It looks like T-Mobile dropped their data plan from $29.99/mo to $19.99/mo. I originally thought this was related to the new unlimited rate plans and losing the Starbucks account, but it was actually back in September (on my birthday no less). I must have missed it at the time, given that whole wedding thing.

And worse, it turns out you have to actually ask for the new rate. After reading Kevin's post, I logged in to My T-Mobile today to adjust my plan. To add insult to injury, check out the options I'm presented with.

For the past 5 months, I've been paying $10 more than I should have for this service. T-Mobile should have adjusted this for me automatically (as Kevin said, you can be sure they would if the price went up). At the very least, they could have told me about it via a pamphlet or during the time I spent talking to a T-Mobile representative as I was trying to get my phone unlocked for the honeymoon. They did neither, and were quite happy to let me pay $10 more a month unless and until I noticed.

This isn't necessarily surprising, but it is disappointing for a company that is supposedly big on customer service. (It certainly isn't their network service).

I was actually really excited about T-Mobile's new VOIP service, but being "taken advantage of" like this might make me think twice.

Customer service is the reason I am still paying over $50 a month for Verizon's unlimited home phone service, even though I would love to switch over to Time Warner's significantly cheaper VOIP plan. When I've had problems with my cable, I had to wait 3-4 days to get it fixed, and they even tried to charge me a service fee for something that was their problem. I've rarely had an issue with Verizon, but when I had trouble getting phone service in my apartment in Stuy Town, they came within a few hours (at night) and the technician called periodically the next day to keep me up to date with the status of my issue.

They could learn a lesson from Amazon, who realized that being obsessed with the customer "can be the best way to build a lasting business, even if it comes at the expense of short-term results."

So, right now, I think T-Mobile sucks. I am going to call on Monday and see if they will credit my account for what I've been overpaying. Ideally, if they were listening, I wouldn't have to call, but that's probably a bit much to ask. Hopefully they were at least listening when Jeff Jarvis told them to love the customer that hates them.