Travel Technology - Interesting (unwritten?) T-Mobile perk

Mrs. Swede's phone (Ericsson T28w) finally bit the dust (can't read SIM cards anymore), so I went to the local T-Mobile store to figure out what to do. The CSR did some typing, and gave me option on upgrading to a new phone. I eventually settled on the Samsung E105 for $50 after a $100 mail-in rebate.

I asked the CSR if I had to commit to another year of service (which I would have gladly done). He said that since we've been with Voicestream/T-Mobile so long (just a shade over 2 years), we didn't have to commit to another year! Also, since we're on a family plan, looks like I can get another phone without additional committments.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I havent been with them that long to find out, but I recall some howardforums threads on this.

Phone "rewards" for loyal customers have always been around on T-mo, it's just a question of asking... DO keep your eye on the contract though, many stores will still add on a year or 2 even if they say they won't.

Yeah, that's a perk for their best customers. If you're looking at the CSR's screen, your name will appear with a blue background to indicate you're not subject to an additional commitment.

Sadly, this perk is now gone. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/frown.gif

As of March 7, ALL T-Mobile customers must agree to a 12-month contract extension when upgrading handsets. The only "perk" is that you get the same price and rebates that new customers get.

Oh well, that was fun while it lasted.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pseudoswede:
Sadly, this perk is now gone. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/frown.gif

As of March 7, ALL T-Mobile customers must agree to a 12-month contract extension when upgrading handsets. The only "perk" is that you get the same price and rebates that new customers get.

Oh well, that was fun while it lasted.</font>


T-mo CS can still override this if you have been there long enough. Individual stores usually don't have those powers.

As an interesting aside to this story, my T68i recently jumped the shark and I called T-Mobile Customer Care to find out what to do. After much confusion about what type of phone I had (apparently the ID on the phone wasn't in their database for some reason) they agreed to send out a replacement for free so long as I sent the original phone back. I requested that they send it out SIM unlocked, since my previous phone had been unlocked (I had requested the code and typed it in).

Well, they sent me another unlocked T68i alright, but I think its an ATTWS phone! It doesn't have the T-Mobile logo on it and all of the settings are programmed for ATTWS! For example, when I try to access WAP, it says its connecting to "mLife". But it works fine as phone, so I'm not complaining too loudly. Its going to be time to upgrade soon anyways, but I'm still holding out for the perfect GSM/PDA combo. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JSD:
As an interesting aside to this story, my T68i recently jumped the shark and I called T-Mobile Customer Care to find out what to do. After much confusion about what type of phone I had (apparently the ID on the phone wasn't in their database for some reason) they agreed to send out a replacement for free so long as I sent the original phone back. I requested that they send it out SIM unlocked, since my previous phone had been unlocked (I had requested the code and typed it in).

Well, they sent me another unlocked T68i alright, but I think its an ATTWS phone! It doesn't have the T-Mobile logo on it and all of the settings are programmed for ATTWS! For example, when I try to access WAP, it says its connecting to "mLife". But it works fine as phone, so I'm not complaining too loudly. Its going to be time to upgrade soon anyways, but I'm still holding out for the perfect GSM/PDA combo. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif</font>

That sounds more like a typical SonyEricsson screwup. Their product refurbishments are crap. ATTWS customers will get T-mo phones, T-mo customers will often get a sim-locked ATTWS phone etc...

Now, if only T-mo did some quality control before sending out the refurb devices...

A few months ago T-mo had a swap program to replace a product fault in the Colour Sidekick PDA/phone, many people sent in mint condition Sidekicks only to get half broken, non working models, or worse, black/white devices instead of colour. And when they complained they were told that replacing the wrong device would take 6-8 weeks... http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/rolleyes.gif

I still have a phone that says "Omnipoint" http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif That's hell of a long loyalty http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

I still have the first Nokia 6190 that VoiceStream sold!

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-alan in sitges

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