Lied to and billed for a phone that I was offered for free

J
Userlevel 3
Badge

I have been a good reliable Tmobil customer for over 4 years. I have multiple lines on my plan and I’ve never missed a payment.

I ordered and paid for a new phone just before Xmas 2021. The phone was never delivered. I called to ask where my phone was and was told they couldn’t find the phone and had to investigate. A rep was supposed to call me back. By the second week of Jan. the issue still wasn’t resolved and I did not receive a phone yet. Tmobil was still unable to give me a clear answer on what happened or when I’d receive my phone. I was upset and called back on Jan. 7th to close my account. 

The operator was distressed and said she could not lose me as a customer. She asked if a free phone would get me to stay. I agreed and signed the paperwork for a new phone. I received the phone within 1-2 days and all was well until I got my next bill and saw that I was being billed for the phone. 

I called customer support several more times trying to resolve the issue. By early March my frustration level was through the roof. I’ve made so many calls and wasted so much of my time. I called to cancel my account and was told that if I left, I would still owe for the balance on the phone. I said I’d send it back but the rep said too much time has passed. 

I asked to speak with a supervisor. I was given to James rep# 9991310431 who insinuated that all along this was just a scheme I hatched to demand a phone. That whatever happened between me and the service rep on Jan. 7th was my fault and that I agreed to pay for a new phone. I asked him to listen to the recorded call, he said he did and that I agreed to buy a phone. I know that’s not true so I asked James to let me listen, he said that wasn’t possible. I asked if somebody else at Tmobil could listen to the call. He said he was the highest level of authority I would be able to reach and that nobody else at Tmobil would bother to waste their time listening to that call. 

I asked James for the number to customer relations, he said that Tmobil (a giant phone company) doesn’t have a phone at customer relations and that I’d have to write them a letter. If I want to speak with somebody else, I will have to wait 72 hours for somebody to call me back. 

This all seems crazy to me. I’m a working father of three children with a life, I don’t have time for all this and I’m not just going to be bullied into paying $1000 for a phone I was told would be free. I want my money back and I want to take my families business elsewhere. I can’t believe that there’s no way to contact anyone at Tmobil with the authority to assist a very displeased customer besides James, who has insulted me multiple times now. 

If you are reading this and you are on the fence about using Tmobil as a carrier, this will be your reality if you ever need customer service. I don’t recollect ever calling for help with anything else in all my time with this company.  The one time I need help due to unusual circumstances that were no fault of mine, I’ve been lied to, scammed, hassled, bullied, insulted, stressed and have had hours and hours of my time wasted. 

27 replies

1
Userlevel 1
Badge

The biggest mistake I made was switching my service to T-Mobile via phone. Every mistake made and every lie told, has been via phone. I suggest strongly that you visit your local T-Mobile store and try to speak with the manager on duty there, or try to schedule a time to meet with them. There might be something they can do to get the ball rolling for you because where I'm located at least, they know how incompetent the phone reps are. I feel your frustration 100%!! 

J
Userlevel 3
Badge

The biggest mistake I made was switching my service to T-Mobile via phone. Every mistake made and every lie told, has been via phone. I suggest strongly that you visit your local T-Mobile store and try to speak with the manager on duty there, or try to schedule a time to meet with them. There might be something they can do to get the ball rolling for you because where I'm located at least, they know how incompetent the phone reps are. I feel your frustration 100%!! 

I did.. I went to a store and spoke with a very nice and helpful manager. Unfortunately he was unable to assist me with this issue. That’s the problem, this is a colossal failure of customer service. My phone isn’t broken, my service is fine.. my problem seems to be a bit outside of normal complaints and thus nobody has the procedure or authority to solve my issue. I’m trapped in a continuous vortex of being bounced from service rep to service rep with zero results.   

J
Userlevel 3
Badge

UPDATE 4/18/2022

 James rep# 9991310431 wins… he made notes on my account saying that I agreed to purchase the phone I was promised would be free in January. I spoke to several other representatives trying to correct this issue with no luck. I can’t waste anymore time.

In the eyes of T-mobile I lied about all of this and there’s no chance of them giving me the benefit of the doubt!! So I just paid off the free phone ($1000) and I’m leaving for AT&T.. YOU T-Mobile 

I’m not a difficult customer. I have never complained and I’ve never left any sort of feedback like this on the internet before. I have no other card to play, T-Mobil scammed me (for no reason) and this was the only course of action I can take is to try and let the public know what happened to me. 

S

I’m so sorry to hear this happened to you with a $1000 phone.  This just happened to me as well, but with a much cheaper phone.  I am also a long-time customer with 3+ years of service and a total of 8 lines (some voice/cell phone lines, some internet).  I went to my local T-Mobile store last week (a third party) and wanted to add a line to my account.  I brought in an old phone I intended to use, but they said “why don’t you just get one of the free phones we are offering, it’ll be 5G, etc).  So I agreed.

As it turned out, they could not add the line there at the store because I have an older plan.  They would’ve had to switch me to a new plan (which I absolutely didn’t want to do) and then get customer service at T-Mobile to switch it back.  I was too nervous about losing my current plan, so I said I would just call T-Mobile directly to get it set up.  They said the phone would be free directly through T-Mobile as well.  
I called T-Mobile’s customer service and got a very helpful rep located in the Philippines. She offered me the same exact phone that I was offered at the store and said that after promotional credits it would be $99.  I said to her “why was that same exact phone offered for free at the store?”  So she said, “Let me check...” and then said “Okay, I can apply a promotion for you that will make the phone free.”  She walked me through the pricing, explaining that a $4.17 charge would appear on my bill every month for 24 months for this phone, but that she would apply a $99 credit to offset the fees.  She asked if I wanted the charge to appear for $4.00 monthly or if I wanted the $99 in a lump sum.  I told her I wanted the lump sum, to which she said okay.  I heard her typing notes in the entire time as we discussed all of this.

What I did find very concerning is that the rep sent me an email with a contract that I had to electronically sign.  When I opened that document, it did not show any of the pricing or discounts that I had agreed to.  I told her this and she said “that’s because I cannot apply the promotions until I call you back to activate the line.  Those prices will all come down once we activate the line and I apply the promotions.”  While I was still pretty uncomfortable with that explanation, what else could I do?  The only thing I knew I had working in my favor was that the call was being recorded, so it could be referenced if anything went awry, though I had no reason to expect that it would.  I’ve had great service from T-Mobile up to this point.  So I accepted that and signed the contract.  Before we hung up, she said she was sending a text as her “personal guarantee”.  It didn’t really make any sense because it was just a generic T-Mobile that she added her name to at the end.  There was no “guarantee” of anything and I had no way to contact her back directly.  

Before hanging up, however, she also scheduled a time with me to call back and activate my new phone.  I adjusted my schedule to make sure I was available for the call.  The call never came.  Finally, after waiting 45 minutes, I called T-Mobile myself.  I explained that I was calling to activate the line and that a promotion was to be applied so that the $99 phone would be free over 24 months. They looked up my account and said that there was a credit being applied to my account monthly for approximately $15.  I explained to the rep that I certainly wasn’t complaining, but that that didn’t make sense because the phone was only $4.17 a month.  So she looked it up and said “No, the retail price of this phone is $450, so that monthly credit will come out to $351 over 24 months, making the phone $99.”

I then explained once again that the phone is supposed to be free after all credits are applied.  It should not be $99, and that I never would have purchased the phone if I was being charged for it.  I had a working phone I intended to use, and ONLY got this phone because it was free.  She checked the notes on my account, which turned out to be incredibly vague and made no mention of the free phone.  She then said they do not have the authority or ability to give away phones for free and that I would have to pay $99 for the phone.  I told her that in that case, I will return the phone.  She said that would be fine and that I can return it to a store (I doubt I’ll be able to return it to the “authorized retailer” in my town, but we will see).

I did mention to her that they should have a recording of the call, and can listen to what the rep told me and what I agreed to.  She explained that T-Mobile has so many call centers worldwide that even though the calls are recorded, they’d never be able to find it.  I said to her, “I understand that, but then what’s the point of recording the calls?”  I told her that if they have a rep lying to customers to get them to sign up for things, they need to make the effort to find these recordings.  

I realize this is only $99.  I also realize that I am still able to return the phone (thank goodness).  But I am so frustrated at how much of my time has been wasted on this, I’m frustrated with being lied to by what I thought was a stand up company.  I’m frustrated because the entire reason I was making this switch was to eliminate the land line that Xfinity is charging me $56 a month for, and I was eager to get my landline number ported so I can cancel my Xfinity service.  I waited all week for this call from T-Mobile that never came, and now I’m still without a phone/service for this line that I’m paying for with T-Mobile, PLUS I am still stuck paying for the Xfinity line until this is all sorted out.  I had been SO HAPPY with T-Mobile up to this point.  Truly had zero complaints and recommended many others to check them out.  It’s a shame that they seem to have no quality control or integrity when it comes to what their reps are telling people.  Fine if you’re going to outsource customer service worldwide, but have some quality control in place.  Have a way to monitor these reps, a way to listen to the recorded calls when a customer is claiming they’ve been lied to.

Anyway, I just wanted to add my experience.  Again, nowhere near as bad as the person who was stuck with a $1000 phone, but just thought I should mention my experience as I’m sure we cannot be the only two people this happened to, and it looks like it happened to both of us within a few months.

Other than this horrendous experience, I really do still love T-Mobile.  I would just suggest doing business at a T-Mobile store and getting things in writing.  I know that’s not always feasible (like in my case, even the store was telling me to just call and go through customer service), but just a suggestion. 

S

I wanted to come back and update my reply since I was able to get this situation resolved.  The morning after I typed my experience above, I got an automated text message survey asking about my experience.  I was very honest in the survey, giving low ratings and a full explanation as to what went on.  Later that morning, I missed a 1-800 call but didn’t answer because I was out with a friend.  I received another call from that number an hour later, but again did not answer since I was still out.  When I got home and listened to the VM, I learned it was T-Mobile calling to discuss my survey and wanting to help resolve my issues.  Unfortunately, the number they left for me to call back was just the general customer service number, so I opted to wait and to a T-Mobile store instead.

 I went to my local T-Mobile store (they are an “authorized retailer” as opposed to a corporate store, and as I expected, they were unable to provide any assistance.  Despite the T-Mobile rep on the phone telling me I could return the phone to the store, the store associate said they could not accept the return and that the only thing I could really do is call in to customer service again.

I had planned to visit a corporate store the next day but decided to call customer support one more time since it was too late to go to the store that evening.  I called customer service, explained that I was returning their call about my survey.  The rep asked for a rundown of what was going on.  She checked the notes on my account, and just like the original poster above, she found no notes confirming that the rep told me the phone would be free after the promotion was applied.  The rep then explained that while they do have other phones that would be free, the once I received would be $99.  She then put me on hold to speak with her supervisor and see what else could be done.  A few minutes later she came back on the line and said that rather than put me through the hassle of exchanging the phone, she was going to apply a credit to my account.  She said it would have to be a lump sum and it would just go towards my current bill (as it couldn’t be applied to the monthly fees for the phone), but that was totally fine with me.  That’s all I wanted from the start.  

So all in all, it was a whole lot more complicated than it should’ve been and took way more time than it should have, but T-Mobile did resolve the issue and stand behind what I was originally promised by one of their reps.

1
Badge

T MOBILE IS JUST STEALING 70 DOLLAR A MONTH FOR PHONE LINES I DON’T EVEN HAVE!  I WAS GOING TO MOVE MY 2 PHONES TO T MOBILE BUT FOUND OUT HOW POOR THEIR COVERAGE IS, BUT KEPT THE MOBILE HOT SPOT LINE. THEY SAID JUST THROW AWAY THE SIM CARDS I NEVER USED, AND I WOULD NOT BE CHARGED FOR THE LINES. NOW THEY ARE CHARGING ME FOR 2 LINES WITH FAKE NUMBERS I DON’T HAVE. STAY AWAY FROM  T MOBILE AND AUTO PAY! THEY ARE CORRUPT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE IS WORSE THAN COMCAST! 

K

UPDATE 4/18/2022

 James rep# 9991310431 wins… he made notes on my account saying that I agreed to purchase the phone I was promised would be free in January. I spoke to several other representatives trying to correct this issue with no luck. I can’t waste anymore time.

In the eyes of T-mobile I lied about all of this and there’s no chance of them giving me the benefit of the doubt!! So I just paid off the free phone ($1000) and I’m leaving for AT&T..  YOU T-Mobile 

I’m not a difficult customer. I have never complained and I’ve never left any sort of feedback like this on the internet before. I have no other card to play, T-Mobil scammed me (for no reason) and this was the only course of action I can take is to try and let the public know what happened to me. 



Omg the same thing is happening to me right now. I called them to see why my bill went up so high after the second month and they told me that  Because I applied for being a first responder, I didn’t give them proof for it and that’s why my bill went up. But I never said that I was a first responder. I called again and somebody told me a different reason. I was so confused so I called again and this time they told me a different reason ONCE AGAIN. then finally this lady explains to me how I did not get the promotion because the phone is NOT free it’s only $700 off but they don’t tell you that when you sign up for it. How is this legal???? 

A
Userlevel 1
Badge

Liars and cheats! the stores are for sales and can't do customer service, I was on the phone after I got a $450 bill for the first month, They gave me a bunch of non sense and said your bill is now changed and we took care of everything yet they did nothing? Im now being billed for my new phone after doing a trade in, my wife's phone was free and the gave her a watch for free. I went there to get a better deal but got screwed. They only gave me$110 for a mint condition iPhone X with 256gb after telling me I was approved for $800 trade in. Liars and cheats. when I get done paying for some of this Im going back to CC. That can't happen soon enough.

T mobile is the worst company I ever had to deal with. they smile while the lie even on the phone.

A
Userlevel 1
Badge

Why did they get rid of the Chat Box???? they had too many folks complaining about getting ripped off!

A
Userlevel 1
Badge

Also I was told that my internet device would be $30 a month and they are still charging me $50 on auto pay. They can't get anything right!

S

In February this year, I switched from Verizon to T-mobile. I was happy with verizon, but they weren’t offering as good as a promotion as T-mobile was, and since I was 19 & switching off my dads plan, I wanted the best deal. I was unaware of how awful this company really was at that time. They told me that if I traded in my phone I’d get $800 off the iPhone 13 & I could throw an Apple Watch SE in for only $200. I asked the lady on the phone if this was a credit situation or if it would be instantly applied. I wanted to have the option to pay off the devices at any time without losing my promotion. She assured me that I could pay them off at anytime, and the promotion would instantly apply to my account, not a credit situation. I never really checked on that until a few weeks ago when I realized it said I owed $219 on my watch I was told was $200. Come to find out the rep that sold me my devices, LIED about it all. I ended up switching back to Verizon because I don’t want to support a company that misleads its customers. When I contacted them over the app to get my phone # transfer pin, they told me due to “privacy” reasons they couldn’t do it over the app. So I called, and was told they only do it over the app. I had to ask to speak to 3 different supervisors before someone was able to finally get me a pin. It was frankly embarrassing for them. Ever since having these issues, I’m suddenly unable to access my app, contact customer support through the app (when it will allow access), or anything. I’m so thankful I was able to switch over back to Verizon. After arguing with them on the app, they stopped using punctuation, capitalizing letters, and misspelling words. They were begging me to stay, even after telling me that they couldn’t help me at all about any of my issues.z 

 

HEAD MY WARNING: if you’re thinking of switching please don’t. Every Verizon rep I spoke to told me that this was typical, and they see it everyday. This was after I switched back so they had no reason to sway my opinion. I’ve seen so many posts & videos online about other people having similar or very very worse issues. You’re better off using any other company. 

A
Userlevel 1
Badge

I would switch back to CC but then I have to pay off my iPone 13 pro after they said I would get 18 for my iPhone X 256gb mint condition phone, they only gave me $110 for it. Plus they gave my wife a free phone and then said the watch came with it for free then added a line for the watch that she didn't want or will ever use, they won't take it back or get rid of the line? The Internet device I have seems to be $30 now after I complained but Im still stuck with the watch line and the watch which they are charging me for yet we were told it was free. The worst company on the planet!!!!!!

 

Stay as far away from T mobile as you can folks.

P
Badge

I had a similar experience. Thought I’d share…

I upgraded an old iPhone to iPhone 14 Pro. I was lied to about the trade in and then lied to again about my case being escalated to the ‘Investigation Department’. After 4 or 5 phone calls totaling more than 3 hours, I have a Form ID number. Is this even real? Or was I liked to again?

Something is seriously amiss in T-Mobile’s Quality Control / Quality Assurance. I wonder if things are this bad at Verizon. I’ve been with T-mobile for almost 10 years now, but it may be time for a change.

P

I come to T mobile in Renton to upgrade my service plan from essential to Magenta and add 1 more line for my son kid watch. As an agent advise , i need to pay $150 for 5 line in Magenta plan, i sweared i asked him 3 times and i had confirmed for  $150 monthly payment for that plan. After i received the bill , it cost first month $220 and $170 for monthly after that. I brought the bill to that T mobile store again for asking, and they said it impossible and they can’t do $150. I said if you can’t do that , so i would like to return everything back to normal and i would like to return the watch too. They said they can switch back but the charge will be higher and they can’t take back the watch because only 14 days for return. I really upset and angry , look like i just got scam by a big company.

C
Userlevel 5
Badge +5

I come to T mobile in Renton to upgrade my service plan from essential to Magenta and add 1 more line for my son kid watch. As an agent advise , i need to pay $150 for 5 line in Magenta plan, i sweared i asked him 3 times and i had confirmed for  $150 monthly payment for that plan. After i received the bill , it cost first month $220 and $170 for monthly after that. I brought the bill to that T mobile store again for asking, and they said it impossible and they can’t do $150. I said if you can’t do that , so i would like to return everything back to normal and i would like to return the watch too. They said they can switch back but the charge will be higher and they can’t take back the watch because only 14 days for return. I really upset and angry , look like i just got scam by a big company.

If your five lines includes the smart watch service then your monthly fee should be:

  1. 4 lines of Magenta - $140
  2. 1 Line Smart Device - $10

Total should be $150 as you were quoted. This price is right off their current pricing as of today.

However, the $170 you were billed would indicate you have 6 lines (5 Magenta at $160 plus 1 Smart Device $10).

Your first bill after changing a plan will always be higher than quoted because it includes the pro-rated fee from when you switched plus the full fee in the next billing cycle.

P

I have 4 lines for phone  and 1 line for kid watch only. I know T mobile scam me. This is not the first time, 5 years ago it happened to me once. That why i asked agent confirm to me 3 times.

C
Userlevel 5
Badge +5

I have 4 line and 1 line for kid watch only

Are you also enrolled in Auto Pay? If not that is a $5 per line fee. That could also explain the extra $20.

P

I have 4 line and 1 line for kid watch only

Are you also enrolled in Auto Pay? If not that is a $5 per line fee. That could also explain the extra $20.

Yes , i do

P

 

C
Userlevel 5
Badge +5

I have 4 line and 1 line for kid watch only

Are you also enrolled in Auto Pay? If not that is a $5 per line fee. That could also explain the extra $20.

Yes , i do

I would definitely call TMO customer support. The $150 price is their standard price right off the website - $140 for 4 Magenta lines and $10 for smart device.

P

I did call them, they recommended me go to the agent and talk to them. I came to agent again, and i meet other people, i told them all the story then i received all denial what they did.

A
Userlevel 2

T-Mobile is a flat out scam company!!!!! The employees in the store lie about promotions and then are paid a commission for doing so and T-Mobile ignores it because they profit from this!!!!!! I was told I would get a month to month credit for 24 months that would cover the cost of my phone …… this never happened and when I called T-Mobile I was yelled at and flat out told word for word they will not honor what I was promised and they are not  responsible for what I was promised. So now I am paying this phone off sorry I’m not broken T-Mobile your not trapping me and I will go back to Verizon who charged a lot more money but knows how to treat a customer. Get any other plan than T-Mobile they lie to you and tell you they are not responsible for the lies and on top of the the service stinks it’s very spotty. Verizon I am sorry I tried something else I figured all phone companies had to be similar and I was wrong about that! 

B
Userlevel 3
Badge

I was also stolen from! 

Hello, fellow T-Mobile customers. I am merely writing this with the hope that someone at T-Mobile will read it and FINALLY, after SEVEN months of headaches, fix and properly bill me. 

In December of 2022 I turned in my iPhone XR in exchange for the iPhone 14 and added a line because T-Mobile was running an $800 off the new phone promo. I handed my phone over to an associate in the store. Well, we are coming up on July 2023 and every month I have to waste my time fighting to have my bill corrected because every month T-Mobile does not apply the promo (bill credits.) 

Every month whomever helps me promises that they have updated and fixed the error, but the next month it is the same old story. At some point I was told that they never received my trade-in, which is absurd because it was not lost in the mail or something. I handed it over in the store! So, did the associate pocket my trade-in?? I was told they would investigate and follow up with me. I never received a follow-up, and then I was incorrectly billed again.

Nobody at T-Mobile will provide a point of contact, someone who I can communicate with so that I do not have to spend an hour+ every month explaining the problem again with someone new. It is terrible service. I have been more than patient. This is ridiculous.

I would NEVER ever ever recommend T-Mobile to anyone based on this experience. I feel stuck because if I cancel my service with T-Mobile then they will say that I still owe the balance of the iPhone 14. I am happy to pay the small amount that I might actually owe at this point, but they might say I am working off the full cost of a new phone, vs the $300 that it should be because of the promo. 

T-Mobile, please fix my account! Please bill me properly! At this point I feel that you have stolen my iPhone XR and are ripping me off/trying to steal more from me by not honoring the promo. 

A

I am a customer for the home internet wifi anywhere. So the actual device works fine, my issue is the original device sent to me was never recieved. So contacting customer service I was told I'd get a billing credit since I never had the device and that I would be able to pick up another at no charge from the local office. This was a lie. Despite having the proof of conversation, the So called manager said they couldn't do it because blah blah blah and that I'd had to pay an upgrade fee to get the device, but calling in would be able to refund that but they couldn't do it themselves and when calling in they said they saw no reason for having to charge it. Moving forward they had to "shut down the original line" and start a new one. So you would assume that the "original line" was closed and I wouldn't be charged for it right... wrong. Three months later still being charged for a device I never recieved and they no longer have when you can chat with an agent and have everything in writing they have this bs to share how poorly they're performing... sadly the service for the device is decent but the customer service not so great... I need my money back, I don't appreciate paying for something I don't have.

N

I have been trying to resolve the purchase price offer for a phone and plan change from the Tmobile for months with NO resolution. What differs with me is I have copies of the “hand” written documentation, the worksheet and notes, from the store manager and TMobile will not acknowledge them. I went back to the store where this phone was purchased when the first bill came in and the manager, who performed this scam, gave me a $60 “Inconvenience Credit” and said she would correct the error. The next month when the bill arrived the same problem existed. When I returned back to the store but it was closed and I went to another local store and they informed me they would investigate and correct the problem. After multiple phone calls to this TMobile representative with no updates , only delays, I resorted to text messages to document this for updates. It appeared she did not appreciate this and i got more delays and the problem was not resolved. So after multiple phone calls to the Cares department that went on deaf ears and I should send a letter to TMobile Customer Relations @ PO Box37380 Albuquerque, NM  87176-7380 I sent they a letter describing the problem I am having and included copies of the handwritten documentation and text messages and after one month did not receive a response. I contacted Cares about this and they said they would investigate. I received a response from them and they determined they could not help me. My next question is: When is a company NOT responsible for the actions of their employees? Shouldn’t they be!  This is not only what I was told, but I have the written documentation to back it.  

Reply


New badge winners

  • Curious George
    Mrguez10has earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    jjpethas earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    netjake1has earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    sfe2299has earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    messymobilehas earned the badge Curious George
Show all badges
Terms & Conditions