> While it would be nice I just don't expect them to go out of their way to get people to switch because it's a lot of effort to orchestrate for minimal gains.
That's not quite true. They did switch me on a new contract automatically when my 2 year contract ended. And that new contract was priced 3x the normal rate, and it's a 1-month contract they renew every month until I cancel.
So it's not 'a lot of effort', they did switch my contract, but instead of switching to a normal one they switched me to a 3x overpriced one at a rate they don't actually offer to customers on their website.
As for the gains, well that's the whole point of my post, the gains on me were huge: they're making money by silently switching me to a ridiculously overpriced contract on the basis of a tiny-letter clause in a contract of a few years back. About a third of the money they extracted from me so far is for non-service, money they'd only make when the customer is lazy/ignorant enough to not spot the exploitation. That's the definition of 'gotcha pricing', isn't it?
As for the switching part... That's true for 2 year contracts. I hate being called up for that, because I'm just locking myself in to another 2 years. I'd rather sit this one out, and then get a great deal myself on the next one. But in this case it didn't apply because they renewed me for an indefinite 1-month contract at 3x their own market rate, they could've just as easily either 1) automatically and silently renewed at their NORMAL prices they actually charge in their shop for a 1 month contract, I wouldn't even be involved in that and it'd be a fair deal or 2) at least call me or email (didn't receive even a text to my phone) to inform me they RAISED my fees even though they reduced their offering to me! without necessarily pitching any new contract, merely informing me would've been nice.
I mean, to give you a sense of the deal they got me on silently (without a single notification) vs the normal market rates in their store right now: They have an offer in their store that costs 30% less than what I pay now. That offer gives me 50% more minutes and 400% more megabytes than what I have right now, on a 4G connection instead of 3G right now, with a free 1 year old model of an iPhone (5S) included, vs no phone part of the contract I have right now.
And they never even informed me of this bs, it's textbook gotcha pricing. I'm not saying T-Mobile is a crappy company, just that in my anecdotal case, they screwed over a customer with a shitty clause in their contract to take advantage of the fact customers tend not to review a services' fees a few years into a contract. There are fair and practical alternatives to that, but they chose gotcha pricing instead. I don't think you can see it any other way.
> But seriously, call t mobile and ask if there's anything hey can do
Yeah as I said already contacted them, they're getting back to me.
That's not quite true. They did switch me on a new contract automatically when my 2 year contract ended. And that new contract was priced 3x the normal rate, and it's a 1-month contract they renew every month until I cancel.
So it's not 'a lot of effort', they did switch my contract, but instead of switching to a normal one they switched me to a 3x overpriced one at a rate they don't actually offer to customers on their website.
As for the gains, well that's the whole point of my post, the gains on me were huge: they're making money by silently switching me to a ridiculously overpriced contract on the basis of a tiny-letter clause in a contract of a few years back. About a third of the money they extracted from me so far is for non-service, money they'd only make when the customer is lazy/ignorant enough to not spot the exploitation. That's the definition of 'gotcha pricing', isn't it?
As for the switching part... That's true for 2 year contracts. I hate being called up for that, because I'm just locking myself in to another 2 years. I'd rather sit this one out, and then get a great deal myself on the next one. But in this case it didn't apply because they renewed me for an indefinite 1-month contract at 3x their own market rate, they could've just as easily either 1) automatically and silently renewed at their NORMAL prices they actually charge in their shop for a 1 month contract, I wouldn't even be involved in that and it'd be a fair deal or 2) at least call me or email (didn't receive even a text to my phone) to inform me they RAISED my fees even though they reduced their offering to me! without necessarily pitching any new contract, merely informing me would've been nice.
I mean, to give you a sense of the deal they got me on silently (without a single notification) vs the normal market rates in their store right now: They have an offer in their store that costs 30% less than what I pay now. That offer gives me 50% more minutes and 400% more megabytes than what I have right now, on a 4G connection instead of 3G right now, with a free 1 year old model of an iPhone (5S) included, vs no phone part of the contract I have right now.
And they never even informed me of this bs, it's textbook gotcha pricing. I'm not saying T-Mobile is a crappy company, just that in my anecdotal case, they screwed over a customer with a shitty clause in their contract to take advantage of the fact customers tend not to review a services' fees a few years into a contract. There are fair and practical alternatives to that, but they chose gotcha pricing instead. I don't think you can see it any other way.
> But seriously, call t mobile and ask if there's anything hey can do
Yeah as I said already contacted them, they're getting back to me.