The problem was that as an existing customer, I wasn't able to get an upgrade until August of next year. While that would be good for whatever phones were available then, it certainly didn't help me now. And paying $500 for the phone seemed like a pretty dumb idea.
I had been to several locations in the city and they all told me the same thing -- I needed to wait until August or cough up $500 bucks. So, I went to my local T-mobile store to see what they could do.
Carlos was on duty and he punched me into the system to see what upgrades were available to me and, as expected, there were none. But as he continued to look at my account, he realized that I've been a customer for a number of years and on the spot gave me the phone for the $199 price (Yes, I probably could've pushed for a better price, I know others who did.). He started right away on the paperwork with no questions asked. His comment was that it was important to keep existing clients happy.
The entire staff there was great, with everyone helping me whenever I came by with questions or problems. The battery life was really terrible, but that seems pretty standard for smart phones these days. But a few days in, my entire contact database started disappearing. Since it's always synched with my Gmail account, I didn't lose anything, but it was kind of annoying to suddenly not have any contacts with me. I took it back to see what I should do and they swapped phones for me. Again, their attitude was "Yes, we could have you call customer service and go through that whole process or we can just take care of the problem."
I know that I can go back there at any time and they'll take care of me. That's what great customer service is all about. They know me, they take care of me. They don't make me jump through hoops to get something done. Hats off to Carlos, Rob, Alden and the whole crew there.
An interesting side note, I've now spent a lot of time looking at sites like TmoNews (The unofficial T-Mobile blog) and other sites, listening to what people are saying about T-Mobile and the service they provide. While they seem to be working to catch up with larger cell companies like AT&T and Verizon, most of their customers think they should be zigging when everyone else is zagging.
For example, I think they should offer An Early Adopter Program, rather then charging existing customers more to upgrade their phones. This would be something very different then what other cell companies are doing and maybe get them some positive attention.
Recently there have been lots of rumors about T-Mobile letting its customers tether through the phones. Some phones, like the Nexus One already does it. The phone I have has the software on it, it's just been disabled by T-Mobile. Just read what existing customers have to say about this at T-Mobile Launching $14.99 Tethering Plan November 3rd. Other then wanting to make more money, no one can understand why we have to pay extra for something we're already paying for if you have a data plan. How I use my data shouldn't matter and T-Mobile knows that. I'm OK paying for different levels of usage, but if I'm paying for 5GB (which I am now), it shouldn't matter if I use it on my phone or by tethering to my iPad.
I would love to see one of the telco's step up and try something different. Since I'm already a customers of theirs, it would be nice if it was T-Mobile. With AT&T rumored to be losing iPhone exclusivity in 2011, people will be willing to move to new carriers. T-Mobile could pick up a lot by offering things like free tethering and continuing their excellent customer service.