BEWARE -- dishonest trade practices by T-Mobile and Samsung!!!
I transferred my wife's and my mobile service from Sprint to T-Mobile in April 2017. T-Mobile reprogrammed my iPhone-6 to work on their network. I purchased a new Samsung S8+ for my wife that was accompanied by a pre-order promotion for a Samsung Gear VR/Immersion Box. Our T-Mobile Store Representative was extremely helpful in taking care of our needs, including entering the details required to claim the Gear VR. We were told we would be receiving the Gear VR within 6-8 weeks.
In early August, I contacted our T-Mobile Store Representative asking about the status of our promotion item. He contacted Samsung and reported back to me that Samsung had depleted its Gear VR promotion inventory. I received an email from Samsung on August 21, 2017 stating that our substitute promotion was approved and that we would be receiving a coupon within 24 hours by email. We have yet to receive that follow-up email with the promotion code.
After the T-Mobile Store Representative told me he had done everything he could do, I called Samsung inquiring about the promotion code. I made several calls during the month of September following up on prior calls. On one of the calls, Samsung gave me a Coupon Code over the phone. I was told the value of this Coupon Code was $130. When I tried to apply this coupon code on http://samsung.com, an error was returned stating the coupon was redeemed or invalid. I called Samsung at least two more times. Both times, the Samsung representative assured me the issue had been escalated. Today, I gave up calling Samsung Customer Service since they failed to follow through on every commitment they've made. I've invested far too much time on hold and talking to people who do not do what they say they will do.
Instead, I called T-Mobile Customer Service, which proved to be just as hopeless as Samsung Customer Service. The T-Mobile Customer Service Representative (including a Supervisor) told me that T-Mobile doesn't offer the promotion; that the promotion was entirely sponsored by Samsung. I asked T-Mobile how they can separate themselves from the Samsung S8+ pre-order promotion when they advertise the promotion to incentivise customers to purchase the phone, and when their Store Representative entered all the promotion information during the purchase process. They continue to unashamedly insist they are not involved, and it's not their problem.
This is the cost of doing business with large companies. They can make commitments and then fail to honor those commitments without fear of any kind of retribution. They know most of us consumers will simply give up fighting their bureaucracy. It's not the $130 value that upsets me the most. It's the blatant dishonesty I discovered in dealing with these two companies. Can any of you imagine what would happen if we owed either of these companies $10, let alone $130. They would destroy our credit!
My next step is to file a complaint against both Samsung and T-Mobile with the Attorney General's office with the State of California Department of Justice. I'm no attorney, but I cannot imagine how T-Mobile and Samsung are not in breach of the contract we entered for the S8+ since they failed to perform as it relates to the promotion item that provided incentive for purchasing this particular phone. While I'm not sure if anything positive will come from my submitting a complaint to the CA Attorney General, I am at least comforted by conveying a caveat emptor to others. read more