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Holy clusterfuck. I have gotten off the phone with two different companies and I am getting angry. No name changing this time.
<bg>So in May I purchased a "refillable" card from T-Mobile at CVS pharmacy. I have a pay-as-you-go phone. The last time I purchased a refillable card, it did not work, but the staff assured me that these problems are rare. In addition, most pharmacies have a strict "no refunds" policy on prepaid cards. If the card is activated, they will not take it back. You can screech until you're blue in the face but you will not get a refund. If the card DOES NOT activate, you must be given a new card. If that card is a dud, then you are given your money back. At least, that is the policy at Aid of Rite, not sure about CVS.</bg>
Thursday: I handed the card over at the CVS I purchased it from, the shift supervisor scanned it, asked me for the amount ($10), I swiped my debit card and she handed the refill card over. But it errored. It never activated.
"Oh, last time they simply gave me a new card, I had this problem before".
"We can't do that, it's forbidden."
"J, if there's a problem, please give her the new card," said the cashier next to her. "Those things don't work often enough."
"I can't!" J said. So we try looking for T-Mobile's customer care service line. Lo and fucking behold, it is not printed on the back of the card nor on the back of any of the prepaid phones. Since i'm heading to the mall anyway, I figured i would pop into TMobile's store to get the number. The rep at the TMobile store scribbles down a number on the back of his business card and sends me on my merry way.
Friday: After I've finished my stay-at-home work for today, I called the number the rep gave me. It's a number to win some sort of gift card if I take a survey. I hang up and dial 611 from my cell phone. I get customer service...who promptly tell me that I need my PIN for my account. Shit.
"Sorry ma'am, we can't do anything for you, and furthermore, we suggest you call FastCard as they are the distributors of the card."
Ok. Fine. I looked up FastCard's number online and call it. Five times. Each time I keep asking to be transferred to Customer Care. Each time, I say that there is a problem with my TMobile card. Each time, I keep being sent to the card redemption line. By the fifth time I had to tell them, before I said anything else I told them very firmly "DO NOT send me to the TMobile redemption line. I have been trying for two hours to try to get this problem resolved. DO NOT send me to the redemption line! Do not! No! Do not send me to the redemption line!" (Yes, it had taken two hours for me to reach that point. I had portions of my stay-at-home work to touch up as the client sent me back the article to change a few words and I had to finish another. In between, the operator went on lunch for a half an hour and sent the calls to an answering machine. *angry sigh*) When the rep had listened to my problem and after I explained CVS cannot do a thing for me...
"Sorry ma'am we can't do anything for you, and furthermore, we suggest you call TMobile as they are your phone carrier."
*twitch*
I call TMobile again. They ask for my pin, I say I don't know, and they tell me to guess. I rattle off a string of 4 digit codes that I can think of-my bank PIN, my year of birth, my date of birth-BINGO, it's my date of birth. The rep listens.
"Well why don't you go back to the pharmacy?"
"Because it's against their policy to give me a refund even though it's a defective card."
"Look, I suggest you tell them that you've called us several times today and you've called FastCard. They have to give you your money back. Thank you for calling us". (This was not as snippy as it sounded, the poor rep did sound a bit sorry for me!)
I thanked him and hung up.
At this point, I am at my wit's end. The money for my card has come off my account and I have no minutes left on my phone (luckily I used a landline for the runaround TMobile/Fastcard/TMobile song and dance bit). I want the minutes I paid for on my phone. $10 is a lot of money for me to waste for a service I did not get. I need advice on where to go from here.
<bg>So in May I purchased a "refillable" card from T-Mobile at CVS pharmacy. I have a pay-as-you-go phone. The last time I purchased a refillable card, it did not work, but the staff assured me that these problems are rare. In addition, most pharmacies have a strict "no refunds" policy on prepaid cards. If the card is activated, they will not take it back. You can screech until you're blue in the face but you will not get a refund. If the card DOES NOT activate, you must be given a new card. If that card is a dud, then you are given your money back. At least, that is the policy at Aid of Rite, not sure about CVS.</bg>
Thursday: I handed the card over at the CVS I purchased it from, the shift supervisor scanned it, asked me for the amount ($10), I swiped my debit card and she handed the refill card over. But it errored. It never activated.
"Oh, last time they simply gave me a new card, I had this problem before".
"We can't do that, it's forbidden."
"J, if there's a problem, please give her the new card," said the cashier next to her. "Those things don't work often enough."
"I can't!" J said. So we try looking for T-Mobile's customer care service line. Lo and fucking behold, it is not printed on the back of the card nor on the back of any of the prepaid phones. Since i'm heading to the mall anyway, I figured i would pop into TMobile's store to get the number. The rep at the TMobile store scribbles down a number on the back of his business card and sends me on my merry way.
Friday: After I've finished my stay-at-home work for today, I called the number the rep gave me. It's a number to win some sort of gift card if I take a survey. I hang up and dial 611 from my cell phone. I get customer service...who promptly tell me that I need my PIN for my account. Shit.
"Sorry ma'am, we can't do anything for you, and furthermore, we suggest you call FastCard as they are the distributors of the card."
Ok. Fine. I looked up FastCard's number online and call it. Five times. Each time I keep asking to be transferred to Customer Care. Each time, I say that there is a problem with my TMobile card. Each time, I keep being sent to the card redemption line. By the fifth time I had to tell them, before I said anything else I told them very firmly "DO NOT send me to the TMobile redemption line. I have been trying for two hours to try to get this problem resolved. DO NOT send me to the redemption line! Do not! No! Do not send me to the redemption line!" (Yes, it had taken two hours for me to reach that point. I had portions of my stay-at-home work to touch up as the client sent me back the article to change a few words and I had to finish another. In between, the operator went on lunch for a half an hour and sent the calls to an answering machine. *angry sigh*) When the rep had listened to my problem and after I explained CVS cannot do a thing for me...
"Sorry ma'am we can't do anything for you, and furthermore, we suggest you call TMobile as they are your phone carrier."
*twitch*
I call TMobile again. They ask for my pin, I say I don't know, and they tell me to guess. I rattle off a string of 4 digit codes that I can think of-my bank PIN, my year of birth, my date of birth-BINGO, it's my date of birth. The rep listens.
"Well why don't you go back to the pharmacy?"
"Because it's against their policy to give me a refund even though it's a defective card."
"Look, I suggest you tell them that you've called us several times today and you've called FastCard. They have to give you your money back. Thank you for calling us". (This was not as snippy as it sounded, the poor rep did sound a bit sorry for me!)
I thanked him and hung up.
At this point, I am at my wit's end. The money for my card has come off my account and I have no minutes left on my phone (luckily I used a landline for the runaround TMobile/Fastcard/TMobile song and dance bit). I want the minutes I paid for on my phone. $10 is a lot of money for me to waste for a service I did not get. I need advice on where to go from here.
lol
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