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T-Mobile to Change 'Deceptive' No-Contract Ads, Offer Refunds
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I (and two others) got a TV advert for one of these penny-auction scams stopped quite quickly. Or maybe they didn't have enough money for more than one advert
Just because it's a scam, doesn't mean they actually make a lot of money from it. (What was a bit upsetting was that it was stopped more about a formality, not about the fact that it is actually a scam. When you "win an auction", you have to pay the auction price, but you already paid for your bids, so the cost for the "winner" is higher than they actually advertised; that's why they stopped the advert. The fact that all the losers lost the money they paid for bids, which is the real scam, wasn't mentioned. But maybe if they have to give more details in an advert, the scam becomes apparent to more people).
Think of T-Mobile as a store. It sells lots of products, including wireless services and phones. I can go to T-Mobile and just buy the wireless service. That is what T-Mobile is advertising. The phone is another product that I am not required to buy at T-Mobile, but can if I want.
Moreover, it is impossible for people to be confused because it is explained in detail at its stores or on its websites.
Your argument that there is no reason a responsible consumer would float small debt doesn't make sense. If I can afford something, but I am offered a zero percent interest rate like T-Mobile offers with its phones and many car companies offer, why wouldn't I take that offer? Holding my money allows me to earn interest on it, and I have the money in case of an emergency.
Moreover, what really was problematic is that credit card companies prior to the Obama Administration passing the Fair Credit Act were allowed to randomly increase your interest rate for no reason at all other them they felt like it. So a person could be paying his bill and could afford to do so, but all the sudden his payment would double because of an increased interest rate. The system is still corrupt because banks borrow from the federal bank at less than 1 percent interest rate, and then sometimes loan the money to taxpayers at over 20 percent.
Further, the government doesn't care if some consumers default on debt because it wants people buying things.
I totally agree...anything to avoid mention of not having a two year PLAN contract with EFT on the PLAN... new phone or not.
When is this guy going to make AT&T advertise THAT? Even if you take your ALREADY PAID phone to AT&T they make you sign a two-year contract WITH ETF. So effectively they make you pay for a phone they won't even give you. I suppose "work very hard not to be cheated" is different than "missing an ad fine print".
I love how it hasn't been 30 days Of the plan in existence, yet somehow this Attorney General forced a settlement through that also includes no cost to break the phone sale agreement... We're still in the RETURN window.
I suppose Tmobile settles and changes their ads now. In most courts this agreement would be "grievous" to Tmobile more than the customer. So I suppose one settlement now locks out the other States on this matter.
1. All carriers are scum
2. Verizon and AT&T have great coverage... that's the reason people are with them.
T-Mobile has always been cheaper than Verizon and AT&T... so you'd think people would already be on T-Mobile.
But they're not.
Price alone isn't what brings customers to carriers... coverage plays an important role too... so I'm interested in whether all this new T-Mobile stuff will actually draw people in.
I (and two others) got a TV advert for one of these penny-auction scams stopped quite quickly. Or maybe they didn't have enough money for more than one advert
(What was a bit upsetting was that it was stopped more about a formality, not about the fact that it is actually a scam. When you "win an auction", you have to pay the auction price, but you already paid for your bids, so the cost for the "winner" is higher than they actually advertised; that's why they stopped the advert. The fact that all the losers lost the money they paid for bids, which is the real scam, wasn't mentioned. But maybe if they have to give more details in an advert, the scam becomes apparent to more people).
The ones I have seen on TV allow you to use the bids as part of payment to purchase the item bid on immediately after the auction. That wasn't in the TV ad, but was clear in the sites FAQ info. So if up don't bid on stuff you won't buy it's nota scam at all. I'm not running out to sign up cause I don't have that much stuff I NEEED to buy.
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How do you get ANY Attorney General office to respond to what is a minor omission on Tmobile's part, AND SETTLE, in UNDER THIRTY DAYS. There's no "customers" protected here... Only palms being greased.
But every single day there are tons of people who finally arrive at the end of their 2 year contract. How come we don't see more people switching then?
You're right... a person can't switch until after 2 years... but people can switch every day. And yet Verizon and AT&T maintain the most customers.
AT&T and Verizon have 200 million wireless customers combined.
But Sprint has 55 million and T-Mobile has 34 million.
Clearly Verizon and AT&T customers are sticking with them... maybe it's because of coverage and phone selections.
In other words... the promise of "you can switch carriers at any time" isn't really appealing.
And then there's the fact that a single phone won't work on all carriers... so that lessens the benefit of switching carriers.
I understand what you're saying... and that's how it is in many other countries. You buy a phone outright... and put it on any carrier as you please (pay as you go too!)
But unfortunately... that's not how the United States is set up. And I don't see T-Mobile changing that either.
1. Still using that "leaked" ad, huh?
2. Read the details before signing up for anything - unless you are just ignorant about life.
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Google places ads for those scamming bidders on my computer all the time, but I would never use their site because the items are not actually sold at those advertised prices once the cost of buying bids comes into play. Now if they would only do something about another company that has no more racks that uses false advertising in its sales attempts.
2. Read the details before signing up for anything - unless you are just ignorant about life.
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I (and two others) got a TV advert for one of these penny-auction scams stopped quite quickly. Or maybe they didn't have enough money for more than one advert
(What was a bit upsetting was that it was stopped more about a formality, not about the fact that it is actually a scam. When you "win an auction", you have to pay the auction price, but you already paid for your bids, so the cost for the "winner" is higher than they actually advertised; that's why they stopped the advert. The fact that all the losers lost the money they paid for bids, which is the real scam, wasn't mentioned. But maybe if they have to give more details in an advert, the scam becomes apparent to more people).
Google places ads for those scamming bidders on my computer all the time, but I would never use their site because the items are not actually sold at those advertised prices once the cost of buying bids comes into play. Now if they would only do something about another company that has no more racks that uses false advertising in its sales attempts.
Well, from all that I can tell, people in America do want something closer to this than what they have.
You need to consider that competitors to AT&T/Verizon do not have as easy a time attracting customers because those customers are locked in to pre-existing agreements. That, in turn, leads to underinvestment which leads to reputations of bad service.
It's a monopolistic business. Or, well, a duopoly because Verizon managed to get in early. The market is now effectively shut to newcomers. It needs a fresh injection of competition to stir things up.
no one is going to spend tens of billions of $$$ to build out a new network because they won't be able to charge less $$$
wireless service costs the same from any carrier in the USA because the costs of building out and running a network are the same to everyone
Count myself and my wife as two people that just transferred our numbers to T-Mobile from Sprint because of the T-Mobile deal. So far we are liking the service. Not getting LTE yet but the 4G speeds are great. Not perfect but every carrier is not perfect. With the trade-in of our iPhone 4S it reduces the amount owed to pay on the interest free loan on both iPhone 5 to be 1 yr instead of 2. I also like that T-Mobile will also completely unlock the iPhone 5 after 90 days of good standing.
nope. those are dummies also. they have you fooled into thinking they are smart and brainy.
Well like I said... today is April 26
Roughly 280,000 Verizon and AT&T customers have their contracts expiring today. How many will leave?
Some people might actually like what they get from the duopoly of AT&T/Verizon... or they don't plan on leaving anyway. In that case... 2 year contracts aren't a big deal.
You're right... the smaller carriers have trouble attracting customers.
Sprint made a big deal out of "truly unlimited data"
What they don't tell you is that their data is slow and their coverage is poor*. So what's the net gain... a cheaper phone bill... but poor service?
That's why the bigger carriers have (and retain) so many customers.
* it all depends on where you live. Sprint may be fine in certain areas... T-Mobile too. But for the most part... Verizon and AT&T have you covered
You should have the option. However why would you want to pay it all up front? It's zero interest financing. You will save more money by dumping it into a low-interest savings account instead of all up front into the phone. If you ever need to leave t-mobile early, just pay the balance off then.
I'll admit the T-Mobile deal is nice... and I could save a few bucks per month compared to my Verizon single-person bill.
But I know a few people with T-Mobile in the areas I inhabit... and I've never been too impressed by it.
I look at it this way: I know Verizon's network and I'm satisfied with their coverage, especially their LTE.
Why would I gamble that away, trying to save a few bucks with another carrier?
This may be a case of "you get what you pay for"
Coverage depends on where you live, though. It will be fine for some people. I do wish T-Mobile well
There is no deception!
This is yet another example of "much ado about nothing." T Mobile's offer is clear and straight forward, to anyone with half a brain, that is. You are required to actually buy the phone over a 2 year period but the monthly service is elective. You can cancel it at any time. They explained to me quite clearly that if I were to decide to cancel service, the remaining balance of the cost of the phone would be due. No ambiguity there. But then again, I was educated outside of WA state.
This is yet another example of "much ado about nothing." T Mobile's offer is clear and straight forward, to anyone with half a brain, that is. You are required to actually buy the phone over a 2 year period but the monthly service is elective. You can cancel it at any time. They explained to me quite clearly that if I were to decide to cancel service, the remaining balance of the cost of the phone would be due. No ambiguity there. But then again, I was educated outside of WA state.
Yea this is only deceptive if you are completely stupid. But hey this is the facebook generation were talking about.
Good luck getting much return on the money. Also, it's a relatively small amount of money, even with an iPhone, so it's better just to pay for it and be done with it. I don't believe in any debt other than one mortgage and student loan debt if absolutely necessary (which I was luckily able to avoid), and if you really have to, a car loan of less than $10k. Since I currently have a car that works and no student debt, I will never have debt other than a mortgage some day. I guess my credit card is technically debt, but I pay it in full whenever it emails me, so I don't count that as debt, since you have to pay things somehow.
That's true, our economy is so consumer based that we want people to keep spending and spending, which is why the de-leveraging post 2008 hurts so much.
lmao this is an OUTRAGE
you stole my plan
loljk
wait you mean I don't get free fuel for life after buying a new car????!!!!
This is absolutely nothing new straight talk had this deal months ago. I switched to t mobile and couldn't be happier. If you didn't expect to pay for the phone your a stupid deadbeat plain and simple. I was not deceived at all and id would much rather be "locked" into a contract paying for a device rather then a service contract. My iphones both of them will be paid off soon i dont plan on paying just 20 dollars a month.
My friend just purchased to T-Mobile phones and qualifies for this. He said that when he went to buy his phones, it seemed just like a contract to him. He warned me not to switch to T-Mobile like I was considering. He said it was still basically a contract.
I remember when I was growing up, there was almost no faults advertisement. Anytime somebody false advertised, people would sue the crap out of the company. Now with all of the people grabbing their necks and chasing ambulances, you would think it would be even less false advertisement. But, there is even more. I see companies saying things clean with "Real Magic" and "9 out of 10 doctors recommend" and they dress people up as doctors and display fake credentials for infomercials.
It's about time the government got off it's sorry, lazy ass and did something about this.
I remember when I was growing up, there was almost no faults advertisement. Anytime somebody false advertised, people would sue the crap out of the company. Now with all of the people grabbing their necks and chasing ambulances, you would think it would be even less false advertisement. But, there is even more. I see companies saying things clean with "Real Magic" and "9 out of 10 doctors recommend" and they dress people up as doctors and display fake credentials for infomercials.
It's about time the government got off it's sorry, lazy ass and did something about this.