I'm traveling in Europe right now, and I wanted a local cell phone number to make the long trip a bit easier. After a bit of searching around, I bought a UK T-Mobile pay-as-you-go SIM card, and popped it into my unlocked GSM phone. It's amazingly easy to "top up" the balance on the card -- just drop into almost any local convenience store or phone store, and give them your phone number and some money.
Buying another SIM with another number for France turns out to be not worth it, so I decided to just pay a bit extra per call and stick with the UK number. Trouble struck when it was time to "top up" again while staying in France -- no local T-Mobile shops or top-up locations here. My plan was to use the web-site to add funds to the SIM -- but T-Mobile UK does not accept a US Visa card -- only American Express (so much for the Visa commercials...).
Not expecting much, I called T-Mobile UK customer service from another phone to ask for help. I like the US T-Mobile service because of their flexibility, but I still was not expecting a good outcome. Not only did T-Mobile UK pick up on the second ring with a real human, but they spotted me 10 GB pounds so long as I promised to add that to my account when I get back to the US! Amazing -- they gave me, a person with whom they have nothing more than a $40 pre-existing relationship, a $20 advance on a "promise."
I promised to not only add that money on to the account when I get back to the UK, but also to write this post. Done. That is how customer service is supposed to work -- not as a cost center to be whittled to the bone, but as an opportunity to cement or enhance a customer relationship. T-Mobile will continue to get my business because of it -- both in the UK and in the US.
Buying another SIM with another number for France turns out to be not worth it, so I decided to just pay a bit extra per call and stick with the UK number. Trouble struck when it was time to "top up" again while staying in France -- no local T-Mobile shops or top-up locations here. My plan was to use the web-site to add funds to the SIM -- but T-Mobile UK does not accept a US Visa card -- only American Express (so much for the Visa commercials...).
Not expecting much, I called T-Mobile UK customer service from another phone to ask for help. I like the US T-Mobile service because of their flexibility, but I still was not expecting a good outcome. Not only did T-Mobile UK pick up on the second ring with a real human, but they spotted me 10 GB pounds so long as I promised to add that to my account when I get back to the US! Amazing -- they gave me, a person with whom they have nothing more than a $40 pre-existing relationship, a $20 advance on a "promise."
I promised to not only add that money on to the account when I get back to the UK, but also to write this post. Done. That is how customer service is supposed to work -- not as a cost center to be whittled to the bone, but as an opportunity to cement or enhance a customer relationship. T-Mobile will continue to get my business because of it -- both in the UK and in the US.
"I promised to not add that money on to the account when I get back to the UK"
Clever way to slip that negative in there, and screw them out of their money!
Ack. Well it would have been clever if it weren't just a typo. I have edited the original entry to fix that.