Question

Bait and Switch - Trade in SCAM


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Why? I traded my 3 phones for the free phone promo last Aug.  Thinking my 3 devices will be almost free. I called customer service right away when they charged me $20 something for each phone monthly to complain. Customer assured me that they will fix the problem and rest assured that no monthly devices fee will be charged moving forward. It happenned again a month after then same promises then another month again...and every month I call ( about 8 months with more than 8 rep that I talked  with same promises)  What shall I do now? I am tired of calling and to waste my time. How can I file a complaint?


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I suggest filing a claim with the Better Business Bureau.

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I just had the same thing happen!  I have it in writing from multiple reps that as a new customer my new iPhone 13 would be free.  After the fact, they are now telling me that I only get $400 off!  They say nothing they can do, even though a supervisor said it was a problem with the promo and that she had fixed it!  Had I known TMobile was a company without integrity and honesty, I never would have switched!

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I was promised an $800 credit per line without turning in my old iPhone. I got nothing. Very upset with this bait and switch tactic. 

I was upgrading my phones, checked on the app, it said my phone was worth $800. Went to the store the next day, showed them the screen, he said yep. Did the deal, signed for them taking my phones, or so I thought, when I was actually signed a contract to pay $31 extra month on my phones. They never said anything to me that to get the $800 I would have to add a line. Started calling within a couple of days when I had another issue about getting an Apple Watch that I was told was $199 and I would own the watch, he rang it up, nope $365. I said keep it. Called and found out I was only getting the $400 trade in value. Explained to that rep, he said I will fix it, it will take a few days, I will call you back, surprise no call and no change. Talked to a supervisor after a tower outage had me without service for over a week at my house. Got $50 credit and told my bill would be over $200, explained it again and she said that I would have to add a line, I said no one to add a line for, and explained to her the situation, she checked came back said my bill would be $113 for this month and $170 after my accessories were paid off, nothing about having to turn in a device or make monthly payments. Called another supervisor 2 weeks ago, told her everything and was told she would pull the calls and listen, she called me today to tell me she found the calls but since the rep told me about having to add a line there was nothing for me to do. I said tell me in there where she said I had monthly payments, she couldn’t, I said did you hear her tell me at the end of the conversation that my bill was 113 for this month and after accessory payoff it would be 170? She danced around it. I told her well great I am stuck for 2 years, so congratulations you win, but I will NEVER. EVER give your company a positive review, don’t even send me the survey and I hung up

Report this to the Attorney General in the state of the store that you bought your your phone in. If you made your purchase online, then report this to the Attorney General of the state that you live in. Print out the ad and keep all the documentation that provides support of the bait and switch. 

Yep, I purchased  2 iphone 13s at the promotional rate of $699 (buy one get one free) on 9/8/2022.  I was told the phones would arrive within a couple days.  Then i was informed one of the phones was on backorder but that I could go to a store and get one.  Well, in doing that,"the system" cancelled the promotional rate and I received a bill for both phones @ $799.00 each. When i called T-mobile to get this corrected the agent told me there was nothing that could be done.   I complained via the BBB website and received a call from T-Mobile headquarters the next day.. The agent apologized and said she was correcting my bill.    Now, I’m being charged $799.00 instead of $699. Imagine how much miney t-movile makes from these types of business practices. 

 

Received TWO messages “ACTION NEEDED” to upgrade my phone. A FREE replacement phone/upgrade. “Visit your local T-Mobile store to get your FREE phone”. Went to one store in town: upgrade phone not in stock and not sure when they’d get them in “but you can go online or call T-Mobile to order”. Did that but it was almost $500, cancelled order because that’s NOT free.  Was told the upgrade only applies to in-store upgrades. So I went to the other store in town. Also not in stock and no idea when they’ll receive them. They just got a memo “this morning” that they cannot order them. I do believe this is a clear case of bait and switch and I WILL be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

I had  the folks, including the head person, at a T-Mobile store offer to give me $1000 credit to trade in my 11 pro max for a new one. All I had to do was upgrade my plan to Magenta Max for seniors. I thought this too good to be true. I called 611 and asked if this plan was valid. A very nice lady with a interesting accent told me it was. She assured me I should allow her to sign me up over the phone. My monthly bill had been $80. I was surprised to get my next bill for $160. It seems that I was given only $400 for my trade-in. Numerous calls to 611 resulted in a lot of promises and a lot of apology but no action. I am now paying monthly until $1000 for the new device is collected. I really didn’t need a new iPhone, it’s just that I thought it was such a good deal. Yep! too good to be true. These people are experts at bait and switch. They have switched me out of a lot of bucks. No one so far is willing to fix it. 611 is useless. You are talking to folks out in the Philippines. Not sure they have the authority to do anything other than apologize.

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I had this same issue happen back in October 2022. I traded in 3 iPhones and was told at I would receive an 800$ credit “Promotion” for each iphone when upgrading to the iphone 14. After 2 bill cycles passed, I was not receiving the bill credits. I called into 611 (December 2022) and I talked with a supervisor who said it was a problem with the promo and that he had fixed it!  The following day, I received a follow-up call from another supervisor apologizing and again was told it was a mistake on T-Mobiles end that they would adjust my bill and apply the promotions. The supervisor informed me that it would take 2-3 more bill cycles for me to see the promotion credits on my bill. Well here we are 6 months later with no adjustments and not bill credits. 

 

And here comes the bait and switch: 

‘I called into 611 today (May 4, 2023) to inquire about why I was not receiving the bill three $800 bill credits and was told that my plan was not eligible for the promotion and there is nothing they can do. 

 

To say the least, I AM PISSED!  

 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED…. T-MOBILE SCAMS THEIR LOYAL CUSTOMERS. 

T-Mobile is a company without integrity and honesty to their Loyal Customers of 22 years.

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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/12/t-mobile-bungled-iphone-13-rebates-admits-bug-caused-wrongful-rejections/

Userlevel 2

Thank you for sharing that link/article. The article is from 2021. 

I am in the process of taking legal action. 

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Thank you for sharing that link/article. The article is from 2021. 

I am in the process of taking legal action. 

Your very welcome, yes it is disappointing our officials and consumer protection branches  seem well aware of this and still it is going on to this day, I was at the last day for my rebate best and had to request a trace though they tried their best to make every excuse and threat to keep me from demanding it even tried telling me at this hour it could still be delivered before end of business, on a Saturday?  The end of biz was noon, I’ve already returned to Verizon however legal recourse will have to wait until next month as TM has left me with .66 cents in my account for the month at this point so I’ll be doing small claims next month regardless at this point if just for loss of wages and hardships suffered from TM lack of responsible and timely resolution I’m no lawyer and it’s probably I’ll lose anyway however t5he more wheels that squeak the more likely the victims will be heard and TM held accountable I can only imagine what all of u are suffering through from the circumstances you have been abandon by TM in and I’m sorry so I will “WILL” at the very least be filing with every gov dept including the FTC and States Att so that one day this will be brought to light

 

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This is standard practice with garbage company like T-Mobile.  They’re completely dishonest and jerk people around.  They charged me $400 for a 5g modem I returned and openly admitted to having it in their possession, but would not fix the bill.  

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I’m running into similar issues.  Was told “Sign up for the 5G service and everyone on your plan gets $830 credit towards a new phone with trade in”.  Upgraded the plan, Bought the phone in the store and was told $7 month for 24 months after credit applied.  Paid taxes and fees (so I thought and I saw the charges) signed and went on my way.  Bought daughters phone over the phone and did same.  A day later check my account and not only is there a $130 down payment on there but $18 protection fee that I never asked for nor authorized.  More to the story with my daughters phone but The $11 that I was told hers would be monthly I am now being  told is $20 month.  There was no down payment on her phone but mine was cheaper and had a down payment.  In addition, the man working there told her the other guy “made a mistake” but there’s nothing he can do.  Clearly they are trained to lie and steal from you since I found out only store employees make commissions.  

We have been with t mobile 16 years on auto pay and very loyal.   I usually get my phones at Apple but this promo sounded too good.  Now I know why.  The worst part is no one on t mobiles customer (joke) service line can tell my why this happened or why with our stellar credit and loyal account with them this happened.  I have received 6 different responses from 6 different people I could barely understand on the phone.  2 were supervisors.  The last response was basically go in the store and fix it.  Where is the service with this company??  Buyer beware and I can not believe I fell for this scam.  No wonder they are understaffed in the store as no decent person would work for a company that treats loyal long term customers like this and lies to their face about what they are buying and what it will cost.  Im disgusted and since our new plan doesn’t start until the 23rd I am going to get my money back and cancel everything.  When 7 employees can not explain something as simple as buying a phone you know there’s something rotten here.  

They did the same thing when we switched to the i phone 13, and when we thought about switching to the 14th, they then changed the 2 year eligibility to no year eligible because NOW you have to pay $40 extra to even have that feature smh. I’m soo sick of this company and their slimey business practices

 

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Same thing but two phones and a computer. They took the two phones off no computer. Now in collections after two bbb complaints and still it hasn't been fixed . Maybe legal action is required.

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