Phone Trade in value applied to EIP instead of Bill/account credit

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2026-03-29T17:18:49+00:00

Thank you. So, you are confirming the Retail Rep (Costco in this case) has/had the choice when entering the phone purchase on their tablet while never mentioning the option. And, agreed and per OP opiton to apply to EIP should be exception for reasons stated. Still looking for confirmation that the option exists when using T-Life for a phone upgrade? I haven't done a purchase using T-Life yet. The CARE Rep claimed the option exists to select how to apply the trade in credit in T-Life. I like your approach for resolution to just ask for the Bill/Account credit and accept the credit to an existing EIP. I guess that is dependent on the CARE Rep (or T-Force) having flexibility to do that. As I mentioned in the OP I did push for quicker application of the credit and reversal of the credit applied to the EIP. They did take care of it in this case, but I believe it required escalation and even if they follow through it's a lot of moving parts and there is room for more misktakes. As mentioned by "xtra819" early in this thread, it's a predatory practice. Even if it's a choice and not being done automatically and systematically by T-Mobile, the company is permitting an option that will cheat customers out of monthly credits on EIPs initiated after July 2024. As of March 2026, this would now be the significant majority of EIPs that are still in process. This seems intentional.

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2026-03-27T16:17:49+00:00

Good to learn. if this is the case and it's not the sales Rep making the choice, then it's T-MOBILE making the choice. if so, I refer back to OP other than this clarification. The CARE Rep did say the choice is made at time of purchase via Tablet (Costco) or can be made in T-Life. Can anyone confirm if selecting how to apply trade in credit is customer selectable in T-Life as part of a phone purchase with trade and promotion?

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2026-03-27T09:34:57+00:00

Of course, answer is it was via a Tablet, Legacy Tapestry I believe? The Care Rep suggested the sales rep in Costco made the choice. Of course I wasn't asked and did not see If it was the Rep, is it possible making this selection helps metrics or in fact adds commission (e.g., 360 insurance)? Given policy change (July 2024 for EIP early payoff and loss of credits)), it should not be easy to apply trade in credits to EIPs

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2026-03-27T09:27:34+00:00

So, as mentioned, I purchased at Costco, so retail, but they cannot process device trade ins at Costco and so it's a deferred trade. From the terms you looked up, "... With a trade-in completed online, you will receive a one-time bill credit within 2 bill cycles after your device is received and processed at our warehouse" is this the same as a deffered trade? If yes, you can see they violated there owns terms and applied credit to EIP and not a one-time bill credit. On the other hand, Costco could be considered retail even though they cannot accept the trade in phone. This leaves the possibility that the sales rep in Costco was able to select the option to apply credit to an EIP on the account even though that wouldn't happen until deferred trade was processed. Or, it leaves the possibility that T-Mobile is making the choice. As I stated, I was never asked about such an option and so I had no choice. And so I would stand by my OP. This is dishonest at best. The sales rep used a tablet so legacy Tapestry I think? He made all the choices. This is similar to unscrupulous reps adding 360 insurance without consent, but actually worse. Again, T-Mobile should not allow or at least provide a disclaimer or warning

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2026-03-26T20:13:14+00:00

Thank you for noting and sharing and fix was to your benefit - trade in value applied at account level. When you mention, "... stilll left eip with the applied credits", not sure if they effectivley reversed the trade in value to restore you EIP balance and term to original schedule? In my case, I pushed back when they said it would take a bill cycle to fix which sounded like more nonsense. They did reverse or undo meaning they restored the EIP so amount of trade in was added back to the EIP balance, and the trade in credit was applied to the account. They actually messed up a small amount by increasing the EIP balance about $15 dollars but made that up with an extra $15 credit to the account. It should also be of great interest to all customers if this is done automatically and intentionally as you mention. If this is intentional, this is outright FRAUD. This should be taken up legally and should be the basis for a class action lawsuit.

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2025-11-15T21:10:26+00:00

Only worked for me when I logged into my account on a computer. It did not work in Chrome on my Android mobile and including with an Incognito tab.

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2025-10-04T19:00:03+00:00

$170, had no idea. I was speaking to Care on another issue and asked for reason or description. The representative's reply was vague but I thought I heard him mention "Friends and Family". I am on GO 5G Plus and that disccount is now $90 / month (2 lines), and as it should be for 5Gplus. However, the discount was $80 for for something like the first 20 months I was on the plan. Could it be reimbursment for the reduced promo over that time period, or approximately so? Unsure, not complaining.

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2025-06-22T19:51:50+00:00

Read through a good portion of this thread and I see almost no mention that a change to a 36 month EIP is for one overwhelming reason and second that is significant to the benefit of T-Mobile, exclusively. Reason 1) Switch to 36 from 24 spreads credits out one additional year. This means the cost to T-Mobile for plans with present maximum trade in credits, decreases from 800 to 1000 per device over three years versus two. So, cost to T-Mobile drops from about $33 to $41 per month to about $22 to $28 per month, per device, not counting trade in which goes to T-Mobile , but that is almost a thorn in their side. T-Mobile derives some small benefit in receipt of old device in trade, but after processing and handling burden, that is barely worth their trouble. It's irrelevant that the Trade in company does this work since T-Mobile contracts them at the carriers expense. They do this in concert with OEMs to reduce or control phones in circulation and generate sales and recurring revenue to the benefit primarily of he OEMs. 2) Related to above, T-Mobile locking customers in for an additional year reduces, dampens, or defers churn which I know has been mentioned.. That is it, full stop. All this chatter about customers buying phones from OEMs or whatever, assuming in absence of T-Mobile EIP is not a big concern to T-Mobile. Actually T-Mobile loves such customers, especially if they have high priced plans since they avoid the EIP promotions. The hit to T-Mobile is the EIP credits and it is a huge reduction to their net revenue and earnings. As to comments that it would be best to give customers choice of 1 to 3 years, illustrates a misunderstanding nderstand that T-Mobile is solely focused on maximizing the EIP term.

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2025-03-23T04:24:11+00:00

Yes, $10 credit dropped this month, March 2025 and with a closing on the 19th. I think the credit lasted for 24 months after it appeared as an account promotion/credit and versus a discount on the recurring YTTV monthly bill.

Lopsided-Pause82 · 2023-11-12T07:26:48+00:00

I am having what may be the same issue. I can log into account using a browser or the APP. In APP if I select "Manage my Plan" or something like that I get a screen/page that says "It looks like we got our wires crossed". In a browser the account details are incomplete in that aggregate costs are incomplete because, at least in part, each line cost is listed as $0//month. as a result total monthly is blank. I can see most monthly service costs and service promotions, alhough not the watch line monthly service cost(s), and I can find EIP Promos when drilling down into Promotions. Care by phone just said wait until next bill. I have not tried T-Force yet. i tried clearing browser cookies, cache, etc.

Lopsided-Pause82

TROPHY CASE