After hours of navigating dead-end chat sessions and iOS app glitches, I upgraded my phone to an 18 Pro, paid for same-day delivery, and selected the 3 to 5 pm delivery slot. At 4:45, when I still hadn't seen any signs of order fulfillment, I contacted customer support at 611.
The customer support human was the first remotely helpful entity with whom I interacted, but they confirmed that the phone had not been picked up and they weren't able to make the situation better. Ultimately, the only solution was that Tmobile canceled the order altogether. I'm supposed to order the phone again tomorrow and, if I'm lucky, they might be able to deliver it between 4 and 6 pm tomorrow. (By that time, the IT administrator who can get me reconnected to MFA will have left for the weekend.)
I'm just so deeply appalled by the horrific customer service offered by t-mobile. I'm not an anti-AI person, but there should always be a pathway to immediately escalate to a human, and they've basically eliminated that option from the app.
I always forget how much I hate interacting with this company. I've got one of the plans which allows me to upgrade my phone every year, but I drag my feet because they've made it such a miserable experience.
Thanks for listening to my rant.