A T-Mobile customer shared her annoyances online after she had to go to three different stores in order to properly upgrade her Apple Watch.
In a viral TikTok clip, Nevaeh (@nevaehnabor) addresses viewers from her car after the first two locations had led nowhere.
An Apple Watch upgrade debacle
“I have a Series 5 Apple Watch, and after all these years, it just stopped working on me,” she explains. “So I’m looking to upgrade my watch, and I went into one T-Mobile and they told me, ‘Oh, unfortunately, we can’t upgrade your watch.’”
Instead, she says the sales representative said she could pay $99 for a new Apple Watch, but the catch was that she would have to open up an entirely separate phone line for it. That was out of the question, so Nevaeh decided to try a second T-Mobile store.
The second store said she could keep her watch on the same line, but she would have to pay $250 towards the device that day—which was also something she didn’t want to do. So she went to a third store.
“I said third time’s a charm,” she says, pulling her new Apple Watch out of a pink T-Mobile shopping bag. “I paid $28 today… T-Mobile need to get it together, ’cause I should not have to go to three locations to get the result I wanted.”
@nevaehnabor #tmoible #watch #apple #dobetter ♬ original sound – Nevaeh Nabors
Why would different T-Mobile stores offer different deals?
Cell phone companies frequently offer promotions aimed at new customers or people willing to upgrade and add additional lines to their plans. This can make basic upgrades frustrating for existing customers—but they shouldn’t be impossible, or as difficult as this saga was for Nevaeh.
The Daily Dot has reached out to T-Mobile via email for clarification on their store-to-store policies, but people in the TikToker’s comment section had their own theories and experiences to share.
“T-mobile store manager here,” wrote one commenter. “You shouldn’t have to go to 3 locations, all locations are the same as far as transactions go. Reps get paid off new activations not upgrades so that’s why they lied.”
Another person claiming to be a former store manager added on that Apple Watches they had in stock “were saved for activations.”
“If you want an upgrade we’ll ship it out,” they explained. “Because when someone comes in to activate a watch they want it now. And watch/tablets were a big metric.”
“Always go to a corporate [T-Mobile] store.. them authorized sales places will mess you up,” another user suggested.
Should you upgrade your phone in person?
With store reps frequently trying to upsell and seemingly not always being upfront about what’s most cost-effective for the customer, the best way to handle upgrades is up for debate.
“Went to Verizon to get the new 16 and they said it would be 600$ for us to upgrade 2 phones early,” one viewer recalled. “Did it online and only paid $200 smh.”
“I just buy any apple products from apple. I do have an apple CC. I’ll pay them no interest monthly payments before I step foot [in] a T-Mobile,” said another user. “It’s always something.”
A third shared a similar sentiment, claiming it makes more sense to “just get one from Best Buy or electronics department.”
It would make sense for upgrading a device to be a straightforward, simple process as long as you know what you want. But Nevaeh’s experience—and all the comments backing her up—are a stark reminder that more than likely, you’re going to have to do the research and shop around.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Nevaeh via TikTok comment.
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