North CottageMiddle Lipwood BarnsHaydon BridgeNorthumberlandNE47 6EBJacqueline RackstrawCustomer RelationsT Mobile6 Camberwell WayDoxford Technology Park SunderlandSR3 3XN12 January 2009Dear Ms Rackstraw
Reference – 07713 632 388Reference - T-Mobile Voicemail & Alternatives
I recently bought a T-Mobile G1 phone on a £30 Flext Tariff.Upon receipt of my first bill, I noticed that whilst I had sufficient allowance remaining that I hadbeen charged for Voicemail calls at 12p per minute. From a review of the standard terms it is clearthat Voicemail calls are outside of the standard allowance. Other mobile operators such as O2,Vodafone and Virgin Mobile include such calls within their allowances.As an alternative, I investigated other highly innovative Voicemail solutions such as SpinVox andHulloMail. When trying out both of these alternatives, I was shocked to notice that I was incurringdiversion charges of 17p per minute to a standard geographic telephone number (01 or 02). I alsodiscovered that if I was to divert my calls to my personal answer machine at my home - I wouldalso incur 17p per minute!!Whilst I accept that T-Mobile explicitly state that Voicemail is excluded from the Flext tariff, thereis no mention using an alternative supplier will incur call charges - or even premium call charges.Furthermore, I am also very surprised the T-Mobile have adopted this stance given their recentstatements at the launch of the T-Mobile G1. Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-MobileUSA when describing the new market for mobile applications stated:
“With new, high-value applications constantly being added to Android Market for customers to discover, the T-Mobile G1 is the phone that grows with you, and asthe Market continues to grow and evolve, the possibilities are virtually endless.”
Their position to create a market for high value applications seems to contradict their pricingpolicies in relation to Voicemail.
Leave a Comment