$150 price cut instead of rebate?

I stopped by a Sprint Store today, intending to get a Treo 650. When I
mentioned I had my current phone long enough to qualify for the $150
upgrade rebate, the guy there told me that I might want to wait a couple
weeks. He claimed that they are terminating the $150 rebate program on
July 7th, and replacing it with a $150 price discount for people who
upgrade.

So, he said, if I bought now, it would be $600 and then wait 10 weeks
for a rebate of $150, whereas if I buy on or after July 7th, it would be
pay $450 and I'm done.

Anyone else heard of this? I hate the hassle of rebates, so if it is
true, I can wait a couple weeks.

--
--Tim Smith

---

› See More: $150 price cut instead of rebate?

Tim Smith wrote:
>
> I stopped by a Sprint Store today, intending to get a Treo 650. When I
> mentioned I had my current phone long enough to qualify for the $150
> upgrade rebate, the guy there told me that I might want to wait a couple
> weeks. He claimed that they are terminating the $150 rebate program on
> July 7th, and replacing it with a $150 price discount for people who
> upgrade.
>
> So, he said, if I bought now, it would be $600 and then wait 10 weeks
> for a rebate of $150, whereas if I buy on or after July 7th, it would be
> pay $450 and I'm done.
>
> Anyone else heard of this? I hate the hassle of rebates, so if it is
> true, I can wait a couple weeks.

I was in one of the major chains, a few weeks ago, and overheard bits
and pieces of a conversation, the gist of which was that, in the future,
rebates would be a thing of the past. It sounded like some type of
federal implementation.

Notan

Notan wrote:

> I was in one of the major chains, a few weeks ago, and overheard bits
> and pieces of a conversation, the gist of which was that, in the future,
> rebates would be a thing of the past. It sounded like some type of
> federal implementation.

That'd be very cool if it's true. I got a $150 instant rebate from Telesales
on my VI-660, but had to pay tax on the full price (about $180). I believe
the tax policy varies by state and is based on whatever the customer's state
taxation agency requires, but if they just cut the asking price by $150, you
wouldn't have to pay the extra tax anyhow.

--
JustThe.net - Steve Sobol / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Coming to you from Southern California's High Desert, where the
temperatures are as high as the gas prices! / 888.480.4NET (4638)

"Life's like an hourglass glued to the table" --Anna Nalick, "Breathe"

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 23:51:52 +0000, Tim Smith wrote:

>
> I stopped by a Sprint Store today, intending to get a Treo 650. When I
> mentioned I had my current phone long enough to qualify for the $150
> upgrade rebate, the guy there told me that I might want to wait a couple
> weeks. He claimed that they are terminating the $150 rebate program on
> July 7th, and replacing it with a $150 price discount for people who
> upgrade.
>
> So, he said, if I bought now, it would be $600 and then wait 10 weeks
> for a rebate of $150, whereas if I buy on or after July 7th, it would be
> pay $450 and I'm done.
>
> Anyone else heard of this? I hate the hassle of rebates, so if it is
> true, I can wait a couple weeks.

I was told nearly the same thing today, they said that on July 7 they
will have an instant rebate instead of the mail in rebate.

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> I was told nearly the same thing today, they said that on July 7 they
> will have an instant rebate instead of the mail in rebate.
>

One of the web forums I visit hinted that the choice of phones might get
limited, too. No indication of how severely (i.e. if all they restrict
is not on the Samsung world phone, that probably won't be significant).

I'm not "in" on this anymore, so we'll see how it works out, I guess.

--
RØß
O/Siris
-+-
A thing moderately good
is not so good as it ought to be.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue,
but moderation in principle is always a vice.
+Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792+

Tim Smith wrote:
> I stopped by a Sprint Store today, intending to get a Treo 650. When I
> mentioned I had my current phone long enough to qualify for the $150
> upgrade rebate, the guy there told me that I might want to wait a couple
> weeks. He claimed that they are terminating the $150 rebate program on
> July 7th, and replacing it with a $150 price discount for people who
> upgrade.


I can confirm this, as I have heard it also. In fact, I know of one
person who actually got the instant discount code added to her account
by mistake INSTEAD of the rebate, and they had to clear it up (she was
unwilling to wait until July 7 to ger her phone).

--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

when i first signed up for sprint in may 2004, they just subracted the
rebates (2) off of my bill as i was signing up. i just assumed that if you
sign up at a sprint store rather than say, radio shack, you got the rebate
on the spot.

isn't that the way it is??
"Tim Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

I stopped by a Sprint Store today, intending to get a Treo 650. When I
mentioned I had my current phone long enough to qualify for the $150
upgrade rebate, the guy there told me that I might want to wait a couple
weeks. He claimed that they are terminating the $150 rebate program on
July 7th, and replacing it with a $150 price discount for people who
upgrade.

So, he said, if I bought now, it would be $600 and then wait 10 weeks
for a rebate of $150, whereas if I buy on or after July 7th, it would be
pay $450 and I'm done.

Anyone else heard of this? I hate the hassle of rebates, so if it is
true, I can wait a couple weeks.

--
--Tim Smith

For people who are first signing up or for adding a line to your
account, the rebates are instant both signing up at a Sprint PCS store
or at other new sellers like RadioShack. Now upgrading an existing
phone gets the mail in rebate. It sounds like that in the future
upgrading an existing phone will also get the instant rebate.

stevie wrote:
> when i first signed up for sprint in may 2004, they just subracted the
> rebates (2) off of my bill as i was signing up. i just assumed that if you
> sign up at a sprint store rather than say, radio shack, you got the rebate
> on the spot.
>
> isn't that the way it is??
> "Tim Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> I stopped by a Sprint Store today, intending to get a Treo 650. When I
> mentioned I had my current phone long enough to qualify for the $150
> upgrade rebate, the guy there told me that I might want to wait a couple
> weeks. He claimed that they are terminating the $150 rebate program on
> July 7th, and replacing it with a $150 price discount for people who
> upgrade.
>
> So, he said, if I bought now, it would be $600 and then wait 10 weeks
> for a rebate of $150, whereas if I buy on or after July 7th, it would be
> pay $450 and I'm done.
>
> Anyone else heard of this? I hate the hassle of rebates, so if it is
> true, I can wait a couple weeks.
>

Darrin wrote:
> <rant mode on> I called customer service this weekend to upgrade my
> broken Sanyo 8100. I 'was' a very long-time Sprint customer without a
> contract. They promised me $150 "instant savings" and 5% off my bill
> if I agreed to the 2yr contract. I agreed, and they told me to go to
> any Sprint PCS Store whenever I want, (I couldn't use telesales) and
> chose any phone I wanted. I went to the Store, and they refused to
> honor the code until 7/7/05. I called Customer Service from the store
> and spoke to a so-called supervisor. She told me to let her talk to
> the person in the Sprint Store. After they went back and forth
> actually arguing on my phone, he handed the phone back to me, and the
> CSR Supervisor on my phone said: "There was nothing else she could do.
> They won't give you the discount". At this point I was totally irate
> and asked why did they lie to me over the weekend? She told me "I
> don't know." I cancelled my service right there, walked across the
> mall, and signed up with Verizon. I'm not going to go on about how
> "Sprint sucks and Verizon rules." I never had a problem with Sprint's
> service and my Verizon plan is not as good as Sprint's.

Isn't that a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face?
ALL CSRs make mistakes now and then. I'm sure that a Verizon CSR
will some day rub you the wrong way.

> I will say
> that the Verizon "EV-DO" phone I got is awesome, and connecting to the
> web is like using Broadband, while Sprint's was like using 14.4k.

Not sure what your problem was but I get 110kbps routinely on
Vision downloads.

--
John Richards

In article <[email protected]>, darrin99
@nj.rr.com says...
> >
> >Isn't that a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face?
> >ALL CSRs make mistakes now and then. I'm sure that a Verizon CSR
> >will some day rub you the wrong way.
>
> A little bit. After being lied to and driving 30 minutes to a Sprint
> Store for nothing, I had little choice. I made a deal with them, and
> they didn't hold up their end. Verizon gave me one of their "top of
> the line" $400 phones for $99, and a pretty good plan. So I'm happy at
> least for now.
>

I hate to sound argumentative, but I'm not sure what lie you were told.
The Sprint CSR told you that you'd get the instant savings, and applied
what he or she could in order to enable it. That rep was wrong,
apparently. BUT, the store even told you it would work out if you
waited until the 7th.

Since, aside from your Vision connection speed, you state you had a
better plan, and didn't really seem to have a problem with service, I'm
having trouble understanding why you would surrender all that when I
can't really see a lie. Not an intentional deception, certainly.

Would you help me to understand why you felt this rose to the level of
"requiring" that you cancel, given that the instant savings was still
valid, just not at the time the rep thought you could receive it?

--
RØß
O/Siris
-+-
A thing moderately good
is not so good as it ought to be.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue,
but moderation in principle is always a vice.
+Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792+

Darrin wrote:
>
> As for Verizon's plan, I lost some anytime minutes but gained some
> good things too like free IN-Network calling, no roaming charges
> across America, and some multimedia thing called "V Cast" which looks
> interesting. Anyway, I'm not here to bash Sprint. That's what
> happened, and I'm a hot-head. If I get treated like ****, I move on.
> If Verizon does the same to me, I'll be signing with Cingular next.
>

You say you're not a hot-head, but you're treating this like a personal
affront. Switching carriers at the first CSR mistake may come back
to bite you in the end. Wireless carriers are not all that interchangeable
since they don't all have the same coverage or features.

--
John Richards

Actually, he said he is a hot-head. I don't blame him, if csr makes a
mistake they should be called on it and have to honor it. I don't believe I
could come back a month after signing and say what contract, I wanted month
to month, I messed up switch it to me. Plus if you have read anything about
the new instant rebate you'll see the terms suck to be honest.

Capt.

"John Richards" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Darrin wrote:
>>
>> As for Verizon's plan, I lost some anytime minutes but gained some
>> good things too like free IN-Network calling, no roaming charges
>> across America, and some multimedia thing called "V Cast" which looks
>> interesting. Anyway, I'm not here to bash Sprint. That's what
>> happened, and I'm a hot-head. If I get treated like ****, I move on.
>> If Verizon does the same to me, I'll be signing with Cingular next.
>>
>
> You say you're not a hot-head, but you're treating this like a personal
> affront. Switching carriers at the first CSR mistake may come back
> to bite you in the end. Wireless carriers are not all that interchangeable
> since they don't all have the same coverage or features.
>
> --
> John Richards
>
>
>

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> That's what
> happened, and I'm a hot-head. If I get treated like ****, I move on.
> If Verizon does the same to me, I'll be signing with Cingular next.
>
>
>
join alt.cellular.verizon and alt.cellular.cingular and
alt.cellular.nextel and read. each group has posts like yours.
it is a crap shoot and it is your future.

Darrin wrote:
> I know. I had my first almost run-in with Verizon already yesterday,
> but they handled it the way it should be.

I firmly believe that although their Customer Service operation is not
without its problems, it *is* still the best in the industry. I was a
Verizon customer from 9/2000 through 6/2004. I didn't switch due to... Well,
the problem that caused me to switch was related to customer service, but
not directly related; it was, as I've said before, a repair issue that
didn't get fixed. CS was always one of the high points of my VZW customer
experience.

Sprint's used to suck really badly, and then they cleaned up and were pretty
stellar for a while. Currently they're having problems that I sincerely hope
Corporate will be able to fix, because CS is the only downside I see to
being a Sprint PCS customer right now (everything else is wonderful).

> years. None of them are perfect. None of them flat out treated me like
> ****, like Sprint did the other day either though.

I've run into similar (recent) problems where *2 says one thing and a store
rep says another. I personally place blame on the call-center employees, as
the store employees, in my experience, have generally been pretty
well-clued, and the call-center staff doesn't seem to care much about doing
a good job right now. (This is based on experience from the past four years
- I only became a Sprint user last year, but my wife has carried a Sprint
phone since the end of 2000.)

--
JustThe.net - Steve Sobol / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Coming to you from Southern California's High Desert, where the
temperatures are as high as the gas prices! / 888.480.4NET (4638)

"Life's like an hourglass glued to the table" --Anna Nalick, "Breathe"

On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 15:10:18 -0700, Steve Sobol <[email protected]> wrote:


>Darrin wrote:
>> I know. I had my first almost run-in with Verizon already yesterday,
>> but they handled it the way it should be.

>I firmly believe that although their Customer Service operation is not
>without its problems, it *is* still the best in the industry. I was a

You must have some new definition of "best" that I've never heard before.