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MODESTO, Calif. (KTXL) – The co-owner of a cannabis store in Modesto is claiming T-Mobile is the reason behind why he was kicked off a texting platform he uses for his business.

“It’s a complete invasion of privacy,” said Travis Miller, the co-owner Empire Health & Wellness in Modesto.

Miller told FOX40 he’s been simply communicating to his thousands of customers about the cannabis they use for medicinal and recreational purposes before he was kicked off the texting platform.

“We have Avochato, using Twillio, who uses T-Mobile’s network,” Miller explained.

Avochato is a texting platform that allows texting through a desktop, which increases Miller’s efficiency. His business texts about 5,000 times each day.

“It’s basically impossible for me to get through to anybody, even communicate about the situation. Avochato has basically told me that it’s above their heads and they’re not able to do anything. And unless they ban us, they’re going to be banned as well,” Miller said

Avochato told Miller they must drop him, or face being dropped by T-Mobile, according to Miller.

“T-Mobile network has the final say,” Miller said. 

FOX40 reached out to T-Mobile about the situation and received an explanation for the incident.

Commercial text campaigns on T-Mobile’s network must operate according to all applicable federal and state laws and regulations. The content must be legal across all 50 states for it to be delivered on our network. These are standard terms T-Mobile uses with our commercial messaging partners.

T-Mobile spokesperson

Miller said T-Mobile is making it difficult for many of his patients who are elderly.

“Try and tell your grandma to go download the Signal app and go through the process to do so,” Miller said. “We want to have an easy consumer experience. And having our customers have to download an app in order to correspond with us, when we’re not doing anything wrong, is absolutely ridiculous.” 

Miller said he’s been in the cannabis business since 2010 and since he began his company in 2016, he’s accrued 80,000 customers.

Until his business is reconnected, Miller said his customers will have to go through Weedmaps in order to place an order.

Miller said his business gets 211,000 clicks a month from the Weedmaps website which tells customers about his location.

“The simple fact is, it’s wrong. We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re licensed in the state of California. And we’re not harming anybody. We’re trying to help people,” Miller said. 

 Miller said his lobbyist is contacting T-Mobile’s lobbyist after he asked for help.