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System errors spare T-Mobile customers their price surge

By Aiko Tanaka
2 min read
Tmobile
Tmobile
In this article (5)

T-Mobile recently announced what it called “pricing updates” that were applied almost universally and made customers’ bills go up. However there is a subset of T-Mobile users that have been spared these price hikes — probably not for long — due to system errors that have failed to push billing updates.

These price hikes were, understandably, unanimously disliked. This is especially true for legacy customers who saw pricing changes on their old plans that T-Mobile had once marketed as price locked.

After people walked out of T-Mobile stores in protest of the T-Life app these pricing updates served as another irritant for customers. In response users dug up old T-Mobile ads about price locked plans and some people left T-Mobile for alternatives. All in all the entire situation has been a difficult time to be a T-Mobile customer or employee.

But there are apparently T-Mobile customers who are receiving the same bill despite having been informed of a price increase. These people are relatively very few but system errors on T-Mobile’s end seem to have worked brilliantly in their favor. If they’re very lucky then T-Mobile will never spot their outdated billing information though that seems very unlikely to me.

Since the whole pricing updates fiasco T-Mobile has introduced a new price lock guarantee. Unlike previous guarantees that promised lifelong price locks this new one is only valid for 10 years. However after everything that has happened I’m not falling for T-Mobile’s new price lock plan and neither should anyone else.

The “un-carrier” is hardly the only telecom company currently facing controversy. AT&T soured relations with employees recently and is having a service outage in Los Angeles that will last a whopping two months. On the other hand Verizon is having a pricing crisis as the company struggles to define a strategy for itself after a year of very few new signups compared to competitors.

If you’re one of those lucky few T-Mobile customers whose bill has remained unchanged despite a notification to the contrary, consider yourself blessed. And keep your fingers crossed that your plan doesn’t get updated too soon.

Questions & Answers

Q.

Why did some T-Mobile customers not experience the recent price increases?

A.

A subset of T-Mobile users were spared the price hikes due to system errors that failed to push billing updates. These errors meant their bills remained unchanged despite being informed of price increases.

Q.

How did customers react to the price increases, especially those with 'price locked' plans?

A.

Customers unanimously disliked the price hikes, especially legacy customers who saw changes to old plans previously marketed as price locked. Some protested and left T-Mobile for alternatives.

Q.

What is different about T-Mobile's new price lock guarantee compared to previous ones?

A.

Unlike previous guarantees that promised lifelong price locks, the new one is only valid for 10 years. This change comes after the recent pricing updates fiasco.

Q.

What other controversies are mentioned regarding competing telecom companies?

A.

AT&T recently soured relations with employees and is experiencing a two-month service outage in Los Angeles. Verizon is facing a pricing crisis, struggling to define its strategy after a year of few new sign-ups.

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