T-Mobile users are having a meltdown over the latest freebie

After multiple delays, T-Mobile finally started giving out the long-rumored temperature-retaining bottle at select stores yesterday. The company has been having shipping issues, which is why the bottle isn’t widely available. Shipping issues are far from the company’s biggest problem, though.

Reddit user cbs326 left their T-Mobile bottle in their parked car for a couple of hours and came back to a warped mess. They didn’t get to use it even once.

This T-Mobile-branded bottle couldn’t survive a few hours in a parked car.

While plastic can degrade in a hot car, plastic bottles don’t typically start melting when left in a stationary vehicle, so this incident raises questions about the bottle’s quality. The bottle is completely distorted and you can only imagine what would have happened to it if it had been left in the car for even longer.

Some users have pointed out that the bottle isn’t dishwasher safe, which indicates it wasn’t designed to withstand heat. While that’s true for most plastic bottles, it’s uncommon for them to melt when left in a car. T-Mobile Tuesdays’ freebies are often criticized for being low-quality. For instance, in December, a user reported that their T-Mobile-branded flashlight smoked up out of the blue and sparks flashed from within.

The tote bag that the company handed out in April was made of good quality fabric, igniting hope that the company had stopped handing out substandard stuff.

The bottle incident indicates that’s not the case, though it’s possible that the sunlight was magnified by the car windows and the problem was exacerbated by the heat from the seats.

Even if you dismiss this as a one-off case, most users have the perception that T-Mobile Tuesdays gifts are of inferior quality, with many saying they aren’t even interested in grabbing them.