Complaint Review: T-Mobile - Albuquerque NM

T-Mobile does not honor the trade-in promotional values offered to customers in the online shopping cart! Thousands likely ripped off!!!!

You ever swear that when you checked-out online for that new phone you were offered more for your trade-in phone that they actually gave you later one? Maybe T-mobile smugly told you to tell them what promotion you are referring to? You are not alone. T-Mobile is ripping off its customers as T-Mobile cannot get their shopping cart to work properly with their promotions, and then deny customers the promotional trade-in credits they were promised during the shopping cart check-out!

• T-Mobile does not provide itemized receipts for sales transactions that include the  promotional trade-in value for a device.
• T-Mobile does not keep records of the promotional value quoted for a trade-in device during check-out in their online shopping cart system. 
• T-Mobile then does not honor the quoted promotional trade-in values reflected in a customers shopping cart when there are apparent errors in their online shopping cart system.

T-Mobile has a serious internal control issue over the apparent disparate check-out systems and the staff who try to make them work together, that allows its shopping cart system to display promotional trade-in quotes that conflict with the current advertised promotions.  

Over the years, I have had occasions where I swore the promotion actually given did not match the promotion offered online.  T-Mobile staff in the past have always smugly told me to tell them what promotion I was referring to, as though the error was mine.  I am angry now that I know T-Mobile has such poor corporate governance in place that they cannot even keep track of their shopping cart system.

Here is a real example:

OVERVIEW

T-Mobile customer service “expert” Shakeema with employee ID 12651623 on 3/11/2022 refused to honor the trade-in promotional offer of $699.99 that was provided to me when using the highly encouraged online shopping cart check-out system (see Image 1) the day before. 

Prior to ordering the iPhone 13 mini, I recorded my conversation* with Em in T-Mobile customer service, employee ID 505604, on 3/10/2022.  She logged into my T-Mobile account at my request and confirmed the promotional offer, and then documented to my account that my promotional offer was a total of $699.99 for my iPhone 11 being traded in on phone line 301-XXX-XXXX (see Images 1, 5, 6, and 7). 

*Link to recording with Em in T-Mobile customer service, employee ID 505604, on 3/10/2022:

REDACTED LINK DUE TO PERSONAL INFORMATION ON VIDEO

To my objection, Shakeema said she could not honor the promotional value quoted to me in my shopping cart at check-out, and essentially insisted that it does not matter what my shopping cart said, it only matters what the promotions are (see Image 4), noting she said it was $400.  She said the only way to possibly resolve the matter in my favor was to put it in writing.  

DETAILS

I confirmed with Cliff@T-Mobile that T-Mobile keeps no record of the promotional offers given to a customer in their online shopping cart, nor provides any receipt for the initial promotional offer given while checking out.  Thus, once you complete the shopping cart transaction, the only written documentation for a customers’ purchase (on monthly payments) is (1) the Equipment Installment Plan (EIP) (see Image 2) which has no record of the trade promotional value, and (2) a text message confirming the trade-in value before the promotional value (see Image 3).  If the shopping cart has a promotional value error, T-Mobile does not keep any record of it.

CONCLUSION

Please know that I believe that this is an egregious violation of customers’ rights and have already reported this matter to the FTC, FCC (Ticket No. 53XXXXX), @MikeSievert on Twitter.

• T-Mobile does not provide itemized receipts for sales transactions that include the quoted promotional trade-in value for a device.
• T-Mobile does not keep records of the promotional value quoted for a trade-in device during check-out in their online shopping cart system. 
• T-Mobile then does not honor the quoted promotional trade-in values to customers when there are apparent errors in their online shopping cart system.

The promotional value of a trade-in device is often the deciding factor when deciding whether to upgrade to a newer device.  Promotional offers are typically in excess of the market value, so the consumer relies on the promotional offer.  T-Mobile is not honoring its promotional offers.

To me, this is due to incompetence or negligence, and neither are excusable for a multi-billion-dollar, multinational company. 

Full details here: https://community.t-mobile.com/accounts-services-4/t-mobile-does-not-honor-the-trade-in-promotional-values-offered-to-customers-in-the-online-shopping-cart-42159?postid=156269#post156269