Dear Support,
After what has to have been one of the WORST support experiences I have ever had the displeasure of enduring in my entire life as a consumer at the hands of T-MOBILE, I am left dumbfounded as to what steps to accurately take in order to return a defective device.
I started by calling the customer service line only to be caught in a loop of unrelated text-to-speech service options, and eventually (after much guessing and re-dialing) was connected to a person after trying the option "agent" (which was not ONCE listed to me in the automated system). I spoke with someone (obviously in a POS call center) and proceeded to explain my issue, which I will paraphrase below:
"Hey, thanks. I am calling because my device has been giving me issues during charging where not only is the USB port completely loose and incapable of holding a cable, but when I try using one to charge my device, the phone switches between charging/not-charging very rapidly and does not actually charge whatsoever. I have already tried a number of cables to charge my device with no success, so I am lead to believe it is a mechanical issue and would like to send my device in for repair. I went to a T-Mobile store and one of the representatives there told me in person that (as I have the monthly insurance plan on my account), I simply had to call customer service to schedule a shipment for my devices repair. That's what I'm calling to set up today."
She proceeded to ask me to check the phone for obvious physical damage around the port, battery pack (connection heads, etc.) - I thought this was reasonable. She then asked me if I had checked my cable for broken wires (uh...?) and if I had TRIED ANOTHER CABLE. I explained, again, that I had. She then said that the next step would be to perform a factory reset of my device, as "a software issue" could be causing this problem - I laughed. Openly. I then explained this was not an option as I had yet to back up my device completely, and that it would be wholly moot to perform a reset as there was no explicable reason why a software issue would cause something like this. She said she would "take my word for it" and advanced me to the next stage of the claims process.
I was asked how long I had been having this issue. I explained that this was a used phone from a friend of mine, and that I had been experiencing the issue since I received the phone (going on a few months now) but only recently had it escalated to the point that my phone was nigh unusable. She then said she would going to verify that my device was under warranty - which is was not. She then asked me if I had purchased the device and when (again, uh...?) and I AGAIN reiterated that this was a used device. I also then explained, again, that I have an active insurance policy on my account through T-Mobile so the lack of warranty shouldn't be an issue. She apparently looked and confirmed this, saying we could move forward now. You'd think this is something that would have been checked from the very beginning - if someone calls w/o warranty and w/o insurance, they shouldn't have to go through an agonizingly slow, obvious checklist only to be told they have "no option" at the end of it.
She started giving me address information for the return center and explained that as my account is monthly I would have to send me device in first? I thought this was highly unusual, but maybe it's true.
She then gave me the following address:
Return Center Tx
Return Dept, Order ID:
4500 Cambridge Rd
Forth Worth, TX 76155
She said I had to also append my Order ID (195229304) to the shipping label so they can associate the claim with me.
Along with sharing my bad experience, I am looking to confirm that this is, indeed, the case, and that I will have to print out and pay for a shipment to the above address. Will I be credited with the costs incurred? How do I check on my order status, because the form here is totally bogus and does not work, and the directions for Orders and Tracking simply leads you to the same page in an endless loop. Worthless - if there are multiple links, specify which. I'm more tempted to wait a few days and see what happens in case the service rep was simply clueless and I'm going to receive a shipping label - I don't want to send out my phone and then get an official label in the mail.
I received an email confirming my order at 2:38PM today, but it contained no mention of me sending my device in first. Am I to assume then that I will be receiving shipping materials?
Please advise,
EPMC