Tip: Add a “92” in front of T-Mobile’s tracking number if you get an error
Imagine this: You’ve been completely dissatisfied with your old cell phone carrier for quite some time, mainly due to a network that’s only getting worse, and customer service that’s only going downhill. You research all your options, find a new carrier (T-Mobile) and a new phone (the LG Nexus 4), and you figure out how to get out of your current contract. Your phone arrives a few days later, but you’re still waiting on your T-Mobile SIM card. You go online to check the order status, and find a UPS tracking number. You go to the UPS website, but you get this error message:
The number you entered is not a valid tracking number (e.g. typical format is 1Z9999999999999999). Review the number provided or contact the sender to verify the number.
You are so eager to activate your new T-Mobile service and finally be rid of your old carrier, but your SIM card is missing – and UPS doesn’t seem to know where it is, either! What do you do?
If you find yourself in this situation, don’t fret. That’s exactly what happened to me, but a quick call to T-Mobile customer service resolved everything.
If you ordered a T-Mobile SIM card, but your tracking number seems invalid, simply enter a “92” before your number. That is because T-Mobile actually uses a service called UPS Mail Innovations for smaller orders like SIM cards. This simply means that once your package reaches your general area, UPS will hand it off to the US Postal Service to be sorted and delivered. Unfortunately, this can also mean that a day or two could be added to the shipping time, and UPS often doesn’t receive accurate tracking information once the package leaves its hands.
But in any case, at least you can now have a general idea of where it is, and when it gets transferred to the USPS. Hopefully this little tidbit can help you as much as it helped me.
