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The title seemed negative to me (I thought he complained and the CEO said "we're done with you!"). But really, the T-Mobile CEO was helping -- the author wante

The title seemed negative to me (I thought he complained and the CEO said "we're done with you!"). But really, the T-Mobile CEO was helping -- the author wanted out of his contract (well, out of the $200 fee). (EDIT: The original title was "I emailed the CEO of T-Mobile and he killed my contract, no joke")

CamperBob2 13y ago
Yes, this is one of those cases where the HN mod(s) should have made some editorial tweaks to the title.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
derefr 13y ago
I had to think about it for a second. You're meant to read it like "killing something is bad, but contracts are bad, so killing a contract is good." Although it'd be perfectly valid to use "contract" as a metonym for "service" or "account", people don't tend to; the contract is just the evil thing binding you to pay for your account, and doesn't get mentally associated (by most consumers) with the service itself. So killing a contract is wholly good. But forcing people to go through a thought-process like this to figure out what is meant is bad "communications-design UX", and the editor could probably have come up with something clearer.
- dwc 13y ago
  People are not forced to go through any thought process. Most people will take it at face value (as I did) and assume that service was cancelled for having the gall to email the CEO. I clicked through only because I have had good experience with T-mobile customer service and was surprised to see something like this. So the misleading/ambiguous headline actually got me to read the article where an accurate headline wouldn't have.
  - 3825 13y ago
    I just saw it as something good. If you have an app phone, the new plans are better than the old ones hands down.
  - johnchristopher 13y ago
    An accurate headline would have save time though.
adcuz 13y ago
Agreed, this title makes it sound like the CEO flipped out.
- ckozlowski 13y ago
  However, it did get us all to click it thinking "OMG, no wai! Grrr, corporate douchebags! Grab your pitchforks, netizens!" Then we saw what it really was. So, well done, clickbait. =)
- dingaling 13y ago
  Sometimes CEOs ( or Managing Directors ) do 'sack' customers. The MD of my ISP did so, a few years back: http://revk.www.me.uk/2009/11/being-rude-to-customer.html http://revk.www.me.uk/2009/11/being-rude-to-customer.html Quote: "so I've decided to give her 30 days notice, as we can"
  - voltagex_ 13y ago
    I've been sacked from a small telco too. They told me I was no longer profitable for them. It was worded in such a way that it went to my junk email folder and I lost that phone number completely (too late to port it to a new carrier)
hvass 13y ago
I would strongly bet it is phrased negatively on purpose. Let's ask an honest question, which one are you more likely to click on?
mherdeg 13y ago
Yes, it's pretty funny that 90%+ of "contracts" in the US mobile phone marketplace are things the buyer would be much happier not to have.
- Steko 13y ago
  I'm sure for 100% of mortgages people would love to just make a down payment and get the deed and not have to make any other payments for 15+ years but there's nothing ironic about the need to fulfill contractual obligations that aren't awesome for you.
  - 6d0debc071 13y ago
    One of the aspects of contract law, at least in my country, is that a contract is - in principle - supposed to result from a more or less equal bargaining procedure. Having an extremely strong bargaining position, and jamming it up to the hilt in someone's chest, is grounds for the contract to be held invalid here. It's called undue influence. I believe there was a case a few years back where it was even specifically held that this invalidated a mobile phone contract because the woman couldn't predict the future as well as the phone company.
  - glesica 13y ago
    I think the meaning was that most Americans resent that they are basically forced into a contract in order to get the plan and device they want. I would rather bring my own device, but the only carrier available to me (until recently) was Verizon, and they won't let me do that. So I (at one time) signed a contract, but I would have been happier to simply pay for the device of my choice and paid for service month-to-month. To extend this to your analogy, I was forced to take out a mortgage despite having the cash to buy the whole house outright because the person selling the house wouldn't take cash.
    - benjiweber 13y ago
      Why can't you buy your own devices? I live in the UK and have always bought my own devices, it often works out at about half the price over the term of the contract.
phaus 13y ago
The title did seem negative, and I was surprised to find that someone actually had a positive experience with T-Mobile. I was a T-Mobile customer off and on for about 7 years total. For the last contract I had signed with them, I made sure that I would be able to get out of my contract if I A: moved due to a military PCS, or B: Moved due to getting out of the military. The T-Mobile rep at the store assured me that I would be able to get out of my contract under those circumstances, and so I signed up with them when I arrived at my last duty station. When I left the military, and moved shortly after, I contacted a very helpful T-Mobile rep that told me everything was in order and that all I had to do was send him a copy of my discharge paperwork (which are still considered to be valid active duty military orders) and the early termination fees would be waived. After he cancelled my account, I received a ~$700 bill and a letter that said my paperwork had been declined. I called and talked to a support rep, who in turn forwarded me to a manager that had no more authority than the representative. T-Mobile purposely creates powerless management positions in order to delude customers into thinking that there is nothing supervisors can do to handle customer service issues. Ultimately, they decided to continue to charge me the ETFs because they were already having a really bad year for customer retention. The really ridiculous part of this mess is that I was perfectly happy with T-Mobile, yet I was forced to move to a state that doesn't have a single T-Mobile tower because I didn't have any luck finding employment elsewhere. I would have returned to T-Mobile as soon as possible, but my experience with their customer service has opened my eyes to what a shitty company it is.
- chimeracoder 13y ago
  > The title did seem negative, and I was surprised to find that someone actually had a positive experience with T-Mobile. When was this? I was a long-time T-Mobile customer until a few years ago, and I always had excellent customer service experiences with them. The only reason I switched was because I moved to NYC, and they had terrible reception here at the time - I couldn't place calls in my own bedroom. Even then, though, we were able to break our entire family contract (which I believe we had only just re-signed a couple of months before) without paying an ETF[0]. [0] This is despite the fact that (a) I was the only one in the family plan who was in NYC, and (b) my zip code was in their coverage map (which means that they had no legal obligation to let me off the contract). I've been considering going back to T-mobile; if their customer service really has gone downhill in the last few years, maybe I'll think about AT&T instead....
doubledub 13y ago
The title surprised me too since I also emailed the CEO (years ago) and received an immediate resolution.
rickyc091 13y ago
I had the same thought with the title. I've actually had a pretty bad experience T-Mobile's customer service and I felt like an asshole about it. I ordered two prepaid t-mobile sim cards for $2.16, but I was unable to receive it so it got sent back to the sender. I left it alone for several months thinking once it got returned they would promptly send me a refund like Amazon. Nope, that didn't happen. After a month, I emailed them about it, no response. Another month passed by, I called them up and after three transfers I was directed to a guy who said he would process my refund and I should see it on my credit card in the next few days. This guy was a bit irritated that I was calling in regards for $2.16, then again I don't blame him, I felt like an asshole calling about it. In all honestly, I wasn't trying to be cheap, I was just trying to get to the bottom of why it should take me several months to finally get a refund... this was two bucks, but what if had been two hundred and sixteen instead? Well, long story short. I never saw the refund, so I ended up filing a complaint with my credit card and sure enough, less than a day later, I received several automated emails saying a refund of $0.00 was processed, primarily cause I had already received the money from my credit card company.

CamperBob2 13y ago

Yes, this is one of those cases where the HN mod(s) should have made some editorial tweaks to the title.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

derefr 13y ago

I had to think about it for a second. You're meant to read it like "killing something is bad, but contracts are bad, so killing a contract is good." Although it'd be perfectly valid to use "contract" as a metonym for "service" or "account", people don't tend to; the contract is just the evil thing binding you to pay for your account, and doesn't get mentally associated (by most consumers) with the service itself. So killing a contract is wholly good. But forcing people to go through a thought-process like this to figure out what is meant is bad "communications-design UX", and the editor could probably have come up with something clearer.

dwc 13y ago
People are not forced to go through any thought process. Most people will take it at face value (as I did) and assume that service was cancelled for having the gall to email the CEO. I clicked through only because I have had good experience with T-mobile customer service and was surprised to see something like this. So the misleading/ambiguous headline actually got me to read the article where an accurate headline wouldn't have.
- 3825 13y ago
  I just saw it as something good. If you have an app phone, the new plans are better than the old ones hands down.
- johnchristopher 13y ago
  An accurate headline would have save time though.

adcuz 13y ago

Agreed, this title makes it sound like the CEO flipped out.

ckozlowski 13y ago
However, it did get us all to click it thinking "OMG, no wai! Grrr, corporate douchebags! Grab your pitchforks, netizens!" Then we saw what it really was. So, well done, clickbait. =)
dingaling 13y ago
Sometimes CEOs ( or Managing Directors ) do 'sack' customers. The MD of my ISP did so, a few years back: http://revk.www.me.uk/2009/11/being-rude-to-customer.html http://revk.www.me.uk/2009/11/being-rude-to-customer.html Quote: "so I've decided to give her 30 days notice, as we can"
- voltagex_ 13y ago
  I've been sacked from a small telco too. They told me I was no longer profitable for them. It was worded in such a way that it went to my junk email folder and I lost that phone number completely (too late to port it to a new carrier)

hvass 13y ago

I would strongly bet it is phrased negatively on purpose. Let's ask an honest question, which one are you more likely to click on?

mherdeg 13y ago

Yes, it's pretty funny that 90%+ of "contracts" in the US mobile phone marketplace are things the buyer would be much happier not to have.

Steko 13y ago
I'm sure for 100% of mortgages people would love to just make a down payment and get the deed and not have to make any other payments for 15+ years but there's nothing ironic about the need to fulfill contractual obligations that aren't awesome for you.
- 6d0debc071 13y ago
  One of the aspects of contract law, at least in my country, is that a contract is - in principle - supposed to result from a more or less equal bargaining procedure. Having an extremely strong bargaining position, and jamming it up to the hilt in someone's chest, is grounds for the contract to be held invalid here. It's called undue influence. I believe there was a case a few years back where it was even specifically held that this invalidated a mobile phone contract because the woman couldn't predict the future as well as the phone company.
- glesica 13y ago
  I think the meaning was that most Americans resent that they are basically forced into a contract in order to get the plan and device they want. I would rather bring my own device, but the only carrier available to me (until recently) was Verizon, and they won't let me do that. So I (at one time) signed a contract, but I would have been happier to simply pay for the device of my choice and paid for service month-to-month. To extend this to your analogy, I was forced to take out a mortgage despite having the cash to buy the whole house outright because the person selling the house wouldn't take cash.
  - benjiweber 13y ago
    Why can't you buy your own devices? I live in the UK and have always bought my own devices, it often works out at about half the price over the term of the contract.

phaus 13y ago

The title did seem negative, and I was surprised to find that someone actually had a positive experience with T-Mobile. I was a T-Mobile customer off and on for about 7 years total. For the last contract I had signed with them, I made sure that I would be able to get out of my contract if I A: moved due to a military PCS, or B: Moved due to getting out of the military. The T-Mobile rep at the store assured me that I would be able to get out of my contract under those circumstances, and so I signed up with them when I arrived at my last duty station. When I left the military, and moved shortly after, I contacted a very helpful T-Mobile rep that told me everything was in order and that all I had to do was send him a copy of my discharge paperwork (which are still considered to be valid active duty military orders) and the early termination fees would be waived. After he cancelled my account, I received a ~$700 bill and a letter that said my paperwork had been declined. I called and talked to a support rep, who in turn forwarded me to a manager that had no more authority than the representative. T-Mobile purposely creates powerless management positions in order to delude customers into thinking that there is nothing supervisors can do to handle customer service issues. Ultimately, they decided to continue to charge me the ETFs because they were already having a really bad year for customer retention. The really ridiculous part of this mess is that I was perfectly happy with T-Mobile, yet I was forced to move to a state that doesn't have a single T-Mobile tower because I didn't have any luck finding employment elsewhere. I would have returned to T-Mobile as soon as possible, but my experience with their customer service has opened my eyes to what a shitty company it is.

chimeracoder 13y ago
> The title did seem negative, and I was surprised to find that someone actually had a positive experience with T-Mobile. When was this? I was a long-time T-Mobile customer until a few years ago, and I always had excellent customer service experiences with them. The only reason I switched was because I moved to NYC, and they had terrible reception here at the time - I couldn't place calls in my own bedroom. Even then, though, we were able to break our entire family contract (which I believe we had only just re-signed a couple of months before) without paying an ETF[0]. [0] This is despite the fact that (a) I was the only one in the family plan who was in NYC, and (b) my zip code was in their coverage map (which means that they had no legal obligation to let me off the contract). I've been considering going back to T-mobile; if their customer service really has gone downhill in the last few years, maybe I'll think about AT&T instead....

doubledub 13y ago

The title surprised me too since I also emailed the CEO (years ago) and received an immediate resolution.

rickyc091 13y ago

I had the same thought with the title. I've actually had a pretty bad experience T-Mobile's customer service and I felt like an asshole about it. I ordered two prepaid t-mobile sim cards for $2.16, but I was unable to receive it so it got sent back to the sender. I left it alone for several months thinking once it got returned they would promptly send me a refund like Amazon. Nope, that didn't happen. After a month, I emailed them about it, no response. Another month passed by, I called them up and after three transfers I was directed to a guy who said he would process my refund and I should see it on my credit card in the next few days. This guy was a bit irritated that I was calling in regards for $2.16, then again I don't blame him, I felt like an asshole calling about it. In all honestly, I wasn't trying to be cheap, I was just trying to get to the bottom of why it should take me several months to finally get a refund... this was two bucks, but what if had been two hundred and sixteen instead? Well, long story short. I never saw the refund, so I ended up filing a complaint with my credit card and sure enough, less than a day later, I received several automated emails saying a refund of $0.00 was processed, primarily cause I had already received the money from my credit card company.