Help Current Sprint user wants a moment, Sprint wants to screw me

[VisionxOrb]

Ive been on Sprint for a few years now, currently using the Diamond which is the biggest pile of trash ever pushed on to a mobile phone user. With the Big promotions I tried getting the moment throught best buy 179 deal for existing customers but sprint told best buy that I wasnt at 22 months on my current contract ( which is the 500 sero plan through 8/1/2010 ) so I cant get and upgrade ( except 75 bucks off the msrp through sprint ). Im pretty pissed, what options do I have?

 

[AndroidSPCS]

No one is trying to screw you. You're just not eligible yet for a new phone. Simple as that. Not much you can do until your 22 months is here. Can always look on eBay / Craigslist for a used phone, but you will probably have to give up your SERO plan to go to the Everything Data plan, which is required for the Samsung and other Android phones.

 

[VisionxOrb]

No one is trying to screw you. You're just not eligible yet for a new phone. Simple as that. Not much you can do until your 22 months is here. Can always look on eBay / Craigslist for a used phone, but you will probably have to give up your SERO plan to go to the Everything Data plan, which is required for the Samsung and other Android phones.

Yeah I know I have to go to a new everthing plan, Thats not a problem. But I thought the 2 yr extension/new agreement ( and the phone for 179 ) is for the purpose of upgrading your phone while still under contract. If I remember right when your contract was up you could always get the phone at a new contract price or in this instance 99 dollers. in this case it would be cheaper to cancle my service, get hit with an eft and then a new contract with the phone for 99 than upgrade at 400.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

You get the new phone upgrade when you're at 22 months, or when your contract expires, at which point you can pretty much negotiate whatever you want for a new phone.

Because you're not at 22 months, and your contract has not expired, you're not able to get the new phone at the 2 year discount price.

If it makes more sense to cancel the contract, pay the ETF, and get a new line, then I would advise you go that route. Just port your # over to a pre-paid phone so you don't lose it.

 

[VisionxOrb]

You get the new phone upgrade when you're at 22 months, or when your contract expires, at which point you can pretty much negotiate whatever you want for a new phone.

Because you're not at 22 months, and your contract has not expired, you're not able to get the new phone at the 2 year discount price.

If it makes more sense to cancel the contract, pay the ETF, and get a new line, then I would advise you go that route. Just port your # over to a pre-paid phone so you don't lose it.

lets say my contract was up. at that point I could get the phone for 99 throught bestbuy though correct? if thats the case, whos the 179 for

 

[AndroidSPCS]

lets say my contract was up. at that point I could get the phone for 99 throught bestbuy though correct? if thats the case, whos the 179 for

I believe you may be able to, but that is a YMMV type of situation. Some BB sales guys may be unwilling to give you the $99 since you're not doing a brand new activation. Some others may be able to do it.

The $179 is Sprint's official upgrade price for existing customers renewing their contracts. That's me. I could have tried to play around with BB / Wirefly, etc, but my plan with its discounts / perks is too valuable to trust a 3rd party company to mess with, which is why I bought mine through Sprint.

 

[VisionxOrb]

I believe you may be able to, but that is a YMMV type of situation. Some BB sales guys may be unwilling to give you the $99 since you're not doing a brand new activation. Some others may be able to do it.

The $179 is Sprint's official upgrade price for existing customers renewing their contracts. That's me. I could have tried to play around with BB / Wirefly, etc, but my plan with its discounts / perks is too valuable to trust a 3rd party company to mess with, which is why I bought mine through Sprint.

So I guess this is where Im getting confused. I figure I should be able to get the phone for 179 since im an existing customer wanting to extend my contract etc. Sprint says I have to wait till 22 months but at that point i could get it at 99 instead of 179. Just doesnt make much sense to me.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

No, the $179 is for the 22 month upgrade price.

The $99 is a special price by Best Buy (a 3rd party reseller) for new customers only, but some people have been lucky to get the $99 upgrade price by getting sales guys at Best Buy who didn't care or know about that. And those folks were eligible for the 22 month upgrade.

If you aren't eligible for the 22 months upgrade discount, you can't get the $179 at Sprint or the $99 at Best Buy, no matter what. If you're eligible for the 22 months discount, you will get the $179 price for sure, and you MAY be lucky and get the $99 price at Best Buy, but it's not guaranteed.

 

[pastafarian]

Look at it this way. By the time you are eligible for an upgrade, the price may be $99 without having to go through BB or Wirefly. Also, as someone who has taken advantage of SERO for several years, saying Sprint is "screwing" you for not allowing a early upgrade is disingenuous at best. If you had gone with at&t or Verizon, you still wouldn't be eligible for any upgrade AND you'd have ~$2000 less in the bank.

 

[satinkzo]

Look at it this way. By the time you are eligible for an upgrade, the price may be $99 without having to go through BB or Wirefly. Also, as someone who has taken advantage of SERO for several years, saying Sprint is "screwing" you for not allowing a early upgrade is disingenuous at best. If you had gone with at&t or Verizon, you still wouldn't be eligible for any upgrade AND you'd have ~$2000 less in the bank.

Yes, I agree. You've been on SERO, so in fact, Sprint has been good to you.

But since you are on SERO and not eligible for Premier benefits obviously since you have a 22 month upgrade window (premier is 11 months), you will have to wait. You'll more than likely lose SERO when moving to a newer Android phone anyways.

Your contract extension understanding is laking a bit I think. They don't just add 2 years on to your existing contract, they simply restart your 2 year contact at the time of upgrade. So for me after 11 months I upgraded my phone and now have a new 2 year agreement, it's not a 3 year agreement.

 

[njbianco]

Ive been on Sprint for a few years now, currently using the Diamond which is the biggest pile of trash ever pushed on to a mobile phone user. With the Big promotions I tried getting the moment throught best buy 179 deal for existing customers but sprint told best buy that I wasnt at 22 months on my current contract ( which is the 500 sero plan through 8/1/2010 ) so I cant get and upgrade ( except 75 bucks off the msrp through sprint ). Im pretty pissed, what options do I have?

What do you think a 2 year contract meens that you signed

 

[Flipper]

Ive been on Sprint for a few years now, currently using the Diamond which is the biggest pile of trash ever pushed on to a mobile phone user. With the Big promotions I tried getting the moment throught best buy 179 deal for existing customers but sprint told best buy that I wasnt at 22 months on my current contract ( which is the 500 sero plan through 8/1/2010 ) so I cant get and upgrade ( except 75 bucks off the msrp through sprint ). Im pretty pissed, what options do I have?

As others have said, I think you don't quite understand what extending your current contract term means. For one thing, it DOESN'T mean you're eligible for new or upgrade pricing the WHOLE time you're within your 22 month contract commitment. You have to first satisfy your 22-month obligation - your end of the bargain. Where I think you have it confused is that they likely told you that you can modify your contract and jump on another plan WITHOUT extending your existing commitment. There's no way they would tell you that you can simply get an upgrade price on a new handset anytime within your contract.

 

[CriticalCritic]

This may be a long shot, but it seems like you could do what you already proposed (break contract, get fined, swap over # in the meantime) then go to BB and maybe get the new customer rate of $99? It's a long shot, and the total cost is going to be $FINE+$99+Prepaid phone cost. I don't know if you were originally calculating the phone as $99 or $179, and I don't know the price of a prepaid, but it's gotta be much less than $80 right?

Anyways, this might not be feasible. But I just thought I'd bring up the $99 possibility. It may not be worth the risk.

 

[vgsantiago]

So I guess this is where Im getting confused. I figure I should be able to get the phone for 179 since im an existing customer wanting to extend my contract etc. Sprint says I have to wait till 22 months but at that point i could get it at 99 instead of 179. Just doesnt make much sense to me.

It boils down to Sprint making us wait a minimum 22 months so they can recoupe the cost of subsidizing your current phone. If they gave us the renewed contract price of a new phone let's say every year, then they'll be losing even more money.

I am in the same boat and would like a new Android and love Sprint's plans, so I have to be patient.

On the flip side I also felt why would they wait for my contract expire and possibly lose me to another carrier? But that's the risk Sprint and the other carriers are willing to take.

 

[anderkoo]

...but my plan with its discounts / perks is too valuable to trust a 3rd party company to mess with, which is why I bought mine through Sprint.

I would like to hear SPECIFICS on what "discounts / perks" you are getting.

The OP is right about one thing: Sprint is favoring new customers over old ones. Unless you can specify exactly what old customers can that's better than a $79 phone + $69/month fee from Amazon.

Let me put it this way: I'm out of contract. I have been a customer since 1999. What's the best price for both the phone purchase and the contract that I can negotiate?

 

[satinkzo]

Most companies favor new vs existing customers. Satellite TV, Cable TV, credit cards, etc. It's not like sprint is the only one. Generally on some things, you can get the same perks WHEN your contract expires (sprint gives you new customer pricing to renew).
The specific phone pricing for new accounts is different and appears to only be a best buy thing afaik.

As for perks, Best Buy never hosed up my perks, so no worries there for me. (Free perks I have Pick 3/5, nights at 6pm, loyalty discount plus employer discount and a few others that I don't know how known they are, so I'm not gonna mention them on the open forum)

 

[jebrank]

Remember if you switch to moment you will be a premier customer. You will get to upgrade every 12 months!!

 

[dbpaddler]

why do people not understand that their phones are subsidized and they recoup their costs over the course of the two year contract. In the op's case, with the cheap plan, 22 months just might be about the time they feel they have made their money back on the phone they sold and are willing to let you upgrade to a new phone at the cheapest price. It's really not a difficult concept to understand. By letting you upgrade sooner, they're in turn not recouping all the money back from your current subsidized phone and then subsidizing another phone for you which, with the higher cost plan, can be recouped over 1yr instead of two, technically.

At least this isn't another SERO b*tch thread. Thankfully those seemed to have died down.

 

[VisionxOrb]

I realize that the phones are subsided ( although i spent 400 on this phone a year ago ), and its not really honoring the contract that im trying to get out of, its the fact that the touch diamond is a trash phone, i literally have to wait 25 seconds from the time i press messages till i can respond. Ive never had a phone that was so laggy, ive tried hard resets, even custom roms, nothing works. Its not just my phone, my roommates is bad to. Infact my girlfriend is friends with a private phone broker that deals with multiple carriers and he said the diamond is the most traded in phone out there and is known in the industry as a problem phone. Basicly thats the reason why im feeling scerwed.

 

[dbpaddler]

well what you should've done was take advantage of it under warranty to get a replacement then sell it on ebay and apply that money to a new phone that can take you through to the end of your contract. Insurance can do the same thing if you have it, outside of the deductible. There's always a buyer on CL or ebay.

Also, I believe they have a lemon rule as well, but if you're outside the warranty period, I don't believe it applies.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

I realize that the phones are subsided ( although i spent 400 on this phone a year ago ), and its not really honoring the contract that im trying to get out of, its the fact that the touch diamond is a trash phone, i literally have to wait 25 seconds from the time i press messages till i can respond. Ive never had a phone that was so laggy, ive tried hard resets, even custom roms, nothing works. Its not just my phone, my roommates is bad to. Infact my girlfriend is friends with a private phone broker that deals with multiple carriers and he said the diamond is the most traded in phone out there and is known in the industry as a problem phone. Basicly thats the reason why im feeling scerwed.

Did you not figure this out during your 30 day trial of the phone?

 

[Radical-J]

Ive been on Sprint for a few years now, currently using the Diamond which is the biggest pile of trash ever pushed on to a mobile phone user. With the Big promotions I tried getting the moment throught best buy 179 deal for existing customers but sprint told best buy that I wasnt at 22 months on my current contract ( which is the 500 sero plan through 8/1/2010 ) so I cant get and upgrade ( except 75 bucks off the msrp through sprint ). Im pretty pissed, what options do I have?

Actually you do have another option. That would be to put your Diamond on the $5 residential/vacation plan and add the moment to your account. FWIW

 

[gadget]

Ive been on Sprint for a few years now, currently using the Diamond which is the biggest pile of trash ever pushed on to a mobile phone user. With the Big promotions I tried getting the moment throught best buy 179 deal for existing customers but sprint told best buy that I wasnt at 22 months on my current contract ( which is the 500 sero plan through 8/1/2010 ) so I cant get and upgrade ( except 75 bucks off the msrp through sprint ). Im pretty pissed, what options do I have?

if you think you have a good reason for getting what you want...and you honestly feel that you deserve consideration for what you want...The best place to go is to call sprint and ask for RETENTION. That department has the power ( authority) to make deals..They do not want to lose customers and if your reasoning is justified, they are the ones that make the deal. That is Sprint's higher authority...Good luck....and have a great Thanksgiving

 

[njbianco]

lets say my contract was up. at that point I could get the phone for 99 throught bestbuy though correct? if thats the case, whos the 179 for

No the 99 is for new customers if your contract as up and renew it would be 179

 

[dbpaddler]

If you know a business rep he can get it for you for $99 as a renew. We bought 15 new Heroes and Moments at $99 for renewal and $50 for new.