Complaint Review: T-Mobile

 I have had TMobile for over 15 years, so clearly, I have not had any issues in the past, and I would not be writing unless I felt strongly about this situation. In October, 2015, 8 months ago, I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S6. A little over 2 weeks ago, in May 2016, the phone quit recognizing a charge. I called customer service, they went through several trouble shooting steps, but nothing worked. They said I would need a replacement phone. As the phone was still under manufacturer warranty, I thought this would be a simple exchange. No. The T-Mobile rep informed me I would need to pay $47.50 to replace the phone because I had to pay for shipping and processing, and, they would be sending me a refurbished phone from the warehouse, also very disappointing. Here I am, still paying for a $500 phone that I will no longer actually have, because they are sending me someone else's used and previously broken Samsung Galaxy S6. After much debate, they agreed to waive the "processing fee" and the shipping fee. I was appreciative of this, but still disappointed about the used phone. They informed me if I had purchased the insurance on the phone when I bought it, they wouldn't have tried to charge me the $47.50 to replace it-even though it's under manufacturer warranty. I naively thought warranties covered replacements, free of charge, but not at  T-Mobile. I have had the replacement phone for 6 days, and unbelievably, it's broken! Surprise surprise!  I called customer service and she spent 30 minutes having me power the phone off and on. She then transferred me to someone in the technical department who after 45 minutes told me we would need to replace the phone! She said based in her trouble shooting, the phone has an internal glitch that cannot be fixed. She then told me I couldn't get the next refurbished phone for 11 days. What? Im sorry, but telling a customer they will have no cell phone for 11 days is ridiculous. This phone is completely unusable. She transferred me to the Loyalty department. That representative said to me, and I am quoting exactly here,"What do you want me to do, create a phone out of thin air for you?" How rude, snide and obnoxious. This is Tmobiles loyalty department??!! WOW! I requested to be transferred to her Manager. His resolution was for me to buy a prepaid phone at the T-Mobile store and use that until my next refurbished phone arrived. He also said he would give me $50 credit towards the prepaid phone.  At least he had a solution and was offering some sort of fill in phone until the 11 days passed. Not sure what happened, but we got cut off. I called back, and I the call was picked right up by a Level 2 Technician. His name was George. He was great! He actually went through trying to do a hard reset, which no one else had tried. In the end, he couldn't get the phone running either. He said no one had ordered my replacement phone yet, even though I had talked to four people already. He ordered it, and it will be here in 4 days, not 11! Thank you George! He also did not try to charge me any "processing fees". I'm not sure if paying to replace a phone under manufacturer warranty is a T-Mobile thing, or a Samaung thing, but passing that off to the customer is a scam. In my life, I've had other things break that are under warranty and typically, it's free? I can't even think about the fact that I am still paying so much money for a phone I no longer own. I was hoping 15+ years of loyalty to a company may be worth more than a refurbished phone. I am very disappointed. So here I am, 8 months after buying my Samsung S6 and this will be my THIRD one. I'm sure the next refurbished phone wont work either so this will go on and on. 

I would think twice before buying any phones with Tmobile  at this point, and definitely Leary of the Samsung S6.