How I bought a new smartphone in installments with a trade-in at MTS and was left with nothing

A modern person cannot consider his life fully equipped and comfortable without cellular communication services and mobile Internet. Sometimes sharing your personal information widely can lead to negative consequences. Therefore, you need to know how to change your number on MTS and how much it will cost.

The Internet assistant Tarif-online.ru will tell you how to change your number on MTS in various ways so that you can easily choose the most comfortable algorithm of actions for yourself.

Before making a drastic decision to change your number due to unwanted calls from third parties, unauthorized control of the device or a stream of advertising mailings, you need to use special or “Black lists”.

In the first case, the user has the opportunity to set restrictions on incoming or outgoing voice calls. In the second, block calls, messages and mail from specific numbers and addresses.

Please note that the phone number acts as a unique identifier for determining access to the online self-service services Personal Account and the My MTS mobile application. Therefore, when deciding how to change your MTS number, you should not consider these client environments as effective tools for such manipulations. The functionality of the Personal Account and the “My MTS” utility are designed for independent configuration of an existing number:

connecting and disconnecting services;
details of expenses;
convenient replenishment of your personal account in various ways;
transfer of funds to other subscribers;
subscription management;
call log analysis;
changing the tariff plan, etc.

If you need to choose a more profitable plan or with packages of minutes, SMS and Internet traffic that are optimal in size, read our review “What MTS tariffs are there.”

How did the registration go?

Employee Ksenia told me that in order to take advantage of the trade-in promotion, I need to sign papers stating that I am giving away my old phone forever. “OK,” I think: “This is a trade-in, it’s logical that the old phone will be disassembled for parts, so if I don’t like the new phone, it’s clear that I won’t be able to return it and pick up the old one,” and I sign the papers .

Next, Ksenia handed over the work with me to Evgeniy and this, as it turned out, was a completely wrong turn. I chose to pay by installments, and Evgeniy began filling out the application. From the very beginning, he acted extremely slowly, constantly got confused about something, forgot something and double-checked it. Ksenia kept one eye on him and helped him from time to time.

In the end, he still managed to complete the application. It turned out that I should receive a call . But it was not Evgeniy, who worked with me, who did not tell me about this, but Ksenia, at the last moment, drew attention to this.

They gave me a push-button phone so that I could insert my SIM card into it and receive the call. If Ksenia had not been present there, Evgeniy would not have remembered this - the bank, apparently, after several unsuccessful attempts to get through, would have perceived this as a refusal on my part, and Evgeniy would simply see a bank failure in his system. But Ksenia helped.

When the call finally came (by the way, by that time about one and a half to two hours had passed since I arrived at the salon), I listened to the terms of the installment plan and agreed with them, hoping that this would all be over soon.

A few seconds after the call, I decided to double-check the full amount of installment payments (the full amount was not stated in the call, only the amount of the monthly payment was stated), and I was surprised, because the purchase was supposed to be without overpayments, but in total it turned out to be about 35 thousand instead of what was stated The phone costs me 25 thousand.

I carefully looked at the contract that Evgeniy gave me to look at after I asked him about it for the third time. The credit limit to which payments were calculated was equal to 28 thousand rubles. The promotion included an installment plan WITHOUT OVERPAYMENT .
Installment plan, not loan.

Additional Information

In addition to customers who have independently expressed a desire to change their mobile device, other individuals can also participate. The company sends out additional invitations – “chain letters”, in which it guarantees the user a discount of a fixed amount, regardless of the current state of the mobile device. Arriving at the store, the subscriber must show the message to the seller or name the EMEI of the phone to which it was sent.

MTS allows you to buy a brand new phone using Trade-in on credit. The discount received is retained, and the remaining payment is extended. It is better to check with the sellers for details of making a purchase on credit.

Don't be fooled. Installment is the same as a loan

An installment plan is always issued as a loan for a smaller amount than the declared cost of the goods, in order to end up with the same value for the sum of all payments as originally stated, but here not only the sum of all payments turned out to be much higher than the cost of the phone, but even the credit limit itself turned out to be not lower, not equal, but higher than the cost of the phone.

I, of course, refused this offer and asked Eugene a question about what was the matter. He answered something like: “I filled out an application, but I don’t know what the bank offers there.” Ksenia joined in and said that it’s always like this, that they almost never offer the stated amount, that it’s always higher.

This statement itself is confusing. Why advertise in installment plans something that almost never happens? In this case, I asked to give me my old phone, to interrupt the processing of this obviously unacceptable “installment plan”, which turns out to be 10 thousand more than the phone costs. I really just wanted to go home.

Ksenia intervened and said that this was impossible, because I had already signed all the papers stating that I was giving away the phone irrevocably . I said that this should concern the situation when I had already received a new phone, but Ksenia said that this was not so, and that there was no way I would receive my old phone. I was taken aback and decided in this case to wait until the purchase of a new phone was completed.

We began to fill out the application again for a different duration of the installment plan. Evgeniy now casually told me the cost of the phone, and it was higher than 25 thousand , I don’t remember the exact amount. I began to find out what was the matter, Evgeniy replied that he entered everything carefully and that everything was correct.

I, realizing that he understood little of what was happening, began to “guess” what could go wrong: “Have you taken into account the trade-in? What about the share? What about the promotional code? — it turned out that he did not take into account the promotional code.

I suspect that he began to place the phone again as a new order, and not as my online order. I also suspect that before this, when I was offered an installment plan for an amount much higher than the cost of the phone, he also placed an order without a promotional code or promotion, or without both.

How much does the exchange cost?

Users found out where they can change the card. But how much does this procedure cost? This issue needs to be addressed separately.

How much does the exchange cost? According to the official website, old cards are replaced free of charge. Therefore, the client will not have to pay for the procedure. You can save money on it.

In mts branded communication stores, the procedure for replacing a SIM card is free of charge.
In third-party centers, they can charge from 100 to 500 rubles for this service - you can find out how much the service costs directly from them.
When purchasing a new smartphone, the procedure for changing the SIM card format for the new device is usually free of charge, upon unpacking and checking the product.
If a SIM card is lost or damaged, it can be replaced and issued in a new format - the cost in this case will be determined by the price of the tariff plan.
If the SIM card is faulty or has expired, but there is no mechanical damage, it can be exchanged for free at any MTS mobile phone store.

Read about operators: How to activate a megaphone SIM card

MTS does not know how to deal with clients normally

When Evgeniy started placing the order again, he, as if nothing had happened, asked me for the number of my online order, which was left in my old phone via SMS. But by that time all the data on the old phone had already been erased, and it was no longer possible to view the SMS.

Somehow he apparently found the old order number and, fortunately, I remembered the four-digit confirmation code that must be given when receiving an online order. Evgeniy continued the registration (as before, very slowly and uncertainly). By that time, he was alone with me in the salon, and Ksenia could not help him speed up. I asked Evgeniy to make sure that he took into account the promotion, trade-in and promotional code .

He took all this into account, and the cost was correct, 25 thousand. Evgeniy sent a new application to the bank. After some time, I received a call from the bank with an approved installment plan for the correct amount. I decided that the light at the end of the tunnel was close, and began to wait for Evgeniy’s final steps to place the order.

It was about 21:50, and the MTS branch is open until 22:00. Evgeniy still acted slowly . I asked him if there would be any problems if he didn’t have time to complete everything before 22:00, because time was running out. He assured me that there would be no problems. At some point, the registration process froze: Evgeniy could not understand which barcode he needed to scan.

I started calling my colleagues and writing in some chat rooms. I asked if the problem was that it was already past 10:00 pm. Let me remind you that I arrived at the department at approximately 19:30! Evgeniy asked this question in the chat, after which he said that this was exactly the problem . I will omit the description of what happened to me both internally and externally.

As a result, we agreed that I would come the next day, Tuesday, and we would finish the registration. I clarified whether the application was cancelled. Evgeniy assured me that it would not be cancelled. It was about 22:15. I had to go home without a phone, without communication . This was very inconvenient, because I often resolve work issues in the evening via phone (messengers, email), but in this case I could not do this.

Replacement while maintaining number

Replacing an MTS SIM card with a nano SIM while maintaining the number after losing or blocking the SIM card is possible only in specialized centers of the telecom operator - employees will reconnect the number to another card.

After issuing the media with the chip, you need to:

Extrude the main element from the card.
Remove the central chip. For convenience, grooves are made.
Place a SIM card in your smartphone.

There is no need to throw away excess plastic. In the future, it can be used as an adapter for various formats if you need to put a SIM card in another smartphone. The manufacturer immediately makes grooves to make it easy to remove the element.

MTS employees do not know how and what works for them

The next day I came to the MTS branch during lunch break (I couldn’t come early in the morning because I had work meetings, and I told Evgeniy about this in advance on Monday). Evgeniy told me that the bank, unfortunately, canceled the offer in the morning because it was not accepted immediately . I won’t describe how infuriated it made me, how inconvenient and absurd it was.

I told them to fill out a new application, and that it should be done not by Evgeniy, but by a second employee (this time it was not Ksenia). But now, when the checkout process began, it turned out that the phone I was supposed to purchase was no longer available because someone had already reserved it in the online store. There was no other phone like this in this MTS store. Even a different color.

I demanded that this issue be resolved, because now I don’t have any phone, and I also have neither the desire nor the time to wait a long time for a solution. He demanded to let me talk to the manager.

Evgeniy and his partner refused and suggested that I instead write something in the book of complaints and suggestions, but I insisted, and in the end Evgeniy himself called his manager and let me talk to him from his phone. I explained the situation to him, and without apologizing or offering anything, he asked me to pass the phone to Evgeniy. At that moment, Evgeniy’s partner left the salon, and he was left alone again.

As a result, Evgeniy began to cancel the online reservation through the MTS help desk. All his actions were again incredibly slow.

When the partner returned, Evgeniy, although he had already created a request in the help desk, there was still no progress. I started asking what would happen after the cancellation, how long to wait, whether they could fill out the application without me (or at least start filling it out) so that the phone wouldn’t be booked through the online store again.

Evgeniy replied that he could not do anything, and his partner began to offer different options and began to try to fill out an application.

She saw that the promotional code was no longer valid. To my questions about what can be done about this, whether it is possible to continue not from scratch, but from my online order, I was told that nothing can be done . To the questions about why, due to the fact that MTS employees failed in almost 3 hours to process an order placed in advance in the online store, I should lose both my phone and the opportunity to buy a new phone at the price I was at ready, they didn’t give me an answer .

But now suddenly I was offered to pick up my old phone. I was just taken aback. I asked the question: “Why did you tell me yesterday that this was impossible, why did I leave without a phone or didn’t interrupt this whole delusional process when I wanted, and was without communication all this time?!” - to which Evgeniy calmly replied that he didn’t tell me anything, it was his colleague Ksenia who said it. I took my old phone that was given to me and went back to work.

I spent the entire lunch break, about an hour, on fruitless actions in the MTS salon, which led to nothing . In the MTS online store they told me that they could not restore my order at the old price, which was taking into account the promotional code, they could only offer the same phone at a price without a promotion.

Returning goods and canceling an order

Check the goods for compliance with the return conditions;
Take photographs of the product (front panel, sticker under the battery, moisture indicators on the battery, or on the device itself);
Scan the cash receipt (if the cash receipt is lost, the client writes a free-form statement about the loss of the receipt);
Create an application to receive a code for returning/exchanging goods;
They take a contact number from the client for communication, since the period for receiving a code for returning/exchanging goods is up to 2 hours;
As soon as specialists receive a code for returning/exchanging an item, they contact the client and invite him to return the money or exchange the item.

Information about the operating hours of MTS stores is located at: https://www.mts.ru/mobil_inet_and_tv/help/mts/offices/ When an order is delivered by courier, the return and exchange of goods is carried out at any MTS store.

After processing the request, a contact center employee will contact the buyer and invite him to the MTS store to complete the procedure.
Refunds for purchases are made in cash.

Total

For my part, I did everything correctly, placed an order and arrived almost 3 hours before the MTS salon closed. Due to the blatant unprofessionalism, incompetence and slowness of MTS employees, I not only did not receive what I should have, but also:

1 . I spent four hours of my life and nerves on your employees without any results. 2 . In the evening of one day and the morning of the next I lost contact. 3 . I received a deteriorated credit history due to unnecessary requests to banks (there was a request to MTS Bank and through a credit broker to other banks) - and not accepted offers. 4 . I was forced to first erase all data from my phone, then restore it back - a waste of time and effort. 5 . I spent my lunch break and my nerves on a terribly annoying fuss with MTS employees, which led me nowhere. 6 . I have only disappointed expectations about the new phone that the wonderful MTS advertisement promised. I published this text on MTS Facebook, to which I received an offer from them to credit me with 150 rubles, which I could spend on communication services. Seriously, MTS?

I suggest readers think about whether it’s worth trying to buy something from this company and use their installment service.

( 239 votes, overall rating: 4.87 out of 5)