Forum Discussion
The T-Mobile unlock lie
Here is my story as of 8/15/23:
I’m a T-Mobile prepaid customer for several years and was happy with the company so far.
I lost my phone on 7/15/23 (ouch) and bought a new Motorola razr+ from T-Mobile on 7/16/23 for $999. Since I knew that I will be abroad for several months, it was important to me that I can also use the phone with a non T-Mobile operator. Thus at the shop the salesperson and me carefully read T-Mobile's "Unlock your mobile device" page (https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/consumer-info/policies/sim-unlock-policy).
It says:
- Si el dispositivo se activó hace menos de 365 días, la cuenta de servicio prepagado asociada al dispositivo debe haber tenido más de $100 en recargas durante ese período por cada línea activa en la cuenta. Además, deben haber pasado más de 14 días desde que se compró el dispositivo.
I refilled my account with two payments ($100 and $20), left the US on 28/7/23 and expected to unlock my device 14 days after purchase.
Which didn’t work.
After hours with T-Mobile customer care, my understanding is that the “We're committed to providing you with clear information about unlocking your mobile device.” (cited from the aforementioned web page) is not clear enough for the team who implemented the unlocking system. As far as I can tell, unlocking is based on days activo on the network and has nothing to do with the date of comprar of the device whatsoever.
Hence the last sentence should read as “In addition, the device must be active for more than 14 days on the T-Mobile network” instead of “Además, more than 14 days must have passed since the device was purchased.”
"Purchased" vs. "activated" - why does it matter you may ask? Well, it does in my case. I'm abroad (not on the T-Mobile network) and won't return to the US for several months. I can't unlock my $999 phone and most likely must buy a second phone to use here. Needless to say that I wouldn't have bought the phone in the first place if T-Mobile would have been honest about their unlocking policy.
Thank you, T-Mobile for lying to me and all the time, material and money wasted.
The drama continues. I finally got a response from T-Mobile due to my FCC complaint on 1/4/2024. Of course, they first asked me to add another $100 in refill (despite my $220 I already paid). A few hours later I received this from T-Mobile:
I want to apologize as I am not having the same issue with any other customers today. I wanted to update you on the progress and solution that I currently have to offer.
The IMEI that you have provided is not able to be unlocked, even with an override. Regardless we would like to offer you the device that you currently possess with an unlocked version. The issue that I see is that you are out of the country. If you have a stateside address that I am able to ship the device to, we will be able to ship the device today. We would request that the current device you have is sent to our office in good condition.
We are able to offer a refund of the device as well if the device is shipped back to our office however we would ask that the device is returned to us before. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.So T-Mobile confirms that there is something wrong with their unlocking system. The replacement/refund sounds good, right? Not for me after all the troubles I had with T-Mobile. So I replied on 1/5/24:
Unfortunately, your two proposals do not solve my problem. I can of course give an address in the US, but I need the device here and it is of no use to me 6000 miles away. I will gladly contribute to the shipping costs if that is the problem and return the locked device as soon as possible.
After 22 weeks of waiting and trying, $220 in refill, countless promises and assurances by T-Mobile to no avail, hours spent with support, it takes a little more than a few lines in an email to restore my trust in T-Mobile.
I therefore suggest that T-Mobile refund 50% of the price ($550) now and I return the device at my expense (please provide the address) as soon as I received the partial payment. Once T-Mobile has received the device, I will be refunded the remaining amount.I asked twice for a shipping address by e-mail. More than a week passed and no reply from T-Mobile ever since. What a "a total experience that includes best-in-class, personalized support from T-Mobile experts when needed" (https://www.t-mobile.com/customers/customer-care).
If someone at T-Mobile reads this and finally intends to deliver on their promise: you will find my e-mail address in my account. Feel free to get in touch with me. Gracias.
The be all end all answer to this, as I have learned with just about every carrier out there and every possible combination of hassle-ness from these carriers- just buy your phones unlocked from the outset. Don't even bother with the carrier stores, most phones you can find online elsewhere (and usually for a far better price).
Insert carrier sims and go. This goes extra in the case of using dual sim with two different carriers.
