We went to the "getmobile" store in Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs assuming it was a T-Mobile company owned store, but found out later it was not. "getmobile" is a T-Mobile Exclusive Dealer owned by a company called "Mobile 1."
The biggest problem with this is that "Mobile 1" is NOT bound to the same ethical rules/policies as a T-Mobile company store (in Colorado Springs, the T-Mobile store on Woodmen & Academy is a real T-Mobile company store).
My new husband and I went to "getmobile" to get our own T-Mobile family plan so my dad could take me off his family plan. They supposedly had told us on a previous visit that we could transfer my line to my husband's plan (who was already a paying T-Mobile customer) BUT they told us that the "best deal" was to cancel both those lines and reopen a brand new account with new phones, new lines, and everything. When we went back in after our wedding to actually set up the plan, we decided to go with the "best deal" because we didn't remember them saying anything about being able to just transfer my line to my husband's existing account.
That evening, while visiting my parents, we found out that we didn't have to do that. The best way to go would have been to transfer my line over to his plan. So my dad called T-Mobile Customer Care, and we cancelled the new lines and transferred my line from my dad's account to my husband's account. T-Mobile Customer Care told us that all we had to do was return the old phones, and that we would NOT be charged any restocking fees or the $200 cancellation fees because we did it during the 14-day buyer's remorse period.
The next day, we went back to "getmobile" to return the phones we had gotten (and not used yet!) the day before, and they still charged us a restocking fee of $35 PER PHONE! (and the phones were $30 each). We told them that T-Mobile Customer Care told us that there would NOT be a restocking fee, and they said there was nothing they could do about that. We re-read the contract, and it says that "you MAY be charged a restocking fee." The problem with this is that it is very vague and arbitrary, so you never know if they're actually going to charge the restocking fee or not. They also couldn't return the phone charger we had purchased for the new phones. Apparently T-Mobile Exclusive Dealers cannot return accessories.
Just yesterday, we went back in to contest the restocking fees that we believe we should not have been charged. They still would not give us the money back; they explained that the only way to avoid those fees would be to exchange the phones (by the way, they never told us that in the first place) rather than return them.
My husband and I had gone to the real T-Mobile company store in town to fix the problem, and they couldn't help us directly because we had originally dealt with an exclusive dealer, not directly with T-Mobile. While we were there, he did upgrade his phone because he was due for one.
After explaining our situation to the people at "getmobile" (again), they gave us a free bonus 50 minutes/month for the first three months, as well as a cover for my husband's phone that was worth $30, and they exchanged the phone charger for one that was compatible with my husband's new phone. So we were able to get some value for the money lost
Unfortunately, because these were managers at "getmobile" that we worked with, they should have been able to help us out and give us our money back, but instead they claimed that they weren't allowed to because it was against company policy. So? They're MANAGERS. They should be able to override normal procedures FOR THEIR STORE when necessary to help out their customers.
Overall, my husband and I love our T-Mobile service. It's one of the best companies around... They have lower rates than any other cell phone company out there that my husband and I have found. We learned (the hard way, unfortunately) NEVER to deal with a T-Mobile "Exclusive Dealer" again (unless you really know what you're doing and have done your homework first).
The Ripoff is NOT with T-Mobile itself. Not by a long shot. The Ripoff is with these "Exclusive Dealers" that are difficult to differentiate from actual T-Mobile company stores.
T-Mobile can rectify the situation by requiring that all their exclusive dealers follow T-Mobile company policy, not "Mobile 1" or "Mobile Solutions" company policy. Until and unless this happens, USE EXTREME CAUTION when using a T-Mobile Exclusive Dealer. Right now, they're giving T-Mobile a bad name that T-Mobile does not deserve.
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