T-Mobile Not Unlocking my Phone

Are you a Tmobile customer and meet the requirements in the link below? If you're a Tmobile USA customer and once you meet the requirements you will get a text letting you know that the phone is now unlocked.

https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/consumer-info/policies/sim-unlock-policy

IF the was a warranty exchange it may have been a refurbished Reseller Flex phone.  That means the device isn't in T-Mobile system to unlock.  It's one of Apple worst policies.

No carrier will put the IMEI in their system unless someone from the right channel tells a carrier it belongs to them.  This is to reduce fraud and theft.  https://swappa.com/faq/answer/us-reseller-flex-policy

I have been a Tmobile customer for over 7 years and I meet all the requirements. I have requested this over the phone more than 8 times over the span of the last 2 weeks.

One of the reps is telling me that somebody at the T-Mobile store probably sold me a different phone from the one scanned. Long story short nobody has an idea of what's going on and cannot fix it. There is never a manager available to solve this. The "backend" team in charge of "hard" unlock never respond emails.

Try reaching out to the T-Force Team via Facebook or Twitter.  If the device wasn't the device that matches the IMEI on the box.  T-Mobile should blacklist that device IMEI and try to figure out who it was sold to and how you managed to end up with it.  

Did you do a warranty exchange?

kasave wrote:

syaoran wrote:

Try reaching out to the T-Force Team via Facebook or Twitter.  If the device wasn't the device that matches the IMEI on the box.  T-Mobile should blacklist that device IMEI and try to figure out who it was sold to and how you managed to end up with it.  

Well just like gramps28 says. Another version told by Customer Care is that the IMEI I have right now is different from the one I "supposedly" bought in March 2021. That makes some of the Reps believe it was exchanged, but that never happened. In newer versions of iOS you can see if the phone was repaired or even if it has a none-genuine Apple part. None of that is there. This is a brand new phone I bought on a T-Mobile store. One of the Reps even sent me a copy of the receipt from March 2021 and it shows a different IMEI. But there is no record of this "other" IMEI (the one I have) got into my T-Mobile account. They also have not been able to answer me: Assuming it was Warranty Exchange, why are you not able to unlock it? T-Mobile has the lock, just unlock it.

Actually, T-Mobile jist makes the request to Apple and then it is up to Apple to compete the SIM Unlock.  I don't know what sort of information is passed on to Apple to process the SIM Unlock but the IMEI would have to be a part of that.  The IMEI, which identifies the device uniquely, needs to meet the SIM Unlock requirements.  Because the device IMEI is different than the device you purchased, you might not meet the device requirements to have it unlocked. 

It makes me wonder if the device was originally registered to another account.

Yes, but in order for T-Mobile to unlock it the IMEI has to be in the system.  Reflex devices carriers do not have the IMEI in the system.  This is why it's a broken policy.  Apple has to GIVE the imei to carriers to let them know it's "theirs" to unlock.  As long as a specific department in Apple doesn't give the IMEI to carriers and with the way Apple processes unlocks carriers can't unlock devices outside of their device database.

kasave wrote:

tidbits wrote:

IF the was a warranty exchange it may have been a refurbished Reseller Flex phone.  That means the device isn't in T-Mobile system to unlock.  It's one of Apple worst policies.

No carrier will put the IMEI in their system unless someone from the right channel tells a carrier it belongs to them.  This is to reduce fraud and theft.  https://swappa.com/faq/answer/us-reseller-flex-policy

Assuming it was warranty exchange (which was not). The lock says it's locked by T-Mobile. I asked that question to 3 reps and supervisors, crickets, no answer. Why is it locked by T-Mobile and they are not able to unlock it. If it is a Flex phone and it locks with the first carrier it means the first carrier was T-Mobile, so T-Mobile has to unlock it. Please correct me if I did not understand your comment.

Do you have the receipt of the device.  IF you bought it from T-Mobile directly then you should have the receipt in you account history,

kasave wrote:

syaoran wrote:

kasave wrote:

syaoran wrote:

Try reaching out to the T-Force Team via Facebook or Twitter.  If the device wasn't the device that matches the IMEI on the box.  T-Mobile should blacklist that device IMEI and try to figure out who it was sold to and how you managed to end up with it.  

Well just like gramps28 says. Another version told by Customer Care is that the IMEI I have right now is different from the one I "supposedly" bought in March 2021. That makes some of the Reps believe it was exchanged, but that never happened. In newer versions of iOS you can see if the phone was repaired or even if it has a none-genuine Apple part. None of that is there. This is a brand new phone I bought on a T-Mobile store. One of the Reps even sent me a copy of the receipt from March 2021 and it shows a different IMEI. But there is no record of this "other" IMEI (the one I have) got into my T-Mobile account. They also have not been able to answer me: Assuming it was Warranty Exchange, why are you not able to unlock it? T-Mobile has the lock, just unlock it.

Actually, T-Mobile jist makes the request to Apple and then it is up to Apple to compete the SIM Unlock.  I don't know what sort of information is passed on to Apple to process the SIM Unlock but the IMEI would have to be a part of that.  The IMEI, which identifies the device uniquely, needs to meet the SIM Unlock requirements.  Because the device IMEI is different than the device you purchased, you might not meet the device requirements to have it unlocked. 

It makes me wonder if the device was originally registered to another account.

I called Apple, Apple said that if the lock was put by T-Mobile, T-Mobile should unlock it. They have no control over carrier locks. Replying to your last question, the original IMEI shows up in the account as a "previous" phone. But I never had "that" phone. I have only had this one. One of the reps told me the switch from the one in the receipt and the one I have right now was done in October 2021. But again, no exchanges have happened.

Apple lied!  T-Mobile has no way to SIM lock a device.  T-Mobile makes the SIM lock request to Apple and Apple then can process the SIM Unlock.  

kasave wrote:

gramps28 wrote:

Did you do a warranty exchange?

No. But that is one of many reasons some of the Reps have told me. That it looks like the original phone was exchanged for the one I have right now. Which is not the case. The phone I have was the same I bought almost 2 years ago. Also, warranty exchange would be also logged in the account right? None of that is there.

Warranty exchanges done through Apple won't show in Tmobile's system since they didn't sell it.

Have you ran your imei# through an imei check like swappa to see what the results are? You can also run it through the Tmobile byod imei check.