The SunCom/T-Mobile Merger and Me

Earlier this year, T-Mobile USA, the European-based fourth-largest cellular provider in the United States, announced the takeover of SunCom, a regional cellular provider primarily serving the Carolinas, Tennessee and Georgia.  The cut-off date for the service switch of SunCom customers over to T-Mobile was to be this past Monday, September 8.  SunCom customers were given a toll-free number in which to call to talk to a service representative about billing issues that needed to be resolved before the change over deadline.  

Strangely enough, phone calls from SunCom customers began to come into my office while I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago.  Many people just hung up when they got my voice mail, while a few left messages.  I have to say that in my voice mail greeting, nowhere does it say "SunCom" or "T-Mobile".  It's obvious from my greeting that I'm a one-person office with nothing to do with cellular telephones.  But that didn't stop some from leaving messages with their phone numbers asking me to call them back so we could discuss their bill.  And I have to say, many of those who left messages didn't sound very bright to begin with. 

The week after I got back from vacation, I was in the office all week long.  90 percent of the incoming calls that week on my office line were SunCom customers.  After the first 25 phone calls came in, I finally contacted someone at SunCom and told them that I had a lot of their customers calling up wanting to discuss their bill.  I said, "Look, it appears there must be a misprint somewhere for your customers as I keep getting phone calls from them wanting to talk to me about their bill."

The first SunCom person put me in touch with a supervisor and I told my story again.  The supervisor said to hang on, they wanted to check it out.  She came back on about five minutes later with a certainly plausible explanation.   It turns out that SunCom customers with past-due balances were given a toll-free number to call to talk to a representative to either make arrangements to pay or their service would be shut off on September 8.  T-Mobile was not going to take any SunCom customers with past-due balances. 

It so happened that the SunCom customer service number was exactly one number off from my toll-free number my dealers use to contact me in my office.  I told the supervisor, "I've been getting a lot of calls from your customers, some have left messages asking for me to call them back.  I just don't want anyone to think that I'm an agent for SunCom."

She said, "Well, if they're dialing the wrong number, and it's clear that they are, they have no one to blame but themselves."  She apologized for the inconvenience stating that the takeover date would be September 8.  "I will guarantee you the phone calls will stop after that date, because people who are past due with SunCom won't be able to use their phones."  

As the week went on, more phone calls came in.  It got to the point that I could look at the caller ID, see that it was a cellular caller from where ever, and not even answer the phone.   

I was in Denver last week for the annual CEDIA Expo.  While I was gone, the incoming calls from SunCom customers exploded exponentially.  I'm guessing from the messages left on my voice mail, these were people who needed to get their bill in order or face not having a phone on September 8. 

And some of the messages weren't too pretty.   I had indicated on my outgoing voice mail message that I would be out of the office until September 8, but that I would be checking my messages periodically.  One lady, who obviously came from a very low socio-economic background, left a filthy, trash-mouthed message on my voice mail because she was pissed off that I was out of the office until September 8 and she needed to talk to me about her bill before then or her phone would be shut off. 

Another lady left a tearful, pleading message for me to call her before September 8 because she couldn't afford to pay her bill, but wanted to work something out.  Many of the messages people left sounded more confused than anything.  I'm hoping those people realized they had called the wrong number.

Unfortunately for Cindy, the number listed by SunCom must have stated that it was manned 24 hours a day.  She said one night, late in the night, my office phone must have rang six or seven times.  Looking back at the caller ID, it was from the same person - obviously a SunCom customer who couldn't figure out they were calling the wrong number.  She told me the next morning, "I had to take the phone off the hook just so I could get some sleep."  (My office is just across the hall from our bedroom.)  She said she put the phone back on the hook before she went to work that morning. 

I checked my voice messages on Friday morning from Denver and it said that I had 42 messages.  I listened through them all, 39 of which were from SunCom customers inquiring about their billing.  It was just maddening.  When I got back on Monday, the ringer on my office phone was off - courtesy of Cindy - and my voice mailbox was full.  I had over 80 messages.  I just couldn't delete them all as I didn't want to miss a potential call that was really for me.  Turned out they were all from SunCom customers. 

Sure enough, as promised, the calls stopped on September 8.  But I really had to question the mental capacity of some of these people.  Sure, dialing a "5" instead of a "4" is an honest mistake most of the time, but some people called back again and again thinking they were dialing the right number.  It was aggravating after a bit and I'm sort of glad I wasn't in my office for over 10 days having to pick up the phone and tell someone that I wasn't with SunCom or T-Mobile.  

But as I also said, some of the people who left messages sounded like they had rocks for brains.  Sure, the majority of the callers said, "Oops!  Wrong number.", or just hung up when they got the outgoing voice message.  But the ones who went on and on about this and that regarding their bills, or who left nasty messages, or who were pleading with me to call them back so their service wouldn't be interrupted sounded so unbelievably stupid.  It was sort of funny at first, but it got to be tragic after awhile.

I know there's a common stereotype that some people in the South aren't too bright.  But did they all have to be SunCom customers?    

Comments

[Tim Lake]

After living in Alabama for the past couple of years, I know exactly what you're talking about with the people you're getting calls from. Even if you prove to them they're wrong, they'll still say they're rigt.