All iPads So is anyone taking T-Mobile up on their deal?

[Lurker251]

YMMV, just a quick note of my T-Mobile experience yesterday.

Went by the T-Mobile store at Brea Mall, SoCal, to pick up a iPad rMini 16g. Thought that due to of current promotion it would be a great time to try out a new network (I'm original Cingular now ATT).

I was denied purchase of that iPad at the promotional price $399 UNLESS I added a voice plan (by salesman with slick-back hair who kept on asking another bespectacled-employee for advice during our conversation).

Felt like it was an attempt to up-sell me, and I did not have the patience to be BS-ed, so I left.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

YMMV, just a quick note of my T-Mobile experience yesterday.

Went by the T-Mobile store at Brea Mall, SoCal, to pick up a iPad rMini 16g. Thought that due to of current promotion it would be a great time to try out a new network (I'm original Cingular now ATT).

I was denied purchase of that iPad at the promotional price $399 UNLESS I added a voice plan (by salesman with slick-back hair who kept on asking another bespectacled-employee for advice during our conversation).

Felt like it was an attempt to up-sell me, and I did not have the patience to be BS-ed, so I left.

I would order online. I went through the process yesterday (but haven't decided yet) and there was no voice plan "requirement".

 

[Lurker251]

@TWO2SEVEN, Thanks for the heads-up.

Did a quick scan/glance at the T-mobile website, not seeing the "voice-plan requirement" the salesman insisted on. So far T-mobile customer service is not winning me over to consider switching networks.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

@TWO2SEVEN, Thanks for the heads-up.

Did a quick scan/glance at the T-mobile website, not seeing the "voice-plan requirement" the salesman insisted on. So far T-mobile customer service is not winning me over to consider switching networks.

I have heard that there stores are not the best when it comes to customer service. Might be best to skip the middle man.

I am going to try the store tomorrow, if they try something similar I will come back to the office and order online.

 

[HenryDJP]

I have heard that there stores are not the best when it comes to customer service. Might be best to skip the middle man.

I am going to try the store tomorrow, if they try something similar I will come back to the office and order online.

It's best to not even bother with the stores in this situation. I used to work for Sprint and a friend of mine works for Verizon as a store manager. They are no different than Sprint in terms of what they demand out of the sales associates at the retail stores. They are on a quota to sell activations, not hardware. It's very high pressured so it's not the sales associate's fault, the company puts a tremendous amount of sales pressure on them and I'm sure T-Mobile is no different.

When I went to the T-mo store to pick up a Nano Sim for my iPad Air to take advantage of the free 200MB, the employee and his manager said they never heard of this and the lowest plan available was $10/month for 500MB. I just left and called T-mo telesales and ordered my sim through them without hassle and they were very aware of the 200MB deal.

 

[Adonys]

YMMV, just a quick note of my T-Mobile experience yesterday.

Went by the T-Mobile store at Brea Mall, SoCal, to pick up a iPad rMini 16g. Thought that due to of current promotion it would be a great time to try out a new network (I'm original Cingular now ATT).

I was denied purchase of that iPad at the promotional price $399 UNLESS I added a voice plan (by salesman with slick-back hair who kept on asking another bespectacled-employee for advice during our conversation).

Felt like it was an attempt to up-sell me, and I did not have the patience to be BS-ed, so I left.

Try a different store , I got mine the other day and no voice requirement,I understand it's their job to up sell but I just declined and sale went through without issues.

 

[Lurker251]

Try a different store , I got mine the other day and no voice requirement,I understand it's their job to up sell but I just declined and sale went through without issues.

I agree, however my salesman said I HAD to add the voice to qualify for the promotional price , which I felt was a bald-face lie, even after I declined the addition of the voice.

@Adonys
On a side note...did you finance your iPad or pay for it in full? (Just wondering if this is an additional factor in determining their requirements). I was going to pay for it in full and pay the $10 activation fee for the 200MB deal.

 

[Adonys]

I agree, however my salesman said I HAD to add the voice to qualify for the promotional price , which I felt was a bald-face lie, even after I declined the addition of the voice.

@Adonys
On a side note...did you finance your iPad or pay for it in full? (Just wondering if this is an additional factor in determining their requirements). I was going to pay for it in full and pay the $10 activation fee for the 200MB deal.

I paid in full. I think paying in full or payment plan has any bearing for the promo.

 

[Gregintosh]

Got my iPad Air today. $498 plus $10 for a SIM card. Paid in full. Free data as promised. They even gave me 3GB free for the first month! (Though that's a trick as they hope I forget to cancel so they can charge me more later lol)

 

[Solange82200]

I agree, however my salesman said I HAD to add the voice to qualify for the promotional price , which I felt was a bald-face lie, even after I declined the addition of the voice.

@Adonys
On a side note...did you finance your iPad or pay for it in full? (Just wondering if this is an additional factor in determining their requirements). I was going to pay for it in full and pay the $10 activation fee for the 200MB deal.

It even said on their website that you had to have a voice plan to get the free gig, and on slickdeals.net where people are talking about it they said too. Now the new price of the mini is not dependent on a voice plan though. It could be wrong, but based on the fact I remember seeing it somewhere on the site and it's all over slickdeals forum I'd wager that the sales person was just confused and not trying to lie to you.

I haven't had a good experience so far with this order. Went to local T-Mobile store, they said they don't keep 32 gig IPad minis in Stock. So I said fine, I'll buy it online and get overnight shipping. The screens where you order were so convoluted with info that I somehow missed the part where you choose the shipping and didn't realize till after I clicked submit. I called customer service right away, but of course "the system" won't allow them to change the shipping to overnight, and won't allow them to cancel the order so I can redo it. Even though it literally had just been done two seconds before. I know I'm partly to blame for missing the shipping portion, but the whole thing with them not even bothering to stock a single 32 gig and then having a "system" so locked down that you can't make simple changes like shipping to it just left me really down on the whole deal.

 

[Lurker251]

It even said on their website that you had to have a voice plan to get the free gig, and on slickdeals.net where people are talking about it they said too. Now ....

Agreed that statement is quite clear on T-mo's website. 1GIG + 200MB free data per month for 2014, voice plan required. But I don't see that as a requirement for a stand-alone device. Do you?

...I'd wager that the sales person was just confused and not trying to lie to you.

I've bought my fair share of vehicles over the years, and the double-teaming sales pitch has made me cynical.

 

[Ryan T.]

I picked up a rMini last night. A couple points:

1. They only had 16GB in stock where I am, of either color and my sales guy made it seem like that was the norm. I was okay with this, but if you want a larger size you may have to order online.

2. Initially they said I could get the wifi pricing on a pre-paid basis - not the case. I had to actually "sign up" for TMo with the credit check and the whole process. Not a huge deal, but worth knowing. I simply cancelled my $10 plan (I don't have TMo voice so I can't get in on the promo) and now have my 200MB a month for free (+unlimited 2G!) and the ability to add some extra LTE if I need it on demand.

Definitely a nice deal, and loving the new rMini coming from an Air.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

I picked up a rMini last night. A couple points:

1. They only had 16GB in stock where I am, of either color and my sales guy made it seem like that was the norm. I was okay with this, but if you want a larger size you may have to order online.

2. Initially they said I could get the wifi pricing on a pre-paid basis - not the case. I had to actually "sign up" for TMo with the credit check and the whole process. Not a huge deal, but worth knowing. I simply cancelled my $10 plan (I don't have TMo voice so I can't get in on the promo) and now have my 200MB a month for free (+unlimited 2G!) and the ability to add some extra LTE if I need it on demand.

Definitely a nice deal, and loving the new rMini coming from an Air.

I think I will go get one today at lunch. I have a 32gb Air, but after I cleared off all of the stuff I don't use I am down to only using about 11gb of it. Think the 16gb will work. If not, I will exchange it within the 14 days and order the 32.

 

[richwoodrocket]

Nope. I'm sticking with my AT&T mobile share plan. 160$ and 10gb data unlimited talk and text.

 

[Ryan T.]

I think I will go get one today at lunch. I have a 32gb Air, but after I cleared off all of the stuff I don't use I am down to only using about 11gb of it. Think the 16gb will work. If not, I will exchange it within the 14 days and order the 32.

I had a 32GB Air as well. After loading all my stuff, I still have a few GB free, so I'll manage. Use the $100 on something more fun than flash storage.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

I had a 32GB Air as well. After loading all my stuff, I still have a few GB free, so I'll manage. Use the $100 on something more fun than flash storage.

I'm thinking the same thing. I don't keep music or video on the iPad since I use Spotify, Netflix, and Hulu. I have also started transferring pictures to my Mac monthly as well as using Photostream. That takes away a huge chunk of memory usage for me.

The rMini will be more of a device to take out with me, I can keep all of the media on the Mac at home. Who knows, maybe I will keep the Air as well.

 

[Kangda]

and now have my 200MB a month for free (+unlimited 2G!) and the ability to add some extra LTE if I need it on demand.

After the free 200MB is used up, there is no throttling. The tablet data just stops with the free 200MB data pass.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

After the free 200MB is used up, there is no throttling. The tablet data just stops with the free 200MB data pass.

This is correct. You are taken to a screen to add more data.

 

[bainbridgematt]

Ok, TMO's website sucks. Went to buy an iPad Air, couldn't find an option to pay all at once (unless you can change from the $199 down & 24 payments of $16.62 at the checkout). To make matter's worse, when it asks for my zip code, it comes back with an error to please enter a valid area code. I know my area code, entered it multiple times, tried cutting and pasting it directly from the USPS site, but no luck. From the prior posts, doesn't look like I'll have better luck in a retail store.

Heading over to AT&T now to buy the Air and get the $100 credit per line added. Although with the credit it still comes out to $27 more than the similar setup at T-Mobile (via their new offer), I don't have time to deal with all their confusion and BS. Legere should fix his customer support and train his sales force before he rolls out another UnCarrier initiative.

 

[Night Spring]

Ok, TMO's website sucks. Went to buy an iPad Air, couldn't find an option to pay all at once (unless you can change from the $199 down & 24 payments of $16.62 at the checkout). To make matter's worse, when it asks for my area code, it comes back with an error to please enter a valid area code. I know my area code, entered it multiple times, tried cutting and pasting it directly from the USPS site, but no luck.

USPS? Isn't that the zip code? Area code would be like 212 and 917 for Manhattan, 800 for toll-free numbers, etc.

 

[bainbridgematt]

USPS? Isn't that the zip code? Area code would be like 212 and 917 for Manhattan, 800 for toll-free numbers, etc.

Mistyped my original post...it asks for your zip code for which it wouldn't take. FYI...my zip code is 06013 which is a valid zip code (but not according to T-Mobile).

 

[Ryan T.]

After the free 200MB is used up, there is no throttling. The tablet data just stops with the free 200MB data pass.

This is correct. You are taken to a screen to add more data.

That's interesting - not what I was told at the TMo store last night, but I guess that shouldn't really surprise me.

I thought the whole "No Overages" thing that came out a couple days ago may have changed that...

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

That's interesting - not what I was told at the TMo store last night, but I guess that shouldn't really surprise me.

I thought the whole "No Overages" thing that came out a couple days ago may have changed that...

Here is how I understand it, which may or may not be correct.

When using the Free 200mb plan: Which I have on my Air and wife's Mini

Once you hit 200mb the data is stopped. You are taken to a screen to buy more prepaid data. (I had this happen last week).

When using a monthly plan (I have the 1gb): Which I have on my rMini

Once I use 1 gb of LTE I will still have unlimited data but it will be MUCH slower.

Again, just my understanding, it may not be 100% correct.

 

[dmk1974]

Here is how I understand it, which may or may not be correct.

When using the Free 200mb plan:
Once you hit 200mb the data is stopped. You are taken to a screen to buy more prepaid data. (I had this happen last week).

When using a monthly plan (I have the 1gb):
Once I use 1 gb of LTE I will still have unlimited data but it will be MUCH slower.

Again, just my understanding, it may not be 100% correct.

You are correct on both statements. Also, the month periods of the two plans are not likely the same (unless you bought the iPad and activated the 200 MB plan the exact same day as the start of your 1 GB billing cycle).

 

[keitarou]

Just wondering if you guys who are going to the stores are going to the T-Mobile corporate stores or the Authorized Retailer stores like T-Mobile TMZ. I have never had any problem at a corporate store in trying to upsell me and not giving me the deals they currently have.