T-Mobile has been in the news a lot lately. Mostly for good things, but there’s always the occasional knock against their brand. Binge On has brought a lot of negative press to T-Mobile, and not necessarily the good kind. Now a labor and consumer group named ‘Change to Win’ is targeting T-Mobile and has sent over a complaint to the FCC. The group claims that T-Mobile’s advertising has been deceptive, as well as employees signing up customers for unwanted services. As far as their advertising goes, Change to Win believes that marketing their plans as ‘no contract’ is a bit misleading. Seeing as there are technically no contracts here, but instead you are signing up for an Equipment Installment Plan, it does have the feeling of a contract.
In the complaint, the group stated, “for many customers, there is no material difference between T-Mobile’s ‘no contract’ service plan and a traditional service contract”. Hence why the group believes it’s misleading or deceptive. That’s not the only reason the group believes the magenta carrier’s advertising is misleading. Also referring to Contract Freedom here, where customers can switch to T-Mobile and the carrier will cover their ETF’s and device payment. However, the company reimburses the customer about 6-8 weeks later, and not upfront. Another group, launched a website about this last month. The website is Calling Out T-Mobile, and it’s in regards to the deceptive advertising and other things the company is doing as the ‘Uncarrier’.
Regarding the complaint about signing up customers for unwanted services, the group refers to T-Mobile’s representatives enrolling customers in services that they did not ask for. The most common service that consumers were enrolled in was JUMP! which adds on an extra $10/month to their bill. Another is adding a higher data plan. We’ve seen numerous customers complaining about being enrolled in insurance and/or JUMP! without being asked, over on Reddit. Where many reps are saying that they can get it for the customer for free and to call back in a week or two.
As of now, there has not been any comments from T-Mobile nor the FCC in regards to this complaint from Change to Win. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with this complaint and if any fines are handed down to T-Mobile because of it.