TMobile adventures: from two phones to five

Inspired by thecarreaper's TMobile post (http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=139782657&postcount=6) I decided to share my recent adventures. Short version (honestly) below:

My wife wanted to replace her Nokia Razor, my tween son demanded a phone, and my mother-in-law was having problems with her cell. My calm shell Samsung worked just fine. Wife and I have been with TMobile 6 or 7 years.

About two weeks ago wife calls TMobile and with a plan change we can add son and mother-in-law for $10 each a month and total costs for four phones would be about what we were paying for two phones; the kicker of course is that it restarts the clock on the 2 year contract, which is no problem. This took a 30 - 40 min conference call involving three TMobile reps in three different depts (sales, customer service, & loyalty), my wife, and me. Of course, wife engages me in the call out of the blue while I'm at work. I drop the "I'm a long time customer so can you waive the activation fees" comment and this is where the loyalty dept got involved. Saved me $70 (2 @ $35).

Son gets a Samsung Gravity 2 (slide keyboard for texting) and mother-in-law gets a basic (relatively speaking) flip phone. Wife decides to go to the store and try out phones before getting a new one.

For a rare time in my marriage I attempt to surprise my wife with a gift and pickup a Samsung Gravity 3, which is the newer version of the son's phone. Well, turns out she had been to the store and wanted the Samsung Gravity Touch. Ugh.

I mentioned to my mom that I added the mother-in-law for $10 a month and would she like to do the same thing. She said yes so I meet her at the TMobile store and she gets a Samsung Gravity Touch. While there I decide to upgrade to the Touch too with the thought that I'd trade sim cards with the wife and let her try it. Son demands a Touch as well.

Needless to say, wife immediately prefers the Touch so I take the store bought Gravity 3 back to the store to trade for a Touch, no big deal. At the same time I try to exchange son's over-the-phone bought Gravity 2...no can do...must exchange via over-the-phone.

I get home, trade sim cards with son; he now has a Touch and I have a Gravity 2. I use it for a few days and decide I want a Touch...again. I call customer service to exchange the phone for a Touch. An important part I haven't mentioned yet is that each phone is "FREE", though the Touches require a $75 mail in rebate. Well, turns out I can't get a Touch "free" in an exchange; the deal is on "new activations" only. I try explaining that the phone I'm returning is from a "new activation" and I get no where. So I decide to cancel my son's new phone account and return the Gravity 2. I could do this for no charge b/c it was within 20 days.

I then go to the TMobile store for the 4th time (I think) with intent to add a $10 line and get a touch. Oops, the Gravity 2 still shows on the account, which gives me 5 lines...the most allowed on one account. TMobile doesn't remove the phone until they receive it, which they hadn't yet b/c I had just dropped it off for pickup 10 minutes earlier. I lightly storm out of the store (I've worked retail so I tried to be understanding) mumbling and fume in my car.

I get out of the car, walk back into the store, stand in a remote corner and call customer service. I get a great customer service rep, Linda IIRC, and she is able to remove the cancelled line from the account which frees up a line for the Touch. Only problem is that a new number is assigned to the account and it will take a day to reassign the old number (the one originally given to the Gravity 2). This was a couple days ago and it still hasn't happened. I called customer service this morning and was told that due to a backlog the turnaround time is now four days. Still hasn't happened as I type this.

In summary, about two weeks ago I had two old phones off contract and now I have five new phones (4 Samsung Touches and 1 Sony Ericsson) under 2 year contracts. Now I just need to fill out the rebates and hope that goes smoothly plus watch my bill closely to be sure everything shakes out right.

All that said, while I'm not a phone shopping expert it does seem like TMobile is offering a pretty good deal (i.e. free) on the Samsungs (http://www.t-mobile.com/Promotions/ResourceTemplate.aspx?PAsset=Pro_Pro_BTS&WT.ac=0461SHO21) if you don't want/need a smartphone. Plus they have 30 day free trial offer on unlimited internet and after that it's $10 (or as I told my son, 10 Hot Wheels) a month.

Though I like being able to easily text I do miss the size of my clam shell. I already have a BB from work so I don't need a full blown smartphone, but now I have to carry two decent sized phones. Glad this is all behind me...until the other son successfully demands a phone

 

Not sure if applies to the apps, but I'm suppose to get a text message when the trial period is up for the web access.

I have a Verizon BB 8830, but since its work furnished I haven't had any customer service interaction or billing surprises. I too prefer the BB keyboard over the touch screen and slide keyboard of my new Touch; that along with the size is causing some buyer's remorse. That said, my fat fingers are learning and occasionally I mistakenly tap the screen of the BB. I didn't get a smartphone b/c it requires the $30 data package, which I don't need, and the $10 web plan on the "messaging" phones is optional.

Regarding your contract, you should be able to upgrade after year 1 so you shouldn't have to wait until 1/11 if you want to pull the trigger now. There is an $18 upgrade fee but ask if they can waive it; you might need to get the "loyalty" dept involved.