Ameritel – Phone2go

Although they are a legit T-​Mobile dealer, I’d be EXTRA CAUTIOUS if buying a phone from them.
To keep the long story short, we purchased a brand new iPhone from them. The day we walked into their store and wanted to buy the particular model we were interested in, we actually had to wait a week because the people at Ameritel told us that they didn’t carry that particular phone in-​store and would need to order it from T-​Mobile, which should take about 1 – 2 weeks for them to get it in the store.
Fast forward less than a year, the phone user dropped his phone by accident and cracked the screen. Now this wouldn’t be a problem since this was suppose to be a legit T-​Mobile dealer and this was not some fake iPhone, Apple should repair/​change the screen, of course with a fee since we cracked the screen ourselves and it’s not covered under warranty.
To our surprise, when we took this phone to an Apple retail store and had the tech ran some tests, it turned out this was not a new phone that we had originally purchased. This is considered, by Apple, to be a defective/​not legit iPhone, and they do not service or repair these phones even if a customer pays for the service. We were told by the Apple store that this phone has been tempered with before being sold to us. Someone had changed/​altered parts of the phone’s inside parts and serial number. Due to this reason, Apple will never service, in or out of warranty, this kind of product.
Before this whole incident, the phone had many minor problems. They were minor and since the phone user was only using it to make and receive phone calls, he really didn’t care too much. He had complained to me multiple times of things like dropped calls, frozen screens and etc. I had always brushed him off and told him that he probably just didn’t really know how to use the phone. Now come to think about it, there was probably something wrong with the phone already.
The Apple store also told me that they had seen similar cases with other customers who purchased so called legit iPhones from authorized dealers. Pretty much what the Apple store explained to me was that these dealers would purchase these phones from unauthorized third parties, which can be literally anyone, and then resell them as new phones to customers. These dealers of course will never tell you where these phones come from. They will make it sound vague and trick the customer into thinking they are actually getting it from either Apple or T-​Mobile.
I also spoke to a manager at an actual T-​Mobile store (not a dealer). The manager told me that this situation doesn’t surprise him. Pretty much all these dealers did were to lease/​license the name from T-​Mobile. T-​Mobile corporate does not control or monitor how these dealers work. When you walk into one of these so called authorized stores, you see the big T-​Mobile name and that gets you peace of mind. But T-​Mobile will not help you or cover you if anything happens to your phone. These dealers’ computers are connected to the T-​Mobile system so it allows you to pay for your monthly bill and other stuff. But other than these, they have nothing to do with T-​Mobile corporate. If you want to purchase anything, phone or accessories, from these dealers, do it at your own risk. The manager at the T-​Mobile store (the real one) advised me to conduct businesses directly at a real T-​Mobile location because if anything happens, T-​Mobile will help you.
I of course had to go back to the Ameritel store (not this one in Rowland Heights but the one on Valley in San Gabriel). The so called manager there (Gary) was rude and pretty much vaguely admitted their sneaky business. To me, this is nothing but a scam. Eventually, when I called him out and told him I would go directly to the police and BBB and file a scam report (which I totally was thinking of doing), he offered me money. Yes, an admit of guilt.
I know a lot of people go to these dealers because it’s probably more convenient since they are probably closer to you and usually are run by people who speak your language. But honestly, it’s not worth the trouble. I went to several T-​Mobile stores and each had at least one person who speaks Chinese. I know that was the reason why my family went to Ameritel at the first place because they wanted somewhere that they can speak Chinese. And it’s such a shame because we had been loyal and good customers for many years. We were their customer even before they moved to this current location on Valley. Of course, I will now take my business elsewhere, where I don’t feel being served by scammers.
How I described this situation to my family was that when you go to BestBuy or Radio Shack and purchase an expansive brand phone, you know that it’s legit and is brand new from either T-​Mobile or the phone manufacture directly. I would never have to worry that may be BestBuy bought a used/​tempered with phone from some fishy sources (oversea probably) and resold to me. So guys STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE.

originally, we are here looking for prepaid service. but we end up with a better plan for less money.
it is because of the helpful and friendly service. we were helped immediately.
I would surely recommmend here, if you are looking for T-​Mobile service.