BE AWARE OF METRO PCS STORES RETURN POLICY!
THEY WILL MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO RENTURN ANYTHING! AND THEN TRY TO TIE YOU UP TO THEIR HORRIBLE SERVICE.
On March 30, 2011 shortly before the store time to close, at 7.58 PM, I purchased a new phone, its accessories, pre-paid a month of usage and switched my phone line from ATT to MetroPCS.
Soon after I arrived home and tested the phone I realized that I made a mistake. As the store was already closed I had to wait till it would open on the next day. In the morning of March 31, 2011, I went back to the store where I purchased the phone and explained to the same customer service person that sold me the phone that I am a realtor and my phone is my main tool of work. The phone that I purchased did not fit my necessities and I was also having problems with the service, not receiving text messages from Clients and getting my phone calls dropped. She said that the service would soon improve and that I should keep the phone for a while and that I would eventually get used to it.
I asked her to then exchange the phone for a blackberry, which was what I originally had with ATT and was ideal for my business. She refused to exchange the phones and said that she could not take a refund either and showed me her return policy, which was not disclosed to me before or during the purchase. On it says that you may return the phone within 7 days of original activation date and must contain less than 60 minutes of airtime usage on call timer. She said my phone had 60 minutes and 15 seconds of airtime.
Unfortunately I didn't know about their return policy prior to the purchase. If I did, I would have never tried a new phone and service provider for my business knowing that I would be stuck to it. I asked to speak with a manager and she declined to give me his/her name or contact information. I called the 1888 8METRO8 number from the store hoping for a solution. They told me to go to their store Corporate. The closest one was 40 minutes away in Lake Worth.
Immediately after speaking with the customer service person I turned off my phone (afraid to add any more seconds of airtime and be denied a refund/return and with that lost several business calls). In fact, I was already missing business calls and texts even before knowing that I could not use the phone.
At the Lake Worth corporate store, after 1 hour in line waiting and without using the phone, the service person told me that they could not help me as I had purchased the phone from another store and that if I had purchased it from them, they would be glad to give me a refund.
I then drove home to look for the owners of record of the store to try to locate them and speak with them. All numbers that I tried were either disconnected or did not work. I found their Corporate history and another store they owned also in Delray. Called the store asking for the manager several times and he never returned my call. I drove to the store, and they said the manager was not there and that they could not help me and that I would not be able to return the phone.
After all the driving around, frustration and lost businesses and working hours, I decided that I could no longer keep the phone off, as I had to answer my business calls. I kept trying to reach the store manager for another day without success and finally gave up. I went back to an Att store and changed my phone line back to them. ATT Service is more than double the price, but works and I deeply regret having tried to switch.
I then put all the Metro PCS merchandise back in its original boxes and priority mailed it to the store, attention to the owner of record, with insurance and signature delivery, along with copies of the receipt and with a note asking them to immediately refund the full amount of the purchase on my debit card used with the original purchase. Days after I received the signature receipt in the mail dated as received on April 04, 2011.
As they accepted the phone back, I hoped to receive my refund. I waited for days for it to post, but realized that even though they accepted the phone in the mail, they never refunded my money nor contacted me to have the issue resolved. They simply took the phone back and kept my money.
On April 08, 2011 I went to my bank and filed a dispute.
However, my bank said that the merchant declined to credit my money back and that I would have to resolve the issue directly with the merchant or file a law suit. To file a law suit it is going to cost me at least another $ 190.00 plus all the time and aggravation.