T Mo Bill

I need to put this issue out in the blogosphere, to see if minds clearer than mine can comprehend what I still cannot despite my hour on the phone with a customer service representative. In late April, I noticed that my cell phone was missing. It had been missing for a few hours, but I did not notice it until I needed to make a phone call. By the time I was able to get home and call customer care to report the phone missing, some savvy little Senn High School student had found the phone and downloaded $140 worth of ring tones and games. The customer care rep told me that they had already cut service to the phone because I had exceeded my spending balance. My service is set up to automatically deduct payments from my checking account every month, so I was understandably confused. The representative told me about the $140 dollars of pending charges resulting from the downloads. I objected to paying for these, but was told I was financially obligated as I had not informed them of the missing/stolen phone. I was informed that to restore service, I would need to make a payment. I paid $120 of the $140 dollars this kid racked up on that day. Three days later, my normal payment of 67.45 was deducted from my account. So, in the month of April, T Mobile recieved $187.45. What I actually owed in April, for the month of March, was $72.80, which should have left a credit to my account of 144.65. The customer care rep told me I had a credit at the end of March of 41 dollars. Wait!!! Huh? Now to May. The week before Memorial Day, T Mobile once again cuts off service to my phone. The automated line says I owe a balance of 0 dollars, yet I have exceeded my spending limit. I once again call customer care, to be told there are pending charges for $218. I asked her to look at my bill to see what those pending charges were. I was told that because the new billing cycle had just started, she was unable to see what those charges were. I had a sneaking suspicion that I was being charged twice for those downloads and explained to the rep that I really needed to see what those charges were for. She understood and reversed charges for a week to allow me time to access my bill on line. The following monday, I pulled up my account on line. It showed I owed $80 something dollars only, which would be correct for one months service. Assuming that T Mobile had found and rectified their mistake and knowing that I am set up for auto pay, I made no further payment. The following Saturday, my service is cut off once again for being over my spending limit. On line I am again seeing charges for $218 dollars with an amount due of $177 dollars. Now I can finally access the bill and indeed the bulk of these charges are for the downloads in April. Needing a working phone and not having time to contest these charges, I made the minimum payment requested of $87.00. I was charged another $20 dollars to restore phone service. I called today to contest the restoration fee and the charges. I was told they could not credit the restoration fee as I had exceeded my spending limit. I told them that as I am on auto pay and plunked down $120 of the $140 owed on the downloads, I could not understand why I would continually be exceeding my spending limit. I also reminded them that I had, in good faith, requested a week to look into the pending charges and had been unable to do so. I reminded them that when I went on line to investigate, I saw a balance due of $87. Then I asked for my charges since March. March $67.45 April $57.45 May $78.79 June $218.93 Total: $422.62 Now you pay for the previous month, so in April I paid 67.45 (March) plus and additional $120, which should have left a credit of $144.65. That credit should have covered April and May's balance leaving a credit for $8.71 In May I paid $87.00 to restore service, that should never have been interrupted, again putting me in the credit column for June in the amount of $95.41. This would leave a balance due for June of $123.52, which would be due in July. So why is T Mobile consistently cutting off my phone and charging me to restore service. Why would pending charges for June affect my service in April. To quote Denzel Washington in his role in "Philadelphia", "Can someone please explain this to me, like I am a six year old?"