Those darned rebates!

"Earl Needham" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:...
> "Notan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Earl Needham wrote:
> > >
> > > Bought a new Sanyo 7300, Sprint promised $150 off. Just checked
the web
> > > page and find they are denying the rebate because "they claim" there
was no
> > > new Advantage Agreement along with this new phone.
> > >
> > > Now what? Guess I have to call CS and wait on hold and then
argue, or
> > > what?
> >
> > A new contract is usually the only time Sprint woould offer that type of
discount.
> >
> > Are you sure you didn't read the contract or weren't paying attention?
>
> Nope, they've been hounding me for several years, telling me that I
> qualify for an "upgrade". That's what I was trying to get, the thing they
> had been trying to push on me for 3 years. (I kept my old Time Port/Star
> Tac all that time...)

Just to followup, I'm STILL fighting Sprint for my $150. I never would
have bought a new phone if they hadn't promised me the $150 rebate.

Earl

--
Earl Needham
Clovis, New Mexico USA

---

› See More: Those darned rebates!

I never buy anything based on the rebate price. I only consider the
pre-rebate price when making decisions.

Rebates are a crap shoot. I get about 50% of them.

All else being equal, I boycott rebate products.

If they wanted you to have the product at a particular price, they
would sell it to you at that price.

Obviously, the fact that they do not do this is a tip-off that they are
not going to make it easy for you to collect.

Rebates are billion dollar scams.

The above 100 IQ rule of thumb: If you wouldn't buy something if it
didn't have a rebate, don't buy it because it does have a rebate.

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I never buy anything based on the rebate price. I only consider the
> pre-rebate price when making decisions.
>
> Rebates are a crap shoot. I get about 50% of them.
>
> All else being equal, I boycott rebate products.
>
> If they wanted you to have the product at a particular price, they
> would sell it to you at that price.
>
> Obviously, the fact that they do not do this is a tip-off that they are
> not going to make it easy for you to collect.
>
> Rebates are billion dollar scams.
>
> The above 100 IQ rule of thumb: If you wouldn't buy something if it
> didn't have a rebate, don't buy it because it does have a rebate.

Yep, I'm taking this as a lesson I needed to learn.

In August, a CSR called me -- said he was from "the Sprint rebate
department" or similar wording. Said my new Advantage Agreement hadn't been
entered, and if I would allow him to enter it, my rebate would be
forthcoming. So of course, I agreed, and we both seemed to think it was
fixed.

Yesterday, I finally got a human being on teh phone at the rebate phone
number. Found that my area code had bneen entered incorrectly and the rep
fixed it. So now I have yet another chance at getting my $150. Geez, this
is worse than the Las Vegas strip!

So how the h#$% could the rep have called me in August if my area code
was in the system wrong? Something smells fishy here and I'm about certain
this is the "beginning of the end" for me and Sprint. Oh, I won't cancel
early, but I think I'll probably cancel when my Agreement runs out.

Earl
--
Earl Needham
Clovis, New Mexico USA

It wasn't a mistake. This is the way Sprint treats you. If you let
them.

You shouldn't have agreed to anything. They just re-aged your two year
contract (you probably also agreed to some terrible clause) and they
used your rebate as "bait".

They can't contact you if they don't have your correct area code.

Never count on rebates, and never agree to ANYTHING solicited to you by
an incoming call.