I was holiday shopping at the mall back on Saturday December 13. While shopping I noticed a Wireless Champs kiosk which is an authorized dealer of T-Mobile. The salesperson I spoke with Alex talked up the deal he was giving me and actually wanted my T-mobile G1 so kept trying to play let's make a deal with a new phone.
I left the mall with a Samsung Behold for what I believed at the time to be a 53% discount (they marked the phone up to about 600 dollars and sold it to me for 299) and waived the activation. I got home later that night and wanted to check it out and found the phone didn't do half the things Alex told me it would and the price was way more than T-mobile directly would have charged me, they made a generous amount off me.
I reviewed the paperwork I had signed and it said I could return the phone for any reason within 14 days and get my money back. I called on Tuesday the 16th to check their hours for the next day Wednesday and was told I could make my return and they opened with the mall at 9 am.
We arrived at the mall around 10 am on Wednesday the 17th. Nobody was at the stand. We stood there for about 15 minutes when I noticed the schedule taped to the counter. Here I verified someone was scheduled to be there at 9 am. So we decided to walk around the mall and do some other shopping. We kept checking back at the stand for someone to arrive. Finally, Blake arrived at about 12:15 with an armful of Auntie Ann's from the food court and reeking of pot. (true story)
Once I explained to him I had been there so long, he apologized and said he wasn't even supposed to be at work today (even though the schedule clearly indicated he was 3 hours late) and then proceeded to tell me he couldn't process a return, the manager wasn't in today, and that I had to come back tomorrow when the manager came in at noon.
Aggrevated and annoyed I asked if since I had to come back again, if the restocking fee could be waived. He said they don't charge a restocking fee. I pointed out to him on my receipt where it said 15% and the sign on their kiosk that said 20%. He said guaranteed me I would get my full 299 back.
I show up Thursday the 18th at approximately 1:30pm and Alex the original sales person I worked with was there. He then told me the manager had called off sick that day and he too was unable to process my return request as nobody but the manager has the authority to issue refunds and process returns.
He convinced me to leave the phone with him so I didn't have to make another trip to the Mall and wrote on a slip of paper that I would recieve my full refund of 299. He explained to me the manager was in again Saturday and would process the return and issue the money back to the credit card I purchased the phone on. I asked for the manager to follow up with me once my return was processed. Alex took my number and assured me I would have a follow up on Saturday.
No call Saturday.
I called on Monday and was told the manager was next in on Tuesday afternoon and he would follow up with me then. I didn't get a call Tuesday so I called back in and was told the manager was not in Tuesday at all, when I said I had already been told he would be, and I explained my situation. I was told "oh he comes in later" but also that he was just in yesterday and all the returns were processed and mine was in the batch so the money should be back on my card 4-7 days. Again I left my name and number for a follow up call.
Again, no return call was made. I called a few days later, and was finally able to make contact with the manager. He told me that he did return the phone, but didn't issue the money back to my card (not sure how you do one without the other, or what benefit I recieved from having the phone returned, but no money issued) He then told me he couldn't put the money back on my card and they would have to issue me a manual check which would be recieved by next week.
Today is the end of that next week. I called in today and asked for the manager. I was told he was with a customer and would be returning my call. I called back 45 minutes later, asked if was still with a customer, was told yes he was, and asked to be put on hold. 16 minutes later the manager picks up the phone. I explained to him that I have still not recieved my refund for the phone I returned to them on Thursday December 18th and it is now January 10 and I wanted to know why.
His response was that he has done all that he can do, he processed the paperwork, and doesn't know why I didn't get my money back and there isn't anything else he can do.
This company has been so unprofesssional to deal with it's crazy. It's almost a month later and they have yet to issue a refund. I have tried looking online and cannot find a website or email or phone number to directly contact someone. I have even tried to file a BBB complaint as of last week and haven't heard anything back on this. I have done everything I needed to do as a consumer by returning the phone during the time period allowed and allowed more than enough time for them to process my request.
Never again will I ever deal with this company and I wanted to share my story to help you avoid the same disaster.
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