Why, of course they are!
Same as Sprint! And then when the deal is complete and all the promises made and contracts signed, they will start firing the highest paid/longest tenured employees at T-Mobile for cost savings while jacking up prices with new plans with the same features every 6 to 8 months and promotional phone pricing only for those new plans.
I should know. I was a store manager for 5 years. Before and after sprint merger.
T-Mobile was always a shit company with a bombastically marketed CEO that was all Packing Cracking et al. Reduce and replace is a scam. They lie and say they don’t have the device if you don’t buy accessories in store.
Wanna know how to get the phone?
Start picking out your accessories, have them grab your phone from the back, once they start the phone sale process, say you have changed your mind on your accessories. If they then say you can’t buy it, call the corporate 611 number and ask for a bill credit for deceptive practices and report the store. Then go and report to the FCC for bill stuffing.
Never use a third party store. They are even griftier.
Probably something like Total War.