T-Mobile customer service reps speaking to PhoneNews.com have confirmed that the carrier has decided to eliminate its $18 upgrade fee for customers wishing to upgrade to a new handset on the carrier due to massive amounts of negative customer feedback on the issue.
T-Mobile was one of the last carriers to enact an upgrade fee after the second round of corporate policy changes made in 2006, which left many customers confused as to why a carrier would charge a seperate fee for changing devices, when the GSM standard allows one to do so without issue thanks to the SIM containing all pertinent information.
The reasoning given by T-Mobile USA at the time cited increased administrative costs for managing accounts among other issues, but the prevailing sentiment from a majority of customers was that the carrier had no reason to charge an upgrade fee when it had operated without one fo so long, making it attractive to those that constantly buy new handsets or those that need to purchase frequent replacements.
For those customers that have upgraded within the past two weeks, T-Mobile recommends contacting either a corporate store or customer service in order to be credited the $18 fee.
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Now hopefully the other carriers follow suit. An upgrade fee is the most ludicrous thing ever.
True dat, making a customer pay a fee on top of the purchase price is plum dumb
No question the upgrade fees serve as a revenue generator for the carrier, IMO.
[...] had eliminated the unecessary fee in December according to feedback the company received directly and indirectly, [...]