's finally up in July. Ugh.