T-Mobile breaking promises to seniors who were offered price-lock guarantee for life on 55+ rate plans

Called T mobile customer service today regarding the rate increase for 55+ plan of 5.00 per line. Again another scripted reading to me .... A MINOR ADJUSTMENT TO OUR OLDEST PLANS! ..then tried to see about other plans I might be interested in. When I signed up they told me a locked in price for life! Now they are pulling this! They just got me recently to change form of payment to debit card from credit card! Then switched type of Netflix plan that came with it. They got me to switch from Verizon to their service (which by far doesn't even compare) with their TV Ads state largest 5G Network and makes it look like there service is great...well it's not by far! but I stuck with them. Why have all these commercials and big Celebrities in their TV Ads which I'm sure are getting big bucks for them. Doesn't make savings for us. Just bait and switch!!! Maybe we should let the big celebrities they use how this is and what they are doing!! Class action lawsuit! And file complaints with BBB online and the FCC will get some response. Otherwise customer service will not do anything! Except read their scripts to you. T Mobile has definitely gone downhill as far as I feel. Management must have changed for the worse👎👎 

Like so many others on this thread, I signed up for this 55+ plan years ago, banking on the guarantee that T-Mobile provided which was that the only one who could change this plan was me. I filed a complaint with the FCC (received an acknowledgement that they received my complaint) also filed a complaint with my state's Attorney General, and with every local TV station that has a consumer reporter and with every tech show I could think of. I also contacted T-Mobile, first by phone and then by email, to let them know that I am not willing to accept the change to my plan. I called a local radio station who has a show hosted by an attorney that dispenses 'marginal legal advice' - he cautioned me that if I do nothing and just go along with the price increase, T-Mobile could later use that against me, saying in effect that when they raised the rate and I paid the increased rate, that was a sign that I accepted the price increase.   On May 29th I received a phone call from Brandi Ware in the T-Mobile corporate office, offering me a one time credit of $120, (i.e. $5 per line for 12 months) to offset the increase and to give me time to find another carrier. I thanked her for the offer, and told her (by email) that while her offer might seem generous to her, it was unacceptable to me. What I wanted to see was 'specific performance' - i.e. T-Mobile honoring their guarantee of no price increase for life. I told her that failing that, when the price increase appeared on my bill, I would file a claim in small claims court against T-Mobile. I told her that based on my estimates (and I still need to crunch the numbers to come up with an exact figure) I have lost about $2,000 by sticking with T-Mobile over the past seven years (84 months), and not switching back and forth between other carriers to take advantage of their artificially low introductory rates.  I'm in a waiting game right now, because I can't do anything until the rate increase shows up on my bill. And even though the text notification I received from T-Mobile told me that it would be effective on my first bill after June 5 - my latest bill was today (June 6) and it was at the old $60 a month rate for two lines, so until the rate increase shows up, I have no damages to recover, but when it does I will plan to file a small claims action to try and recover what I lost by taking T-Mobile at their word that they would never raise my rate.

File a complaint against T-Mobile with your state Attorney General… reasons for complaint: Breach of Contract, Fraud, Discrimination Against Seniors (ageism).  Also suggest to your state AG to contact other state's AG and as a group to convince T-Mobile that they (TM) needs to Honor Their Contract !!!

NKC777 wrote:

Same issue here with 55+ senior plan.  Rep told me when I signed up that my rate would never increase so long as I did not change plans, and kept my account in good standing.  I have not changed plans, and my account is, and has always been in good standing.  I contacted T Mobile customer service today about the issue, and they tried to gaslight me by telling me that my plan never included a lifetime price lock guarantee.  Frauds and liars.  I see a class action lawsuit coming on this one.  Any good lawyers out there?  I also just filed a complaint with the FCC.  If anyone else would like to make a complaint, here is the link:  https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us  Takes about 5 minutes or less.

You might want to also file a fraud complaint with the FTC, file a complaint with the BBB, and also your state's attorney general, especially if your state was one of the 13 that sued to try to block the Sprint merger. Now T-Mobile wants to merge with U.S. Cellular, reducing competition even further…. now that they've shown their true colors after the Sprint merger, the U.S. Cellular merger should be blocked.

Same issue here with 55+ senior plan.  Rep told me when I signed up that my rate would never increase so long as I did not change plans, and kept my account in good standing.  I have not changed plans, and my account is, and has always been in good standing.  I contacted T Mobile customer service today about the issue, and they tried to gaslight me by telling me that my plan never included a lifetime price lock guarantee.  Frauds and liars.  I see a class action lawsuit coming on this one.  Any good lawyers out there?  I also just filed a complaint with the FCC.  If anyone else would like to make a complaint, here is the link:  https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us  Takes about 5 minutes or less.

In one single move, by reneging on the "we won't raise your rate" promise, T-Mobile has erased decades of trust.  I always recommended T-Mobile because of superior customer service and the impression I had that they put their customers first.  Sadly, they now have become no better (or worse) than their competitors.  I will be shopping.

I am in the same boat as everyone else in this thread.  I called T-Mobile twice.  First to complain about the price increase that was guaranteed to never go up and being told after speaking to the rep who passed my call onto a manager named Rodney who told me he would investigate and call me back today (June 4).  That call lasted almost 1 hour and I was told that the plan I had did not include a rate lock and was not in place until a month after I entered the agreement. 

The second call was today when I spoke with a rep who was unable to find a note in Rodney's post about when he would return my call.  I asked to escalate again and spoke with Valerie who told me that rate locks only began in January this year (2024) and I could switch to the new plan that was $15 more per line than the magenta 55+ plan or stay with the current plan.

As mentioned in other posts I spoke to Valerie about contacting FCC and the local ABC News and Fox News stations about the issue and she said she was sorry to hear that.  That leaves me with the solutions mentioned - FCC complaint and speaking with News stations about the attempt to discriminate against seniors. 

I fully understand that prices go up but baiting seniors into a fixed price program to steal them from other carriers and then ending the very programs put in place is wrong.  They need to hold the line with promises and prices.  So, I am going to follow another suggestion.  I am going to contact AT&T and Verizon to see if they would like to get seniors to talk about the way their accounts were lured away with false promises.

I will give T-Mobile the chance to correct this big mistake before going to the media and competitors.  Independence Day is coming soon.

WFREYVOGEL wrote:

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!!!  After my original post, I filed a complaint against T-Mobile with the Federal Communications Commission using the link provided by another customer in this thread.  The FCC sent me a follow-up e-mail confirming that they had forwarded my complaint to T-Mobile.  Earlier today, I noticed that T-Mobile had changed my monthly bill back to the original amount of $60.00 for two (2) lines.  This is the same price that I have been paying since 2017.  No notice or response from T-Mobile, but they are no longer trying to increase my monthly rate.  It could be a coincidence, but it sounds like filing the FCC complaint may have worked.  I urge all of you to give it a try.  Only takes five (5) minutes online.  Nothing to lose.  Let us know whether it works for you too.  ¡Buena suerte!

I filed a complaint with the FCC as well, but have yet to hear back. I could try using the link that you used, but it might not be a good idea to have duplicate complaints on file with them.

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!!!  After my original post, I filed a complaint against T-Mobile with the Federal Communications Commission using the link provided by another customer in this thread.  The FCC sent me a follow-up e-mail confirming that they had forwarded my complaint to T-Mobile.  Earlier today, I noticed that T-Mobile had changed my monthly bill back to the original amount of $60.00 for two (2) lines.  This is the same price that I have been paying since 2017.  No notice or response from T-Mobile, but they are no longer trying to increase my monthly rate.  It could be a coincidence, but it sounds like filing the FCC complaint may have worked.  I urge all of you to give it a try.  Only takes five (5) minutes online.  Nothing to lose.  Let us know whether it works for you too.  ¡Buena suerte!

SpookWarrior wrote:

Ask anyone on the meaning of 55+ and they will answer that 55+ just means SENIORS.

For T-Mobile to rescind on their promise of the 55+ “$30 per month rate plan would “never” go up is simply a BREACH OF CONTRACT and to do it to the 55+ group is simply AGEISM DISCRIMINATION.

We need to have a concerted effort to bring T-Mobile to its senses - these are some:

1. File a complaint with the FCC

... https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

2. File a complaint with the BBB

... https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint

3. Contact your state attorney's general office.

4. Contact your congressperson and two senators.

5. Contact AARP.

6. Contact Costco, if you got your service through them.

7. Start a "Boycott T-Mobile" campaign in social media.

8.Contact your favorite law office to bring a class action lawsuit against them.

You may also try sending an email to Pres/CEO Mike Sievert

... Mike.Sievert@t-mobile.com

Remember... UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL !!!

And for good measure, file a fraud complaint with the FTC. I also have one on file with DOJ's anti-trust division.  

This morning, I heard back from "Karen" from T-Mobile. They received my BBB complaint and wanted to review it with me. I got nowhere with her, of course. She told me there was nothing they could do about the price of my plan, told me the effective date, and that if I decide to leave within 60 days, they'd cover my final bill. She asked if I intended to leave, and I replied, Oh no… I fully expect there to be a class action suit againt T-Mobile for breach of contract over this, and I want to be here when that happens.

Clearly, we all see that T-Mobile is no longer the same company it was under John Legere, where they were much more customer friendly. Since his departure, we've seen the company discontinue the use of credit cards for auto pay, and requiring debit cards or other direct access to your bank account, which has fewer protections than credit cards. Now we see T-Mobile pissing off a very large portion of their customer base with this price increase. I've seen a lot of subscribers like myself talking about a class action lawsuit, but don't know if anyone has moved forward with this idea. I certainy hope there is a law firm out there willing to take this up.