- Customers impacted by T-Mobile’s price increase were notified via text on May 22
- Customers are particularly upset because of promises that their rates would never increase
- Talk of class action lawsuits and filing complaints with regulators populated a lot of forums
Judging by the online comments, T-Mobile’s price increase didn’t go over well.
That’s putting it mildly – and it’s also no surprise. People generally don’t like to be told their monthly bills are increasing.
But in T-Mobile’s case, customers are seething because T-Mobile is raising prices on plans that were offered with “guarantees” they wouldn’t go up, such as T-Mobile One plans.
Eric Michelson, a social and digital media strategist, said he and his wife signed up for the “One Plan Unlimited 55” years ago.
“When my wife told me there was going to be a rate increase, my first question was: Weren’t we promised that there wouldn’t be a rate increase? Isn’t that what made this so enticing to us?,” he told Fierce.
He tried to find some paper-based evidence of the price lock guarantee but came up empty. Of course, “if you look at their marketing, it’s called the ‘un-contract,’” he said, pointing to the 2017 press release where T-Mobile said: “only you have the power to change the price you pay.”
Which leaves him wondering: Was the “un-contract” anything other than marketing full of “lawyered up” language that they could weasel out of someday?
Indeed, a conversation with T-Mobile customer care informed him that his service will increase $5/month for each of the two lines they have. And he’s more or less willing to live with that – maybe.
A T-Mobile spokesperson said customers who have Price Lock are still covered under that guarantee.
Other than that, T-Mobile wasn’t sharing details about which plans are affected but it was notifying customers on Wednesday to let them know if they were included in the rate hikes, which ranged from $2 to $5/line per month.
Michelson used some of his digital strategist tools to get a read on what was happening this past week on social media and said one of the themes was corporate greed, especially in light of people’s perception of T-Mobile’s financial health.
He also said there appears to be a swell of customers willing to file complaints with regulators, as well as the inevitable class action lawsuits.
According to The Mobile Report, employees at stores across the country, as well as customer support, were apparently told to increase staffing through Friday of this week, and reports indicated T-Mobile was preparing for high call volumes from customers intending to cancel services.
It’s different this time
AT&T and Verizon have introduced price increases in the past couple of years, so what makes it so special at T-Mobile?
In the past, raising prices on older plans was intended to drive subscribers into new plans and retire legacy ones, said William Ho, principal analyst at 556 Ventures.
“Clearly this is bad optics for T-Mobile since it won many people over as the ‘non-corporate’ un-carrier,” he said, referring to the era of former CEO John Legere, who left in 2020 when T-Mobile merged with Sprint.
“They will lose subscribers and it’s likely gone into the business calculation to increase its legacy plan pricing. The rub will be how many will leave when reported in Q2/Q3 earnings,” he said.
T-Mobile for the most part remains the value and price leader against larger competitors, Ho added.
“Those who are thinking about leaving may not have a lower priced alternative than prepaid choices, whether it’s competitors or MVNOs,” he said. “Still, competitors (prepaid and postpaid) can offer limited time promotions to take advantage of this situation.”