Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
We’ve written in the past about T-Mobile Tuesdays, the loyalty benefits program of T-Mobile. I’ve also mentioned how T-Mobile’s smaller coverage map has made me want to switch back to an AT&T-based service. However, T-Mobile Tuesdays keeps adding enough value to keep stringing me along (that, and I am looking forward to checking out / reviewing the free international coverage in several countries on an upcoming trip to Europe). This week, T-Mobile is offering a number of freebies for all customers — including a free oil change at Meineke (up to a $25 value).
What is T-Mobile Tuesdays?
T-Mobile Tuesdays is a free loyalty program for all T-Mobile customers that gives away free rewards every Tuesday. Each week, there are a few freebies available to all customers and then a couple of larger giveaways also. The freebies over the past few months have included free Redbox rentals, free Dunkin Donuts gift cards, free subscriptions to streaming services like MLB TV and IndieFlicks, coupons for Groupon and hotel sites, discounts off of Shell gasoline fill-ups, etc. Almost all T-Mobile customers have access (including both prepaid and postpaid). I have a T-Mobile prepaid Wi-Fi hotspot and I have been able to participate with it.
To get your free stuff, you just have to pull up the T-Mobile Tuesdays app on Tuesday. The length of validity of the freebies varies — some may only be valid for a few days, others for a few weeks — but you have to open the app and “claim” them on Tuesday or else you’re out of luck.
Today’s Stuff
Today’s stuff caught my eye because it includes a free oil change (or $25 off any service) at Meineke car care centers. I usually spend ~$25 to get an oil change, so I was happy to see the chance to save $25 that I would have definitely spent anyway.
In our case, we have a prepaid T-Mobile hotspot and my wife and I are still on T-Mobile postpaid service. I’m not sure how much longer that will be true as the coverage map isn’t meeting all of our needs — but for today, it means that we can cash in for three free oil changes between our three devices. The deal has to be “claimed” in the app today (by 4:59am tomorrow morning), but the code for the free oil change is good through 9/30/17. The catch here is the way this one is redeemed: they give you a code in the app (I took a screen shot of it). When you arrive at Meineke, you show them the code and give them your phone number for them to validate it. This is the first time that a T-Mobile Tuesdays deal has required me to give up my phone number to take advantage of the deal (at least on any of the deals I’ve done). I don’t like that part. I use a Google Voice number that I give to everyone and only my close friends and family have my actual cell phone number. In this case, I imagine Meineke will need my actual number to verify my eligibility with T-Mobile. I don’t like the idea of Meineke calling me or selling my number to someone else who will; using Google Voice weeds out a lot of the unwanted robocalls. The good news is that the Wi-Fi hotspot has a phone number that obviously doesn’t “ring”. I should be able to use the code that I got with the hotspot in order to take advantage of this deal once without giving up my cell number to Meineke. I’ll get at least one oil change out of this, but I’ll be sure to claim all three codes in case I change my mind later.
Other freebies today only include:
25% off HotelStorm
30% off a local Groupon
$10 off a New Era MLB cap
1 free month of DramaFever premium streaming
Free Sonic CD game
Bottom line
T-Mobile Tuesdays is a neat loyalty program in that there are no points to follow and there is no effort required to get free stuff beyond opening the app every Tuesday. I find something worth a couple of bucks every week, and every now and then I get a deal like this that could really help offset the cost of service. If you are a T-Mobile customer, don’t forget to log in today and claim your free stuff.
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Redeemed for the $25 oil change, and the app took me to schedule the service. Scheduled it for 1500 today at my closest Mieneke. Walked in the door at 1458, and I was told by the (super obnoxious) manager that he wouldn’t be honoring the promotion, as he’s an independent franchisee and he doesn’t have to, but I’m certainly welcome to pay for an oil change if I want it.
45 minutes of travel time wasted. Thanx for nothing T-Mobile & Mieneke. Watch your social networking presences for the awesome reviews….
Wow – that really sucks. Good to know though — thanks for sharing.
Reports on reddit made it sound like this was a common experience. Very annoying by both TMob and Meineke, I figured they’d make enough on upsells for it to be worthwhile all around.
I have a $20/month Simple Choice data-only plan. It has a phone number, but can’t receive voice or texts. Is there a way to register the app, an alternative to the “we will text you” in the app registration process?
Not that I know of. Have you tried calling T-Mobile? Are you sure you can’t receive a text message from T-Mobile? Maybe you can’t receive text messages from other people, but I would think a customer service text message can still come through. For example, if they had to verify your account over the phone.My wifi hotspot can receive text messages.
How are you “redeeming” this today? Doesn’t it expire today unless you book a future appt today?
You just have to click “redeem” in the app. That will give you what is essentially a coupon code that you’ll need to show when you get the oil change. An appointment is only “recommended” if you read the full terms. The oil change has to be used by 9/30/17.
Thanks!