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Sprint Premier Upgrade Question

My wife and I are on a family plan that qualifies us as Sprint Premier members. I bought a Palm Pre on June 6th 2009. When news of the Evo came out, and I decided to switch, I thought that it was perfect. Being a Sprint Premier member and getting the yearly upgrade would allow me to get all the discounts. Not so. It turns out that only the Primary number on the account is eligible for the yearly upgrade. That would be my wifes phone. It does not apply to both phones on the account. I am not eligible for another year.

Here is the question. Her phone is eligible for the upgrade in May. If I upgrade her phone to the Evo when it is released, and use her yearly upgrade, when I get home, will they let me do an esn swap to put the evo on my phone number, and let me put her pre back on her number? Is there a waiting period before you can do an esn swap right after you buy a phone? Thanks!
 
I've gone over this situation before on this forum, but you basically have two different ways to accomplish your goal:

1. Switch your line to the primary line. This is going to be easier for you and less hassle. Just call Customer Service or go to a Sprint store and ask them to change the primary line on your account to your phone number. The switch doesn't go into effect until your billing cycle turns over, but once it does, your two lines should flop eligibility dates. Call in and have them change it now, then confirm next month that your line is indeed eligible to upgrade.

2. You can keep things the way they are and still get the EVO on your line. Basically you'd be doing what you described above, but there is one thing to consider. You can go to a Sprint store and upgrade to the EVO on her line, then have the rep do a 'service swap' and put the EVO on your number - HOWEVER, this will void the terms of any mail-in rebate you may qualify for. To receive mail-in rebates, the phone has to be on the upgraded line for 30 days. In this situation, either be prepared to forfeit the mail-in rebate, or just get the phone at a retailer like Best Buy or Radio Shack where they don't issue mail-in rebates.
 
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Regarding SprintTerp's item #2, my experience has been the same. I've got 5 lines on my account and I purchased a Palm Pre at Radio Shack (no rebate) and used the upgrade on the line my grandparent's use. Its been a while, but I don't think I ever activated the phone on their line, I just activated on mine. Either that, or I activated on their line in the store but immediately called sprint and moved it to my line and reactivated their phone.

If you are submitting a mail in rebate, read the terms carefully. My experience has been that it has to remain on the upgraded line for 30 days.
 
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Hello,

I am looking to upgrade from my Pre but I have a question regarding price.

Let's say that the HTC Evo is priced at $199 for arguments sake.

Now, I am a Sprint Premiere Customer who is due to upgrade next month. It is $150 to upgrade with Sprint Premiere.

My question is, if the EVO is priced at $199, would the upgrade apply to that price, in turn costing me $49 to purchase the Evo?

Any information would be helpful.

-Rob
 
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Hello,

I am looking to upgrade from my Pre but I have a question regarding price.

Let's say that the HTC Evo is priced at $199 for arguments sake.

Now, I am a Sprint Premiere Customer who is due to upgrade next month. It is $150 to upgrade with Sprint Premiere.

My question is, if the EVO is priced at $199, would the upgrade apply to that price, in turn costing me $49 to purchase the Evo?

Any information would be helpful.

-Rob

$199 is the "cheapest" price you would get. That $199 includes all rebates/discounts.
 
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$199 is the "cheapest" price you would get. That $199 includes all rebates/discounts.

Thats odd then that they would say for Sprint Premiere customers would get $150 off a new phone, they should just say that you are eligible to the renew your contract for two years and purchase the phone at the promotional price...

I had talked with a Sprint Representative via chat and he said I was correct with what I posted before, but it didn't seem right.
 
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Thats odd then that they would say for Sprint Premiere customers would get $150 off a new phone, they should just say that you are eligible to the renew your contract for two years and purchase the phone at the promotional price...

I had talked with a Sprint Representative via chat and he said I was correct with what I posted before, but it didn't seem right.

Not really odd. That just means that the "retail" price of the phone is something in the $500-600 range. Look at the Sprint site. That breaks it down exactly how the discounts would work for "new" or "upgrade" customers. I do agree though. They should do away with the rhetoric and simplify it to say exactly what you said, "you are eligible to purchase the phone at the promotional price."

As for your conversation with the chat rep...well, I've said it a few times on these and other forums, chat/phone Tier 1 reps have very limited information and are always the least informed (although, I have to say that AMEX CSR's are the MOST informed Tier 1 reps I've ever spoken with). The rep you spoke with either misunderstood what you were explaining, or just doesn't have a full grasp of Sprint's discounts.
 
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Thats odd then that they would say for Sprint Premiere customers would get $150 off a new phone, they should just say that you are eligible to the renew your contract for two years and purchase the phone at the promotional price...



I had talked with a Sprint Representative via chat and he said I was correct with what I posted before, but it didn't seem right.


Marketing Marketing.....:(
 
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Here's the weird thing about my account:

I had the account for a long time and this past summer I added my girlfriend and upgraded to a family plan on Pre launch day, June 6th, 2009.

Now it shows her name above mine on the account as if hers is the primary line. Not only that but it has shown her as having a $150 upgrade available since last month. It is weird. I don't care which line they consider the primary line but the discount thing is weird. I'm thinking that it is more of a "bank error in your favor, collect $150" type thing. Looking at my account, it says that my 2 year contract will be up in June of 2011 which makes sense. That makes my Premier 1-year upgrade fall in June 2010. I just hope they don't screw something up and somehow mess up my 1-year upgrade to the Evo.
 
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You can use an upgrade from one line and use it to get a phone for another line, I've done it quite a few times. They basically do the upgrade onto the line that is eligible and then swap the phones around. But if you do this when there is a rebate involved the rebate will be invalid if the phone isnt left on the line that was due for the upgrade for 30 days. To get around this, just get the phone at Best Buy or Radio Shack where they do instant rebates.
 
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Here's the weird thing about my account:

I had the account for a long time and this past summer I added my girlfriend and upgraded to a family plan on Pre launch day, June 6th, 2009.

Now it shows her name above mine on the account as if hers is the primary line. Not only that but it has shown her as having a $150 upgrade available since last month. It is weird. I don't care which line they consider the primary line but the discount thing is weird. I'm thinking that it is more of a "bank error in your favor, collect $150" type thing. Looking at my account, it says that my 2 year contract will be up in June of 2011 which makes sense. That makes my Premier 1-year upgrade fall in June 2010. I just hope they don't screw something up and somehow mess up my 1-year upgrade to the Evo.

If something does come up I'm sure retentions will fix it. Also you can just call and ask them to move the primary status back to the line that you use. My wife and I had to do that. It won't be a big deal.
 
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If something does come up I'm sure retentions will fix it. Also you can just call and ask them to move the primary status back to the line that you use. My wife and I had to do that. It won't be a big deal.

I will do that if I have to but hopefully my line comes up for re-up in June and hers keeps the $150 discount that is inexplicably there so she can upgrade whenever she gets tired of her Pre and feels like spending some money.
 
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I have 3 lines on my account and I just found out something today that I wasn't aware of (per Sprint's policy for Premier Members).

If you're a Premier member and you have other lines on your account, even if those lines have been with Sprint over 10 years or you're spending over a certain amount, the lines that are not the "primary" account number, will not have the "Premier Upgrade" available every year. Those additional lines are only eligible for the "normal" upgrade timeframe (I believe it's 22 months, but I can't remember off the top of my head).

What sucks about this even more, those 2 additional lines that I have are my parents lines that I moved over to my account, so that I could pay for the cell phone bill. Even though they've been Sprint customers since 1999, the "Premier Member" policy doesn't allow for them to take advantage of the 1 year upgrade advantage.

Anyhow, at some point, I'll definitely be speaking to retentions to see if they can grant an exception. Can you imagine, my parents had their own account on Sprint since 1999, but because we decided to move their lines over to my account, all of a sudden those 7-8 years (prior to moving their lines over) don't count for anything!...lol.
 
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I thought Premier 1-year upgrades were always for just the primary line. That's why I was concerned that our wrong line might be designated primary.

Yeah, that's what I just found out today. I didn't realize that, until I logged onto my Sprint account and noticed that my 2 other lines weren't eligible for upgrade until August (which is about 2 years since I last upgraded their lines).

The cool thing is, the rep was able to get his manager to bump up their upgrade date to June (to prepare for the EVO release), so if I decide to get them EVO's, I'll be able to get the full discount for all 3.
 
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Hello,

I am looking to upgrade from my Pre but I have a question regarding price.

Let's say that the HTC Evo is priced at $199 for arguments sake.

Now, I am a Sprint Premiere Customer who is due to upgrade next month. It is $150 to upgrade with Sprint Premiere.

My question is, if the EVO is priced at $199, would the upgrade apply to that price, in turn costing me $49 to purchase the Evo?

Any information would be helpful.

-Rob

The $150 off just means you get EITHER $150 off full list price or the nationally advertised price, whichever is cheaper. Obviously on the evo the advertised price (hopefully 199) will be less than 150 off the full price, so you'd just take that.
 
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You can use an upgrade from one line and use it to get a phone for another line, I've done it quite a few times. They basically do the upgrade onto the line that is eligible and then swap the phones around. But if you do this when there is a rebate involved the rebate will be invalid if the phone isnt left on the line that was due for the upgrade for 30 days. To get around this, just get the phone at Best Buy or Radio Shack where they do instant rebates.

You are correct however in talking to Sprint, they say they will still honor the mail in rebate. Here is my Chat.

Agent (Courtney D): "There is no exact detail available about the launch of this phone. I can change the primary line now. This phone will be available in the coming summer. Once the phone will be available, you can purchase it directly for the line #**********."
04/28/2010 11:46:12AM Agent (Courtney D): "You can even purchase it for the other line and we will activate the same on the line #**********."
04/28/2010 11:46:36AM : "Ok, let's just leave everything as is and we can do that.. Thank you so much for your time Courtney."
04/28/2010 11:46:56AM Agent (Courtney D): "If the phone will have any mail in rebate we will apply the same on the account."
04/28/2010 11:47:09AM : "Perfect! You have been very helpful"
04/28/2010 11:47:25AM Agent (Courtney D): "This way you can purchase the phone for the line #********** and can activate it on the other line #**********."
 
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You can use an upgrade from one line and use it to get a phone for another line, I've done it quite a few times. They basically do the upgrade onto the line that is eligible and then swap the phones around. But if you do this when there is a rebate involved the rebate will be invalid if the phone isnt left on the line that was due for the upgrade for 30 days. To get around this, just get the phone at Best Buy or Radio Shack where they do instant rebates.

I just want to get straight what you're saying.

Say for example, in my case, I have 3 lines (A,B,C)

Line A is the primary account (eligible for yearly upgrades).
If 1 year has gone by and Line A is happy with the phone he/she currently has Line A can use the 1 year upgrade, temporarily have their line connected to a "new phone" and swap the "new phone" to line B or C as soon as it's convenient, while also re-activating the "old" phone for Line A.

I hope that's correct. Can the swap happen immediately after the phone purchase or do you have to wait?
 
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when i moved my wife over to my account she had gone through her 2 years and i had been through one, i had the $150 premier on my line, and then when we upgraded her phone she had the same $150 premier on her line, also we had looked at a phone and it was around $150 without the mail-in rebate, and when we ordered the phone it was brand new, and free. now with that experience i would think is the EVO is $200 with 2yr contract(after mail-in rebate) then with the premier discount it should be $50(after mail-in rebate.

not sure is this helps
 
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when i moved my wife over to my account she had gone through her 2 years and i had been through one, i had the $150 premier on my line, and then when we upgraded her phone she had the same $150 premier on her line, also we had looked at a phone and it was around $150 without the mail-in rebate, and when we ordered the phone it was brand new, and free. now with that experience i would think is the EVO is $200 with 2yr contract(after mail-in rebate) then with the premier discount it should be $50(after mail-in rebate.

not sure is this helps

I highly doubt the EVO would be any cheaper than $199 (after any rebates/discounts) anywhere. That said, I'd love to get an EVO for even less, but I just can't realistically see Sprint selling EVO's for $50. Even for "premier customers".
 
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when i moved my wife over to my account she had gone through her 2 years and i had been through one, i had the $150 premier on my line, and then when we upgraded her phone she had the same $150 premier on her line, also we had looked at a phone and it was around $150 without the mail-in rebate, and when we ordered the phone it was brand new, and free. now with that experience i would think is the EVO is $200 with 2yr contract(after mail-in rebate) then with the premier discount it should be $50(after mail-in rebate.

not sure is this helps

The price they advertise, say it is $199 after rebate is the price you pay AFTER the $150 upgrade discount is applied. You won't be able to get it for $50.
 
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