Banana Wireless

Don’t know why there are so many bad comments. But honestly, me and my family have been their customer about 4 years, so far so good.

Too bad it’s not possible to give a ZERO!!! Like another reviewer said, after they got your business, they never want to deal with you again. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!! Especially this guy called Joseph Hao. If you must go to this place, don’t deal with Joseph Hao.
After they get your business and their commission, they will treat you like a nuisance. You are worthless to them because they can no longer make money out of you.
And yeah, I signed up for Unilocal just to give this place a bad review. I still feel angry thinking about the bad customer service I experienced.
I got a deal from them so I get a rebate after 4 months. After 4 months, I called as instructed to ask for my rebate. Joseph said he’ll call me back. After calling 4 times, and him promising to call me back and failing to do so, I still haven’t received my rebate check!!! Apparently the rebate check is on his desk, but it’s too much to ask of him to mail it.
His coworker explained to me that it’s SUCH A BIG EFFORT for him to mail the check to me. To think that he would even go to such length for a customer I should be grateful with tears.
Yeah, I’m in tears, of anger!!!
The only comfort I have is that I can leave this review to warn others of Joseph Hao, and I will NEVER have to go near that store again.

I literally just signed up for a Unilocal account just to give this place a bad review. I’d give them a 0 if I could.
First off, I’ve been going to this place for a couple of years and they have given false information to my parents and me (plan prices, phone prices.) The only reason we continue to go is because they’re Chinese and so are we.
Everyone who works here has TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE attitude. It’s like they know they have no where to go in life and take it out on their customers. They look at you with a pissed-​off face and reply with short and snappy answers. The answers they gave us are also incorrect, after confirming with other T-​Mobile retailers.
Just…please don’t go here!

If I could give a review of 0 stars I would. My mother in-​law thought we would get a good deal in this store and now it has just given us a big headache. We first sign our contract on September 28 2008 and had a family plan for 2 years before we decided to renew. Before me and my husband moved to Massachusets we decided to upgrade and got new phones around the end of July 2010. Shortly all 5 phones from the family plan that we got broke down and me and my husband realized we could not use our phones at work because of lack of reception. However, we decided to stick with t-​mobile until the plan ended. My mother-​in-​law went to the store to ask when the contract would be over and they said December of 2012 which we were a little confused because we thought it was supposed to be done in September of 2012. We didn’t complain because it only meant a few more months. Then, December 2012 arrived and now we were told the contract didn’t end until February of 2013. Now we have recently talk to them to confirm and they claim that it wouldn’t end until April 2013. At this point we were very confused why the end date kept changing as we never upgraded after July 2010. We actually had to buy phones outside t-​mobile to avoid breaking the contract since none of our phones worked. Now because of lack of reception my husband and I had decided to change carriers and we been waiting since September of 2012 and they keep changing the end date of our plan. We finally contacted t-​mobile directly and we were told that we had upgraded in February 21 2011 and in April 29 2011 which we never did (we were not even in California anymore). They performed unauthorized upgrades on all of our phones and me and my husband can’t even fully use our phones at work. We last upgraded in 2010 but they waited until 2011 to enter the upgrade in the system which was a trick to get us to stay longer in the plan. When i called to complain the guy said that he would call me back and never did. Avoid this store, you think you are getting a good deal but they will mess you up at the end.

Have been a customer with these guys for years! The guy that helped us Eddie is a great guy. We all wanted the Samsung III, and waiting a couple of days was well worth it! I dont know why is there so many negative reviews… never really had problems with these guys. All i know is that i am getting unlimited mins, data and text for a good price, and my phone was FREE. Case Closed! Thank YOU Eddie for all that you do! :)

They get one star for the free phones but that’s it.
My mom always wants to go to them simply because of the rebates and free phones, but I abhor their business. They put on an act to lure you in, offer you all these free accessories and then afterwards they never want to deal with you again.
FYI. Every phone I have received for them do not last over a year.
We just went to renew our plan again… and the phone they gave us was malfunctioning. We keep trying to get a new one, and they keep holding us off.
This place is asian haven because of the free phones, but I would rather pay for my phone than deal with them. I bought two separate phones because the ones they give me never last.

My dad brought my mom here to get a line added to our t-​mobile account. My mom is like in her mid 50’s and doesn’t need anything but a phone to make phone calls. The assholes at this store apparently added a data package and insurance plan to her line. A few weeks later, I noticed the charges on our t-​mobile account and told my mom that shes paying for data services and insurance; she was unaware of it. I took her to back to the store so we can speak to a rep, but the guy who added my mom’s line onto the account wasn’t at this location anymore. Another guy there the same day as the guy who opened the line for my mom said that the reason why data package was on there was because it was a requirement to receive a rebate. He told us when we receive or bill, he will write a check back out to us for the data packages+insurance and cancel it for us next month. (That was in October.) First of all, why did my mom even need insurance? We did not purchase a NEW phone… my mom was using a hand-​me down phone from my dad. SECOND, my mom clearly stated she does not need any other functions on the plan such as Internet cause 1. she doesn’t know English, and 2. she doesn’t know how to use internet!
Today, I went back to the store with my mom and the guys we spoke to in October said they did not recognize us, and that the data service is on a 2-​year contract? We did not speak with him directly, but he said that to his colleague. I am quite frustrated dealing with these guys, they keep putting us in circles. I am pretty fed up with them! If their supervisor during the weekday does not resolve this issue, I will report to BBB.
T-​mobile should really revoke Banana wireless’s privilege as an authorized dealer. If you search all the «Banana Wireless» locations on Unilocal,EVERY store only has 1 star.
These guys are big liars, and scammers. Don’t trust them. I feel bad for all the elderly asian people who come to this business to open a phone line, they get tricked left and right! These guys only care for sales and will add things onto your plan so they can make more commission!

Damn, I wish I could give them a big, fat, ZERO.
I know this will be the WORST (as in harshest) Unilocal review I will ever write only because Banana Wireless screwed me over so bad.
You know that Sergio guy who use to work here? Well thanks to him I have been hammered by a collection agency who says I owe them over $ 200 because I supposedly opened an account with Verizon. Here’s the gist: Sergio re-​routed my number to Verizon and then back to T-​mobile once my new account was set up so I could keep the existing phone number I already had with T-​mobile. When my phone number was re-​routed to Verizon they were under the impression that I was starting a new plan with their company so they started charging me fees.
A supposed CRIME that I did not commit and YOU BANANA WIRELESS TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THESE FEES.
And Hi John, thank you for letting me down EVERY SINGLE TIME I have shown up at the store to dispute this whole thing and EVERY TIME you say you will take care of it but you never have.
IRRESPONSIBLE, INCOMPETENT, LIARS.
you will NEVER HEAR THE END OF THIS.

wow ironically this store are scam artist… i thought it was just me but after reading the reviews i cant say but agree with the previous reviewers. i waited 1 week for my htc hd2 phone and it stop working after a week… t-​mobile had to send me a new one but i kept the old battery to find out that actually the battery this store gave me was used and dead… poor customer service and jerks for representatives

Beyond shady. At first they were really nice and friendly to me and my parents in the store, explaining to us how to get the best of deals and whatnot and that they could get us this rebate and that rebate and this new phone etc. Then upon convincing my mandarin/​english speaking parents to sign the contract is where the store’s true face is revealed.
The «new» phone for my brother was in fact not new, it was used so the rebate was void as it was not a new phone. Upon contacting them, they claimed they didn’t have a new one in stock and had given us that phone temporarily on loan until their San Gabriel location could send over a new one. Week after week of calling them about the phone… it just never arrived but we were assured it would soon be there. The different people that worked there all apparently spouted out different store policies and different amounts of help, with one guy just blowing us off completely. Phone tag was oh so fun, just keep lagging on please. Finally they call us to tell us the «new «phone had arrived and we go to pick it up. Upon picking it up, we figured out it wasnt a «new» phone: like the broken seal for one, and the already opened rebate package, or the scratched screen… one of those probably screamed it wasnt NEW. Anyways we take it back to let them know the «new» phone they gave us isnt actually new. They claim we opened it ourselves and we scratched it and took the rebate (not in those words) blah blah blah. Somehow they claim that since its been past the rebate time that they can’t help us anyways blah blah blah (months of pain in the butt with this store). THEN this so called «new» phone works for like a few days and then never starts again. No customer service help with it either and we eventually are forced to buy a new Blackberry on our own, i love this store’s rebates oh man. So its been over a month, and we can’t get the amazing rebates promised to us, and we can’t cancel our contract with this shady business that is the epitome of cheap shady asianness that is ruining the image of all other asians.
More trouble than its worth. If you still wanna try them, don’t believe their «its coming» delays that get u locked into a contract with a rebate that doesn’t work or a new phone that isn’t new. Unless you can out-​shady them… you are likely to get a thousand years of pain.
I can’t say much for my new phone cuz it was in fact new. My problem was cuz I decided it needed some uhhh «cleaning» and washed it in the washing machine. Somehow i doubt washing ur phone is covered in warranty although at the rate im sure people get their phones wet they should design phones that are waterproof without the necessity of some huge ugly clumpy case. You know like a sealed casing for the water sensitive parts of ur phone but like a removable compartment for the battery or whatever. Actually it was cuz i chose this lightweight ultra thin phone cuz i leave my phone in my pocket… so bulky phone is like… well its bulky and annoying so lightweight thin phone thats easy to forget its still in ur pants like when you throw it into the washing machin… oops. ^_^

Authorized T-​Mobile dealer. Mandarin-​speaking. They can hook you up with some killer deals, but be warned, you’ll have to do your homework. Like most shady Asian phone dealers, you’ll probably be faced with a lot of rebates. Of the phones I got here, it didn’t look like there were any refurbs, so that’s good. They’ll call T-​Mobile pretending to be you or them, depending on what the situation requires. They don’t keep a handy stack of phones ready for customers, so you might have to wait to receive a phone you desire.
As for customer service, non-​existent for the most part, but that’s kind of expected. Ryan K. is okay, David Lin is just awful. I’ll explain why.
Some older, fobby Chinese guys came in and asked David to help them with their phone, claiming they got them there just a few days ago. David kinda blew them off, he didn’t feel like helping them, especially since there’s no new business here.
(aside: I understand how he feels, he doesn’t want to teach any more non-​English speaking people how to navigate their phone menus).
Anyways, in an attempt to make them buzz off, he asks that they show him their sales invoice/​order/​receipt from before so he can look up their account information. The Chinese guys didn’t have it, so they got into a heated argument, asking David to just look up the information on the computer (probably very doable with a phone number or a name). David says he can’t, the argument escalates until finally David calls 911 and says that there’s people in his store disturbing his business. The Chinese guys leave and the cops show up about 10 minutes later and ask some standard questions. Afterward, his friends came into the store and they all had a jolly good time.
Now, let’s think about this for a second. David would rather call the cops instead of putting up with a frustrated customer? That’s going pretty far to deny customer service I think, regardless of whose issues you’re dealing with. There are better ways to go about business in any kind of professional manner than calling the cops. Besides, you never know who might be writing about you on Unilocal the same day.
Am I asking you to stay away? By all means, no. I got a good deal here. But just keep in mind the kind of people you’re gonna be dealing with.