T Mobile Phone Upgrade Policy

Pomo78....

I have good news for you... If you stick with your phone for another month... T-Mobile will be offering better deals for upgrading customers coming in March or April. Upgrade customers will no longer get the $30/$50 off "price with activation." NO NO!!!

Upgrade customers will be getting the same discount (including rebates) as NEW customers. This is quite a change because, before, upgrading customers never got rebates which ranged from $50-$150 dollars (Nokia 3650).

Is this great new or what? Now... let's all get along!

I've been with T-Mo since September 2003. I got a Nokia 3390 for free when I signed up because I didn't feel like paying for a new phone since I had a Nokia 3595 at home from when I was on AT & T. I found the unlock code on the 'net, so I am now using that phone with my T-Mo service. However, I really want a flip phone. I'm considering the V300, E105 and E715.

I have developed a great relationship with one of the salespeople in my local store. I go to him whenever I need something serviced on my account. So, when I asked him about upgrading my phone, he gave me some wonderful prices to upgrade my phone. I went into the store to pay my bill and to finally make a decision about upgrading. However, my guy was off today. So, I paid my bill. I inquired to the salesperson (just to be curious) about how much it would be to upgrade my phone. She told me that since I haven't been with them for a year, I would have to pay full retail price for my upgrade. I've never seen her in there before, so I figured she said that because she's trying to make some cash off of my sale. When she told me I had to pay full retail, I asked when my guy would be in. They said Tuesday. I said thank you and walked out the door.

I said all of that to say that it really depends on who services your account.

I am currently in sales for t-mobile and have been in this industry for almost eight years. Not a day goes by where an "existing" customer wants to upgrade their phone. These customers have had service anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 years. I must say that I am astounded at what some customers expect, and let me make myself very clear here, customer that have had service for 12 months or more (T-Mobile only has 1 year contracts) certainly should expect a nice discount on new equiptment, but the customers that have only had service for a couple of months expect to pay little or nothing for a new phone, and not just any phone but high end, expensive phones; and contrary to what some people think, T-Mobile pays a significant amount for these phones and "new customers" get a discount up front, same as with ANY other carrier out there. People fail to realize that it costs T-mobile over $300 to obtain ONE SINGLE CUSTOMER. This is broken down to include the cost of advertising, equiptment, store operating costs, employee salary and commission (to name but a few). The company has to make this money back over the period of the 12 month contract or it it will eventually be bought out as was ATT wireless. Bottom line...this is how the wireless industry works. AND PLEASE NOTE: The sales people and customer care representatives do not make company policy but we must adhere to it, and if you want a phone you cannot afford then maybe you shouldn't buy it. The goal of any company is to make a profit and not give away the store. Thank you for listening.

To keep T-Mobile and get a new phone for FREE here's what to do.
Sign up with a family members name which means it's a NEW account. You will not be able to keep your number. Don't make it a big deal because there's no need to remember a number as everyone uses phone that are programmed with numbers they call.
I will be doing that this week. Providers fought against us keeping our numbers but it's a winfall for them because many people want to keep their number. If you're in business that's a different story.
I live in NY and cell reception is overall not as good as rural areas. Verizon is the best but also cost more than T-Mobile. All the other providers are also cost more. I've had T-Mobile for 1 year and now for 6 months without a contract. Service is excellent. I did call and received a phone in exchange because I complained about reception.
Hope this helps.

I understand that the customer is not always right and they demand a lot. However I think you are being very rude and out of line with your comments and how you portray yourself to be a representative of the company. I'm sure the company would not like to see you representing them in this fashion. I'd like to know your employee identification number. If you've got the balls make comments like this as a representative of T-Mobile, I think you should also be willing to give that out as well.

My servicer is T-mobile. I have been with them for 2 years and more.. I tried to upgrade my phone to a camera phone (nokia 3650, ericson t610, or samsung e715). But they still give me a very expensive price. For example samsung e715, I still have to pay $250.00 for it. I called them a few times and also e-mailed them. Still getting the same result. Personally i think that is so unfair. Its as if they did not appreciated old customer.
i am stuck to t-mobile because they can send msg to other countries. I am hoping other servicer will do that too, and i will certainly changed.
I dont feel appreciated or getting any benefit staying with t-mobile except for the msg thing.
I still dont understand why they did that? I mean if they did good to old customers... we will talk to our friends about the news... friends will be interested and joined t-mobile because of the good service. But now.. we can discourage our friends to sign up to t-mobile because of their lacking of customer appreciation.
I mean isn't it unfair that old customer have to pay $250 whereas new customer can pay to as low as $50. Its $200 difference. I joined t-mobile as family member that means i am paying $40 a month $40*30= $1200.

That is more than thousand dollar and they still did not give in.
*sigh*

As far as representing the company goes, other than tigers comments (which, I'm sure is really blowing off steam), no one who works for T-Mobile has said anything that would offend management. As the person you speak with when you DEMAND to speak with management, I think I am a fair judge of that. Having said that, we are more than willing to give you our rep ID numbers 40+ hours a week. However on our off time, I really don't think that is necessary. We do abide by policy. Yes it is frustrating being yelled at and faced with people whose phones do not work and they want us to fix them when they are talking on them. Most of us take pride in our jobs. We are not out to get you. We would get fired. And the thought of any one wanting to report some one who makes comments when they are home, with the possiblity of them getting fired is ludacris. I would hate to think of anyone happening to hear you make a comment about your job, reported that to your boss.

I have been with T-Mobile for over 4 years. I have two different plans, one being a family plan. So I have 3 phones, 2 plans, and pay out over $200 per month minimum. There have been times when I paid over $400.00 just on one plan per month. So, needless to say, T-mobile has made money on me. That being said, I will admit that T-mobile is by far the best company I have ever been with. In the past I used AT&T, Sprint and Worldcom...all were terrible. Over the four years, I have continually upgraded my plans, each costing me more per month. I have replaced two phones that went dead on me. Each time T-mobile offered me the free phone with an extension of a contract. Over the last month I have tried to replace the last original phone on the contract. It is falling apart. I have been told that T-mobile no longer gives free phones based on your years with them. I was offered a rebate on a phone but when I called back the next day I was told the rebate was no longer any good.

I have never wanted or asked for a high end phone. I dont really care for them. All I wanted was a basic phone. I felt that asking for this for free was not out of line due to the fact that I spend not hundreds of dollars a year, but Thousands of dollars per year with T-mobile. I may be only a $50 phone, but when I am sending them $200 plus per month, I just cant see buying the phone too.

I have never been rude to the customer care folks and they have always been plesant and helpful with me. I do understand they do not always have control, I just wish someone in the company would give them some leeway to help folks out who are not asking for that much.

Ok to dispell all these upgrade myths about t-mobile upgrades, I will explain how the t-mobile upgrade currently works. You can buy a phone, no contract, at the full manufacturers price - flat out, no deals, but no price break either. If you have fulfilled your 12 month commitment with t-mobile, have paid at least 39.99 per month for your price plan, and have not been suspended, and it has been at least 12 months since your last handset upgrade, you qualify for "same-as-new" customer pricing, namely, a phone at a price that a new customer could buy - at a t-mobile store, or a t-mobile.com. This is not what a new customer could buy say, at Amazon.com - the upgrade program only matches the price of the t-mobile retail price for a new customer. To be honest, I know you can get a great deal from places like Amazon.com - with additional rebates - and I dont know how they can offer better deals than t-mobile can (perhaps because they buy in a larger bulk). If you do not qualify for "same-as-new" customer pricing, you can still get a discount on a new phone, say, if you lost your phone, and needed to replace it. With a one year contract agreement, you can get about 50.00 off on a new handset. Also, as a back note, the "same-as-new" pricing also requires a one year contract - with that you recieve both the 50.00 discount and an additional rebate that makes the pricing equivilant as a new customer. So there you go, thats the t-mobile upgrade program broken down for you - this is the current program - any replies to previous or after this posting are incorrect - including tigers definition of the upgrade program. If anyone has anymore questions they would like answered by representatives of the management of t-mobile, please let me know. If any clarification is needed, please reply to this post. Thanks.

T Mobile Phone Upgrade Policy

Similar Topics

New T-Mobile Cell Phones

Subscribe to Our Feed

Carriers Talk

Manufacturers Talk

Mobiledia Community