I can't get a working phone to save my life...help!

kitfox

3 weeks I've been trying to get a working phone. It's a long story, got a moment?  First, had been with t-mobile prepaid for over a year. I then ported that number to a cloud service for work reasons and got another sim and number from t-mobile.  Then I cannot send texts...t-mobile has no idea why.  Okay, fine...leave t-mobile, buy a sim from ATT..only..nobody bothered to tell me phones are locked ..and t-mobile refuses to unlock MY phone which I OWN....   

Okay, fine.. suppressed rage but fine.. I go to amazon, I get a Samsung J7 Prime to replace my ON5.  Only, it did not come with a MicroSD card and never said that it did not.... so I still don't have a phone.  

Oh, and the SIM card size for my old phone is smaller than the new phone, which means if I ever do manage to be able to get a mem. card for this, I still cant use it unless i jump through hoops with ATT to get a new SIM.

Question: Is it always this painful to get a new phone?  I was not warned one single step of the way about anything..locking, sim card sizes, no microSD..nothing. It's been a nightmare.  

I've spent soo much money now ...all I wanted was a new number from t-mobile and it's turned into this multi-hundred dollar nightmare and I STILL don't have a phone.  What am I doing wrong here? Why can I not get a working phone to save my life?

LV426

1:  I'm surprised T-Mob won't unlock your handset - but if that is definitely the case then there are third parties that will do it.  But as you have already bought a new one, that's academic.
2:  I can see no explanation for your inability to send SMS using T-Mobile SIM.  That does sound like a T-Mobile issue, but, since you have jumped already it's academic.
3:  You non't NEED a MicroSD card for your Samsung to work.  You may need one to store maps, photos, music and so on.  In which case, go buy one for a few $ at any electronics store or online.  They never automatically come with one because it's not key to the operation of the phone.
4:  SIM Cards can be physically cut down to fit.  You may not consider that to be a DIY job - especially as it helps if you have a smaller SIM to use as a template - but if not any half-decent phone repair store should do it.
5:  No, it's not.  But if I were to offer a "nickel's worth of free advice" it might be good practice for you to be a bit more pro-active about finding out the stuff you say you weren't told - like locked handsets.  That, in particular, has been common practice more or less ever since cellphones began.

Johnmcl7

The OP seems to be in the US and I don't think they are have the same consumer protection we have, from what I recall it's a similar situation to the UK back in the early 2000's before the networks were taken to task over it and forced them to put rules in place to unlock phones.

I agree about not needing the microsd card and checked the phone which has 32GB onboard memory from what I can see so it's not like the early Android phones that came with a tiny amount onboard and had to have an sd card.