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Carrier T-Mobile Uncarrier Mess

dr.devious

dr.devious

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 30, 2008
206
56
Truckee Meadows, NV
Need some advice on how to deal with this situation...

Last week my family switched our 4 lines to T-Mobile through their "Uncarrier" deal. We traded in our 4 AT&T iPhones and were given $620 to put towards T-Mobile phones. We chose 4 T-Mobile iPhones. We subsequently had terrible service around Reno and my iPhone 5S could not get service at our home. After trying another 5S, I still could not get service around the house, and the store said my only other choice would be to choose an Android phone. Consequently, I returned our phones to T-Mobile and ported our numbers back to AT&T.

T-Mobile is now telling me that I lost the $620. :mad:
 
I'm not sure exactly what you're saying, but I guess the deal is you get $620 if you stay with them which you didn't. AT&T has its own thing where you would get some money if you switched from T-Mobile, so see what is up with that.
 
wordoflife said:
I'm not sure exactly what you're saying, but I guess the deal is you get $620 if you stay with them which you didn't. AT&T has its own thing where you would get some money if you switched from T-Mobile, so see what is up with that.
Click to expand...

They gave us $620 for the trade in of our AT&T Phone, and now that we cancelled service they are telling us we can't get the phones back nor can we get the $620. So we gave them our phone without anything to show for them.
 
dr.devious said:
Need some advice on how to deal with this situation...

Last week my family switched our 4 lines to T-Mobile through their "Uncarrier" deal. We traded in our 4 AT&T iPhones and were given $620 to put towards T-Mobile phones. We chose 4 T-Mobile iPhones. We subsequently had terrible service around Reno and my iPhone 5S could not get service at our home. After trying another 5S, I still could not get service around the house, and the store said my only other choice would be to choose an Android phone. Consequently, I returned our phones to T-Mobile and ported our numbers back to AT&T.

T-Mobile is now telling me that I lost the $620. :mad:
Click to expand...

I am sorry about your experience. But I think i would escalate to the store manager. If he does not resolve this then i would ask for his district or regional manager. Call customer service as well.

What was the timing of this whole thing? I know you have 14 days to decide to cancel the service.

But on another note.........lesson learned is to check out the service in your area and the places you frequent before making the leap. I would have bought a prepaid phone from them to test the service. That is what we did. I ported over 3 lines to TMO with the Uncarrier program. It has been great so far. In my area (PHX) TMO is as good or better than AT&T.
 
dr.devious said:
They gave us $620 for the trade in of our AT&T Phone, and now that we cancelled service they are telling us we can't get the phones back nor can we get the $620. So we gave them our phone without anything to show for them.
Click to expand...

I would of had a contingency backout plan explained and agreed before going through with this, especially with four phones. :0
 
dr.devious said:
They gave us $620 for the trade in of our AT&T Phone, and now that we cancelled service they are telling us we can't get the phones back nor can we get the $620. So we gave them our phone without anything to show for them.
Click to expand...

That stinks. I would think they would at least give you a pre-paid visa for the trade in value of your phones. So did the $620 credit on your account just go away? Most companies will mail you out a credit. I guess it would have been a good question to ask prior to signing up, even though you never plan on switching back.
 
Yes, I should have planned this better, and gone the prepaid route to test the service. I ported back and cancelled with T-Mobile within the 14 day period. They are refusing the pre-paid card and claim that when the account was closed I lost any credits on my account, plus they pre-billed me for January 18-February 18th, which they are refusing to credit back.

I have a call into the store's district manager to see what can be done. Considering if small claims will be an option if the DM can't help me.
 
I don't think they let you have the trade-in value back.

I remember when I traded in an old phone to Best Buy to get my GS4, I had to sign a sheet of paper saying that I won't ever see that phone again, even if I returned the S4. However, I would have gotten a store credit/gift card for the trade-in value.
 
dr.devious said:
Yes, I should have planned this better, and gone the prepaid route to test the service. I ported back and cancelled with T-Mobile within the 14 day period. They are refusing the pre-paid card and claim that when the account was closed I lost any credits on my account, plus they pre-billed me for January 18-February 18th, which they are refusing to credit back.

I have a call into the store's district manager to see what can be done. Considering if small claims will be an option if the DM can't help me.
Click to expand...
Tell them you are going to every tech blog....online magazine and newspapers that will listen and recant the bad experience you had with the "Uncarrier" program. The bad publicity alone will lose more than what they would be refunding you your money.....
 
dr.devious said:
Need some advice on how to deal with this situation...

Last week my family switched our 4 lines to T-Mobile through their "Uncarrier" deal. We traded in our 4 AT&T iPhones and were given $620 to put towards T-Mobile phones. We chose 4 T-Mobile iPhones. We subsequently had terrible service around Reno and my iPhone 5S could not get service at our home. After trying another 5S, I still could not get service around the house, and the store said my only other choice would be to choose an Android phone. Consequently, I returned our phones to T-Mobile and ported our numbers back to AT&T.

T-Mobile is now telling me that I lost the $620. :mad:
Click to expand...

What you've just learned is its wise to read & comprehend the contract you sign. Now after the fact it's too late. It's not a T-Mobile "mess" it's a good lesson you've learned.

----------
jamezr said:
Tell them you are going to every tech blog....online magazine and newspapers that will listen and recant the bad experience you had with the "Uncarrier" program. The bad publicity alone will lose more than what they would be refunding you your money.....
Click to expand...

Pointing the finger when the customer is wrong never works.
 
sixrom said:
Pointing the finger when the customer is wrong never works.
Click to expand...


Not really pointing a finger....but making them aware of the bad publicity this will generate.........look at how many people are reading it here! Look at how many here are going to post an "i told you so" message and then tell all of their friends about this guys bad experience with TMO and Uncarrier. The Uncarrier is big news.....they do not want any bad press around it....
 
ugh I'm sorry to read this and don't really have any suggestions

I had a bad experience with tmobiles 0% financing on the ipad air deal (ended up paying it off in full after much time wasting), I simply don't trust them anymore. prepaid tmobile only for me, cant have billing issues there.
 
sixrom said:
What you've just learned is its wise to read & comprehend the contract you sign. Now after the fact it's too late. It's not a T-Mobile "mess" it's a good lesson you've learned.

----------



Pointing the finger when the customer is wrong never works.
Click to expand...

But with any cellular contract, you have time to back out and everything can be reversed. Seems the OP tried within his time and its not going smoothly. It should go smoothly, unless there is secret code in small fine print which then the OP has the right to announce it to the world as a potential carrier switchers may run into the same obstacle. In the end I'm sure they'll take care of the OP.
 
It is a mess. I do believe when you sign the paper which states the trade-in offer, it does say somewhere you cannot get your phone back. However, since you cancelled your lines within the 14 days or I hope you did. They should or might be able to send you the phones back. Call customer care and ask for a supervisor. Explain to them everything. The stores will pretty much not do anything. It's out of their hands. Unless the DM gives you a credit of some sort. Which I highly doubt.
 
Trade ins are all final. It says that on the trade in agreement you sign. Once you give them the phones, it's a done deal. Since you don't have service with them anymore what they will likely do is use the $620 to pay for whatever service you had with them before canceling. After that I think you can call customer service and have them send you a check for the remaining credit that's on your final bill.

As for the phones themselves, you're not getting them back. Period. No matter who you talk to.
 
Last edited:
I researched the deal, I read the terms of service & all related docs BEFOREHAND.

Then I made my decision.

Now after three months of stellar, very fast unlimited LTE connectivity without throttling even when using over 6GB of data each month, I'm very pleased with T-Mobile and my Note 3.
 
CEmajr said:
Trade ins are all final. It says that on the trade in agreement you sign. Once you give them the phones, it's a done deal. Since you don't have service with them anymore what they will likely do is use the $620 to pay for whatever service you had with them before canceling. After that I think you can call customer service and have them send you a check for the remaining credit that's on your final bill.

As for the phones themselves, you're not getting them back. Period. No matter who you talk to.
Click to expand...

This is where I am running into the problem. I was not expecting to get my phones back when I cancelled within the 14 days, but I was expecting to get the remainder of the $620 minus the one week service charges back in the form of check or gift card.

Customer Care is refusing to provide me the $620 minus the one week service charges, they are telling me that I am not entitled to it any longer.

----------
sixrom said:
I researched the deal, I read the terms of service & all related docs BEFOREHAND.

Then I made my decision.

Now after three months of stellar, very fast unlimited LTE connectivity without throttling even when using over 6GB of data each month, I'm very pleased with T-Mobile and my Note 3.
Click to expand...

Obviously you are much smarter than me, my posting it here was to see if there was any recourse to get phone trade in credit back...if there isn't then this was a costly mistake on my part. No harm in getting a second opinion on the matter.
 
dr.devious said:
This is where I am running into the problem. I was not expecting to get my phones back when I cancelled within the 14 days, but I was expecting to get the remainder of the $620 minus the one week service charges back in the form of check or gift card.

Customer Care is refusing to provide me the $620 minus the one week service charges, they are telling me that I am not entitled to it any longer.

----------



Obviously you are much smarter than me, my posting it here was to see if there was any recourse to get phone trade in credit back...if there isn't then this was a costly mistake on my part. No harm in getting a second opinion on the matter.
Click to expand...

If you have a balance on your account once it's finalized they will send you a check for the balance. The question is if they actually credited your account for the trade-in values of the phones, if not, then you might be out of luck on this one.
 
They will send you a check for a real balance. But promotional credits are not real money. I'm absolutely convinced that the moment those trade ins go in the back.. ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pTaTitRENDM&t=118

You would certainly think that as part of the service guarantee that there is some contingency plan for backing out. Perhaps at least forking over some accessories or pre-paid phones you could sell..
 
dr.devious said:
Need some advice on how to deal with this situation...

Last week my family switched our 4 lines to T-Mobile through their "Uncarrier" deal. We traded in our 4 AT&T iPhones and were given $620 to put towards T-Mobile phones. We chose 4 T-Mobile iPhones. We subsequently had terrible service around Reno and my iPhone 5S could not get service at our home. After trying another 5S, I still could not get service around the house, and the store said my only other choice would be to choose an Android phone. Consequently, I returned our phones to T-Mobile and ported our numbers back to AT&T.

T-Mobile is now telling me that I lost the $620. :mad:
Click to expand...

I would twit john legere. This is not right. They were good phones and you are entitled to that cash.
 
You should see if T-Mobile has a microcell type device for home use. It ties into your Network and lets you make calls off your WiFi network. This alleviates any issues you may have with poor cell reception in the home. This is the ONLY way I can make a call on AT&T at home in Las Vegas.
 
Tough lesson to learn. As a forum member you should have been aware of tmobiles lack of coverage. Some store credits can't be converted into cash but you should be able to spend it on tmobile products.
 
This is another good argument for not trading in your current phones but some cheap phones that are on their trade in list. That way, if things go south, you can still use the old phones or if they go well, you sell them.
 
CEmajr said:
Trade ins are all final. It says that on the trade in agreement you sign. Once you give them the phones, it's a done deal. Since you don't have service with them anymore what they will likely do is use the $620 to pay for whatever service you had with them before canceling. After that I think you can call customer service and have them send you a check for the remaining credit that's on your final bill.

As for the phones themselves, you're not getting them back. Period. No matter who you talk to.
Click to expand...


Pretty much on point... Sad truth... Couldn't have said it better myself...

Fact is you agreed to trade in the phones... And they're gone now
 
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