Turning fifty-five does have some advantages, one of which is qualifying for the 55+ plans at…read moreT-Mobile. So have been monitoring current deals, and have come into this store multiple times to 'window' shop and get clarifications. Thus when I saw a new deal pop up over the weekend, came back to this store to see if worth purchasing. It was. The switch is not complete yet, but the customer interaction at this store so far has been outstanding.
Like many folks, my wife and I have been mobile customers across all the major carriers (including Sprint, which no longer exists), currently getting service through our Internet provider, Spectrum. Everyone provides unlimited national data now, so price continues to be the main driver for us. Both our I-phones (smallest physical footprint available) are (slowly) dying, victim of new OS's that require faster processors/memory and faster-draining/slower-recharging old batteries. But I like the form size of it, and it would still be useful as an occasional wi-fi device (or sell it to a company like Gazelle for over $100), so didn't want to use a deal that required a trade-in.
So with the release of the I-phone 17e by Apple earlier this month ('budget' model, retailing for $599 for the 256GB version), T-Mobile recently published a new deal: get a 17e 'free' with 24 month contract, with no trade-in. What wasn't clear online was if the 55+ plans would apply. So decided to stop back in while doing some errands by myself in DTLB.
This store is marketed as a T-Mobile experience store. Whenever we stop in, it's fairly busy but staffed well enough to have someone immediately available to help with no wait. Like before, I interacted with Taylor (Sr. Mobile Expert). He confirmed my understanding, and then looked up to see if the 55+ Essential ($60 plus tax for 2 lines with auto-pay monthly) would qualify. I was very pleasantly surprised that it did.
The plan works as an interest free loan, with T-Mobile giving us the $599 to purchase the phone. From the government's perspective, the phone was bought at full retail price, and sales tax must be paid by the customer at the time of sale, which is what I did for both phones. T-Mobile then gives us a $24.96 credit for each phone at each billing cycle to pay off the phone. This means that if we cancel the service before 24 months, we would owe the remaining balance on the phone(s). Either way, the phone would be unlocked and would belong to us.
So with that information, I decided to move forward with Taylor. After asking a co-worker, he recommended that the entire transaction be performed over the T-Mobile app on my (old) phone (including payment)...and he stayed with me while we did so. I remarked if there was a way to credit him; he responded that at this store, the employees did not work on commission. The phone itself is on backorder and will be shipped directly to our home, at which point we could start the actual switch over process. Since the newest phones only use E-SIMs now, we shouldn't have to come back in to get them activated. But it's nice to know that if we want to get personalized attention to complete the switch, Taylor and the rest of the non-commissioned T-Mobile team at this DTLB experience are there to walk one through it.
