Gossip

Gossip: T-Mobile saving even more cash?

Your Sniffer is starting to fret about T-Mobile. Not just one thing, but many, and today, they were topped by the discovery that the company isn't answering its phones.

One of the hot spots of the fortnight is the weekend when Mobile News comes out - and we can see what the Mystery Caller has got up to. This edition, the trade paper rang all the UK operators with the sad tale of having to take a pre-pay phone to the US.

You'd expect to find "3" bottom of this league, and normally, the "3" response would indeed have claimed the wooden spoon. "We do not have a roaming partner in the US."

T-Mobile outdid that. It kept the Mystery Caller on hold for ten minutes, three times. He didn't get through, not once.

It's not the only example of things going to pot - last week we pointed to the place-holder Web site which spent the weekend not working at all.

And we've heard from VIP guests who complained - surprisingly earnestly - that the traditional free Starbucks coffee which the company gave to visitors to the remote Herts offices while they waited, was now "give us money!" a profit making operation - an odd idea of hospitality, and leading to the fear that the loo might need ten pence in the coin slot before you could get in.

Your Sniffer, not being one to accuse a company unfairly, rang the press office. No reply. Then we tried the company's PR outfit. "We'll try to get someone to talk to you," they promised. They seem not to have succeeded.

But the Mystery Caller, it seems, is rather crosser than you'd expect for someone who was made to spend 30 minutes on hold. Why? Well, read his story. It concludes his survey of T-Mobile's official test, and becomes personal:

"A few days ago, in real life, I had cause to ring my network's customer service number. It was a real-life emergency, and something that needed sorting, immediately.

" I hung on for 13 minutes. Then a rude individual refused to help, even before she'd heard me out. And when I tried again, no one answered the phone for over 20 minutes, by which time my flight was boarding."

...oops.