Retailers Trick You Into Overspending at Their Stores

The sharks are out for blood, and so are we. Like real sharks, we will stop at nothing to take a bite out of your monthly bills (our prey), especially when a customer’s cell phone company decides to pull a fast one. Read on about a negotiation that started out swimmingly, and ended as a cautionary shark tale.

In early May, a Billshark user uploaded their $250 monthly T-Mobile bill to our app (monthly price before taxes & fees). One of our sharks spent a full hour on the phone with this consumer’s mobile service company, and was able to re-bundle their package with unlimited talk, text AND data at a lower fee of $223 (a $27 monthly savings!). Just when our satisfied shark was ready to help out another consumer with their monthly bills, the situation turned sticky.

When we called the customer for his savings consultation, he notified us that he was currently on his T-Mobile app and it was showing that his bill actually went UP by $75 per month, instead of down like we had negotiated on his behalf. That isn’t something our sharks would stand for and we were on it immediately. The next two hours were spent on the phone with three different T-Mobile representatives before being put on a with a manager who told us that pulling the records from the previous conversation (very recent conversation, we might add) could take up to 48 hours (yes, FORTY EIGHT hours!). When our shark inquired about customer escalation opportunities, we were informed the only way that could be accomplished by a customer was to send a handwritten letter (obviously, neither of us sent a letter).

After all the run around, we were more than ready to put our foot down (or fins, since we’re sharks and all). We called T-Mobile Corporate Headquarters again, after fighting to get the $10 monthly savings promised by the previous “Executive Officer.” After another lengthy one hour discussion, the (new) Executive Officer gave our customer’s account a one time $120 credit (their equivalent of $10 for 12 months time), because they weren't able to apply the $10/month as previously promised. So while T-Mobile tried to get out of giving their customer any savings by charging them even more, we were able to fight back and claim victory after all was said and done with a total of $55 per month savings ($195/month – even lower than the previous savings!).

Now imagine that had to be you on the phone for four hours, negotiating and fighting your way up the T-Mobile ladder between five different representatives. That’s why we’re here, to save you the time, frustration, stall tactics, and ultimately your hard-earned money. You can’t outswim a shark!