Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR Starting today, T-Mobile will only allow payment arrangements through the T-Life app.
In-store and customer support call options previously required a fee, but have now been discontinued entirely.
The move continues T-Mobile’s shift away from traditional customer service channels as it consolidates all its functionality under the T-Life app.
In the current economy, it’s easy to fall behind on your bills from time to time. The good news is that many utilities offer payment arrangements to help you pay off your overdue balance gradually, including cellular companies like T-Mobile. While you’ll still technically be overdue and subject to extra fees, an arrangement ensures your account won’t be suspended while you work to bring your payment history up to date.
For the Un-carrier, there have always been three ways to do this: via the app, in-store, or through a customer support call. According to a new report from The Mobile Report, all but one of these options is going away.
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Starting today, the only way to set up a payment arrangement will be through the T-Life app. Admittedly, this is a relatively small change. After all, T-Mobile already encouraged users to rely on the T-Life app, since it charged a nominal fee for the other two methods. What matters is that T-Mobile continues to move away from legacy support options like direct in-store assistance wherever possible.
While some of these consolidation changes won’t matter to most users, except perhaps the least tech-savvy, it’s yet another sign of how much T-Mobile has changed in recent years. T-Mobile used to focus on customer service above all else, but it’s no longer willing to cater to those who prefer to visit a store or make a call to handle their issues.
From T-Mobile’s perspective, the company likely feels that even keeping the option available creates unnecessary customer service calls and consumes resources that could be reduced by pushing the interaction entirely to the T-Life app. Let’s be honest, none of these changes are particularly surprising, as it’s been clear for a while that T-Mobile was heading in this direction. Still, it’s another nail in the coffin for T-Mobile’s old Un-carrier reputation.
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