The new iPhone 17 lineup is officially available today, and users eagerly await their hands-on experience. While some placed their orders online, others headed straight to either Apple stores or authorized resellers to get the new models. T-Mobile, being an official carrier for iPhone sales and financing and a legitimate Apple supplier, many seek to buy their phones through their stores. However, a user was met with a strange experience when trying to purchase the iPhone 17 Pro, where allegedly a store did not sell the Pro model unless the customer fulfilled the bundle requirement.
T-Mobile store sparks backlash after refusing iPhone 17 Pro sale without an Apple Watch
While T-Mobile stores have earned a reputation for engaging in shady sales practices to achieve the targets set for employees, it is usually limited to its own products and services. Now, a rather bizarre customer experience is doing the rounds after a Redditor took it out on the forum about being denied the purchase of an iPhone 17 Pro unless the user agreed to purchase an Apple Watch alongside.
What made this even more strange was that the sales representative admitted that the exact model required was available with the needed specifications, yet they would not be able to go through the purchase without fulfilling the bundle requirement. The user, as expected, left the store dismayed, and even others who observed the incident are said to have left the T-Mobile store for its absurd conditions for purchase.
Accessories are supposed to be additional add-ons, and the choice completely lies with the user if they want to get them together with the purchase, but it is never a requirement for buying the phone itself. We would want to believe that this is an isolated incident, but it seems like such an aggressive push for accessories has bothered customers in the past as well.
From a business perspective, T-Mobile’s action can be seen as a strategy to ensure a recurring revenue stream since wearable bundles generally tend to be more profitable. However, it still would not make sense from an ethical point of view, where the choice lies with the customer, and such purchases cannot be made a mandatory buying condition. Customers who feel coerced may end up not making any purchase at all and could end up turning away from the carrier.
T-Mobile’s continued push for meeting unrealistic goals ends up putting immense pressure on employees who resort to such techniques in order to boost numbers, which might help in the short run but would not be able to build long-term relationships. Hence, carriers should be focused on gaining customer trust and not entirely on sales goals.