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Is TMobile telling anyone else they can't use their G1 until 10/22?

D

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I think I might be about the only person this is happening to. Below is an email thread between TMobile customer service and me...I'm still waiting for a new response from them. But if anyone else is experiencing anything like this, please let me know. I want to know I'm not alone in my frustration (and outrage! I feel like someone lit my Christmas present on fire in front of me or something! ;)). Note, by the way, that all of these emails were sent to/from my GMail account and that I never did receive my "call back within 4 minutes" at all. It just makes it even more obnoxious.

Most recent email to TMobile customer care:

I have set up a Google account. I was told last night that my phone will not work until 10/22, so now I have yet another customer service rep telling me something different.

Whoever receives this next, please read this email chain in its entirety. I am sure you will understand my frustration. I have pasted it below since your customer service system seems to only keep the most recent email.

Original email from last night:
This is more of a general complaint than anything. First, please note that I've been with TMobile since 2000.
I recently upgraded my phone for a G1. Today I was incredibly excited to receive my G1 via UPS. However, when I began to set it up, I encountered an error - the phone said my SIM card was not set up for data.
So, I called customer service. First I called in and when I finally navigated through the voice recognition system, wound up in a queue for representatives. I then chose "option 1" to leave a call back number. I was told I would be called back in 4 minutes. That was an hour ago. I still have not received a call back.
Obviously, I called back myself. The first woman I spoke to said my data plan was probably not the right one. And while I sat on the phone with her for several minutes, she told me how she received her G1 last Friday and spent the whole weekend playing online, etc.
Then, she transferred me to tech support. The guy I spoke to there left me on hold for several minutes, first telling me that the issue was something not set up on "the tower" here, and then leaving me on hold again for several minutes. He then returned to the line and told me I could not connect because the phone is not available until 10/22, so I have to wait until then to use it.
This raises several questions for me:
1) Why ship me a phone I can not use?
2) Shouldn't EVERY TMobile employee know people are going to get their phones early and won't be able to use them? Or will all customers get to spend 30 minutes or more on the phone while the reps figure it out?
3) Why can a TMobile employee use her G1, and I can't?
This whole experience has been the worst I've had in my 8 years with TMobile. I sincerely hope that something is done to remedy that very quickly.

Andrea Keating
TMobile Number XXX-XXX-XXXX

This is the response I received:

Dear Andrea,
Welcome to T-Mobile Web Correspondence. My name is Judith and I am
pleased to have the opportunity to assist you today. We are always
delighted to find a resolution quickly because we want to keep you happy
with both us and your service. I understand from your email that you
are very unhappy that you have received your G1 but you cannot use the
great features until October 22 when an employee told you they had been
using it. I can recognize the desire to be able to use this super
device right away so I will gladly provide all the information you need!
Andrea, I am unable to access your account with the information provided
as we need the last four digits of the Social Security number and the
mobile number on the account. Upon receipt of this information we will
be pleased to assist you.
Let?s take your questions and observations one at a time and see what I
can answer from general information which doesn?t rely on accessing your
account!
1. Why ship me a phone I can not use?
This was done so that those who pre purchased first could have the
device available right on the start date for the service. Those who
ordered later than you are still waiting for their device as the demand
was so huge.
2. Shouldn't EVERY T-Mobile employee know people are going to get their
phones early and won't be able to use them?
I agree wholeheartedly and I am so sorry that you were stuck in this
merry go round. There is no excuse for the time wasting that you
experienced.
3. Why can a T-Mobile employee use her G1, and I can't?
This is a great question! Andrea, we have some sites that have been
testing the device and all the features over the past month ? this is
called Beta testing. This is why the person was able to use the G1
prior to the launch.
Andrea, we will be pleased to check your account to make sure that the
correct feature is added to it once your account is verified.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you today. If you
have any further questions or concerns reply to this email, or call
Customer Care at 1-800-937-8997 or dial 611 and press SEND from your
T-Mobile handset. In closing, I would like to take a moment to thank
you for being a valued T-Mobile customer.
With warm regards,
Judith L ? 7284325
Customer Care Specialist
T-Mobile USA

I then replied with the last four of my social (XXXX) and received the response below.


On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 9:40 AM, Customer Care <customercare@t-mobilesupport.com> wrote:

Dear Andrea,
Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile Andrea. My name is
Larry and I am happy to assist you with information on your account. You
indicated that you have received your G1 but it is not working. I can
certainly understand that this must be extremely frustrating and I will
be glad to help you.
Have you set up your gmail account? The phone will not work until it is
set up. If that does not work please call in and have your G1 with you.
We will have a technician troubleshoot for you.
If there is anything else we can do to assist you with this or any other
T-Mobile issue, please go to www.my.t-mobile.com and reply to this
email, please do not edit your case number in the subject line. Please
note that our Customer Care line is available to assist you by dialing
1-800-937-8997 or it is a free call from your handset if you press 611
then send.
Upon review of your account, I have noticed that you have been with
T-Mobile since August 06, 2008. Thank you for being a valued T-Mobile
customer Andrea.
Sincerely,
Larry G.
Rep I.D. 7284052
Customer Care Specialist
T-Mobile USA
 
There are too many people who are using them now to believe that load of processed hay coming from that rep. I'd call back.
 
I just haven't had the time (nor should I HAVE to have the time). Thanks for the validation though!:D
 
Damn soon as I got mine open box put it my sim and it was up and going. Got mine yesterday. Someone at TMobile is blowing smoke.
 
I just haven't had the time (nor should I HAVE to have the time). Thanks for the validation though!:D

No worries. I've found that with the data side, TMO can't find their butt with both hands, a roadmap and a ten minute head start. When you call, just ask for the "wireless data group". You can probably also check your account online to see if it's been provisioned properly, which it sounds like it has not.

Good luck!
 
I'll have to do that this evening. It just sucks that I've had to waste so much time on this crap.
 
Good point! It should be right...since I've had like 8 reps check it now...LOL But with how this has gone so far, I have zero trust in that. And that sucks because I've always been a huge TMo fan...until now (after I have conveniently extended my contract by 2 years...LOL)
 
I used my current sim card and I was able to start right away. Apparently there are apps and other things that will be released on the 22nd. If you got yours early you just got a head start on blogging your experience. :D
 
If you already have t-mobile service with a Data plan you should be able to drop in your SIM and rock your way to the top. As far as setting up, a new account or adding the new "G1 data plan" I'm sure that is another story
 
but i'll tell you this i plugged in my sim card and loaded my google account and started playing no problem...sounds like a t-mobile rep doesn't know the answer to your sim card issue.

good luck!
 
you are getting that sims card message because you are typying your whole gmail adress....just type your user id without "@gmail.com" and it will work.

I was getting the same message.
 
If it can't connect to do it start the phone in safe mode by holding the menu button down the entire boot time and it should work then. that&#8217;s what i had to do.
 
Turns out that somehow my SIM card wasn't showing I had a data plan, a TMo rep was able to fix that for me in under 5 minutes last night. Now I'm livin' the G1 dream. :D

Just wonder why the hell they couldn't figure that out during the first TWO HOURS I wasted on this. ;)
 
I'm a flex pay customer that previously had the t-zones $6.99 data plan on my phone and i've been trying to get the $24.99 plan since friday
11/07/2008. Finally this morning I talked to a lady at t-mobile and she told me she was getting ready to go home and she told me that t-zones wouldn't remove from my account so she said I would have to call back at the beginning of december just before my new billing cycle and have someone add the $24.99 G1 plan. She told me she was going to put me through to someone that may be able to help me add it today and she forwarded me to the india tech support and it was no help either. After I got off the phone I logged back in to my.t-mobile and I noticed t-zones $6.99 plan had been removed and they gave me pro rated credit for the remainder of the month. So I sent 2 separate messages online through the my.t page and finally got a response and that person hadn't even looked at my account, they just simply responded that I would have to wait for the other data plan to expire on 12/02 before the $24.99 G1 plan would go into effect. Then after logging in all this morning to my.t-mobile they blocked me from logging in for 24 hours because they said that I had logged in to many times in a 24 hour period. Most people who received a $400.00 flex pay G1 recently since they fixed the loop hole that allowed a sim card with any data plan to activate it knows that you have to have the $24.99 G1 plan to setup the phone. If you don't you can only dial 911 and you can't even get access to any other feature on the phone without it. Anyway, I may be returning my G1 and leaving T-Mobile after this frustrating morning.
 
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