Sooooooo here's my experience so far:
-Went to a T-Mobile store yesterday that is not the one I received my phone from. I was told I "have to go to the store that I received my phone at." The lady then rudely tells me that "I will have to use a JUMP in order to move to another phone." I try to explain to her what T-Mo officially sent out yesterday, but she isn't hearing it. As I'm walking out, a lady walks in w/ her Note 7 to exchange. The lady tells her she "has to call the customer care number, or use 611 as they cannot do in store exchanges." So I turn around, walk back up to the counter and ask the employee if thats true, then why send me across town to the store I received my phone at? Why not tell me that then? She says it "varies by store." The customer that came in after me gets irate pretty quickly, and the employee calls customer care. I leave, not sure how the rest of her experience went.
-I go to the store I received my phone from. The guy clearly acts clueluess about the whole thing. Says he "never heard of this", which I tell him that's his prerogative, but he's heard of it now. He says he has to call his manager, but if she does not answer, there's not much he can do because he does not have the authorization to handle this. I ask him what exactly he does have the authorization to handle? The manager answers, and relays that I cannot exchange in store, I have to exchange over the phone (I'm thinking the same number I'm seeing listed in the threads here). I then load up the webpage from T-Mo where in writing, it says to call, or exchange in store. The employee ends up giving me his phone to talk w/ his manager. She goes on to explain customers are being told one thing, the stores are being told another. Their store is not an "authorized" store, so the stock they carry is not affiliated w/ the main corporate end. I ask her if thats the case, then how can they sell T-Mobile phones in the first place? And why does it say T-Mobile on the store sign then? Sounds like the run-around to me, and basically your telling me to leave the store with a device that not only has Samsung recalled, but so has the US Government. She then plays dumb, just as the employee did, and says that this is the first they are hearing about it.
So, I left, and I'm debating on even calling this number to even attempt to try. What a complete mess. This is in the St. Louis area BTW.
EDIT:
Ok, so I called the number, and it took all of 5 minutes. The lady was extremely helpful, she logged into my acct, verified the Note7, and then asked me which phone I would like to replace it with. I told her a regular S7 is fine, I just want to be able to move my sim and SD card without much hassle. She said that was no problem, and put the order in. She said an email would be coming to verify shortly, but she will have this processed today, shipped tomorrow, and I should receive my loaner on Tuesday. I asked her exactly what the process going forward is, she said I will receive my S7 loaner, and that my lease on the Note 7 will be put on hold. Once they receive the replacement phones, my replacement Note 7 will be shipped to my house, and I use that box to return my loaner phone, and my current Note 7. If I decide that I want to keep the S7, I just need to call the number back, let them know, and they will just add that to the plan and I ship the Note 7 back.
So, hope this helps anyone who is wondering. I spoke with an Angela if you want to try by name.
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