Last year, at this same time, I tried to upgrade my phone on AT&T and was disgusted at how incompetent the AT&T upgrade/ordering system was. To make the long story short, my account got horribly mixed up and I lost my unlimited data plan due to AT&T's system. I showed proof that it was not my fault. AT&T's system messed up and I called, chatted, and even went to a store to get my account fixed. Everyone told me the same thing - they couldnt get me my previous deal back but they could offer me the unlimited data for a few dollars more per month. I returned my upgraded phone and switched to T-mobile.
Fast forward a year later - today, I upgraded my Galaxy S2 to the Note 2. Work is so hectic that I decided to order it online and cough up the money for overnight shipping via Next Day Air. I thought, "what are the odds of my upgrade getting messed up like last year with AT&T?" Everything went smoothly online and after signing the electronic contract I got my final confirmation page for everything I had ordered. Recalling my experience with AT&T last year, I decided to print out this confirmation page just in case. All was well. 20 minutes later, I get a confirmation through text that my order was processed and I will receive my new Note 2 in 8 days. 8 days???? I ordered it with Next day air and I would get it in 8 days??? I quickly logged on to my t-mobile account and true enough, my order was changed to ship with UPS ground. I double checked the previous confirmation order that I printed and it clearly shows next day air andthe date showed that I would get it tomorrow. I called up customer service right away and explained my situation. I even told them I was holding the confirmation page that said Next Day Air. The rep said she can't modify an order once it's placed. Are you serious??? I told her to just cancel it. I will suck it up, take time off work and go to the store. I will miss time off my busy work schedule but at least I wont put up with this frustrating issue. She said she cant even cancel it. I was floored. I ordered this less than 20 minutes ago!!! What kind of prehistoric system does T-mobile have? I am in the Operations department of our company and we always accomodate our customer's ordering preferences. I also order from Amazon all the time and I've always been able to cancel my Amazon next day and 2nd day shipments even hours after I've completed my order.
I've chatted twice and even emailed T-mobile's customer service the confirmation page showing my order. I got the same answers. Now I can't even go to the store and get my upgrade there since T-mobile's system has it on record that my account number is in the process of being upgraded online. I am now stuck waiting more than a week for my new phone.
Lesson: If you want your phone right away, don't risk ordering through t-mobile's awful online system. Go to the store.
I am writing this to hopefully save other customers from a very, extremely annoying experience. T-mobile is the cheapest among the big carriers but you get what you pay for. The only saving grace here was that the 4 customer reps I encountered were extremely nice. It just boggles my mind how they can't even modify their very own ordering system. I've put up with the horrible connection issues in Menlo Park, CA (hooray for Wifi calling) but I'm really wondering if maybe I should have switched to Verizon instead to avoid headaches like these. Then again, just because they have more expensive service probably doesn't mean they have a better system in place.