Goodbye T-Mobile

I have been a long-time devotee of the Sidekick.  I was one of the early adopters of the Sidekick I back in the day (a few years ago).  After the first Sidekick, I moved onto the Sidekick II.  It was a logical progression for me, it was smaller and had a lot of new features (like a camera, better keyboard, etc.).  I was a big fan of that phone.  I had it for several years and it never gave me a problem.  Of course, after a few years - pieces stopped working. 

The final insult came just a week or so ago.  I turned my phone off and it never turned back on.  My Sidekick 2 was officially dead.  So, of course, I started searching for a replacement.  I initially started with the phones that T-Mobile offers - as I have been using them for years and the last time my Sidekick died, they went above and beyond to get me a great deal on a new phone.  The only phone that had all of the features that I wanted was the T-Mobile Wing.  Unfortunately, I thought that the $299.99 price tag on the phone was a bit too much.  After discussing with several employees there - I realized that their (previously great) customer service is gone now.  They were unwilling to decrease the price or provide any incentive to stay with them.  In fact, each individual that I spoke to, had something nasty to say about their competitors - specifically Cingular/AT&T. 

After receiving very little help from them, I started looking elsewhere.  Eventually, I ended up with the Blackberry Curve.  It has everything that I loved about the Sidekick II, but it was also smaller.  After getting a final quote from Cingular/AT&T, I called T-Mobile one last time to see if they would match the other provider.  Truly, the plans were exactly the same - the only difference was the initial price of the phone (between the Curve - $199.99 and the Wing - $299.99).  Their response surprised me - they actually encouraged me to go with the other provider.

I don't know if this is because they didn't care about my business - or if they feel that customer service just isn't necessary in their line of work - but I was very surprised.  I had them repeat the line "there's nothing we can do" a few times because I was so sure that I had misunderstood something.  I couldn't believe that a company to which I had been loyal for 5 years would not return that loyalty.  I guess I was wrong.

In any case, after ending my call with them, I immediately signed up for a new contract with Cingular/AT&T and received my phone the next day in the mail. 

T-Mobile gets a big "thumbs-down" from me in their customer service. 

Has anyone else had similar experiences?