Probably THE WORST experience ever in my life!

[binka]

Hi there,
I've created an account on this forum just so I could express my experience with T-Mobile over the past few days. Be warned that this might be a long one.

2 weeks ago, I was told by a T-Mobile representative that the Samsung Galaxy S3 was launching on June 21, 2012. I have been a Galaxy S lover from the beginning, so needless to say that I really wanted this phone. I put m name on every waiting list on the island (I live in Hawaii). When the 21st rolled around, I went to the nearest T-Mobile location and was told that it wouldn't be landing here on island until the following week (June 27). Okay, cool. No big deal. On June 26, I received a call from a location that they brought the phones in and I could pick mine up at anytime that day. I shot over and discovered that they only had the Pebble Blue and I had my heart set on the Ceramic White. Again, that was no big deal and they told me white would arrive in about a month. I figured since I was there, I would get the blue to see if I even liked the phone. They also told me that they would do a color exchange for me when white came in.

After playing with the phone, I suppose it kind of grew on me but I just didn't like it. It turned out to be the color of the phone that was bothering me since I really don't like blue. It then became my mission to acquire a white GS3. Every store on island had whites back ordered for a month, eBay was out of the question since people are asking too much for them, and I was skeptical about ordering on the T-Mobile website.

Here's where everything starts going down hill...

Tuesday 6/26:
Purchased the Pebble Blue Samsung GS3..... yay. Called 611 to ask about online orders and if the phone was in stock if I made the purchase. I was told that they weren't allowed to sell the phone through 611 until the following day 6/27. I then asked again if I could order it online since it was not showing that they were sold out. The rep again told me that I could not order via phone call. I THEN AGAIN asked if I could buy it ONLINE. He said "Sure, you can try". I asked if he could tell me if they were back ordered and if I would have to wait for them to get it in. He said "Yes, you will have to wait because it would have to be shipped to you." Um...DUH! I realize that if I order something online that I have to wait for it to be shipped. I'm not that crazy where I believe that things ordered online magically appear at my doorstep at that moment. So I explained that I understand I have to wait for the shipping time and asked if I have to wait for the phones to be restocked or if they were currently in stock. He again repeated that fact that when something is shipped, I have to wait for it to be delivered. At that point, I was finished with that crap so I ended the conversation there.

Wednesday 6/27:
GS3 launch date and no where on island had either blue or white. I checked eBay and prices were still out of my range. I decided to call 611 again and hope for a different rep. I indeed spoke to a different rep, but not like that did any good either. This rep told me that the phones were unavailable for purchase. I asked why the website didn't state that they were sold out. Then he said, "Oh, then you can order it online". I asked the same question regarding back orders, in stock, etc. He couldn't answer my question so I ended that conversation real quick. I was getting rather frustrated so I called a local T-Mobile store and asked the sales associate if she had any knowledge about online orders. She was incredibly helpful, but unfortunately couldn't give me a definitive answer since the retail stores and online stores are different. She went on the website and said that there shouldn't be a problem since the site doesn't indicate the phone being out of stock. She also gave me a direct phone number to Tele Sales (who are the people that directly handle online orders). I called the number and spoke to someone else who also told me that they see no problem with the online orders then proceeded to transfer me to Tele Sales. The Tele Sales rep checked inventory for me and told me that the Ceramic White Samsung GS3 was in stock and ready to ship. I Placed my order right then and there online and I paid for UPS Next Day Air Mail.

*Note* Shipping detail on the T-Mobile website states that orders placed before 5pm ET will be processed that day... Orders after 5pm ET will b processed the next day... Then Shipped out the following day.

Since I ordered after 5pm ET, Thursday would be my processing day, shipped out on Friday, and received either Saturday or Monday.

Thursday 6/28:
Online order stated "Being Processed" which i understand because they need 1 day to process the order.

Friday 6/29
Check my order status.... "Being Processed". Called customer service and explained that I paid for Next Day Air Mail and asked for the status of my order. The rep stated "You need to give us time to process your order". I asked "How long does that usually take? Your website stated *blah*." He said "No, we just need TIME to process orders. Check back tomorrow." ......grr......

Saturday 6/30
Order status..... "Being Processed". Okay, this is just ridiculous! Called customer service again. Explained my situation, so she asked for my order#. She pulled up my order and saw that I paid for Next Day Shipping but didn't receive it when I was supposed too. Here's the fun part. She said that they lost my phone..... Seriously? WTF! She then took down my info (email, number, address, etc) and said to give them at lease 72 hours to find my phone and when they found it, they would ship it out with UPS Next Day Air Mail. I said "No, I paid for that service on Wednesday, so why would I wait 72 hours for you to locate the phone YOU guys lost which actually makes me wait almost a week to receive my phone." All she told me was that they would call me in 72 hours IF they found it. How professional is that?!?! I've spoken to a couple of locations here on island and I have a better chance at getting one in store when they come in than through the T-Mobile website. So I decided I want to cancel my online order. I'm sitting here now, needing to sign on to my account for my order number and wouldn't ya know it? The website is telling me that it's unavailable so I can't log in. I can't call to customer service because I don't have access to my order number and OF COURSE T-Mobile DIDN'T send me a confirmation email on my purchase!!! Because I was unable to log on to my account, here I am ranting in a T-Mobile Rant Forum about this horrific experience that hasn't even ended yet.

How many more days till this crap is over huh T-Mobile??? You sure know how to treat your loyal customers!!!

Oh, and BTW... Your phone service here in Hawaii SUCKS!!!

Bye!

[Kies]

Im confused. Why bother upgrading if the service sucks? Anyway some parts of your story don't make sense especially the last part.

Telesales and online have different inventory levels. Simple as that

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

[binka]

I'm stuck on a family plan, in which my grandfather is the primary account holder so even if I wanted to switch carriers, he's too comfortable with T-Mobile. I just can't afford a plan of my own with another carrier. Besides, I didn't upgrade. I bought the phone outright.

[Steveanderson13]

Im confused. Why bother upgrading if the service sucks? Anyway some parts of your story don't make sense especially the last part.

Sorry, I'm with Kies. It's not your account? Are you paying anything? You want something, you go get it. Get your own service that works for you. You'll be happier.

[Steveanderson13]

I just can't afford a plan of my own with another carrier. Besides, I didn't upgrade. I bought the phone outright.

You bought the phone outright at apx $700 but you can't afford your own plan? Get real. Get a job, save up and do it yourself. Look at your prepaid options.

[binka]

Sorry, I'm with Kies. It's not your account? Are you paying anything? You want something, you go get it. Get your own service that works for you. You'll be happier.

I am not the primary account holder.. but I was granted full access to everything on it, and I handle what happens on the plan because he is too old to understand.

As for the comment about the two having different inventories, why did they tell me that I was speaking directly to the online order reps? I fully understand that online orders and phone call orders are different, but they specifically told me that I was speaking to the people who directly handle all online orders, not phone call order. If this is wrong, then I guess they gave out wrong information yet again.

Then to the comment about going out and getting what I want... What I wanted was the phone. I got it. Now, I want the white. I'm trying to get it, but encountered all of these problems with T-Mobile. As for the crappy phone service, it doesn't make sense for me to open a new account with another carrier and have to take care of both the new carrier AND the original T-Mobile bill that my grandparents refuse to cancel. If they could take care of their own bills, then fine, I would get my own. But I'm not about to have to worry about 2 separate phone bills.

[binka]

You bought the phone outright at apx $700 but you can't afford your own plan? Get real. Get a job, save up and do it yourself. Look at your prepaid options.

You know what? I WOULD get a job... If I weren't a full-time student, single mother, AND taking care of my disabled grandmother who can't even walk from her room to the bathroom by herself. But I'll totally go get a job so I can leave her home alone since your telling me to "Get real" and "Get a job." I bought the phone with the money I got from selling my GS2 and about half of the clothes in my closet. It wasn't money that I just had. The phone was $600... not $700

[Steveanderson13]

You know what? I WOULD get a job... If I weren't a full-time student, single mother, AND taking care of my disabled grandmother who can't even walk from her room to the bathroom by herself. But I'll totally go get a job so I can leave her home alone since your telling me to "Get real" and "Get a job." I bought the phone with the money I got from selling my GS2 and about half of the clothes in my closet. It wasn't money that I just had. The phone was $600... not $700

Its your choices. Sell the gs3 and get a cheap prepaid. You should be able to find good service. $600 should cover you for a good while. There are people here who spend $80/yr on their phone plan.

[binka]

I was under the impression that this "Rants" thread was for people to come in and release their stresses and frustrations (so basically rant) about bad experiences without others being judgmental and making assumptions about the person posting the thread. When frustrating things occur, one is already in an unstable mental and emotional state, and I thought posting a thread is a form of venting it out. Unfortunately there are those people who have certain comments that damage the already fractured feelings of an individual. I didn't come here to be judged or hated on. No one here knows me, or what goes on in my life, so assumptions are rather uncalled for and just plain hurtful.

[Sam73065]

I was under the impression that this "Rants" thread was for people to come in and release their stresses and frustrations (so basically rant) about bad experiences without others being judgmental and making assumptions about the person posting the thread. When frustrating things occur, one is already in an unstable mental and emotional state, and I thought posting a thread is a form of venting it out. Unfortunately there are those people who have certain comments that damage the already fractured feelings of an individual. I didn't come here to be judged or hated on. No one here knows me, or what goes on in my life, so assumptions are rather uncalled for and just plain hurtful.

You can't expect to rant and be unchallenged if your story has holes in it. You absolutely lost me when you insisted on the white phone and bought the blue one anyway, only to find out you hated the phone because it was blue..... However it also sucks that they lost your phone somehow. Question is who did lose your phone? TMobile's warehouse/supplier or was it the shipper that lost it? Either way it's just a phone and a bit of patience is my only advice. If it's white you want, hold out for a white phone and don't talk yourself or let them talk you into the blue, when in the store. If the phone's been lost somewhere, give it a bit of time, you shouldn't obsess to the point of letting a phone drive you nuts, you already have enough on your plate with caring for your mother, children(child?) and school. And please don't take comments made online or FB or Twitter as personal insults, nobody here knows you, we just express opinions and sometimes, once in a while, even Steve says something that even his wife would agree with.

[Steveanderson13]

once in a while, even Steve says something that even his wife would agree with.

If I'm lucky.

[binka]

You can't expect to rant and be unchallenged if your story has holes in it. You absolutely lost me when you insisted on the white phone and bought the blue one anyway, only to find out you hated the phone because it was blue..... However it also sucks that they lost your phone somehow. Question is who did lose your phone? TMobile's warehouse/supplier or was it the shipper that lost it? Either way it's just a phone and a bit of patience is my only advice. If it's white you want, hold out for a white phone and don't talk yourself or let them talk you into the blue, when in the store. If the phone's been lost somewhere, give it a bit of time, you shouldn't obsess to the point of letting a phone drive you nuts, you already have enough on your plate with caring for your mother, children(child?) and school. And please don't take comments made online or FB or Twitter as personal insults, nobody here knows you, we just express opinions and sometimes, once in a while, even Steve says something that even his wife would agree with.

I bought the blue because the sales rep told me I had 14 days to try it out and I could either bring it back for a refund if I didn't like it or do a color exchange. Since white shipments were delayed a month, that exceeds the 14 day period so I went though the website for the white and would have returned the blue to the store. I'm not upset about the phone. I'm upset with the lack of organization and professionalism from the customer service reps. I could care-less about when I get the phone. It's the fact that I paid for next day mail services and then 3 days later, they tell me that they lost the phone. Who lost it? I don't know! Those were her exact words... "Your phone was lost". When I asked to cancel the order, they refused. I questioned why they couldn't do it because I'm not getting what I paid for. She said I have to "Wait for them to find the phone" then the would ship it. I told her I didn't want the phone anymore and that I just wanted a refund, and then she said their systems were down so she couldn't do anything for me. Everything would have been just fine if they weren't so rude and unprofessional.

[binka]

Update confirming the very poor service...

Sunday 6/1
All I wanted to do was cancel my order. Plain and simple..
Now to cover my bases on this forum so there aren't "holes in my story"... I fully understand that in the tmobile agreement upon submitting an online order, it states that online orders cannot be cancelled. However, if for any reason that is not in my control such as a back order (which was obviously the case) cancelation may be granted.

Called customer service again.... Explained situation.... Then told that I would have to take it up with another department. He said he would transfer me over, then disconnected the call.
Called back... Had to repeat my situation to a different rep who also said there was nothing she could do for me. I asked to speak to someone in charge such as a manger or supervisor. She said she would transfer my call. All she did was transfer me back to the beginning of the process that tells me my billing info. I went through it again until I got through to another rep.

I again, for the third consecutive time, had to explain my situation and by this time, I was frustrated. After having this third rep tell me that there was nothing that could be done, I finally challenged her lack of capabilities to do anything for me. I asked her to explain to me why I couldn't cancel my order since the item was obviously back ordered (even though they kept stating that it was in stock). Then this is exactly what was said.....

Rep: oh, your order was already shipped.
Me: my order was shipped? My online status shows that it's still being processed.
Rep: no, it's been shipped already so we can't cancel your order.
Me: alright, if it's been shipped I'd like the tracking number.
Rep: what?
Me: you're telling me it's already been shipped so I want that tracking number since my online status hasn't updated and I have yet to receive a confirmation email on my purchase.
Rep: oh, no I don't have that but you will get it soon since you ordered next day shipping.
Me: no, I want my tracking number.
Rep: oh, wait. I'm sorry for the miscommunication but your item has not been shipped. It's still being processed.
Me: okay, wait a minute. You just told me that it was shipped and now your telling me that it has not been shipped and that it's still being processed?
Rep: yes, I'm sorry for the miscommunication.

......seriously? What the hell. She flat out lied to me. Unbelievable.

I hung up with her, took some time to cool down then tried one last time. Thank god for that because the rep I talked too was amazing. I told her that I just want to cancel my order and she said "okay!" then she submitted an order cancellation form and that was it. Done. She pulled up my calling records and saw all of the calls I had been making to tmobile and couldn't believe no one would help me. She said that I should not have had to go through everything I went through. Se was the ONLY rep that didn't give me any problems at all. I told her what I wanted to do and why... She made it happen with no questions asked. Now, if only ALL of their reps could be as good as her, there wouldn't be any problems like the ones I had to go through.

My order was cancelled today and the charges are no longer showing on my credit card statement. I couldn't be more grateful for that rep.

[newguy78]

I'm trying real hard to be nice, but REALLY???

[PaisanNYC]

Wow, first off, WAY too many holes in this story. Secondly, the OP sounds like a privileged whiny snot. Grow up and stop thinking like the world owes you everything. Try taking care of parents, a family, AND a fulltime 50-60 hour a week job. Then you can try your sob story again.