241
T-Mobile imposes $5 monthly price hike on customers using older plans
(arstechnica.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Remember the tmobile un-contract? This is literally from their press release in 2017: "T-Mobile ONE customers keep their price until THEY decide to change it. T-Mobile will never change the price you pay for your T-Mobile ONE plan. When you sign up for T-Mobile ONE, only YOU have the power to change the price you pay." https://www.t-mobile.com/news/press/un-carrier-next
Remember how they promised the FTC they wouldn't raise prices if they could pretty please merge with sprint to become the biggest telecom network in the country? https://www.yahoo.com/news/t-mobile-promises-sprint-merger-195428217.html
Doesn't that open them up for a lawsuit then? Either breach of contract if it's in their legalese, or at least false advertising.
Easy fix:
"Sorry, we no longer offer a T-Mobile ONE plan, therefore your plan has been converted to a regular T-Mobile plan. If you object to this you may terminate your account."
"Due to increased costs and a whole bunch of reasons that has absolutely nothing to do with our greed we will have to raise the price of our regular plan."
I'm on a plan that predates the plans being effected by the price increase.
My price has been the same for years. That said, the plan I'm on was also because of an issue way, way, way back (like a decade ago), and actually being responded to by someone in the c suite after making a comment on the ordeal, who then handed me off to exec customer service to get my issue addressed.
I doubt anyone is getting that sort of response and result today, but I personally have no reason to change providers - Verizon and AT&T would be just as bad, if not worse. Verizon even tried to charge me for devices I had paid in full (and I was out of contract timing) when I switched to T-Mobile.
Disclaimer: IANAL
Contracts in perpetuity don't hold up, especially since this isn't even a contract. They always expire at some point, unless renewed.
A claim of false advertising could hold up, but again that's a promise not held in a contract.
Finally, it looks like that marketing campaign was over 7 years ago. No court would ever hold them to business plans from that long ago. They have to provide adequate notice for any changes (often 30 days), but they can certainly discontinue a program.