Trade-in scam

In December 2023, my friend and I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile after a store representative clearly told us that our Verizon phones were eligible for T-Mobile’s trade-in promotion. We were instructed to pay off our Verizon phones (around $600), trade them in, and we’d receive Visa cards for that amount.

We followed all the instructions, paid off the phones, traded them in, and completed our switch to T-Mobile. But after everything was done, we were suddenly told that our phones weren’t actually eligible for the promotion. We went back to the store to complain, and they admitted they had made a mistake. They said they would escalate the issue and get back to us after contacting T-Mobile corporate or a supervisor, since they couldn’t resolve it themselves. But no one ever followed up.

We explained the situation to multiple customer service reps, both over the phone and in-store, and every time we had to start from scratch. One rep even offered us a $200 store credit which we refused, because that’s not what was promised.

Eventually, we were told the case couldn’t be processed anymore because too much time had passed. That’s incredibly frustrating especially since we reached out multiple times before the time ran out. We were told to wait, but no one ever got back to us.

We only traded in our phones because T-Mobile employees assured us we each qualify for the $600 rebate. If we had been told the truth from the beginning, we would have just chosen the Keep & Switch option instead.

I contacted customer service today again, and they keep saying there’s nothing they can do that we should go back to the store and talk to them. But we’ve already done that multiple times, wasting our time explaining this issue over and over again. All they did was telling us to wait until they hear anything back from corporate, which we never heard back from. At this point, we don't want to go back to the store unless someone is actually able to resolve this. Anyone can help with this issue? I'm so stressed.