Why are phones so expensive at the stores?

Actually I got a better deal at the Cingular Store than online with my
Treo 600.

scott14661 wrote:
> bill.. Wrote:
>
>>I have been shopping for a GSM replacement to my 3 old AT&T phone.
>>Current favorite is the Moto V551.
>>
>>After checking on-line pricing from various 3rd party vendors I was
>>really surprised at the difference between their pricing and the
>>stores.
>>
>>On-line average price was $0 with 2 year contract - best price was
>>-$75 ( they pay me!!)
>>Cingular store price $119 ( current "deal" with rebate)
>>
>>I understand that someone has to pay for bricks and mortar etc and I
>>would be willing to pay more at the store for convenience of return,
>>service etc - say $30
>>But $120 to $185 more for the same boxed product is way too much for
>>me to swallow.
>>
>>Maybe I'm missing something.
>>Can anyone shed light why - or give me a sensible reason to do
>>business at the Cingular store vs on-line?
>>
>>
>>Bill
>
>
> I work for an authorized agent of Cingular Wireless, and I can tell you
> that there is no way for us to match an internet deal. My owner would
> lose money if he matched the online prices or Amazon's prices. It all
> depends on what Cingular pays them for a new customer. The more
> Cingular pays my owner, the better the deal we can offer a customer.
> Cingular may be offering a really special deal to certain online
> dealers. I can't tell you for sure.
>
> What I can tell you is Cingular.com will offer you a better deal than
> purchasing the phone from inside a store. They can do that because
> they don't have to pay the middle man which would be the dealer, or pay
> out commission to a sales rep.
>
>

---

› See More: Why are phones so expensive at the stores?

> You can take an Apple Computer bought at any authorized Apple Dealer
> into any Apple owned store, and get service under warranty.


Bananas to grapefruit. As far as I know, Cingular isn't in the
engineering and manufacturing industry, and they don't materially create
thier own physical products, but instead purchase them from vendors.
AFAIK Cingular is still a wireless carrier, and manages a network
capable of voice and data services. Who knows, maybe they gave that up
to manufacture mobile handsets.

TH

> I just wanted to add...
>
> Besides A1wireless.com there was also Wirefly.com that had deals for
> free v551's after rebate. However, after doing some searching on
> those 2 companies, I would never buy a phone from them if I was
> depending on the rebates. There were many postings from angry people
> that did not get their rebates from either A1 or Wirefly. Apparently
> the rebate requirements are very strict and somewhat confusing. If
> they are not followed to the letter, the rebate will be denied and you
> could end up paying $200+ for a phone and still have a 2 year
> commitment.
>
> I am very pleased with the v551s I paid $49 for.

To be on the safe side, I always assume that mail-in rebates will never
be had. I used to live in rural area which had no mail delivery (farms
got mail delivered, but people in town had to use a post office.)
Because they think there is a chance of fraud, they will deny the rebate
based on the P.O. mailing address, but if you give them a physical
address in place of a mailing address, it will be returned to sender.

TH

In article <[email protected]>,
Tropical Haven <[email protected]> wrote:

> > You can take an Apple Computer bought at any authorized Apple Dealer
> > into any Apple owned store, and get service under warranty.
>
>
> Bananas to grapefruit. As far as I know, Cingular isn't in the
> engineering and manufacturing industry, and they don't materially create
> thier own physical products, but instead purchase them from vendors.
> AFAIK Cingular is still a wireless carrier, and manages a network
> capable of voice and data services. Who knows, maybe they gave that up
> to manufacture mobile handsets.

They shouldn't slap the Cingular logo on any piece of equipment they're
unwilling to support. By putting the logo on the phone THEY ARE in the
manufacturing business.

We lived in the village and did not have a physical address other than
the street name. I remember that a lot of mail forms had two areas one
for address and one for mailing address. My Uncle was lucky, he lived
on the street taken by the carrier to get out of town to the Rural
Route. The law says that people who live on those streets can put up a
mail box and get delivery. I think we lived on one of those streets
too, but since Dad worked downtown a block from the post office,
(everything downtown was near the post office hihi), he rented a PO Box.

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Wed, 02 Mar
2005 13:43:49 GMT, Jack Zwick <[email protected]> wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> Tropical Haven <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> > You can take an Apple Computer bought at any authorized Apple Dealer
>> > into any Apple owned store, and get service under warranty.
>>
>> Bananas to grapefruit. As far as I know, Cingular isn't in the
>> engineering and manufacturing industry, and they don't materially create
>> thier own physical products, but instead purchase them from vendors.
>> AFAIK Cingular is still a wireless carrier, and manages a network
>> capable of voice and data services. Who knows, maybe they gave that up
>> to manufacture mobile handsets.
>
>They shouldn't slap the Cingular logo on any piece of equipment they're
>unwilling to support. By putting the logo on the phone THEY ARE in the
>manufacturing business.

No, it is in the branded reselling business, and makes it clear that warranty
service is provided by the actual manufacturer. What part of that don't you
understand?

--
Best regards,
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/>

"A little learning is a dangerous thing." [Alexander Pope]
"It is better to sit in silence and appear ignorant,
than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." [Mark Twain]

>>>You can take an Apple Computer bought at any authorized Apple Dealer
>>>into any Apple owned store, and get service under warranty.

If you buy an Apple computer from an Apple owned store and try to get
service under warranty at an Apple Authorized Dealer, what most likely
will [or won't] happen?


>>Bananas to grapefruit. As far as I know, Cingular isn't in the
>>engineering and manufacturing industry, and they don't materially create
>>thier own physical products, but instead purchase them from vendors.
>>AFAIK Cingular is still a wireless carrier, and manages a network
>>capable of voice and data services. Who knows, maybe they gave that up
>>to manufacture mobile handsets.
>
>
> They shouldn't slap the Cingular logo on any piece of equipment they're
> unwilling to support. By putting the logo on the phone THEY ARE in the
> manufacturing business.

If you buy a DirecTV system and it needs servicing, the dealer doesn't
service it, it gets sent to some warehouse where it's done. Likewise
with a Sony stereo...if you get one from Best Buy, Best Buy slaps their
name on bill (and receipt), but they [most likely] don't do all
servicing for all electronics manufacturers.

Don't worry, it's a tough concept to master. We're trying to teach 9
year olds how companies work together.

TH

In article <[email protected]>,
Tropical Haven <[email protected]> wrote:

> >>>You can take an Apple Computer bought at any authorized Apple Dealer
> >>>into any Apple owned store, and get service under warranty.
>
> If you buy an Apple computer from an Apple owned store and try to get
> service under warranty at an Apple Authorized Dealer, what most likely
> will [or won't] happen?
>
>
> >>Bananas to grapefruit. As far as I know, Cingular isn't in the
> >>engineering and manufacturing industry, and they don't materially create
> >>thier own physical products, but instead purchase them from vendors.
> >>AFAIK Cingular is still a wireless carrier, and manages a network
> >>capable of voice and data services. Who knows, maybe they gave that up
> >>to manufacture mobile handsets.
> >
> >
> > They shouldn't slap the Cingular logo on any piece of equipment they're
> > unwilling to support. By putting the logo on the phone THEY ARE in the
> > manufacturing business.
>
> If you buy a DirecTV system and it needs servicing, the dealer doesn't
> service it, it gets sent to some warehouse where it's done. Likewise
> with a Sony stereo...if you get one from Best Buy, Best Buy slaps their
> name on bill (and receipt), but they [most likely] don't do all
> servicing for all electronics manufacturers.
>
> Don't worry, it's a tough concept to master. We're trying to teach 9
> year olds how companies work together.

If you buy a SprintPCS phone you can take it to their company owned
stores and get it serviced.

Tough concept?

> If you buy a SprintPCS phone you can take it to their company owned
> stores and get it serviced.
>
> Tough concept?

No, it's not a tough concept. It's just not the way a majority of the
world works. If Sprint PCS servicing phones is so important to you,
then maybe you should be subscribing to Sprint PCS. Otherwise GET OVER IT.

In article <[email protected]>,
Tropical Haven <[email protected]> wrote:

> > If you buy a SprintPCS phone you can take it to their company owned
> > stores and get it serviced.
> >
> > Tough concept?
>
> No, it's not a tough concept. It's just not the way a majority of the
> world works. If Sprint PCS servicing phones is so important to you,
> then maybe you should be subscribing to Sprint PCS. Otherwise GET OVER IT.

I guess it is a tough concept for you. Cingular puts their moniker on
phones and then wants to deny ownership of them? Not logical.

> I guess it is a tough concept for you. Cingular puts their moniker on
> phones and then wants to deny ownership of them? Not logical.

As do T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, SBC, BellSouth, Verizon, Extend
America, Southern Linc, DirecTV, Dish Network, Qwest, Virgin Mobile...

The list goes on and on.

More examples can be found in the "Troll Food" section of the
MANUFACTURER's Warranty.

TH

In article <[email protected]>,
Tropical Haven <[email protected]> wrote:

> > I guess it is a tough concept for you. Cingular puts their moniker on
> > phones and then wants to deny ownership of them? Not logical.
>
> As do T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, SBC, BellSouth, Verizon, Extend
> America, Southern Linc, DirecTV, Dish Network, Qwest, Virgin Mobile...
>
> The list goes on and on.

But it is reasonable to expect a company owned store to provide service
for a product with its own name on it, whether it manufactured it or not.

DirecTv will provide service on a Hughes labeled system for instance.

Two or 5 wrongs do not make a right.

There is a difference between a "Cingular Authorized Dealer" and an
actual "Cingular owned store front". If you go to a mall kiosk they
are resellers and they do not work for Cingular. If you go to a
Cingular Store, you deal with Cingular Employees and get much better
service and the deals are usually just as good if not better than the
Web pricing. It was the same for AT&T before the merge. I have dealt
with both and there is a BIG DIFFERENCE. With AT&T I could call
customer service, tell them of an online promo and then go to the
store 2 miles from home and they would have the phone ready and
waiting on me with no shipping charges and I could still get the web
pricing. I have not tried this with Cingular yet, but upgrade time is
coming soon.

S

Originally Posted by [email protected]

There is a difference between a "Cingular Authorized Dealer" and an
actual "Cingular owned store front". If you go to a mall kiosk they
are resellers and they do not work for Cingular. If you go to a
Cingular Store, you deal with Cingular Employees and get much better
service and the deals are usually just as good if not better than the
Web pricing. It was the same for AT&T before the merge. I have dealt
with both and there is a BIG DIFFERENCE. With AT&T I could call
customer service, tell them of an online promo and then go to the
store 2 miles from home and they would have the phone ready and
waiting on me with no shipping charges and I could still get the web
pricing. I have not tried this with Cingular yet, but upgrade time is
coming soon.

S

I work for an authorized dealer, i'm tired of people making stereotypical comments about dealers. True, there are some bad dealers out there who just want your money and nothing else. But there are just as many dealers who are as good or even better than company owned stores.

I can tell you, the nearest coporate store where I live is a pretty good one. But i've had customers go to them, and not get the satistfaction they deserve, so they come to us, and sometimes we can do something for them that corporate can't, or vice versa. In other words everyone needs to stop with the stereotypes of dealers, because there are a lot of good dealers out there.

As to your second comment, Cingular will not match online pricing. Online pricing is designed to get the customer to order online, not in store. Maybe, just maybe you might find a dealer that would be willing to match it, but it sounds like you don't want to shop with a dealer, so you're stuck with the store price.

In article <[email protected]>,
scott14661 <[email protected]> wrote:

> [email protected] Wrote:
> > There is a difference between a "Cingular Authorized Dealer" and an
> > actual "Cingular owned store front". If you go to a mall kiosk they
> > are resellers and they do not work for Cingular. If you go to a
> > Cingular Store, you deal with Cingular Employees and get much better
> > service and the deals are usually just as good if not better than the
> > Web pricing. It was the same for AT&T before the merge. I have dealt
> > with both and there is a BIG DIFFERENCE. With AT&T I could call
> > customer service, tell them of an online promo and then go to the
> > store 2 miles from home and they would have the phone ready and
> > waiting on me with no shipping charges and I could still get the web
> > pricing. I have not tried this with Cingular yet, but upgrade time is
> > coming soon.
> >
> > S
>
> I work for an authorized dealer, i'm tired of people making
> stereotypical comments about dealers. True, there are some bad dealers
> out there who just want your money and nothing else. But there are just
> as many dealers who are as good or even better than company owned
> stores.
>
> I can tell you, the nearest coporate store where I live is a pretty
> good one. But i've had customers go to them, and not get the
> satistfaction they deserve, so they come to us, and sometimes we can do
> something for them that corporate can't, or vice versa. In other words
> everyone needs to stop with the stereotypes of dealers, because there
> are a lot of good dealers out there.
>
> As to your second comment, Cingular will not match online pricing.
> Online pricing is designed to get the customer to order online, not in
> store.

You just contradicted yourself. Dont stereotype the stores. Depends on
the store, the manager and the time of the month.



> Maybe, just maybe you might find a dealer that would be willing
> to match it, but it sounds like you don't want to shop with a dealer, so
> you're stuck with the store price.