I am usually a pretty smart woman, with a good judge of character, but I did screw up and have decided to share my experience so others don’t fall into it. It is a frustrating way to learn. If you know anyone that could learn from my mistake PLEASE SHARE IT!
The three solicitors were from a company called EMI and they are a T-Mobile authorized dealer. Just a few months prior to them coming in I had moved from T-Mobile to AT&T because T-mobile in my area pretty much sucks. The only good thing is that they are cheaper, and the only reason I can think of is because their service, like I said, pretty much sucks.
I told the three solicitors that and the very pushy little Asian girl was not having that and went on as to how much better they have gotten and the deals they were having on phones…etc, etc. I listened and got sucked in. I flat out told her that I was not buying a phone for retail; she assured me that they had a sale for the Samsung S5 of $180. I told her that I did not want a contract and she assured me that I was just paying monthly for the service and phone and I could leave anytime and since my phone was only $180 that wouldn’t take long to pay off. I told her I was not paying a ton of money to start and she put a bunch of numbers on a paper and I was only suppose to pay a certain amount for two phones and a $80 deposit for each and we would be good. I told her that I needed Canada coverage and she went on as to how their new no boarders program was the bomb and I didn’t need to do anything to call and receive calls for free from Canada. I even repeated back everything to her, while the other two just kind of smile and nodded and we were good to go.
Doesn’t sound too bad right? Well, here is how the next few months have played out. Ugh…I should’ve known!
She was right I paid $80 deposit per phone and some other fee and that was all good. Then a couple weeks later I got a $50 charge from T-Mobile. I called T-Mobile and they are like…”well that is your deposit.” Me…”NO my deposits were paid.” Luckily I happened to see said three Solicitors on my street that day so I flagged them down. When I explained to the girl what was happening she called some number and they assured me it was fine and she left. Well, I never got a credit from her company. I called T-Mobile again. I must have been good that day because a very nice T-Mobile guy answered and we got that refunded. However he did tell me that next time I should probably call T-Mobile directly or go into a store because they are not able to promise the same things that the third party does. Ugh, of course.
Then my first bill was nearly $90 more than anticipated. Holy cow I almost had a heart attack. All my Canada calls were charged per minute. That quickly got reversed when I called T-Mobile and they prorated me however that didn’t take the initial shock away. I was not originally put on the no boarders plan, of course! It least my bill went to normal after that, with no help from the EMI company.
Then out of nowhere, last week, I decided I would see how much of the $180 per phone I have paid off. I really was hoping I could lump sum the rest because I dislike the service so much I want to go to AT&T or Verizon but want the phones paid off and use them for music later. I log in and I owe nearly $500 per phone! WTH????!!!!! Of course I call T-Mobile and they assure me that I have been charged for full retail of the phone from day ONE! I told them no way and they said they do not see any discount anywhere. So I round up the EMI paperwork and the numbers don’t match on both sheets they gave me and when I called they told me that it does not say $180 per phone anywhere, it’s full retail which was nearly $600. Are you kidding me??!! I so should have known, what was I thinking?! So I begged with EMI and gave a description of the three and everything and there is nothing they will do. My heart sank and I am pissed.
I don’t know why I gave into those stupid authorized dealers, they are crooks. It’s not T-mobile customer service; however they should not do business with the third party. The T-Mobile customer service has been great; I just got screwed on my initial order. I am so mad. My only complaint with T-Mobile individually is their service sucks and once these phones are paid off I will NEVER us them again. However, the biggest lesson here is that I need to be rude to the solicitors and tell them to get the hell out, no matter how nice they are to my face, they are crooks!
So if anyone learns anything from this post I hope it is to not trust anyone that comes to you offering the best product in the world. If you want it, go find it. Stay away from cell phone authorized dealers. Now I have nearly 2-years left of paying of a stupid phone for stupid service. So dumb!
I hope you will share this so others will be warned!!!
Have a great day!
View Comments (5)
I allowed EMI to check my credit (input my SSN and birthday into their handheld) to see what they could offer and declined buying anything at the end of the conversation. I asked for a card (which I should have done at the beginning) and they said they don't have cards. Afterward, I thought to myself that they might not even legitimately be affiliated with T-Mobile and that I may have just given them my personal information so that they could steal my identity. I have tried to find info on the company online and haven't found much. I am panicked frankly and I feel like a fool. Do you have anymore info on EMI, like a contact #? I am going to call T-Mobile to see if they are able to verify that they are an authorized dealer.
Well fortunately I do have a tmobile account so I can say that much was legitimate. I do have one number on my paperwork and it's 1-844-327-9649. I hope that is a good number for you. I did call it when I was asking about my phone charge and someone did answer. Let me know if anything transpires out of your situation. Good luck!
I have an established business. 29 years. I had a representative from this company (using the +1 844 327 9649 number) call upon me thrice. Always with one or two associates with her. When I said I would review a side-by-side comparison, I was given an "Additional Promotions Approval Form". I filled out the corporation information since this was a business account. I was then told I had to fill out the personal information as well which included SSN, DOB, DL Number and Expiration. I refused. My partners and I don't give personal guarantees. And, we're never asked. I was told this was only to insure I was authorized to sign for the business. Too ridiculous to warrant a response .... Then a long call was made. When the call was ended I was told that we might be able to proceed without the guaranty, but the cost would be higher. Something just didn't seem right.
I want to find out who this EMI company is. Thank you OP for your commentary. I was visited by door to door sales person representing himself as working for T-Mobile Business Services. He wanted desperately my four lines from another carrier. I signed up for one line as a trial because it's known that T-Mobile coverage is not the greatest. Next day the phone arrives, open it up, turn it on and it works. Go do a test drive and performance was horrible. Where there was data, it worked ok but finding a place where there was data was not like it should be for a downtown metropolitan area. After less than 7 days I'm done! I call the (844)327-9649 number to cancel. I never spoke to a live person once. I called three times and was on hold for 30 minutes to which the call volume was too high and I was instructed to call back later. Some customer service! What a piece of crap! I wasn't giving up so I look up T-Mobile's business support telephone number and it's different. I called and within 30 seconds was speaking a friendly, cheerful person. I explained I wanted to cancel. After finding my account, I was not set up as a business account as I was supposed to but an individual account. The lady transferred me to the correct department and once again greeted quickly by a very friendly, cheerful person. I thought that if the actual cell service was anything better than it was that just hearing two friendly cheerful people answering customer service was a huge selling factor. But alas, she took my info, we discussed the issue and my account got cancelled. Full refund and I'm happy. Except for this turd that lied about who he was, that has my personal information, that grossly misrepresented himself and said that he worked directly for T-Mobile. I want to find out information about the EMI company so that I can report them to the BBB. You have my email, can you share this information with me?
I wish I had it to share with you. The yellow paper only has that number I listed. I cannot for the life of me find any information on that company at all. If I ever figure out how to find it I'll send it your way. I have wanted to complain too! I can't even upgrade my phone online, I have to go into a store or call. It's all very weird.