I've been wanting T-Mobile for awhile, simply because I dislike Cricket & a new phone for me would mean that my SO could have my Cricket phone because he likes them, and his phone has pretty much crapped out.
Wednesday, I went to look at phones and somehow I walked away with service. The first 22 hours were awesome. I love the phone I got. The service and reception was great. It proceded to go downhill from there. I had the phone in my blankets, and when I got up off of the couch, it fell. Not hard, but our floor is basically cement covered with cheap carpeting. I didn't see any damage, so I wasn't concerned. My SO and I went about our business, running errands. I called my dad to let him know of my new number. After a few minutes, it sounded like I was talking to him through a really distant tunnel, so I said I'd call back. We drove about five minutes, and I went into the store. When I came back out, I noticed my phone was on, but blank. It was flashing on and off, but "static" was all I saw.
This is where the bad service started:
I'd only had the phone less than a day. I figured, no big deal, I would be able to exchange it. The place where I bought it from was an indirect dealer, and they said they couldn't do that. I was a little baffled.
So I called T-Mobile, and I was barely on the phone with a rep before the man was coming back over to me (I was in the mall, about 10 feet from the store). I went over and he said he could exchange it, but I had to purchase an $80 insurance plan. Something didn't sound right with that, considering the phone was FREE and I'm not new to the cell phone game. No insurance plan I've ever had was more than $10.
I called T-Mobile, and they said what I thought: the plan that I would need would be $5.99. By this time I was mildly perturbed. I'd only had my phone 23 hours and I was already receiving shitty service. The rep told me that there was another T-Mobile store besides the indirect dealer in the mall or vicinity, but that I could get my phone exchanged with no issues due to the insurance and the fact that I'd JUST purchased it.
I went up to the store and the manager said that the indirect dealer would have to refund/exchange my phone, and that I could get security if I had to to help me. So, back down we went, and we proceeded to wait, and wait. 45 minutes later, I tell the man that I had insurance and that T-Mobile said that I should be able to exchange the phone.
"You have to wait 14 days."
Whaaaat? I had read my contract, and it clearly stated that I had 14 days to BRING IT BACK. Again, back up to the main store I went, getting my exercise for the day. They said that they may be able to help me, but they had to clear it first with the District Manager, and they'd call me.
No call came by noontime, so I called customer care AGAIN, and the first lady let me listen to the conversation. The man tried saying that I'd declined insurance, which I did, but now had it. He also said he sold me the phone, which is key later in the story. Finally, the lady got so fed up she hung up on him, and I got disconnected, too. I called back and spoke to another lady, who put me on hold and told me that he said to come in at 4 when his managers were in and I'd get it taken care of.
Around 5, we go to the mall, and the guy who sold me my phone was there. I went up to him, and he played like he had no idea that my phone was broken. That was sort of shady, because when I'd brought it the day before, he even made a comment about it. The other guy who was there said he'd been all day and T-Mobile never called, but I know for a fact that he's the "manager", and it wasn't his voice that I heard when the first rep talked to them, not to mention he wasn't the one who sold me the phone. I shouldn't have been surprised, honestly. My SO was getting upset because he was tired of me getting the run around, plus he wanted my old phone.
I called T-Mobile, and she talked to the guy who "claimed" he'd been there. He had the balls to tell her that my phone had physical damage to it! He made it sound like my phone was cracked. I was like, no way, it's scuffed a little on the bottom from where I had it in my purse, but nothing major. I'm pretty good about taking care of my phones. Even though she saw the notes from where I called before, she pretty much believed them, so I was like, listen, I just want to cancel service. I'm tired of running around, I'm tired of being told 20 different things. I was up by the other T-Mobile store at this point, so I was, well, let me see if they can do anything else first. The guys there were super sweet, calling his manager at home and giving me the number for the District Manager, because the other store "claimed" to have talked to this guy, but these guys doubted that because of course, he's not a District Manager because he's an ass. I finally got a hold of this guy who told me to file a claim with insurance, and that if I ever had any problems to call him or the manager that referred me to him.
I didn't get around to calling anyone else last night, just being tired of dealing with the crap.
And as I've been writing this in between watching NASCAR stuff on Speed:
Lo and behold, we are at my SO's mom's house, and I was digging through my purse for something, and pulled out my phones, the old and the new, because I haven't been able to see anything to switch over important things. I happened to look down, and the phone was working! Talk about shock of a fucking lifetime. I have had it on for the past two hours with no issues, taking pictures and video.
My first 72 hours have been awful, but I'm just happy that it had a good ending, and now I know which store to deal with in the future. :)