A few years ago, T-Mobile had a “5G for free” promotion. All our DDs were 5G already, but promotion just asked for any working phone to be sent in and T-Mobile would ship a 5G phone. I traded in a 4G phone we had as a backup should a DD become damaged, lost, or otherwise unusable while we shopped/waited for a deal on a replacement.
The free 5G was a Galaxy A32. Free meaning each normal 24-month regular purchase payment was offset by a matching credit from T-Mobile. Never used the A32, just powered it up now and then to get software updates.
After the final payment I attempted to unlock the A32. The procedure just gave a cryptic error code and a broken link to get more info. I called CS and after a bunch of head scratching got bumped up to a higher level of support. They just head scratched for a while until finding some fine print in internal documents saying a phone has to be in service to be unlocked AND in service status can take 40 days to register.
Needless to say, a customer is not going to throw their high-end DD in a drawer for 40 days to get their likely never to be “used” backup phone unlocked.
I’m retired and bored, so may be time to file a small claims case. Pretty sure a judge won’t find 40 days to unlock a phone is reasonable and order T-Mobile to unlock OR provide a comparable unlocked phone.
Been in criminal court as an expert witness. Being a civil case plaintiff sounds interesting, even if small potatoes. LoL
