AURORA, Colo. — The anniversary of her son's unexpected death brought raw emotions back to the surface for Christine Rupprecht.
"His name was Jeremy," said Rupprecht. "It's hard enough to lose a loved one, but then to run into brick walls everywhere you go makes it ever so much more difficult."
Rupprect says the brick walls were at an Aurora T-Mobile store a month after her son's death last year. She told an employee her son had taken his own life and she wanted to remove his line from her account.
"I felt so sad when I went in initially to drop Jeremy's line, and it was like nobody cared," Rupprect said. "They told me I would have to pay out the contract in full or keep paying for his line every month until November 2023, another year and a half."
For the last year, she has been paying for two lines, with no one using the second line.
"It just reminds me every month that my son isn't here, and I'm paying for a phone that we don't have," Rupprect said. "And I guess when someone passes, you want to tie up all of those loose ends and have things put at rest."
Before the anniversary of his death this week, Rupprecht reached out to Contact Denver7. We found T-Mobile has a posted policy for deceased family members, but the carrier's own message board includes complaints stating that the process is not that simple if the deceased is on a bundled family account.
T-Mobile did not respond to our questions about those concerns, but in a statement to Contact Denver7, a spokesperson emailed, "Thank you for letting us know about this customer’s concern. We apologize for the difficulties she has endured. We have reached out to the customer and have come to a satisfied resolution."
Rupprecht says T-Mobile issued a full refund of the $300 extra she's paid for the extra line for the last year and removed her son's line from her plan going forward.
"Immediately, I got a call from T Mobile," she said, adding it gave some of the closure she was looking for as she remembers her son this week. "Thank you, T-Mobile, for finally coming through and doing the right thing. For other companies, just be compassionate when someone passes. It's hard enough. It's hard enough."
Editor's note: Contact7 seeks out audience tips and feedback to help people in need, resolve problems and hold the powerful accountable. If you know of a community need our call center could address, or have a story idea for our investigative team to pursue, please email us at contact7@thedenverchannel.com or call (303) 832-7777. Find more Contact7 stories here.
