Overall, great customer interaction, friendly staff, unreliable service and questionable accountability with the T-mobile rep named Ben.
I went to sign up for T-mobile because a friend recommended T-mobile as a convenient mobile service for international travel. I was convinced and went to the Old Town Pasadena location.
I was met with the rep Ben, who was notably very friendly, and seemed very helpful. Initially, he was very helpful, walked me through my phone transfer process, helped me set my phone up including helping my mom and sister with their set up over the phone. This all seemed 5-star up front, I was definitely impressed by the initial service and I'm sure you would likely fall for the same tactics, or it could have been me being too naïve subsequently during the rest of the interaction. He recommended that I add a 5th line for a discount, and a "protection" plan for my phone, and he stated that "it is better than apple care". I told him I have my Amex card to cover my phone and he stated that this "T-mobile" coverage would offer more than the AppleCare + Amex Platinum coverage, so I ended up getting it. Additionally, he lauded the fact that each member of the family plan would get a $200 gift card from T-mobile that can be used at T-mobile shop or online any time as long as we stayed customers. Up until this point, everything was going really well, or so I thought.
After I got home and did some research, the first unfortunate realization was that the T-mobile protection plan Ben had convinced me to get was in fact not better than apple care + amex platinum benefits, contrary to what he claimed. I decided then that I would call him the subsequent week when I had more time during the work day and when he's working in order to cancel the 5th line along with the protection plan. However, when I called him, he told me that he would appreciate it if I could stay on the protection plan and keep the 5th line for 2 months since he would benefit from the referral, or something to that extent, and did not want me to cancel. I didn't expect this push-back and so my "introverted" side didn't want to confront him about it at that time, so I told him "fine, I'll wait until end of next month". Fast forward, I was able to cancel it but ended up paying a total of over $40 for 2 months of service I didn't need for "his benefit".
What was more troubling to my realization later on was the fact that he either lied about the gift cards or he didn't know what he was talking about at the time he was advertising it to me. The gift cards were not sent to each family member on the plan, it was only sent to me, and when I inquired about it, apparently it was only a one-time $200 gift card to the primary account holder. Although $200 to each member was probably too good to be true anyway, the fact that he told me each person would get $200 gift card was by principle dishonest or lacking accountability in what he was advertising. Furthermore, I had held off on purchasing anything from the T-mobile store because I took him on his word that the gift card had no expiration date...however, when I tried to use it 9 months later, it said that the gift card had expired 8 months into the plan. This was again, another deviation from what I was informed.
Overall, great first impression, great in-person customer service up front, but my experience has proven to me that trusting customer service agents at this T-mobile (if not all phone companies) is fraught with risks. My experience has certainly reinforced the fact that we cannot believe what a representative says and need to verify and re-verify information that we get from sales reps since they don't seem to have much accountability and certainly knows how to fabricate information to convince someone to spend more to benefit their bottom line.
Take-away lesson for you all: figure out what you want before you go to the store. If you didn't want it in your research, you don't need it when they try to sell it to you. It is highly unlikely that they'll sell you something that's truly beneficial to you; it's really for their bottomline. I believe this to be true of all sales people nowadays. I will certainly learn from this experience. (Also, use your benefits early; even if they say it will not expire, it probably will.)
To explain my star rating, 1 star for good initial impression, 1 star for efficiency setting my phone up, 1 star for clean and comfortable environment, minus 1 star for lack of accountability and sales tactics, and minus 1 star for lying about the gift card. At the end of the day, trustworthiness and accountability are important qualities for loyal customer base. read more