Why is Cingular giving me such a hard time upgrading???
I want to upgrade my phone to the V400, so I went to Best Buy last week to get it. I'm on contract until Sept. 9th and because of that the Best Buy employee told me I couldn't a new phone until I was eligible. So he called someone at Cingular to find out when that would be and she told him I would be eligible on June 9th. So, I went to another Best Buy store over the weekend and just for the heck of stopped to see if this guy would tell me the same thing. He did, but this time he told me I wasn't eligible until my contract expires in September. Well, I just called Cingular Customer Service to see what eligibilty date they'd give me and if I could move that date up. The lady I was talking to said not until Sept. So I asked her if I cou...
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popcorn said:
I want to upgrade my phone to the V400, so I went to Best Buy last week to get it. I'm on contract until Sept. 9th and because of that the Best Buy employee told me I couldn't a new phone until I was eligible.
That is correct. Unless you want to pay full price for the phone, we ask that you be complete (or almost complete) with your current contract.
We are selling you the phone for about $150 off, and need some time to make that money back from your monthly plan. If you still have six months to go on your plan, then we won't just give you a new phone without checking to see if we can afford it.
To qualify for an upgrade discount:
1) Be a customer in good standing (not too many disc...
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Thanks Myth, this whole thing makes a lot more sense now. I feel a lot better having heard you explain this to me in detail. I think I was being pissy before because that Customer Service lady was only answering my questions with the most minimal of effort. Thanks again!
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popcorn said:
Thanks Myth, this whole thing makes a lot more sense now.
Glad I could help.
It was nice getting a question on this, since I just finished the training on upgrade protocols. 😁
Please don't ask me about international roaming yet, though. That still confuses me.
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though to slightly defend the rep, it is much easier to thoroughly answer a question (like that one) on a forum then it is over the phone.
also like myth replied, he just got done getting trained for it. so she might not have been trained (or trained correctly) for upgrades yet.
also like myth replied, he just got done getting trained for it. so she might not have been trained (or trained correctly) for upgrades yet.
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Well, my problem with the rep was that I didn't feel like she even put the effort into trying to explain it to me. For instance, when I asked her about early eligibility she sounded annoyed when I kept asking her questions but it was because her answers weren't thorough.
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She said "yes, but someone will have to approve you." So I said "who?" and she said "someone here" so I asked if she could and she said "yes, but I would have to sign a new 2-year contract and that I would also get a $18 upgrade fee on my next bill."...
I actually condensed that section of the conversation for the sake of typing out the whole thing, but basically in order to get all the information from that last answer I had to ask her under wha
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Myth said:...popcorn said:
To qualify for an upgrade discount:
1) Be a customer in good standing (not too many disconnects for non-payment)
2) Be at least 21 months into a 2-year plan, or 11 months into a 1-year plan, or out of contract.
3) You can get a contract exception if you are a good customer ($75/month or more, for st least three consecutive months), and at least 12 months into your contract.
We were told that it was an Average of $65 dollars month.
Also, some markets were eligible for an early exception upgrade, however, as of Monday of this week, I'm told ALL exception upgrades are no longer available. You can get the $18 upgrade fee waived if you read the notices or
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Alright, I have one more question on this topic and then I promise to drop it! 😁
Someone (not a Cingular employee) told me yesterday that because I have a TDMA phone and want to upgrade to a GSM phone that I should be able to do that at any time without having to pay the full price of the phone. Reason being is that Cingular is pushing everyone to the newer network. This doesn't sound right to me since I figure someone would have mentioned this to me by now but it doesn't hurt to run it by you guys. Anyone hear anything about this or was this done in the past??
Someone (not a Cingular employee) told me yesterday that because I have a TDMA phone and want to upgrade to a GSM phone that I should be able to do that at any time without having to pay the full price of the phone. Reason being is that Cingular is pushing everyone to the newer network. This doesn't sound right to me since I figure someone would have mentioned this to me by now but it doesn't hurt to run it by you guys. Anyone hear anything about this or was this done in the past??
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That was the Exception upgrade program they were pushing out. However, they aren't doing that anymore.
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Quite honestly, it depends on you. If you are what they consider a "good" customer, most of the time carriers are not against giving you a free or heavily discounted phone, if it'll mean you upgrading your plan, which you will have to do if you switch from TDMA to GSM. Think about it: a phone is a one-time thing from you. If they can get you on a higher plan or a longer contract, they should always be willing to work with you. I wouldn't outright challenge them, that's bad business. But if you are really wanting to switch, it would be worth checking into. It never hurts to ask.
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Thanks everyone for your responses.
That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for the clarification!
That was the Exception upgrade program they were pushing out. However, they aren't doing that anymore.
That's what I was thinking, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for the clarification!
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There still may be special offers, sent out to certain classes of customers with their bills.
Out-of-contract customers should expect to see these, and I'd guess that TDMA customers will see some too.
Marketing and Central Command can choose to send these things out, and then we can honor them. They are not otherwise available as anything we can offer.
If you get one, feel free to check with your local dealer as to what the fine print might be; it may or may not be a good deal for you.
Out-of-contract customers should expect to see these, and I'd guess that TDMA customers will see some too.
Marketing and Central Command can choose to send these things out, and then we can honor them. They are not otherwise available as anything we can offer.
If you get one, feel free to check with your local dealer as to what the fine print might be; it may or may not be a good deal for you.
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Well, interestingly enough, I went to Best Buy on Saturday and they upgraded my phone for me with not a single problem. I told my friend about it and she went in and they upgraded her too, and her contract expires a month after mine. Apparently persistance pays. I don't get it, but I'm not complaining... well... not anymore, at least. 😎
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Well the reason why they have upgrade fees is because the wireless providers do not make the cell phones. No matter what company gives the phone they lose money. Its a "investment" that will cost the company and no matter what a customer thinks these phones are not sold to the wireless provider for pennies. In europe they buy the phone usually at a much higher price than what US customers would even pay without a contract or discount. They take the new phone to whatever company they want and thats that. The wiresless provider knows they wont get blamed if the antenna falls off with 6 different phones because they did not sell the customer the phone nor did they make it. The customer is liable for finding the phone and replacing it in the fut...
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