Lied to and billed for a phone that I was offered for free

I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you with a $1000 phone.  This just happened to me as well, but with a much cheaper phone.  I am also a long-time customer with 3+ years of service and a total of 8 lines (some voice/cell phone lines, some internet).  I went to my local T-Mobile store last week (a third party) and wanted to add a line to my account.  I brought in an old phone I intended to use, but they said "why don't you just get one of the free phones we are offering, it'll be 5G, etc).  So I agreed.

As it turned out, they could not add the line there at the store because I have an older plan.  They would've had to switch me to a new plan (which I absolutely didn't want to do) and then get customer service at T-Mobile to switch it back.  I was too nervous about losing my current plan, so I said I would just call T-Mobile directly to get it set up.  They said the phone would be free directly through T-Mobile as well.  
I called T-Mobile's customer service and got a very helpful rep located in the Philippines. She offered me the same exact phone that I was offered at the store and said that after promotional credits it would be $99.  I said to her "why was that same exact phone offered for free at the store?"  So she said, "Let me check..." and then said "Okay, I can apply a promotion for you that will make the phone free."  She walked me through the pricing, explaining that a $4.17 charge would appear on my bill every month for 24 months for this phone, but that she would apply a $99 credit to offset the fees.  She asked if I wanted the charge to appear for $4.00 monthly or if I wanted the $99 in a lump sum.  I told her I wanted the lump sum, to which she said okay.  I heard her typing notes in the entire time as we discussed all of this.

What I did find very concerning is that the rep sent me an email with a contract that I had to electronically sign.  When I opened that document, it did not show any of the pricing or discounts that I had agreed to.  I told her this and she said "that's because I cannot apply the promotions until I call you back to activate the line.  Those prices will all come down once we activate the line and I apply the promotions."  While I was still pretty uncomfortable with that explanation, what else could I do?  The only thing I knew I had working in my favor was that the call was being recorded, so it could be referenced if anything went awry, though I had no reason to expect that it would.  I've had great service from T-Mobile up to this point.  So I accepted that and signed the contract.  Before we hung up, she said she was sending a text as her "personal guarantee".  It didn't really make any sense because it was just a generic T-Mobile that she added her name to at the end.  There was no "guarantee" of anything and I had no way to contact her back directly.  

Before hanging up, however, she also scheduled a time with me to call back and activate my new phone.  I adjusted my schedule to make sure I was available for the call.  The call never came.  Finally, after waiting 45 minutes, I called T-Mobile myself.  I explained that I was calling to activate the line and that a promotion was to be applied so that the $99 phone would be free over 24 months. They looked up my account and said that there was a credit being applied to my account monthly for approximately $15.  I explained to the rep that I certainly wasn't complaining, but that that didn't make sense because the phone was only $4.17 a month.  So she looked it up and said "No, the retail price of this phone is $450, so that monthly credit will come out to $351 over 24 months, making the phone $99."

I then explained once again that the phone is supposed to be free after all credits are applied.  It should not be $99, and that I never would have purchased the phone if I was being charged for it.  I had a working phone I intended to use, and ONLY got this phone because it was free.  She checked the notes on my account, which turned out to be incredibly vague and made no mention of the free phone.  She then said they do not have the authority or ability to give away phones for free and that I would have to pay $99 for the phone.  I told her that in that case, I will return the phone.  She said that would be fine and that I can return it to a store (I doubt I'll be able to return it to the "authorized retailer" in my town, but we will see).

I did mention to her that they should have a recording of the call, and can listen to what the rep told me and what I agreed to.  She explained that T-Mobile has so many call centers worldwide that even though the calls are recorded, they'd never be able to find it.  I said to her, "I understand that, but then what's the point of recording the calls?"  I told her that if they have a rep lying to customers to get them to sign up for things, they need to make the effort to find these recordings.  

I realize this is only $99.  I also realize that I am still able to return the phone (thank goodness).  But I am so frustrated at how much of my time has been wasted on this, I'm frustrated with being lied to by what I thought was a stand up company.  I'm frustrated because the entire reason I was making this switch was to eliminate the land line that Xfinity is charging me $56 a month for, and I was eager to get my landline number ported so I can cancel my Xfinity service.  I waited all week for this call from T-Mobile that never came, and now I'm still without a phone/service for this line that I'm paying for with T-Mobile, PLUS I am still stuck paying for the Xfinity line until this is all sorted out.  I had been SO HAPPY with T-Mobile up to this point.  Truly had zero complaints and recommended many others to check them out.  It's a shame that they seem to have no quality control or integrity when it comes to what their reps are telling people.  Fine if you're going to outsource customer service worldwide, but have some quality control in place.  Have a way to monitor these reps, a way to listen to the recorded calls when a customer is claiming they've been lied to.

Anyway, I just wanted to add my experience.  Again, nowhere near as bad as the person who was stuck with a $1000 phone, but just thought I should mention my experience as I'm sure we cannot be the only two people this happened to, and it looks like it happened to both of us within a few months.

Other than this horrendous experience, I really do still love T-Mobile.  I would just suggest doing business at a T-Mobile store and getting things in writing.  I know that's not always feasible (like in my case, even the store was telling me to just call and go through customer service), but just a suggestion.