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In an email sent to staff, T-Mobile chief Mike Sievert stressed that no plans have yet been changed and all affected customers would be adequately informed
Last week, leaked documents showed that T-Mobile was planning on migrating customers from a number of mobile plans onto newer, more expensive tariffs.
The documents showed that this was not a case of sunsetting older mobile plans, but rather a collectively shifting customers up a tier, on to more modern and comprehensive mobile plans.
According to some sources, affected customers could face a cost increase of $5–10 per month.
Customers would seemingly have the option to opt out of this change, but would be required to contact support to do so.
Now, however, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert has released a statement arguing that the leaked information did not show a full commitment to this migration plan, calling it just “a very small test”.
In a company-wide email, as reported by The Mobile Report, he said:
“Last week, some internal training documents were leaked to a website that covers mobile industry updates. The media quickly picked up the information and ran with it, as they often do with leaks. Unfortunately, docs like this – without more context – leave a lot of room for interpretation. In this case, it was largely inaccurate and caused a lot of confusion for our customers (rightfully so!).”
“I’m sure people are also asking many of you what’s going on. So, I wanted to offer a bit more background to help answer questions you may be getting. First, the biggest piece of missing context was that the leaked materials related to a very small test.”
He further explained that this test would include only “a small subset of customers who are on older rate plans”.
Exactly how many customers will be affected remains unknown.
“Tests like these help us design new programs, offers and promotions, and, probably most important, ensure we are getting the experience right for our customers,” read the email, which also promised the company would “make adjustments or shifts as needed over time”.
Ultimately, knowledge that this shift is simply part of a small test will be of little comfort to those customers seeking opt out of the shift – and perhaps even less so for those that are not paying close attention and only notice the shift when their bills go up.
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