Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

…that’s what I would have asked T-Mobile, in the following case…A friend who’s leaving the country for a couple of weeks on a cruise sent me this email:

You can put this on your blog if you want.

I opened an account with T-Mobile over seven years ago. Every now and then I’ve needed to make changes to the account (upgrade service, get new phone, etc). However, every time, I have submitted my company information (twice in person, three times by email, twice by phone) to make me authorized user of a business account, it never gets entered.

It’s an interesting catch 22.

They didn’t require authorized users when I established the account. Now the business account has no authorized user for the account. So, when I try to make changes (turn off voice mail so I don’t get $5/minute voicemail), there is no authorized user to authorize the change. But, there is no authorized user. And, the requests in the past to make me authorized user haven’t been completed…because there is no authorized user to authorize making me the authorized user.
I suggested to the T-Mobile supervisor that I could close the account. He said, no, there is no authorized user to authorize closing the account. You would love to hear the tape of this conversation….it probably sounds like the ‘Who’s on First comedy routine’.

I ended the conversation by letting the T-Mobile supervisor know that I wouldn’t pay for delivery of voice mail to my cell phone while on the ship because I have attempted for two weeks to get it changed. And, I would tell every small business owner I know about this ‘issue’.

…Hmmm…but I’m sure T-Mobile is more than happy to take her “unauthorized” payment.

Yet another example of putting process before people; systems before common sense.

Tags: marketing, customer service, marketing troubleshooting, T-Mobile