[General Questions and Answers] KBJ3:
I want to put as much emphasize on this story as possible because I really want some useful advice. 2 days ago my phone was stolen. Since then I have been trying to get a phone because I run a business and by now 3 days I have lost half a grand easily. :mad:

Last month I switched my phone from a 2 year contract to a prepaid month to month plan. At this point tmobile does not offer insurance on the phone any longer. This is important because after paying $140 per month for this phone with insurance, the month I switch to the $50 per month plan it is stolen and tmobile says, "o well".

I said can I buy a new phone? They said no because you still owe us money for switching the phone to prepaid and $150 on the actual phone itself. I did not pay the money to switch because the previous month I had the money the lady on the phone said she would take care of it which I thought meant since I never actually left the company they werent charging me to change plans...not the case after all, but do not find out until my phone is stolen.

I had an HTC Amaze for the record. So I went home and called tmobile. I was on the phone about 25 min before the connection became so bad I asked for them to call me back. They got the phone number and then never called. I had been transferred 7 times by this point. I called back and explained I was very frustrated. They transferred me to a specialist. This lady had me on hold about 20 min. Finally she said we resolved the $200 fee but you still have to pay the $150 on the phone. I paid the $150 and she asked me if I want to buy the new phone now? I said no because I wanted the phone immediately so I would go into the store to buy it.

I got to the store and they said I still owed $200. Even if the $200 fee was resolved he told me I cannot get the discount on the phone I wanted and that I have to pay the full price of $600 because they do not give a discount on their phones more than 1x per 2 year contract! Even on a new line. So I was going to buy a cheap phone and he said he could keep my old number and use this cheap phone until I could buy the phone I wanted later. I told him the Staples accross the street sold phones if I could ask them if they sold me a phone for cheaper they could activate it. He said it would probably only take me 30 sec to go check and to see.

I got back to the tmobile store in about 2 min and he had gone on his lunch break. I waited about another 20 min before another associate helped me who did not have the same deal with a cheap phone he told me about. In stead of $160 total for everything he wanted to charge me $200 for everything. I was there for 2 hours and by this point I am extremely upset and I want to leave tmobile.

This is not my first bad experience with tmobile. I have been unhappy since I joined. There is no complaint department. You have to write out a letter and mail it in. I left out some details of why I am so upset because the bottom line of the story is I am just completely unhappy with tmobile. They treat you like you are nothing without them, and will be fine without your business. This may be true but I have been paying almost $150 per month for almost 9 months and now they want me to pay $200 when I am not even leaving their company, then my $600 phone which is fully paid off is stolen they not only do not help me, but they are rude and go on lunch after he told me to go ahead and check which would only take a matter of seconds. I ran to the store and back and he was on a 30 minute lunch, I am just unhappy with the whole company. I will not even go into details of when I was having trouble with the phone during the previous 9 months.

What I want to know is how do I leave a phone company without paying their fee. Its not right, I am leaving because their service is so unsatisfactory in my area, and now I need help they not only do not help but want to charge me full price to get my line back. If I switch to another company can I still keep my same number? I need the same number for my business and I would much rather not stay with this company. Could anyone recommend any links with information, or which service providers you prefer? Thanks.