Look! They call this retention offer?

My contract ended in May. We have 2 phones on 2 separate $30 300
minutes plans,N&Wkends starting at 8pm plus there was a 5% discount on
our bill but all under 1 account name. Also I would like to mention
that we have been with Sprint on this $30 plans since 1999.
We are thinking of switching over to a family plan to include our
teenager. I called Sprint Customer service and said "retention" (yup,
not claire anymore). The guy who helped me gave me the following "deal"
plan:
-$85 for 800minutes to share between the 3 lines
-N&Weekends starting at 7pm
-New phone for the 3rd line while the 2 old customers gets a mail-in
rebate of up to $150 each but would have to go to the store and show
our new contract to the store, select the phones, pay for them and
get back the rebates in the mail.

I asked the customer service what is the difference between this and if
I sign up as a new customer using my wife's name for the family plan.
He admitted that the only difference would be we would get our rebates
on the 2 phones instantly as opposed to mail-in.

They call this a retention plan???? This is a big joke cos this is
exactly the same if you were to sign up today with SprintPCS.
$80 for the 3 lines sharing 800 minutes and $5 extra if you want the
Free N&Wkends to start at 7pm.

I would really like to stay with SprintPCS but the way it is........
Looks like we may have to go over to Verizon. At least as new customers
we can get buy 1 and get up to 3 phones free. Also it would cost me $90
for 3 lines to share 1000 minutes. The only downside is there is no
earlier Free Nt&Wkends other than the 9pm even if you want to pay extra.

Is there a different number to call for Retention?
Thanks.

---

› See More: Look! They call this retention offer?

C M wrote:
> My contract ended in May. We have 2 phones on 2 separate $30 300
> minutes plans,N&Wkends starting at 8pm plus there was a 5% discount on
> our bill but all under 1 account name. Also I would like to mention
> that we have been with Sprint on this $30 plans since 1999.

> They call this a retention plan???? This is a big joke cos this is
> exactly the same if you were to sign up today with SprintPCS.

Better retention plans go to people who spend more money, generally. You're not
even on the bare-minimum plan anymore, as the $30/300 plan is gone and the
least expensive plan is now $35.

--
JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
--New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"

On Mon, 09 May 2005 15:31:52 -0700, Steve Sobol <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>Better retention plans go to people who spend more money, generally. You're not
>even on the bare-minimum plan anymore, as the $30/300 plan is gone and the
>least expensive plan is now $35.
>
Not anymore IMHO. I think that is pretty much all gone nowadays.

You can walk into the Sprint store as a new customer and get a free
phone, but not as a current out of contract customer.

You nearly have to churn your account to another carrier or a new name
every couple years. Sprint deals are all for new lines. And that's
it.

It's getting grim at Sprint. I guess they haven't lost enough of
their current customers yet.

Maybe the $150 rebate every 18 months is working for them. It's not
quite good enough for me. I haven't done anything yet.

[email protected] wrote:

> Maybe the $150 rebate every 18 months is working for them. It's not
> quite good enough for me. I haven't done anything yet.

What would be good enough for you?

--
JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / [email protected] / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
--New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"

Here is part of your problem. When you call into sprint and ask for
the retention department (old school), the reps don't know what you're
talking about. They have been retooled to refer to "retention" as the
"customer goals" department. So, if you want "retention" ask for
"customer goals" dept. Then again, lets cut to the chase,. 800 658
7564 is the number to dial.

I know this for a fact cuz, I just went through them to re-up my plan
for another year. Beadvised the the offers are nothing like they were
in the past. I ended up with 2500 anytime minutes for $95 w/ sprint to
sprint unlimited minutes. This boiled down to 500 extra minutes and $5
off the normal $100 bill.

Good luck.
"the art of the deal"

This is starting to sound like Phillipe...

"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 09 May 2005 15:31:52 -0700, Steve Sobol <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >Better retention plans go to people who spend more money, generally.
You're not
> >even on the bare-minimum plan anymore, as the $30/300 plan is gone and
the
> >least expensive plan is now $35.
> >
> Not anymore IMHO. I think that is pretty much all gone nowadays.
>
> You can walk into the Sprint store as a new customer and get a free
> phone, but not as a current out of contract customer.
>
> You nearly have to churn your account to another carrier or a new name
> every couple years. Sprint deals are all for new lines. And that's
> it.
>
> It's getting grim at Sprint. I guess they haven't lost enough of
> their current customers yet.
>
> Maybe the $150 rebate every 18 months is working for them. It's not
> quite good enough for me. I haven't done anything yet.
>
>

"C M" <[email protected]> wrote in message news[email protected]...
> My contract ended in May. We have 2 phones on 2 separate $30 300
> minutes plans,N&Wkends starting at 8pm plus there was a 5% discount on
> our bill but all under 1 account name. Also I would like to mention
> that we have been with Sprint on this $30 plans since 1999.
> We are thinking of switching over to a family plan to include our
> teenager. I called Sprint Customer service and said "retention" (yup,
> not claire anymore). The guy who helped me gave me the following "deal"
> plan:
> -$85 for 800minutes to share between the 3 lines
> -N&Weekends starting at 7pm
> -New phone for the 3rd line while the 2 old customers gets a mail-in
> rebate of up to $150 each but would have to go to the store and show
> our new contract to the store, select the phones, pay for them and
> get back the rebates in the mail.
>
> I asked the customer service what is the difference between this and if
> I sign up as a new customer using my wife's name for the family plan.
> He admitted that the only difference would be we would get our rebates
> on the 2 phones instantly as opposed to mail-in.
>
> They call this a retention plan???? This is a big joke cos this is
> exactly the same if you were to sign up today with SprintPCS.
> $80 for the 3 lines sharing 800 minutes and $5 extra if you want the
> Free N&Wkends to start at 7pm.
>
> I would really like to stay with SprintPCS but the way it is........
> Looks like we may have to go over to Verizon. At least as new customers
> we can get buy 1 and get up to 3 phones free. Also it would cost me $90
> for 3 lines to share 1000 minutes. The only downside is there is no
> earlier Free Nt&Wkends other than the 9pm even if you want to pay extra.
>
> Is there a different number to call for Retention?
> Thanks.

As Steve said, even though you have been a long time customer, you haven't
been a revenue source for them. You might get a better deal, calling the 800
number the other poster left, but I don't believe there is much leeway to
add much if anything else, save for PCS2PCS.

considering that SPCS offers N & W starting @ 7:00, that's going to save you
a lot of minutes used, with your teenager. Think of it this way, there is a
difference of 200 minutes between company plans, an average of 10 min. a day
for each week day of the month, and there is a 2 hour gap from when
Verizon's N & W start each evening.

I'm betting that your teenager will be spending much more than 10 mins on
average per night on the phone between those two hours ...

Bob

[email protected] wrote:
> Here is part of your problem. When you call into sprint and ask for
> the retention department (old school), the reps don't know what you're
> talking about. They have been retooled to refer to "retention" as the
> "customer goals" department. So, if you want "retention" ask for
> "customer goals" dept. Then again, lets cut to the chase,. 800 658
> 7564 is the number to dial.
>
> I know this for a fact cuz, I just went through them to re-up my plan
> for another year. Beadvised the the offers are nothing like they were
> in the past. I ended up with 2500 anytime minutes for $95 w/ sprint to
> sprint unlimited minutes. This boiled down to 500 extra minutes and $5
> off the normal $100 bill.
>
> Good luck.
> "the art of the deal"
>

Everyone keeps telling me I was not a Sprint revenue maker customer.
But if they offer me the deal above like amonefinance i.e 2500 for $95 I
will go for it. But they offer me $80 for 800 minutes. For the extra
$15 you get an extra 1700 minutes. Thats a lot.

Btw, amonefinancemh, is that $95 plan with 2500 minutes include
Nt&weekends starting at 7pm?

Thanks

"C M" <[email protected]> wrote in message news[email protected]...
>
> They call this a retention plan???? This is a big joke cos this is
> exactly the same if you were to sign up today with SprintPCS.
> $80 for the 3 lines sharing 800 minutes and $5 extra if you want the
> Free N&Wkends to start at 7pm.
>
> I would really like to stay with SprintPCS but the way it is........
> Looks like we may have to go over to Verizon. At least as new customers
> we can get buy 1 and get up to 3 phones free. Also it would cost me $90
> for 3 lines to share 1000 minutes. The only downside is there is no
> earlier Free Nt&Wkends other than the 9pm even if you want to pay extra.

I don't see where $90 for 1000 minutes is all that much better than $80
for 800 minutes. The free phones tend to be low on features and/or looks.

> Is there a different number to call for Retention?

The plan you were offered is a retention plan. I'm on a similar
retention plan: $60 for two lines, 750 minutes, N&W at 8pm.

--
John Richards

Steve Sobol wrote:
> C M wrote:
>> My contract ended in May. We have 2 phones on 2 separate $30 300
>> minutes plans,N&Wkends starting at 8pm plus there was a 5% discount
<snip>
>
> Better retention plans go to people who spend more money, generally.
> You're not even on the bare-minimum plan anymore, as the $30/300 plan
> is gone and the least expensive plan is now $35.

C'mon folks, at least read what the guy wrote. He was on TWO $30 plans.
Yes he was getting a 5% discount (3 whole dollars), but he was still
paying SPCS $57 for the last six years. There are certainly people here
that have gotten retention deals when spending around $60 per month.

However, I believe that since he kept two separate plans the SPCS rep
was unable to "finagle" the system to come up with anything better for
him. If I were him, I would at least make one more attempt, and make
sure the rep is aware of just how much he was spending. If the folks
here missed it, you can bet your ass the SPCS rep did too.


--
Mike

"Tinman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Steve Sobol wrote:
> > C M wrote:
> >> My contract ended in May. We have 2 phones on 2 separate $30 300
> >> minutes plans,N&Wkends starting at 8pm plus there was a 5% discount
> <snip>
> >
> > Better retention plans go to people who spend more money, generally.
> > You're not even on the bare-minimum plan anymore, as the $30/300 plan
> > is gone and the least expensive plan is now $35.
>
> C'mon folks, at least read what the guy wrote. He was on TWO $30 plans.
> Yes he was getting a 5% discount (3 whole dollars), but he was still
> paying SPCS $57 for the last six years. There are certainly people here
> that have gotten retention deals when spending around $60 per month.
>
> However, I believe that since he kept two separate plans the SPCS rep
> was unable to "finagle" the system to come up with anything better for
> him. If I were him, I would at least make one more attempt, and make
> sure the rep is aware of just how much he was spending. If the folks
> here missed it, you can bet your ass the SPCS rep did too.

I agree with some of your points Mike, that the rep could not finagle the
system. In saying that, 2 $30 accts doesn't generate much if any revenue, if
those were two actively used accounts.

As for those sweet retention deals provided in the past, like the one I
negotiated 14 months or so ago, I don't believe they are offered as much, if
any now.

When I negotiated the prior deal, I was paying appx $130/mo. Had too many
minutes (2000) for 3 phones. I noticed that both Cingular and Verizon would
be able to drop my monthly expense considerably and told the retention rep,
that even though I had been happy with SPCS, there was too much of a
difference. They were able to work out a nice plan with yours truly because
SPCS listens to those that higher revenue plans like yours truly. For the
OP, here's another listing of what I did.

Got 1200 minutes for 3 phones, for $60/mo. N & W start @ 8:00 PM. Add $5 for
PCS2PCS and $15 for Vision on the primary phone and $5 on one other phone.
Also got 5% off the monthly expense, so after taxes & surcharges, the
monthly expense runs $94 or so. If I were to drop Vision, I suspect the
expense would drop down to less than $80 mo.

Bob

C M wrote:

> I would really like to stay with SprintPCS but the way it is........
> Looks like we may have to go over to Verizon.

Bye! Nice knowin ya!

> At least as new customers
> we can get buy 1 and get up to 3 phones free. Also it would cost me $90
> for 3 lines to share 1000 minutes. The only downside is there is no
> earlier Free Nt&Wkends other than the 9pm even if you want to pay extra.

So basically, you have no qualms about the service, you just feel you
should get a freer handout than even the new customers. And you're
willing to get a worse deal from Verizon over a matter of principle. Right?

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

On Mon, 09 May 2005 22:07:07 -0700, Steve Sobol <[email protected]>
wrote:
>[email protected] wrote:
>
>> Maybe the $150 rebate every 18 months is working for them. It's not
>> quite good enough for me. I haven't done anything yet.
>
>What would be good enough for you?
If the rebate would actually pay for any nice phone at all it would be
as good as any carrier would give a new customer, even Sprint. . But
it won't.

You have seen the ads. Two $229 phones for $49. (Sanyo 8200) -- But
not for current customers. Only new ones. Every cellular store has a
"free phone" sign out front, even Sprint.

I paid for every Sprint phone I ever had, I never ever got a free
phone from them (there were no free phones in 1999). But I only paid
about $70. per phone.

Things have changed now. They have dramatically raised the "retail"
price with discounts only for new customers. Those discounts are a
mechanism to keep you signed up for a long contract, and that's their
only function. It's obvious. Bundling.

I think a longtime customer should be able to get at least as good a
deal as a new customer, and that was how it used to be. Buy your own
phone and the price wasn't too outrageous.

It makes little sense to buy phones at the prices they are selling at
now. You have to have a spiff or free offer. It's designed that way.

No those are anytime minutes,... I still have my 3000 night and weekend
minutes. To help get the plan tell them that you saw a Nextel ad on
the web, that offers unlimited minutes for $100/mo. That is what they
bit on,... the catch to this ad of course is that they charge $0.20 a
minute for LD calls. Of course you shld forget to mention this caveat.

Bob Smith wrote:
> "Tinman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Steve Sobol wrote:
>>>
>>> Better retention plans go to people who spend more money, generally.
>>> You're not even on the bare-minimum plan anymore, as the $30/300
>>> plan
>>> is gone and the least expensive plan is now $35.
>>
>> C'mon folks, at least read what the guy wrote. He was on TWO $30
>> plans. Yes he was getting a 5% discount (3 whole dollars), but he
>> was still paying SPCS $57 for the last six years. There are
>> certainly people here that have gotten retention deals when spending
>> around $60 per month.
>>
>> However, I believe that since he kept two separate plans the SPCS rep
>> was unable to "finagle" the system to come up with anything better
>> for him. If I were him, I would at least make one more attempt, and
>> make
>> sure the rep is aware of just how much he was spending. If the folks
>> here missed it, you can bet your ass the SPCS rep did too.
>
> I agree with some of your points Mike, that the rep could not finagle
> the system. In saying that, 2 $30 accts doesn't generate much if any
> revenue, if those were two actively used accounts.
>

We can argue about $60 being too low; I have no problem with that. But I
read Steve's post--perhaps incorrectly--as a borderline insult because
the guy was only spending $30 per month. I felt that was out of line, as
the guy had, according to him, been spending twice that for many years.
It also seemed obvious that he was willing--I'd say expecting--to pay
even more than $60 per month. He just wasn't happy with what they
offered for $80 per month.


> As for those sweet retention deals provided in the past, like the one
> I negotiated 14 months or so ago, I don't believe they are offered as
> much, if any now.
>

Yep, it sure seems that way. I still think the OP can do better than
what he was offered though.


>
> Got 1200 minutes for 3 phones, for $60/mo. N & W start @ 8:00 PM. Add
> $5 for PCS2PCS and $15 for Vision on the primary phone and $5 on one
> other phone. Also got 5% off the monthly expense, so after taxes &
> surcharges, the monthly expense runs $94 or so. If I were to drop
> Vision, I suspect the expense would drop down to less than $80 mo.
>

My deal has been renegotiated so many times I'm afraid to have anyone
touch it. I pay 59.99 for 2,000 minutes, plus 20.00 each for two shared
phones. Vision is not listed as a separate line-item ("$59.99 PCS Free
and Clear with Vision"), and it's unlimited on all three phones (ditto
for text messages). I of course have unlimited N&Ws and PCS-to-PCS. My
last "retention" deal only got me 7PM N&W--but my contract was not
extended (it expired last year). My total bill comes in at around $115
per month. I rarely use more than 75% of my anytime minutes, so it's
hard to say if I'd be better off with a plan like yours (assuming I
could even get it nowadays).


--
Mike