| Author |
Message |
The Heretic
Posts: 8 |
 
Mon May 15, 2006 11:48 pm |
I have tried 5 times to buy a Razor with a prepaid plan. Each time I was unsuccessful.
1) Last week, I go online at the T-Mobile website, and I try use my credit card to order the phone. The website would not complete the transaction - it said to call an 800 number.
So I call. The customer service rep told me to go to a store to buy the phone.
2) So I go to a store - a direct dealer store. After I explain to them the problem they say they don't have the Razor in the store and they could not give me the same price as I would get online.
3) The store sales person puts me on the instore phone with 'customer care' who tries to manual complete the order. With two separate credit cards (one is my bank debit card), both cards are declined and I cannot complete the transaction.
While I am on the phone with 'customer care' I get a call from my bank's fraud detection dept. on my current cell phone. I clear up with them that no, my card has not been stolen and my recent transactions are authorized.
While I am on the phone with the bank, my credit card company calls me and asks the same questions as my bank.
Literally, within seconds on dealing with T-Mobile, my cards are flagged for fraud.
My credit card company and my bank assured me (while on the phone to them) that I should now be able to make purchases with the cards.
4) The next day, I repeat the whole experience over again - except no calls from the bank or CC company. The website won't let the transaction go through. The person I call can't get it to go through. The person in sales he passes me to can't get the transaction to go through - although she says it isn't because my card is declined; the computer just won't let it complete.
Both representatives on the phone tell me to go to a store - but the stores can't help me.
Tonight I try the website again - with my bank card. Again the same results - incomplete transaction, request that I call them.
What do I have to do to buy a cell phone? I would pay cash at a store but I am not going to pay more for the phone there just because T-Mobile's computer system won't accept my credit card (or my bank ATM/Credit-Debit Card).
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A few notes:
a) I want prepaid because I rarely use my phone. Maybe 100-200 minutes per month. I looked at the plans and prepaid would save me hundreds in the long run after about 6 months. I do need a phone for work and personal contact - I just don't need it that often.
b) I want a bluetooth phone so I can keep the calendar/etc. in synch with my computers. I also want the bluetooth for the earpiece.
c) As far as I know T-Mobile is the only wireless provider in my area (Seattle) that provides a bluetooth phone that isn't crippled. It is also the only provider that offers the Razor with its prepaid plan.
So given all of that - how in the hell do I buy one of these phones if they won't sell me one???? 
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steva11
Posts: 1680
Phone Model:
w810i/pearl
Service Provider:
Rogers |
Tue May 16, 2006 12:04 am |
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cingular has the V3 for the same price as t-mo, no shipping cost, no activation fee.
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The Heretic
Posts: 8 |
Tue May 16, 2006 12:14 am |
| steva11 wrote: | | cingular has the V3 for the same price as t-mo, no shipping cost, no activation fee. |
Not as a prepaid phone (I believe), their prepaid plans are not very good, and they cripple their bluetooth phones.
I would stick with Verizon if they didn't cripple their bluetooth phones, had as good prepaid as T-Mobile and offered the Razor for prepaid - but they do not.
Hell, Verizon would give me a Razor for free if I sign up for another two years - but what good would it do me? I can't use the bluetooth for what I want it for and I refuse to pay Verizon 25 cents for uploading a photo to their website just so I can download it to my computer when I should be able to do it directly if they weren't so greedy. 
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steva11
Posts: 1680
Phone Model:
w810i/pearl
Service Provider:
Rogers |
Tue May 16, 2006 12:26 am |
cingular doesn't cripple bluetooth. as far as i know, it's only verizon that does that. it is available as a prepaid phone here:
http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/gophone/index.jsp
then go to the bottom of the phone list to "View all gophone devices"
...and did you hear the news? verizon has uncrippled bluetooth for the V3c...check it out here:
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/340/C7532/
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The Heretic
Posts: 8 |
Tue May 16, 2006 12:52 am |
They still charge $1 per day to use a prepaid phone (which if I read T-Mobile's plan correctly, they don't). Verizon has the same charge ($0.99). Please correct me if I am wrong - if T-Mobile does the same then I need to reconsider.
Also, I googled 'cingular bluetooth cripple' and from what I understand there are a number of people who claim Cingular does - at least for some phones, so I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that they did for all - following Verizon's lead.
Interesting - but if it doesn't come uncrippled out of the box then I don't want it. I am not a phone geek - I just want my phone to work and have all the features the manufacture designed into it. I don't want to have to go from store to store until I find one that knows what I am talking about.
*sigh* who would have thought just getting a phone that works would be so involved?
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steva11
Posts: 1680
Phone Model:
w810i/pearl
Service Provider:
Rogers |
Tue May 16, 2006 1:40 pm |
well, there's two types of plans, one that charges the dollar per day, one that doesn't. the "Pay as you go" does charge while the "Pick your plan" does not. they list the plans seperatley from this page.
http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-phone-service/gophone/index.jsp
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The Heretic
Posts: 8 |
Tue May 16, 2006 2:22 pm |
Thanks Steve, but neither of those plans is as appropriate for my usage as T-Mobile's prepaid plans which are simpler and cheaper.
That said, apparently T-Mobile doesn't want me as a customer for some unknown reason, so if I can get a Verizon store to give me an uncrippled Razor with their least expensive monthly plan, I'll stick with them - even though the coverage at work sucks (one of the reasons I wanted T-Mobile; apparently here at work T-Mobile has a strong signal, while Verizon has no signal and Cingular has a weak signal).
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Sir_GoAtaLoT
Posts: 406
Phone Model:
BlackBerry 8100 Pearl
Service Provider:
Rogers |
Tue May 16, 2006 3:44 pm |
| The Heretic wrote: | Thanks Steve, but neither of those plans is as appropriate for my usage as T-Mobile's prepaid plans which are simpler and cheaper.
That said, apparently T-Mobile doesn't want me as a customer for some unknown reason, so if I can get a Verizon store to give me an uncrippled Razor with their least expensive monthly plan, I'll stick with them - even though the coverage at work sucks (one of the reasons I wanted T-Mobile; apparently here at work T-Mobile has a strong signal, while Verizon has no signal and Cingular has a weak signal). |
try going to a different T-Mobile Store and i have no clue why our programs would be rejecting your credit cards or bank cards
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steva11
Posts: 1680
Phone Model:
w810i/pearl
Service Provider:
Rogers |
Tue May 16, 2006 3:47 pm |
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or see if you can pay with someone else's card and just give that person the cash.
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The Heretic
Posts: 8 |
Tue May 16, 2006 8:54 pm |
| Sir_GoAtaLoT wrote: | | try going to a different T-Mobile Store and i have no clue why our programs would be rejecting your credit cards or bank cards |
Twice T-Mobile has said 'go to a store'. That isn't going to work when T-Mobile itself says the price for the prepaid Razor is only good through their website.
Moreover, both stores I have been to have said they could not sell me the Razor for prepaid plans. In fact, if you count the first store I went to (I forgot about that - before I tried to buy anything online I went to a T-Mobile store) - I have tried six times to buy this phone with this plan.
So no - going to a store is not the answer. I wish it was - if it was I could just pay cash and the credit/bank cards would not be in the equation.
I have had less hassle trying to buy a $30K car than I have had trying to get the phone and plan I want. It isn't like I am asking for something T-Mobile doesn't offer or special treatment - I just want the silly phone with the prepaid plan. No one in the T-Mobile Customer Care or Sales can seem to tell me what to do to get it - they just try to input my info in the computer then say "I'm sorry" and give up.
Can you tell me if T-Mobile has a daily access charge? Not that it will matter - I can't get them to sell me the phone, but I am just curious.
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