So this cellphone number portability is supposed to be a good thing, and having tired of my service provider, I decided to see what kind of deal I could find. Seems I can get two phones from T-Mobile [no, the lack of a link is not an accident], sign up for similar service to what I have, new handsets, *and* get $250 back in rebates.
Twist my arm, but not too hard: I’ll take it.
I signed up and was waiting for my new handsets to arrive . . . when my phone service stopped. Turns put T-Mobile took my number from Verizon as soon as I signed up and triggered a process that shuts off my service. Not at all what I expected. The instructions everywhere I have seen them makes clear that you don’t shut off your existing provider until you have your handsets. So why would T-Mobile be so eager to open an account? Is billing me before I have anyway to make calls going to be worth all that much to them? Is it worth losing my account? I make it about $9.00. And now they don’t even get that.
I’d be more charitable if they had been the least apologetic or willing to take the blame for the inconvenience. But they weren’t. I talked to a surly sales rep who made it clear this was all my problem and my fault: his supervisor had a little more clue but still fell back on the “we didn’t cut off your service, the process of porting your number does that automatically.” I cancelled the account.
Needless to say, I won’t be switching to T-Mobile and when the handsets arrive, they’ll be refused and returned. I now need to go to my local Verizon storefront and claim my numbers back.
Still need to work on getting better handsets, but there has to be a better way.