T Mobile vs. Gymboree
February 10th, 2008
by Doug MillerTwo weeks ago tonight I had visitors from out of town. My daughter, my son-in-law and my 2-year-old granddaughter came to visit. My son-in-law was in the Navy, and they were transferring from Virginia Beach to Ingleside. We were all glad to see that they were going to be living closer to home.
They left my house about 8:30pm and headed north on 377—the “back way” to Lake Dallas, where my ex-wife lives—to spend the night.
They didn’t make it.
They were struck by a car trying to pass in a no passing zone in Roanoke and my son-in-law and granddaughter were killed instantly. My daughter was careflighted to JPS and had emergency surgery. She will make a complete physical recovery.
In the last two weeks, I was tasked with more items to complete than I can even remember. Besides making the funeral arrangements, one of the menial tasks was to replace my daughter’s phone that was destroyed in the accident. I figured, no problem, I’ll run to TMobile, her provider, and get a loaner. I’ve done this multiple times with my employee’s phones, I’d run to AT&T/Cingular and pick up a phone until we could get a replacement off EBay or some other used phone outlet.
The “gentleman” who is the manager of the TMobile store in Southlake told me under no circumstances could he give me a phone. I wasn’t authorized on my son-in-law’s account. I explained to him that my daughter had just gotten out of ICU and was needing a phone to make some phone calls. Not going to happen. I told him that I was willing to give them my credit card to secure the phone, but to no avail.
When I explained that the United States Navy had cut all sorts of red tape to make my task easier, they didn’t care. When I told them the DFW National Cemetery had gone out of their way to make things happen on our schedule, they didn’t care. They wouldn’t budge.
I called TMobile when I got home, got a sympathetic person on the line and was told she would try to get a phone out to my daughter. She also encouraged me to send a letter to the CEO. I did, and was so angry I FedEx’ed it out Monday morning.
Tuesday I got a call from somebody at the company headquarters…but got the same answer. No dice…no phone…no bending of any of the rules. In fact, they had cancelled the order that the customer service agent had placed on my behalf. I explained to the “lady” that I could very easily go get a new account from AT&T and have a lot less stress in my life; she didn’t budge. I told them what I thought of their company, hung up the phone, called my AT&T rep and got my daughter set up with a new account in 5 minutes.
I told the people at TMobile that I would tell everybody what a bunch of douchebags they are, and hence the post.
Let me tell you a story about how customer service SHOULD work.
My son in law returned from deployment in November of 2007. My daughter had ordered a little navy outfit for my granddaughter to wear during the homecoming ceremony and her wish was for my granddaughter to be buried in this outifit. Problem is, their household goods are being shipped from Virginia to Corpus, and there is no telling where they are.
My wife and I came home from the hospital and searched Gymboree.com, only to find that it was apparently last year’s outfit and had been discontinued. We searched EBay, and couldn’t find one in the size that was needed and didn’t have any luck on Craigslist either.
I sent a desperation email to Gymboree customer service about 1am on Friday morning, letting them know of the situation and asking for help. They responded Friday with an email stating that they would do everything in their power to try to find one, but they couldn’t promise anything.
Saturday morning the supervisor of Customer Service called my wife crying…telling Shannon they had found the outfit, had pooled their own money and they were FedEx’ing it to us immediately. We offered to reimburse them, but she refused. She had a two-year-old of her own, and the story of what happened to my granddaughter touched her and she wanted to hep.
I have sent the CEO of Gymboree a letter via FedEx telling them what a great bunch of employees they have, and they should be proud. TMobile can rot in hell.
I would also like to take this moment to thank the fine people at the Roanoke Police and Fire Departments, the Keller PD and Fire Department and the fine people at Careflight. Without them, my daughter wouldn’t have made it. I am forever in their debt.
I have finally made it back home to the Mac and have use of all fingers. The thumbs have returned to their rightful purpose managing the space bar. I will re-iterate, please get the word out.
If you would like to help the family in any way, they ask for prayers, and if you wish, donations to the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in the name of Josh and Maddie Adkison.
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