Tmobile rebate card doesnt work through Northlane

Hey T-Mobile: when getting the rebate you promised sucks at every step, that’s a terrible first impression for a new customer!

I signed up for new 5G service, $200 rebate was promised in 6-8 weeks, that’s the first ‘soft obstacle’, simply remembering you were owed this, checking the status, making sure an email isn’t tied up in your spam folder, etc.

9 weeks later, I get an email that 'your reward is here, only one more step' with a click through link.  Clicking that link goes to a Northlane page (Sunrise Bank) that doesn't work - it won't accept my information as valid.  On the page it says "if you are having issues, call Customer Service" with no contact number or link.  It's purposefully unhelpful.  Obstacle number 2.

So I call T-mobile's customer service, wait 45 minutes on hold (side note here to T-mobile: please upgrade your call center system to tell me how much longer I have to wait and (even better!) provide a call-back option).  Of course T-mobile can't help me because this is a Northlane issue.  To their credit, they get a Northlane representative on the phone and do a live handoff (as opposed to forwarding me to Northlane and then dropping me).  The Northlane person is able to help me, and while on the call, I get to my virtual pre-paid Mastercard debit card information (a graphic that looks like a credit card).  The rep tells me to take a screen shot of the card immediately, which I do.  Good thing, because as soon as I hang up, the app logs me off, saying I timed out, and I have no way to get back in.

As everyone who has ever used one knows, these pre-paid cards are designed to never give you your money, and to drain what money is on the card away via various fees.  I'll just call the very use of these cards, vs., say SENDING ME A CHECK, or SIMPLY CREDITING MY T-MOBILE ACCOUNT, as obstacle number 3.  For this card, every month you have this thing (and it's only good for 6 months) they charge you $3 against the remaining card value.

There is an option to ACH the funds to my checking account, for a $6.95 fee, and I decide I'm willing to eat the $7 to get most of the money.  Problem is, I can only do that with a verification text sent to my mobile.  The only mobile I have on record at T-mobile is the phone number of my 5G gateway, which cannot accept texts.  Obstacle number 4.

So I try to add the card to my Apple wallet.  Works great up until the last step, then terminates with Apple saying to contact the card company.  I try this multiple times over a two day period and it never works.  Obstacle 5.

Finally, I just buy myself an Amazon gift card, via my Amazon account, and pay for it with this card.  And that works.  I get the virtual Amazon card via email, and add it to my Amazon account as a credit.  Not cash exactly, but I'll have no problem spending that on Amazon.

I can't even activate the card. Doesn't work on their site. 

Mkinn21 is accurate. I also have received a $200 virtual Mastercard as administered by Northlane for T-Mobile. In my case, I uploaded the $200 debit card to the Apple Wallet on the IPhone. That was easy enough to do. T-Mobile provided a link to Northlane, but Northlane's weblink did not come with a PIN or instructions on how to set the PIN. I finally called the phone number for Northlane virtual debit cards and got the PIN set. I walked into the gas station and attempted to purchase $1 worth of gas. The touchless credit card reader easily picked up the debit card information from my IPhone's Apple Wallet. I entered the PIN. The transaction appeared to be "accepted" and then abruptly cancelled with the cashier stating an error occurred because the "Sunrise Bank" was not recognized.

Needless to say, there is a tremendous amount of frustration with this Northlane administered virtual Mastercard.

Here's a follow up on these $200 virtual Mastercard Debit cards issued by Northlane. I called Onbe @ 1(800)439-9568 earlier this morning. The customer service representative assured me that everything was OK with the debit card and it could be used immediately. So the following are the transactions I attempted today:

Shell Gas Station $1 Approved @ 10:07AM

Shell Gas Station $30 Approved @ 12:15PM

VW Dealership $24.73 Declined @ 12:33PM

VW Dealership $24.73 Declined @ 13:04PM

RaceTrac Gas Station $5.00 Declined @ 1:28PM

Shell Gas Station $5.00 Approved @ 1:40PM

Interestingly enough, I called Onbe customer service to discuss the VW dealership declining the 12:33PM transaction. I was told "fraud detection" flagged the transaction at the VW dealership. The procedure required me to wait 30 minutes and then attempt to use the virtual payment method again. Unfortunately, despite confirming with Onbe customer service concerning the validity of this $24.73 transaction, the VW dealership declined the transaction for the 2nd time. So I tried to purchase fuel at 2 additional gas stations. RaceTrac declined $5.00 @ 1:28PM and Shell approved $5.00 @ 1:40PM.
Needless to say there continues to be tremendous frustration in attempted usage and limited approval of these $200 T-Mobile virtual debit cards. 

Get my email for my 5g rebate coming in…. Thought it wasn't going to be a nightmare.  I put in my number and do the captya and get… 

"We were not able to validate the information provided. Please try again OR if you feel you've reached this message in error, please contact Customer Service." 

No number or email for customer support.

Cool… Cool cool cool… So… now what?

T-mobile doesn’t have a chat / email so I guess I’m going to sit on hold forever to not get the issue fixed… 

10/10 best waste of time this week. 

I signed up for new 5G service, $200 rebate was promised in 6-8 weeks, that's the first 'soft obstacle', simply remembering you were owed this, checking the status, never shows an update as stated. Plus couldn't sign up for my second rebate for 175.00 termination fee. Had to fight all the way to get it submitted. But finally got it done. Still waiting for the 200.00 rebate been 10 weeks. Finally talked to a rep who gave me 200.00 credit to my account, on phone with them now to get this credit, now I wait 24 hours to verify the credit to my account.

My first rebate for 175.00 early termination fee for my pervious internet service, I could not activate  my virtual card they mailed me a paper check. Which I cashed as soon as I got it.

My Second Rebate for 200.00 the gave me credit for my bill, waiting 24 hours for verification. So it should pay my bill one month and have the remaining as a credit towards my next monthly bill. 

Okay so I found a SOLUTION, 

first, make sure you go to https://promotions.t-mobile.com/ instead of north lanes bs website, and after you go into the promotions at the bottom you will see your active ones, there you can redeem your virtual card without logging in through north lane,

take a screenshot !!

afterwards, and I had to DIG through north lanes FAQ to even find this, call this number to set up your pin 1 (888) 566-4438 - it's amazing how they make it so hard to even find this information. T-Mobile do better and stop partnering with money sharks, 10/10 I will never even entertain tmobiles bank, for that one simple affiliation. I haven't used the card after setting the pin, but that's when I set it, it said "your card is now active," how crazy is it that that is required to activate and NOWHERE in there page, but about 10 FAQS down that I had to search for. Bad business. You guys drain those cards quick and make sure they don't start taking their monthly $3 charge, which is their earnings from tmobiles customers. T-Mobile offers hot deal for customers to get a rebate and partners with north lane to drain fees off of the cards by making it impossible to activate or use properly. Huge disappointment. Rich men from Richmond energy. 

I just chatted with T-mobile customer service told them the code dint work and they asked if I want a check instead, I said yes withn 7 days I had a check from Northlane for my 175.00 rebate.

INFORM TMOBILE WITH A COMPLAINT OR  DISPUTE THEN ALSO THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU at www.bbb.org

Here's the reddit article with the solution. It worked perfectly : https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/10zusdl/getting_we_were_not_able_to_validate_the/