Unlock T-Mobile branded paid in full from Samsung USA S22Ultra

[MarathonMan]

Hello,
Purchased T-Mobile branded S22 Ultra from Samsung USA. Paid in Full.
Waited required 40 days and called to unlock (tried unlocking from phone but kept getting error message 116, phone not eligible for unlock).
Called in, spoke to a clueless rep, got passed to a supervisor who told me I had to provide the original invoice from Samsung via email / .pdf. Took path of least resistance and sent invoice within 5 minutes of ending call to supervisor's email address. Supervisor called back and said "all good" phone would be unlocked in a couple of days. Five days later, phone still locked to T-Mobile. Reached out to supervisor via email, no response.
Anybody out there having gone through a similar unlock process? if so, please share your outcome.
Thanks in advance,
Pete

 

[Stormynight37]

No. Contact them on FB. It did take four days for mine to be unlocked. Twitter was a bust. All the reps kept quoting the 40-day rule.

 

[mustang7757]

You should of purchased the unlocked version , is this still through device unlock app that gives option for permanent or temporary?

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using AC Forums mobile app

 

[MarathonMan]

The unlocked 512gb S22 Ultra was $200 more than the T-Mobile variant. So, for the $200 difference I am willing to put up with some hassle. Was just trying to see if a forum member had some advice on how to move the process along.
So far that has not been the case. I'll give it a few more days and then email corporate.

 

[mustang7757]

The unlocked 512gb S22 Ultra was $200 more than the T-Mobile variant. So, for the $200 difference I am willing to put up with some hassle. Was just trying to see if a forum member had some advice on how to move the process along.
So far that has not been the case. I'll give it a few more days and then email corporate.

Ahh yeah can understand the savings, probably have to keep up with email and phone calls , try different people see if get different results faster

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using AC Forums mobile app

 

[kolyan2k]

99.9% of reps don't know anything. I chatted (online chat) the same day I got the phone and was told it needs to register on their network and would take 2-3 days then they will unlock. On day 4 it wasn't unlocked so I contacted chat again and they were able to unlock in a matter of 5 minutes.
Don't need to provide any invoices, its just a click of a button of their side, that's it. I believe 1st level reps can't do it, they need to contact supervisors or 2nd level reps who have access to this.

 

[mustang7757]

I never had issue contacting TMO to request a device unlocked first level rep as long as they see on their end everything meets unlocked policy and this is more then 10 times doing so and went to device unlocked app tap unlocked and done or probably now is in settings>connection.

 

[X1tymez]

Did they ask for your IMEI number be added to their database?. The problem is that the phone was sold by Samsung.

 

[MarathonMan]

OP here.
Contacted corporate, spoke with an executive assistant to the CEO. Got a call back 3 hours later to advise me that phone could now be unlocked with the phone's permanent unlock feature. Ran the unlock during the call and phone is now unlocked.
Didn't get into the why or wherefore just glad it got done.
Best to all,
Pete

 

[frederickdawg]

I went through similar when trying to get my T-Mobile locked S21U bought from Best Buy unlocked. In a nutshell Tmobile systems don't have the IMEI loaded onto their database since the item was purchased from somewhere other than TMO.I eventually sorted with their C/S via Twitter. It had to be escalated to 2nd or 3rd line support and they in turn had to contact Samsung.. Weird thing was that the IMEI wasn't even listing correctly when I tried to register it for warranty on Samsungs own website either. That was a major headache. I also had the same issue with Samsung TMO devices bought from Samsung directly as well.
IMHO just another anti consumer practice.

 

[mustang7757]

OP here.
Contacted corporate, spoke with an executive assistant to the CEO. Got a call back 3 hours later to advise me that phone could now be unlocked with the phone's permanent unlock feature. Ran the unlock during the call and phone is now unlocked.
Didn't get into the why or wherefore just glad it got done.
Best to all,
Pete

Awesome

 

[claykin]

OP here.
Contacted corporate, spoke with an executive assistant to the CEO. Got a call back 3 hours later to advise me that phone could now be unlocked with the phone's permanent unlock feature. Ran the unlock during the call and phone is now unlocked.
Didn't get into the why or wherefore just glad it got done.
Best to all,
Pete

Good to hear. How did you contact corporate? That would be good info for future.

 

[MarathonMan]

mike.sievert@t-mobile.com

 

[shook187]

I would never buy a samsung.com T-Mobile branded phone, I've always had issues unlocking them and Samsung doesn't help at all and T-Mobile is clueless.

When will the unlocked version with the s22u