Did your T-Mobile rebate get denied?
July 24, 2006 by Brett
You’re not the only one.
I’ve been noticing a trend on my blog stats here lately. A lot of people are finding this site because they’re googling some form of “T-Mobile rebate.” In fact, I’m the first non-retail result in that search. That’s frustrating, not because people are coming to my site, but because there are obviously a lot of people out there in the same situation I was in.
You can check out my original post, but basically I submitted (100% accurately) my information for my $50 mail in rebate for my T Mobile SDA. A month or two later I got a statement back saying I didn’t complete my end of the bargain. Of course they’ve got the upper hand because there’s obviously no way for me to prove what I submitted. I called their rebate center, and was told “Sorry - there’s nothing I can do. You should have made copies of everything you submitted.”
If anyone has any suggestions about what else I should do, please leave a comment. Even though I’ve been with them for years, once my contract is up I’ll be looking at Verizon.
I sent in four rebates to T-Mobile worth $750 back in 2005 and still have nothing. It is a giant scam. Hope Zeta-Jones is enjoying her millions.
T MOBILE GAVE ME THE WRONG ADDRESS TO MAIL IN THE REBATE 6 MONTHS LATER I STILL HAVE NO RECEIVED ANY THING.
REBATE FOR $100.00 WAS A SCAM, WASTED 3 HOURS ON THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had my Lawyer (boy do I like saying that,I feel like donald trump)send t-mbobile a letter to remind them that they owed me $200.00 dollars in rebates it only took 1week after fo them to send me my rebate checks. I can only tell you these guys ,and girls got it done for me.
check out http://www.gottaplanb.com these lawyers are no joke. They told me that if i dont know my rights I might as well not have any. Anyway giv the guy a call his number is at the top of his page.
So what do I do about this predictable scam at Young America? Is it a Young America thing or a T Mobile thing. Which one gets the letter from my attorney?
I swear to God I never with T-Mobile again once the contract over. I purchase the phone and the phone got lost before I able to use it. I have the proof of purchase nd all other document require submitted to the center. And now, they said I am not qualify for the rebate because I did not use the phone at least once. Anyone heard of this kind of stupid rule. How can I use it when the phone is lost.
Just got off the phone with the entire supervisory chain at the T-Mobile (Young-America) rebate center.
Mark ID# 493343
Mike ID# 493203
Pam ID# 493227
We sent 2 rebates, one for each phone, and according to the aforementioned individuals both rebates were magically lost in the mail. Since we didn’t make copies of the original bar code(they count on this) on the side of the box (which are as unique as snowflakes) we have no recourse. I asked Pam(above) to Google the search terms ‘T-Mobile rebate fraud’ so she’s aware we’re onto the scam. We switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and the converage is abysmal. We have one year on this contract and were leaving T-Mobile forever. With the poor service we may just pay the early term fee and be done with them all the sooner.
I think this is a scam, and if we get enough people, we should consider a class action lawsuit. I filed 2 rebates perfectly fine within the time frame for a total of $150…received a letter 2 months later stating I was not eligible. I contacted Tmobile soon thereafter and was told that it was their mistake and I should expect the rebate checks soon…3 months later..still no checks. I called T-mobile who said that I was no longer eligible as the rebate just closed. They have it documented that they would take care of the issue 2 months prior. She acknowledged that it was their mistake, but nothing could be done about it (her being the supervisor) as if she were to send a request over, it would be sent back being denied. I asked her why she couldn’t simply email them as were speaking and explain the situation..her response. Excuse: I don’t have their emails…very hard to believe. I asked if her supervisor could contact them- excuse: we are located in Minnesota and don’t deal with other departments..doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that the supervisor of the Minnesota office reports to someone…seems like a fraud to me to help boost their earnings….Suggest filing a complaint to the Better business bureau…
They admit it was their fault, and she says that they can’t do anythinga bout it.
ID#492650
ID#493641-Chelsea, supervisor
Update: Well I called T-mobile directly (not Young America) and my call was fielded by Linda (#415597). She was very polite, emphathetic and immediately credited my account the $100 that YM cheated me out of. She was surprisingly easy to deal with, as I expected the typical robotic “sir, we can not process your request… yada yada… first born child… hmmhmamshhhhmmmmss swing line stapler…” routine. Anyway, rebates are clearly designed to increase a company’s profit and I am finished with rebates for good. Companies will now have to do business on my terms or I will go else where.
Good luck to all of you who fell victim to these rebate scams. Be persistent, they count on the fact that you won’t follow the rigid set of commands they’ve dictated and that you’ll quit early.
Andrew
I submitted everything to the letter of the law, including the original barcode off the phone box. I also sent it in July 2007, far before the final cutoff in October 2007. Before the end of July, they’d already denied, it saying I didn’t send the barcode. I stapled the barcode to my submission in 2 different places to the form so they wouldn’t “misplace it.” And I made copies of everything, even the envelope I mailed it in.
The rep on the phone was less than helpful saying it’s not their problem and I can’t prove it. All I can do is submit the copies and they’ll consider it. But the original form clearly says copies aren’t accepted. It also makes no sense because I’m using the phone and have an account. They know all of the phone’s information (which is what’s on the barcodes) because it’s on their network.
It’s just a typical rebate scam. It seems like they intentionally deny a certain % of valid rebates knowing that the majority of people won’t re-submit or won’t have made copies. If you multiply $50-$100 by thousands and thousands of denials, it more than pays for the $9.95/hr phone answerers on the complaint line.
BTW — When I threatened to turn the phone back in because I was still within the 30 day trial period, she suddenly decided to authorize the rebate resubmission over the phone and not have me mail anything.
I seriously doubt I’ll ever see the $50 and will be writing a nasty letter to TMobile about their deceptive practices.
I was denied t-mobile rebate because I purchased the nokia 6030 online from the tmobile web site at http://www.tmobil.com. I came to know from the customer service that customer service that the site is NOT “authorized T-Mobile national retail channel or authorized dealer”.
So be careful about the rebates when buying from t-mobile. You need to read the fineprint and do your research. The rebate offer was advertised beside the product on the tmobil.com when I purchased it..The customer care represtative said this is done for marketing purposes! (by deceiving customers!) Happy shoppings..
I also sumbitted all the correct information for the rebate. I swear the form said that they needed the acutal barcode from the box. Needless to say, I never recieved my rebate. Things don’t get lost in the mail too often, I have never had a problem mailing anything before. I’m very upset with T-Mobile and felt something was fishy. I know now with everyone else’s responses that there is fraudulant activity going on.
Just add us to the list. Got 3 new phones for the kids and upgraded to a family plan. Filled out 3 rebate forms, cut out 3 cardboard barcodes from 3 boxes, put in one envelope and mailed away. Got rebate for ONE phone. Customer service said we only included one cardboard barcode, but they did get the 3 rebate forms.
So, Brodie, your snide comments about making copies won’t work in our case, because the requirement is that you send in the original barcode from the box, and once it’s sent, you no longer have possession of it so you cannot send it again and a copy won’t suffice.
Also, certified mail won’t work either, because they’re not saying they didn’t get the letter, just that all of the information wasn’t in it. We aren’t idiots. We wouldn’t send in 3 rebate forms and only one barcode.
This is corporate fraud on a huge scale. Add me to the list for the class action lawsuit.
I never though that my first rebate reject would come from T-mobile. They just try to find the way to deny my rebate without any reason. I did every thing right as I always did with my other rebates. I called and talked to customer service but they just lie that I purchased in a wrong time frame which is not true. I checked everything carefully before purchasing. Now they already erase all the information of the rebate promotion which I could have use to show them.
I am thinking about payback by purchase more of their product and return get full refund and do it again and again. If we all do it all over the US, let see they can keep their business on….
My friends and I purchased the t-Mobile to-go Nokia 6030 from a t-Mobile store in the local mall. (Lakeforest, MD) All of us were denied the rebate because “we didn’t purchase from a qualified channel”. Now they may consider channel defined some strange way but I went on their website and they have no definition and in the dictionary it is - a conduit or route of access. On the rebate form it states the phone and plan has to be purchased from an authorized T-Mobile nation retail channel or authorized dealer”. When I called in for mine the man resubmitted it stating that it was a mistake on their part. When my first friend called in the first woman said that the T-Mobile store was not considered “an authorized dealer”. I ask how that was since t-mobile is authorized to sell their own phones and that it was a national retail store, chain, channel. She continued to tell me that it wasn’t valid for this rebate and I again said you cannot offer a rebate and not state on it that it is not valid at T-Mobile owned stores; for wal-mart, target, Sam’s, Best Buy, Walgreen’s and Fry’s Electronics were stated on the rebate as exceptions and not eligible. After much discussion she transfered me to customer service. The transfer after two times of putting in my t-mobile number, dropped me. I recalled the rebate number on my denial and the second woman #495001 said that the rebate looked valid put me on hold to check, came back, and then told me that she would resummit it. I don’t know if resumitting it will do any good but hopefully.
They know that a certain number of people will not end up submitting the rebates on time and now they deny everyone and know that a certain number of people will not call to see what’s wrong. Now they are pushing it further by telling you that they are not going to honor the rebate because they just don’t want to, giving you excuses that are not on the rebate themselfs. This is fraud. I plan to write a letter to t-mobile including a letter written to the Better Busness Bureau, the Consumer Protection Agency, and the Federal trade commision. They don’t deny that they receive my bar codes or things weren’t filled in correctly but I do have copies of all and it does matter. If a class action does start I would be a part of it but I suspect a letter to the BBB et all might push them into compliance. Thing is this takes a lot of effort but at least I am doing it for 3 people.
If you are a Nokia 6030 t-Mobile-to-go denial customer, contact me and I could give you the addresses and a copy of what I sent. Also if you have been deny a rebate for buying direct from t-Mobile and they say it is not an authorized store, give me a email too. I really do believe there could be a clas action for this denial.
amyiw@hotmail.com
Guys,
T mobile is a big big cheat!! make complain about your rebate in the following site.
http://www.bbb.org/ALERTS/article.asp?ID=333
I received my first rebate rejection letter in July. This was for a $30 rebate on a Nokia 6030. When I called they said they were resubmitting all of the rebates on that promotion. Well, yesterday I got almost the same letter with their version of the rebate denial being that T-Mobile itself was not an authorized outlet. The supervisor I spoke with today then said that the real reason was that ” I couldn’t combine rebates and that phone had an instant rebate.” I will be filing a small claims court claim next week. I will be writing letters. I will contact the BBB. I will not let them get away with robbing me. T-Mobile should realize that the bad PR is not worth the $30. Add my name to the list for a class action lawsuit.
lazylee@gmail.com
My story does not have a happy ending. I bought a side kick in July and mailed the rebate info off on 7/9/07. Well what do you have to do to get your money. I bought the over priced phone with some reprieve that at least I’d get back $50. Okay, so they make you go through all this crap (thinking that you are not going to do it) to mail the form back in and get your money back. Oh yeah, don’t forget the 8 weeks you have to wait inorder to get it. But no, this is the killer, after about 6 weeks, I received a letter saying that I would not receive a rebate because I didn’t qualify. By then, I guess they were counting on me losing the original paper work or not having made a copy. In-tee-way, I called we realized T-Mobile made a mistake, okay now it’s September 27th. I went online to track my rebate just to make sure that everything was on the right track and wouldn’t you know it - the screen, even with thte new tracking number routed back to the old info that said I didn’t qualify. I held on the phone to speak to a rep and she didn’t know why the computer said what it said. She saw it perfectly fine on her end. She did add that it was processing and it could take up to 6 weeks before a decision is made. So, let me get this straight. I waited 6 weeks for them to tell me I don’t qualify when I did, they fixed the mistake but I can’t tell on my end, plus it’ll be another 6 weeks before I know for sure. By then, if properly invested the interest on that $50 would be more than the $50. This is the craziest thing I ever heard of and I think it is ridiculous the way the do business. And now that I know how this works, they will never have to worry about my business again!
I bought a T Mobile Prepaid phone(Nokia 6030) from the TMobil. The phone had a $30 rebate when I purchased it.
I submitted the rebate within 3 days of my purchase. The rebate said that I should receive the rebate to be processed in 8-10 weeks. After around 1 month of my submission, I received a letter stating that I am not qualified for the rebate. I called up the rebate customer center(1-877-311-8853). They said my tracking ID was different and there was some mix up and they corrected the issue.
But again after 1 month I got another letter stating that I am unqualified for the rebate. I called the Customer Service Representative again and asked the reason. He said T Mobile had the right to change the rebate condition and they have decided to cancel all the rebate submission for this offer and he does not have anyother answer and he transfered to a different department saying that they could have an answer. They do not have an answer too. THIS IS A BIG SCAM. Please help
I filed a complaint with BBB. I don’t want these thieves to let go.
If you want things done you HAVE TO talk to the manager. If you want the rebate to go through for any reason the only person who can do it is the manager.
There seems to be only one manager. Keep calling and DEMANDING to talk to the manager and demanding you talk to Pam 4932237 (manager). Ask specifically for the manager and that number, even though they say they cant transfer keep asking and demanding it.
Dont even let them throw out the BS, go to the top. DEMAND IT. If you stay on the line and call through to Pam things will get done!
Pam
And then called again to call through four people to talk to a manager:
Ashely 4951945
Nikita 494475 (supervisor)
Monica 494859 (supervisor)
Pam 4932237 (manager)
T Mobile Customer Care
PO 37380 Albuquerque New Mexico
8716-7830
1-800-937-8997
I thought I was the only one. I sent in what they asked for from the side of the box, then I got a letter saying I did not include everything. I dug the box out of the trash and sent in the remaining codes (which they did not ask for to begin with) THEN they said I did not have the right plan for the rebate. I figured I just screwed up somehow, but now I see it is they who are screwy.
hello how you doing t- mobile custmer all most ten month since i mail the rebate whats going on?i,m t-mobile customer my phone is 281-975-95 42
I bought 2 Blackberry Curve’s because the rep in the T-Mobile store told me I was elligible for 2 $50 rebates. He knew the plan I was signing up with and he even filled out my rebate forms. I went on to submit the rebates on time and everything. Now I receive a letter stating I’m not eligible for the rebate because my plan is not costly enough and I haven’t added on enough extra features! The rep in the store knew exactly how much I was spending on my plan and explicitly told me I am eligible for the rebates and even filled out the forms. T-Mobile reps are smoking crack if they think I’ll let them get away with this. I believe this is called fraudulent misrepresentation and I’ll take them to small claims court if I must to get my $100. I have the proof–the copy of the rebate forms that are not my handwriting and the name of the rep that filled them out. Once my contract is over, I will gladly leave T-Mobile and go back to Verizon where I didn’t have problems. T-Mobile’s HotSpot at Home service doesn’t even work half the time. They are a rip off!
To the previous poster:
The rebate form you would have mailed into the rebate center is available here
http://www.tmobilerebates.com/DisplayPDF.asp?PageLocation=PDFs/5025-517-2647-1.pdf
Please read the terms and conditions, you do not qualify without the addition of a 9.99 or higher data feature. Acceptable data plans are the Blackberry Email plan for $9.99 or the email/internet plan for $19.99. Without these plans you do not qualify. You also need a qualified voice rate plan as described on the form. In mailing the form you accepted the rebate terms and conditions, if you didn’t read and understand them. Tough! You need to qualify to receive a rebate.
Read the form, its all explained there.
Peace out!
Anonymous
Rebate Center Rep
Same deal. Two phones, T-mobile retain store. Nothing fishy, everything on the up and up. Both rebates denied first time. First rebate accepted upon second submission. Second rebate has been denied a total of three times.
I just filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau per the link above (Thank you).
Next steps are to call AMEX and attempt to get the retail store charge reversed. Then, a call to customer service in the morning to demand account credit. Short of that, not sure what else to do.
“retain” above should be “retail,” i.e. T-Mobile Retail Store.
I have the same situation recently, I submit my rebate forms 2 times, the first time they said they didn’t receive it,the second time say I didn’t mail the barcode(actually I did),
So I called them ,tell them the barcode, wish they will mail the rebate check to me or I will think they break the contract first ,then I do not have to obay the contract, stop their service and pay only the last money I should pay,
monthly chart - rebate.
never use their service again.
I first submitted a $50 rebate for a Dash in December….it is now April and I just received my second rejection letter.
First I received a letter stating that my phone number was entered incorrectly….which I am 100% positive that I did not, seeing as I made a copy of the original form that I filled out. After spending 15 minutes on the phone I got that straightened out.
My second rejection was because the person who fixed my phone number changed my purchase date to 11/02/2008 instead of 11/02/2007 - thus I was ineligible for the rebate in question. After another 20 minutes on the phone the “problem” was resolved - now all I have to do is wait another 6 weeks! I wonder what “mistake” this representative made that will cause my next denial.
This is so clearly a scam - unfortunate that nobody knows about it before they get that “great deal” on their T-Mobile phone.
T-MOBILE REBATES ARE SCAMS. I want in on a class action law suit against them. What they are doing is wrong! I sent in my rebate for 4 phones the same week that I purchased my phones (so definitely mailed it in on time). I also included EVERYTHING that they required!!! I looked online and it said that my rebate was denied!!!! I also made copies of everything. When I called T-mobile they said that there was nothing they could do! THIS IS FRAUD!!! We purchased the phone thinking that we would receive this money back. Im livid.
purchased phone for my parents in december. Received rejection letter not an active phone when it was active….month after moth complained said will send next month nothing ….now they are saying its expired and i should call t mobile. obvious rip off.
i talked to this one rep Stephanie and she did absolutely NOTHING to help me, she sounded like she was a confused 7 year old has anyone else got her?
“F”ed by T-Mobile
The instructions specifically state “the ORIGIONAL SKU sticker panel cut from the side of the handset package”. Well I sent in the SKU. I just got a letter stating I didn’t include the Original Sticker panel with “ALL bar-codes”. So no rebate.
I understand that they are counting on a huge percentage of people not doing this correctly, but to be so vague as to trap people that are making photo copies and ensuring that all is correct before sending the paper work in, tells me that T-Mobile is probably just doing this to everyone.
I am sure that i will see a class action notice sometime soon, as it doesn’t look like I’m the only one getting screwed by T-Mobile.
My next step is to deny payment from my CC for the rebate amount to the dealer. I hate to do it, but I have little patience with this type of scam.
If anyone gets a hold of the stats on T-Mobile’s expected denials in these rebate programs please post to this site.
-Mike