I've been a T-Mobile customer for about 5 years and in the past few days I have been lied to on two desperate occasions.
1. I pay for phones for my parents but they do not get any signal at their house even though it's BRIGHT PINK on the T-Mobile coverage map. I've gone through the process of working with the tech department and a signal booster mailed to my parents. The booster seemed to work alright for a few months with an indicator showing "5" or "6" most of the time (Guessing it goes 1-9 or 1-10 depending on signal strength?). The booster stopped working and just showed a light circling in the booster apparently scanning for a signal to boost. I once again called the tech department and they sent a new signal booster in case the first one had gone bad. The booster didn't help as it also showed a light circling looking for a signal as well. I called T-Mobile for a third time about possible solutions since paying for phones that didn't have signals for retired parents who tend to be at home 99% of the time seemed like a waste of money. Once again I was transferred to the tech department and I was told the reason they were in the bright pink was due to the 5G coverage and once they stripped that layer of coverage away it actually showed my parents lived in area not covered by T-Mobile and the suggestion was made to upgrade their phones to new 5G to see if that helped with coverage since T-Mobile 5G was able to go around and through objects and provided better coverage (As opposed to switching to Verizon as their 5G signal is blocked once you go inside a house or close a sliding glass door as it's unable to penetrate objects? I'm not sure if that's true, but if not, that would be a 3rd lie by T-Moble). Anyway, I looked at the T-Mobile website and it has BIG ad for 5G. I looked at the map and 5G is not even in our area. So how did the tech strip away the 5G coverage and state my parents lived in an area not covered? Upon further investigation I found their 4G map and it shows my parents area completely surrounded in bright pink coverage for 4G? Why did the tech guy lie to me and say the reason for the bright pink coverage was due to 5G when 1. It's not even available in my area. 2. Even if you strip away the 5G area the entire area is still bright pink for 4G? Where is the dead zone?
2. I visited my local T-Mobile store (before I realized #1 was a lie) to inquire about upgrading to 5G phones as the T-Mobile tech had advised to see if it helped with coverage at my parents home. After our discussion the employee helping me whispered if I wanted the 5G phones I should grab two now because the other person in the store was looking at the same phone and the employee wanted to grab them before the other person to ensure I got them. I took this as he was implying they only had two left in stock. I didn't want to be rushed in my decision because it was through talking with this employee that I learned 5G wasn't available in this area which made me decide to leave and research the 4G and 4G coverage before making a decision. When I realized the answer to #1 and 5G was in fact NOT in my area I once again called T-Mobile to inquire about why I either mislead about the 5G coverage or outright lied to about it they stated the techs have different software in which to look at coverage areas more in depth (lie #4?). Anyway, baited the phone representative with the question that I wanted to upgrade to Samsung Note 10+ with 5G but I heard my local store may be out of the phones. The phone rep either researched the inventory or called the store and informed me that they had "plenty" in stock. I'm not sure what the definition of "plenty" is but it raised another red flag as to why the T-Mobile employee would want to make me think they were almost out of stock? Do they work commission? Is there incentive for them to upgrade current subscribers? In hindsight, it did seem a little shady whispering it to me and it was in fact one of the reasons I decided not to upgrade. It made me feel like I was trying to scam the other customer by grabbing the phones first even though he had been in their before me.
Anyway, has anyone else experienced these slippery tactics? As I mentioned before, I have been with T-Mobile for 5 years and love the company.
P.S. Why do they offer new customers deals that aren't available to current customers? If my phones are paid for and my plan is over why can't they just view me as a new customer and give me the deal? I was told the only way they could do it was to issue me new phone numbers? What a pain....not only for me but my parents are retired with doctors, pharmacies and everyone else having their current number. Changing numbers for them would be a nightmare.
Signed,
Disgruntled?
Best answer by tmo_ian
I'm sorry you didn't have the best experience working with our Experts. I've sent you a DM requesting some additional information so we can get that reviewed by the appropriate teams.
For your signal booster concerns, the only thing I can think of is that we shuffled some of our networks around in preparation for a 5G launch that impacted the signal you were getting but we're not ready to launch yet. Depending on where you're at, you can have different networks running on the same frequency. For example, band 2 1900 MHz could be either 2G, 3G, 4G, or 4G LTE in your area, if that band is even in your area.
The offers question is also complicated. It's possible the offer only works for new customers. Like our Carrier Freedom
| T-MOBILE SUPPORT offer; we can't credit your previous carrier's balance if you're not leaving one 😊 And our deals are changing all the time, so it's possible there was a similar deal that you just missed. That's why it's a good idea to keep an eye on Our Best Deals & Promotions on Cell Phones, Devices & Plans | T-Mobile! And don't forget about our T-Mobile Tuesdays - Get Free Stuff & Great Deals | T-Mobile which you can only get as a T-Mobile customer.
