SyncUp Tracker Scam

3 years ago at a TMobile store my partner and I purchased two new phones. We spent a long time at the store, filled out agreement forms, the whole nine yards... then, at the last moment, as the phones were being placed into a bag, the sales clerk also placed two Syncup trackers into the bag, saying "we are running a promotion. These are free devices. If you decide to use them, you'll have to pay but if you choose not to activate them you won't be charged." We honestly had no idea what the point of these devices were or if we had any use for them, so we just quickly confirmed that they were indeed free and went on our way.

At home, we opened up one tracker, learned it could go in our luggage, but just as immediately learned that paying for it meant a monthly service fee. A monthly fee? For something we'd maybe use on one round trip flight/year? Useless. And we left it at that.

3 weeks ago, Xfinity Cable was trying to sell me on Xfinity Mobile. So I decided to look through our TMobile bill to comparison shop. Hmm, there were 2 unnamed devices being charged at $10/month for service. "What are these?" I asked my partner. "I dunno...iPad? Apple watch?" A few clicks and taps later and lo and behold, sync up trackers being charged to our account. Thus ensued a saga of customer service runaround...

Phone call #1 on 1/4/25: The customer service rep was incredibly sweet and understanding and aknowledged that we never activated the devices nor used them and so it was obvious we were being charged and shouldn't have been and how frustrating to have spent almost $700 on erroneous service charges. She gave us a $40 'good faith' credit, removed the charges from upcoming bills, and promised a phone call from herself within 72 hours, after she spoke with her supervisors. 

I never received a call back. 

Phone call #2 on 1/11/25: The customer service rep was friendly enough and polite. He reviewed notes from the previous call but had me reexplain everything. He wasn't sure why I never received a call back but supposed that the other rep was out sick, etc. He then promised that he would personally be the one to return my call after speaking with supervisors and we picked a date and time frame for the return call. 

I never received a call back. 

Phone call #3 on 1/18/25: This customer service rep was not initially rude but eventually came to spoke to me like I was a moron. He had me re-explain things multiple times. He questioned me. I felt like a witness being cross-examined. I was put on hold an excessive number of times. He said I was already given a $40 credit, and that it looked like I was going to be given a $2.50 credit on my upcoming bills. Ha! I explained that a credit (even a paltry one) is not appropriate as that essentially locks me into being a customer with T-Mobile in order to realize my refund. He eventually said they can only give me an additional $60 credit. He seemed surprised that I thought it was at all reasonable to be expecting anything more than $100, especially for something that goes back almost 3 years. As if the longer I was being scammed, the more it became my fault. 

At this point, I stopped being nice. I told him I knew it wasn't his fault, but that he needed to connect me with a person who has more authority than him that can fix this problem. He kept the conversation going in circles until he finally connected me to a 'billing specialist' who then finally admitted to me that the reason I hadn't been receiving calls back is because it was determined I wasn't going to receive a refund. Uh... so you just leave your customers waiting and wondering? We argued some more. She said that I had agreed to the terms and conditions when I accepted the promotion. I did NOT agree!! The devices were put in my bag after I had finished shopping!! She also said that it is now outside the 3-month window that they allow for us to do anything about it. She finally said that in order to escalate my concerns I need to return to the point of sale. In the end, I asked her if there is anything she can offer me as a customer with T-Mobile for 16 years to try to keep our business. All she offered was a cheaper plan based on us not needing and unlimited plan. Gee, thanks.

I tried to look up the store we had shopped at and guess what, it is no longer there! There is no one to 'esclate' my issue to! Hahaha!!!

I will be reporting this to BBB and FTC.