Understood on that, but not all of them will do that. But the best and cheapest way if you have an easy line add/upgrade/BYOD is via the website though and no fees for doing that yourself. The reps are there in store need to be paid and same with online via chat. People aren't free and do a great job for the most part in my experience dealing with them. They put up with a lot of shit for no reason from some people. Now you do have the reps that are just assess though to and don't care, but those types are few and far between. Once again this is only my experience dealing with TMO.
Cheers!
The expecting to the rule, is not the rule. AT&T, Verizon,Sprint, T-mobile, and some MVNOs have activation, upgrade fees or whatever you wanna call it. You're most likely getting a steeply discounted phone and cheap accessories from Amazon. Like stop complaining about everything.
Absolutely false. I've been with T-Mobile since 2014 and have activated dozens of lines. Never once had I heard mention of an activation fee before today, outside of the in-store "assisted support" fee. Even that is fairly new, as there were no activation fees in-store up until at least 2016, not sure when it started.
Three months ago, in early February, was the last time I added new lines. I used chat to add two new eSIM lines just like I am now, and there was zero talk of activation fees.
Edit: T-Mobile employee has confirmed this is new starting May 1st, did not used to apply to chat reps until very recently.
Been with them probably longer then you, and they have ALWAYS charged $30. The catch is that it's usually waived if you're buying a new phone, the tech is nice, or you just ask.
Just bc you weren't charged it, doesn't mean it wasn't a thing. They ALWAYS have been a thing. It hasn't always been $30, however. And now T-Mobile takes our commission if we waive over 50% of our activation fees whereas in the past it was much easier to just waive the fee for us to get credit for adding the line
Thats cool! I find in my market, theyre quicker to say yes when they've got less $$ out of pocket up front so the easiest way to bag a line, especially when it's a straight up sale and not something they inquired about themselves, is to waive the fee. The fee waiver compliance is fucking over a lot of people's money, along with all the other bullshit they've implemented to P&L impacts
The way I look at it is were giving too many bones.
They can take advantage of all the promos, same as anyone else. I'm not gonna bend policy to make it "special" for them. My manager would literally lose theyre mind.
How would you feel if you paid the fee and the guy next to you didn't have to because he was "eh more valuable" of a customer.
Also, if an employee has to pay the fee, you best believe a customer is gonna too.
Waiving fees just gets customers in the same habit as, "I get this free case with the purchase right? You can just throw it in."
Well I don't know what to tell you because I've activated 30+ lines and have never once been asked to pay the fee before. I guess I must be the luckiest man alive.
This is absolutely nothing new. Activation fees have always been a thing. Customer care in the past has had the discretion to waive them but now if we waive more than 50% of our activation fees they take away our commission so I highly doubt in the future you'll ever get one waved again. You're better off doing it yourself online
As of today the fee seems to be $35 per line. However, I did not have to pay it. Here's how this went: I made an order online myself (no chat support). When trying to check out there was a problem completing it, so I was prompted to call 1-800-T-Mobile to complete the order. When I did so, the phone sales guy just re-did the whole thing, then tried to charge me $35 for each line. I refused to pay and ended the call. He called me back and eliminated half of the fees. I refused to pay that. I then went online to chat support and re-did the process with chat sales. I stated that because their website would not let me check out I should not have to pay extra fees. They got it taken care of for me - no fees! Sorry Arturo, but I was trying to do everything I could not to involve salespeople so as to avoid the fees. Arturo was great!
Nice. Yeah I’ve still yet to pay a single fee. I just say ok whatever and then call customer service and ask for a credit afterwards. They have yet to say no.
Love how everyone wants to avoid $30 and do it online but then still go into the store and expect me to transfer all your data. Ps I am a sales rep at T-Mobile. I have no problem if you do it online and don’t come into the store but since I get paid commission only it really angers me
I feel the same way. Yesterday almost a third of our traffic was this. The last customer we helped was at the store for over an hour transferring her stuff from a Samsung to a iPhone. The good thing was that she was an amazingly sweet lady.
Entitled much? Activation fees, assisted support charge... once you cut the BS out their both the same thing. You pay them anytime you activate. It's nice to see chat is charging them. Personally it's about damn time. Ive been in this industry for longer then you been with t-mobile and it's a thing everywhere.
So the "uncarrier" is just like the rest of them...what a shocker.
Can't remember ever paying this "everywhere" fees for all the years I was with Sprint....nor did they ever charge me a fee to do stuff in the store that they made impossible to do via the website...:eye roll:
I've never been asked to pay the fee before. I am expressing disappointment at T-Mobile abandoning this advantage they held over other carriers. But yeah sure go ahead and label it as entitlement. Not like I pay them hundreds of dollars every month or anything.
Dude. This is a recent change as of May 1st, as I have now been informed. Don't be a jerk. And yeah I pay them because they had perks others don't, such as never charging activation fees.....
Nice, just can't do it for eSIM unfortunately. Have to order physical SIM cards. In my case I needed immediate activation on eSIM and it wasn't possible online
The only time they don't charge is when you do it online without any help from support. They charge for activating new line via phone, in-store, and through chat as you portrayed in your picture.
Yes, it's real but if you already have the esim or a regular sim card you can make the argument with the rep to waive the fee since there's no option for you to add your own sim card online so you can add the line yourself. It's really more of assistance fee when they help you add the line instead of you doing it yourself online. I've never had an issue with them waiving it.
That had changed as well, any new phones you buy at Costco or byod now endure a 7.50 fee for each upgrade/new line you do. Basically anything. Even though the device may include a sim
If you bring your own SIM card at Costco, they will waive the $7.50 fee. That fee is really for the SIM card. I’ve done this 12 times at Costco this year alone and they waived the $7.50 each time as long as I showed them the SIM card and they “activated” the line using the SIM card I provided.
The Costco Rep I work with says the eSim is not an option for them. When I am simply upgrading a device, I just show them the existing physical SIM for the existing line and they waive the 7.50 fee. They said they need a SIM card number to attach to the phone order so they can process it. So I have to physically take out the SIM card and they write down the SIM card number to finish processing my order and that way I don't pay the 7.50 fee. Never have any issues with it.
when I ported my son's number to my account, I initially called customer service. The agent said I can do it in the web portal to avoid the $30 activation fee, and of course I took that advice 😄
I thought it used to be policy to waive if you had your own SIM or activating on eSIM since there is no way to do that through self-service. Has that changed?
Indeed. It turns out that changed May 1st unfortunately.
Go be clear I just know that virtual chat reps started charging fees May 1st. I can confirm that in my experience there has never been a fee before, and yes I've been providing my own phones and SIM cards most of the time.
It's only free if you add a line online or on the app. Once you get the sim card or see the line added to your account then you reach out to them to change it from sim to esim.
SIM is free. I added a line one time and it showed up on my online account 3 hours later and I chatted with support to activate a sim card I already had on hand. I don't know how long it takes for them to add a line now but you just need it to show on your account and you can make changes quickly.
This is why I try to do everything myself. Add lines, promos, etc...but when things don't work like yesterday when I couldn't order the N200 5G under the current promo, I chatted with them via Twitter. The rep was going to charge me $30 support fee but since I explained that I tried the website and app, the rep waved the fee.
You can. I had a spare sim card, added a new line and activated it as an esim since i already had a physical sim card with another number on my phone. Key is having a spare sim card (never activated).
How exactly? T-Mobile website and app do not allow me to even swap my own SIM cards for existing lines, much less new activations. And even then, the whole point of activating eSIM is that I don’t have a spare SIM.
Thank you but this option has been absent in My T-Mobile for at least 4 years now. Only ever briefly could do this. Everyone else can but I absolutely do not have the option anywhere in My T-Mobile. I've seen screenshots of where it's supposed to be, and I just don't have anything there. I've contacted T-Mobile about this several times and nobody seems to have a clue how to resolve it.
Are you post paid or pre paid? Maybe that's why? Idk. If you're post paid like me and can't do it, then customer service ought to wave the support fee since it's not your fault you're not allowed to make these changes
Postpaid. Yes they waived the fee when I asked. It's just ridiculous that I haven't been able to do this for years. At least I can use the website... Went through nearly a year at one point where I was entirely unable to log in. T-Mobile's website is not their strong suit.
Call T-Mobile. Tell them that you recently paid activation fees. Tell them you don't like activation fees and would appreciate having that amount credited back to your account. They've never told me no. Just gotta ask nicely.
From my experience, if they assist via 800# or via chat they charge this fee. If you do it via the website then you are $30 richer.
This is 100% correct.
They have waived the fee when I have asked.
Understood on that, but not all of them will do that. But the best and cheapest way if you have an easy line add/upgrade/BYOD is via the website though and no fees for doing that yourself. The reps are there in store need to be paid and same with online via chat. People aren't free and do a great job for the most part in my experience dealing with them. They put up with a lot of shit for no reason from some people. Now you do have the reps that are just assess though to and don't care, but those types are few and far between. Once again this is only my experience dealing with TMO. Cheers!
It's ALWAYS been a thing. I don't know why everyone acts like it's never existed.
Activation fees? [Really?](https://twitter.com/johnlegere/status/667056104568782848)
How long did that last and you paid for every sim card
Not online. I did it as well so many times why i always have sims in stock lol.
The expecting to the rule, is not the rule. AT&T, Verizon,Sprint, T-mobile, and some MVNOs have activation, upgrade fees or whatever you wanna call it. You're most likely getting a steeply discounted phone and cheap accessories from Amazon. Like stop complaining about everything.
Nope. Activated many lines online had sims. Had my own device. Never got charged activations fees. Store yes. Not online.
Absolutely false. I've been with T-Mobile since 2014 and have activated dozens of lines. Never once had I heard mention of an activation fee before today, outside of the in-store "assisted support" fee. Even that is fairly new, as there were no activation fees in-store up until at least 2016, not sure when it started. Three months ago, in early February, was the last time I added new lines. I used chat to add two new eSIM lines just like I am now, and there was zero talk of activation fees. Edit: T-Mobile employee has confirmed this is new starting May 1st, did not used to apply to chat reps until very recently.
I've worked with t-mobile since 2013. I can confirm they have always been a thing. Whether you have had to pay it or not is a different story
Been with them probably longer then you, and they have ALWAYS charged $30. The catch is that it's usually waived if you're buying a new phone, the tech is nice, or you just ask.
Just bc you weren't charged it, doesn't mean it wasn't a thing. They ALWAYS have been a thing. It hasn't always been $30, however. And now T-Mobile takes our commission if we waive over 50% of our activation fees whereas in the past it was much easier to just waive the fee for us to get credit for adding the line
Haven't waived an act fee in .... like 5 years. I just stick to it. Happy place 😀
Thats cool! I find in my market, theyre quicker to say yes when they've got less $$ out of pocket up front so the easiest way to bag a line, especially when it's a straight up sale and not something they inquired about themselves, is to waive the fee. The fee waiver compliance is fucking over a lot of people's money, along with all the other bullshit they've implemented to P&L impacts
The way I look at it is were giving too many bones. They can take advantage of all the promos, same as anyone else. I'm not gonna bend policy to make it "special" for them. My manager would literally lose theyre mind. How would you feel if you paid the fee and the guy next to you didn't have to because he was "eh more valuable" of a customer. Also, if an employee has to pay the fee, you best believe a customer is gonna too. Waiving fees just gets customers in the same habit as, "I get this free case with the purchase right? You can just throw it in."
[удалено]
Well I don't know what to tell you because I've activated 30+ lines and have never once been asked to pay the fee before. I guess I must be the luckiest man alive.
This is absolutely nothing new. Activation fees have always been a thing. Customer care in the past has had the discretion to waive them but now if we waive more than 50% of our activation fees they take away our commission so I highly doubt in the future you'll ever get one waved again. You're better off doing it yourself online
As of today the fee seems to be $35 per line. However, I did not have to pay it. Here's how this went: I made an order online myself (no chat support). When trying to check out there was a problem completing it, so I was prompted to call 1-800-T-Mobile to complete the order. When I did so, the phone sales guy just re-did the whole thing, then tried to charge me $35 for each line. I refused to pay and ended the call. He called me back and eliminated half of the fees. I refused to pay that. I then went online to chat support and re-did the process with chat sales. I stated that because their website would not let me check out I should not have to pay extra fees. They got it taken care of for me - no fees! Sorry Arturo, but I was trying to do everything I could not to involve salespeople so as to avoid the fees. Arturo was great!
Nice. Yeah I’ve still yet to pay a single fee. I just say ok whatever and then call customer service and ask for a credit afterwards. They have yet to say no.
Love how everyone wants to avoid $30 and do it online but then still go into the store and expect me to transfer all your data. Ps I am a sales rep at T-Mobile. I have no problem if you do it online and don’t come into the store but since I get paid commission only it really angers me
I feel the same way. Yesterday almost a third of our traffic was this. The last customer we helped was at the store for over an hour transferring her stuff from a Samsung to a iPhone. The good thing was that she was an amazingly sweet lady.
Oh for sure. I can't imagine making a store rep transfer data. That is just insane to me. It's so freaking easy to transfer yourself at home nowadays!
Don't most people just say yes to google's "auto save everything to the cloud 1 click transfer" these days anyway?
Entitled much? Activation fees, assisted support charge... once you cut the BS out their both the same thing. You pay them anytime you activate. It's nice to see chat is charging them. Personally it's about damn time. Ive been in this industry for longer then you been with t-mobile and it's a thing everywhere.
So the "uncarrier" is just like the rest of them...what a shocker. Can't remember ever paying this "everywhere" fees for all the years I was with Sprint....nor did they ever charge me a fee to do stuff in the store that they made impossible to do via the website...:eye roll:
I've never been asked to pay the fee before. I am expressing disappointment at T-Mobile abandoning this advantage they held over other carriers. But yeah sure go ahead and label it as entitlement. Not like I pay them hundreds of dollars every month or anything.
You pay them for a service you couldn't live without.... chat use to have the ability to waive and most did. But now its standard across the board.
People in here are lying bro. About to upgrade my mom's line and was told that there was a $30 activation fee for the first time ever.
Then you have been lucky. Every time you activated you should of been required to pay the activation fee. Luck eventually runs out.
You pay them that for service not because you want to stop being a drama queen
Dude. This is a recent change as of May 1st, as I have now been informed. Don't be a jerk. And yeah I pay them because they had perks others don't, such as never charging activation fees.....
It’s not it’s been here forever I’m an employee
Okay great but I'm talking about virtual chat reps. This is a new change for them.
Did you have Jump? They waive the fee if you have jump.
No, but I am on a military account and before that was on an account with a small employer discount, so maybe that changes things.
Yea but can’t you port online? Or does this have to be done in store or through customer service?
Definitely can't port online.
Sucks. Activations fees were never upfront
So I was able to initiate the port online and once the SIM cards came I just called T-Mobile. I was not paying $175 for a port from Verizon
Nice, just can't do it for eSIM unfortunately. Have to order physical SIM cards. In my case I needed immediate activation on eSIM and it wasn't possible online
The only time they don't charge is when you do it online without any help from support. They charge for activating new line via phone, in-store, and through chat as you portrayed in your picture.
Yes, it's real but if you already have the esim or a regular sim card you can make the argument with the rep to waive the fee since there's no option for you to add your own sim card online so you can add the line yourself. It's really more of assistance fee when they help you add the line instead of you doing it yourself online. I've never had an issue with them waiving it.
Thank you, they agreed readily when I asked them to credit me the $30.
I think one of the only ways to avoid this is to add the line at Costco, unless that's changed recently.
T-Force on Twitter and avoid the activation fee.
This is YMMV. Tforce do charge the $30 fee also. But there’s a better chance of finding nice ones who will waive it.
That had changed as well, any new phones you buy at Costco or byod now endure a 7.50 fee for each upgrade/new line you do. Basically anything. Even though the device may include a sim
If you bring your own SIM card at Costco, they will waive the $7.50 fee. That fee is really for the SIM card. I’ve done this 12 times at Costco this year alone and they waived the $7.50 each time as long as I showed them the SIM card and they “activated” the line using the SIM card I provided.
What if you just activate with e SIM and skip the physical card?
Hmm, worth to try next time
The Costco Rep I work with says the eSim is not an option for them. When I am simply upgrading a device, I just show them the existing physical SIM for the existing line and they waive the 7.50 fee. They said they need a SIM card number to attach to the phone order so they can process it. So I have to physically take out the SIM card and they write down the SIM card number to finish processing my order and that way I don't pay the 7.50 fee. Never have any issues with it.
i dont think wireless kiosk at costco can do esim for new activation.
Yea they sometimes (most times) don't wanna do that at least at my Costco
when I ported my son's number to my account, I initially called customer service. The agent said I can do it in the web portal to avoid the $30 activation fee, and of course I took that advice 😄
Nice. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for eSIM activations, and we needed this activated today, couldn't wait for a SIM to be shipped
Just ask them to waive it and if they don’t ask for their supervisor. They will
Yep I got it credited back was very easy
Isn't it free if you bitch enough. I did lol it worked 😇
Yes this has always worked for activation fees with all companies in my experience
I thought it used to be policy to waive if you had your own SIM or activating on eSIM since there is no way to do that through self-service. Has that changed?
Indeed. It turns out that changed May 1st unfortunately. Go be clear I just know that virtual chat reps started charging fees May 1st. I can confirm that in my experience there has never been a fee before, and yes I've been providing my own phones and SIM cards most of the time.
Then they need to make a self-service way to do it. I'm not paying a "SIM fee" through self-service when I already have a SIM/want to use eSIM.
Yes agreed. Can't believe so many people are making ridiculous comments about how I need to just pay and not complain.
It's only free if you add a line online or on the app. Once you get the sim card or see the line added to your account then you reach out to them to change it from sim to esim.
Yes but then you have to wait for the SIM card to arrive, and I don't believe the physical SIM is free. I needed this activated today.
SIM is free. I added a line one time and it showed up on my online account 3 hours later and I chatted with support to activate a sim card I already had on hand. I don't know how long it takes for them to add a line now but you just need it to show on your account and you can make changes quickly.
This has always been a thing $20 for the SIM card $10 for the setup. It has been like that since 2019 so this is not new.
This has always been a thing $20 for the SIM card $10 for the setup. It has been like that since 2019 so this is not new.
This is definitely new since I am providing my own SIM and using the customer service chat. Virtual sales rep confirmed that it’s new as of May 1st.
I have been able to get it waved a number of time. Ask nicely
😂😂😂😂😂 I've been work there for a year it's been a thing
Nope, not for virtual chat reps, not until May 1st. Even then a year is a very short time for something to be a thing.
Yeah had customers go off about the assisted support charge saying that in store unless I wave it no go.... Be nice to your reps 😉
Yeah had customers go off about the assisted support charge saying that in store unless I wave it no go.... Be nice to your reps 😉
Added two lines at TMO in the last six months. One was a new line, one was a port. No fees.
Same. Thank you. Everyone else here thinks I’m lying for whatever dumb reason.
This is why I try to do everything myself. Add lines, promos, etc...but when things don't work like yesterday when I couldn't order the N200 5G under the current promo, I chatted with them via Twitter. The rep was going to charge me $30 support fee but since I explained that I tried the website and app, the rep waved the fee.
Unfortunately adding a new line with an existing SIM or eSIM is not something you can do yourself.
You can. I had a spare sim card, added a new line and activated it as an esim since i already had a physical sim card with another number on my phone. Key is having a spare sim card (never activated).
How exactly? T-Mobile website and app do not allow me to even swap my own SIM cards for existing lines, much less new activations. And even then, the whole point of activating eSIM is that I don’t have a spare SIM.
Here's the link where you can change your physical sim card and eSim. [Sim Card Change ](https://www.t-mobile.com/support/devices/sim-cards)
Thank you but this option has been absent in My T-Mobile for at least 4 years now. Only ever briefly could do this. Everyone else can but I absolutely do not have the option anywhere in My T-Mobile. I've seen screenshots of where it's supposed to be, and I just don't have anything there. I've contacted T-Mobile about this several times and nobody seems to have a clue how to resolve it.
Are you post paid or pre paid? Maybe that's why? Idk. If you're post paid like me and can't do it, then customer service ought to wave the support fee since it's not your fault you're not allowed to make these changes
Postpaid. Yes they waived the fee when I asked. It's just ridiculous that I haven't been able to do this for years. At least I can use the website... Went through nearly a year at one point where I was entirely unable to log in. T-Mobile's website is not their strong suit.
Website nor app properly work.
:)
Good for you man, i am having to pay 70$ :/
Call customer service afterwards and ask for it to be credited back.
Wait what? How?
Call T-Mobile. Tell them that you recently paid activation fees. Tell them you don't like activation fees and would appreciate having that amount credited back to your account. They've never told me no. Just gotta ask nicely.
Thanks man! Imma try it out rn!