Forum Discussion
Trade-in question
We switch to T-Mobile yesterday.
One of our phones has a cracked back but there is NO water damage and the phone works perfectly well. We were told in the store this phone would be accepted as a trade-in for a new phone because, and I quote, "that is T-Mobile's policy".
So we all got the Apple IPhone 12 promotion ($830 off over 24 months with a trade-in) except for one of our lines - he got the SE so 100% off over 24 months with NO trade-in so we just traded his in for a bill credit. Apparently we should not have done this because…...
We were told since we were sending her phone directly to her at college, it would be easier to just order it ourselves. So, last night, I was chatting with someone online having her place my order, very nice lady named Bea. But she told me we could not trade in the phone because of the crack - therefore not getting the same Apple iPhone 12 promotion. So now basically, we are out quite a bit of money.
Were we told incorrect info in the store? Was I told incorrect info in the chat about it not being accepted? Is there anything I can do now??? I haven't placed the order yet...
Store sales reps are sadly, very poorly trained. This is because of a lack of any enforcement of employee training by retail management. In some cases, cracks are accepted but if it is a screen crack, it probably will not be. You mentioned a crack on the back. The interpretation of that is really important. Is it s small crack or is the back closer to being shattered? Most trade-ins go through a third party company, Assurant, which will essentially give you the lowest value possible for your device. I do know a coup0le of people though that go $0 for their trade-in (really not sure why as the phone had no cracks, no water damage, and it worked) but they still got the promo for completing their trade-in.
A word of advice though when it comes to trade-ins. It is better to do them through your my.t-mobile.com account. You will get an idea of the best case scenario value they will offer for the device. Make sure you print and package the device as instructed (very important), get a receipt when dropping it off to USPS or UPS, and keep an eye on the tracking information.
Store sales reps are sadly, very poorly trained. This is because of a lack of any enforcement of employee training by retail management. In some cases, cracks are accepted but if it is a screen crack, it probably will not be. You mentioned a crack on the back. The interpretation of that is really important. Is it s small crack or is the back closer to being shattered? Most trade-ins go through a third party company, Assurant, which will essentially give you the lowest value possible for your device. I do know a coup0le of people though that go $0 for their trade-in (really not sure why as the phone had no cracks, no water damage, and it worked) but they still got the promo for completing their trade-in.
A word of advice though when it comes to trade-ins. It is better to do them through your my.t-mobile.com account. You will get an idea of the best case scenario value they will offer for the device. Make sure you print and package the device as instructed (very important), get a receipt when dropping it off to USPS or UPS, and keep an eye on the tracking information.
