T-Mobile retail stores are not helpful at all in selling the $30/100min prepaid plan. My wife was turned away on Wed from a TMO store when trying to buy it, and told to go to Walmart (which of course had no idea what this was about).
Yesterday, after reading forum entries and while being online with TMO CSR Michael, the Fairfax store eventually agreed to sell me a prepaid SIM reluctantly. I note that they tried to send me to Walmart, during the transaction.Then, once the SIM was activated on the phone, the store manager said that the store refills could not work. When I bought the $30 refill over the caution of the store manager, CSR Michael, managed to make it work.
All in all, not a great experience. I really sense there is a competition and divergence of goals btw the retail stores and the activation team.
CSR Michael saved the day for TMO and thanks to him I shall pay $360/year to TMO for each of my kid's lines (3 kids).