PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A Paulding County mother says she’s been stuck in a frustrating months-long battle with Metro by T-Mobile after paying more than $1,300 for a new iPhone that she still can’t use or get refunded for.
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Grace Johnson bought the iPhone through Metro by T-Mobile back in February, calling the purchase a major investment as a single mom balancing work and raising a baby.
“It means a lot to me, especially now that I have a baby and I have a job. I work 12-hour shifts,” Johnson said.
But when the phone arrived, Johnson says she was told it could not be activated because the IMEI number, the device’s unique identification number, did not match Metro by T-Mobile’s records.
“They told me that I had received the wrong IMEI phone,” Johnson said.
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According to Johnson, the company instructed her to ship the phone back so the issue could be corrected. She says she followed those instructions immediately.
Now, two months later, the phone is reportedly sitting in a Texas warehouse, and Johnson says she still has no refund and no replacement device.
The reason? The warehouse allegedly claims the IMEI numbers still do not match.
“We know that it’s not the right phone, but at the end of the day, that’s the phone they sent, that’s the phone we sent back, so that’s not on us,” said Casey Johnson, Grace’s mother.
The Johnson family says they’ve spent weeks sending emails, receipts, tracking numbers, and order information while trying to get answers.
“This is email after email after email after tracking number, order number, receipts that her and I both have emailed back and forth,” Casey Johnson said.
Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray reported that the issue appears to stem from Metro by T-Mobile originally shipping a phone that did not match the device listed in the company’s system.
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to T-Mobile for answers, but has not received a response.
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