So I signed up for the Value plan with two lines at a warehouse club and bought 2 Galaxy S3 at full retail price. Now I wanted to see if I could get the phones SIM unlocked as I travel internationally. As per the unlock policy on Tmobile website it appeared I could.
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1588
- If you paid full retail price for a device, you qualify to have the SIM subsidy unlock code providedif you meet the following requirements:
- The device must have been purchased at a T-Mobile retail store or authorized T-Mobile retailer.
- The device must be paid for completely. You must be able to fax the proof of purchase to T-Mobile.
I chatted with chat support. Gave the link to the policy and the agent placed a request for both the phones. Since the plan was a value plan signed up at a retail location , specifically a warehouse store and obviously the phones would be bought at full retail price there should be no problem. Right,..NO... Next day I received two emails from Tmobile saying that they could not unlock the phones as I have not spent a min 40 days on the plan.
Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. We have received your SIM Unlock Request. Unfortunately, this subscriber is not eligible to receive the unlock code at this time. In order to be eligible, the subscriber must complete 40 days of active service. Please submit a new request 40 days after this subscriber was activated.
Day 2 , again went to chat support. This time the agent asked to fax the receipt to a number and placed another request. I did it within the next hour. I also included the letter with the whole story.
Day 3, I received the unlock code for 1 phone. For the 2nd phone the email said -
Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide the unlock code at this time. After review of the account we have determined that the device is not in use with the corresponding mobile number. T-Mobile policies and procedures state that the device must be in use on the mobile number requesting the unlock code. If this is a new device please allow 3-4 business days prior to submitting a new request to allow your usage to update in our system.
Thank you,
SIM Unlock Department
Now nowhere in the policy posted online is this clause included. So either the policy is incorrect or the unlock dept. has no idea what they are doing. However even more strangely I was actually using both the newly bought phones on the two lines.
Day 4 , again went to chat support. Chatted with the most unfriendly rep. Would not tell me anything, she had no idea what the policy was. She kept telling she was seeing a different IMEI number. I asked her if she could tell me what IMEI she was saying. Said it was against their policy to give that info. I gathered she was just lying straight out. However she agreed to manually update the IMEI of the phone with my number and submit another request. I asked her 3 times if she could also also add a note that the phones were purchased at full price and the receipt had been sent. She would not do that for unexplained reasons and would not answer why she would not. Finally gave up.
However I again faxed the receipt and also gave an explanation of the story.
Day 4 Received an email from unlock dept saying that I did not qualify for the unlock since I have not spent 40 days on the account.
Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. We have received your SIM Unlock Request. Unfortunately, this subscriber is not eligible to receive the unlock code at this time. In order to be eligible, the subscriber must complete 40 days of active service. Please submit a new request 40 days after this subscriber was activated.
So now what? What do I do? I have lost count of how many request I have placed. But at least I have got the unlock code for 1 phone.