Handset upgrade question
Hey guys. I am a T-Mobile customer that is out of contract (I have been a customer since VoiceStream) and I would like to upgrade to a new handset. The best deal t-mo seems to want to give me is the same deal you would get if you were not a customer at all - for instance, $149 for the Moto V330 with a contract(which I think is two years!) I think that is crazy. I am willing to sign a contract, but is there anyone I can appeal to for a bigger discount? Isn't being a loyal customer worth anything anymore?
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To be honest, you should really be happy with that discount. More often than not, you would pay more than a new customer for a phone, so getting the same cost without activation fees should be considered a real bargain. Not to mention that the phone is already less expensive than if you were to go buy it with out T-Mobile sponsoring it. Basically it is a good deal and that should pretty much make you very happy. Two years ago, you would have had to pay more than the new user.
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Personally, I think you should get more of a discount, but unfortunately it's not that way. The V330 hasn't been out that long, so if I was going to buy it, I might wait a few months until the price drops. Also, T-Mobile only has 1-year contracts, so it's not that bad.
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I have seen V330 for free after rebate on internet. Of course this is for New customer with a 1-year contract. But all you need to to do is sign-up with another name(ie, your girl friend, your parents, and so on).
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Wouldn't that start a new line of service in the girlfriend/parent/dentist's name?
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and in doing so you will start off as new customer losing all benefits that you have acquired.
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Moto V330 is a farely new phone. V300 is 2yrs old. You can get better deal at a t-mobile store. Instead of going direct over the phone. Wait until July, might be better offers. Plus Moto RAZR V3 is coming out July 11th. You might like that phone. Don't know the price yet. Hope that helps some.
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Thanks for the replies. To clarify:
- I dont mind signing a contract
- I dont think I should have to pay as much to get the phone as a new customer
- I cant sign up with another name, I want to keep my number!
The V330 is free after rebate on Amazon right now. The T-Mobile store wants $149. Why would I think thats a good deal?
Also, amagorno, maybe 18-24 months ago I did a handset upgrade to the Nokia 6610. At that time, I had the same issue, in that the store wanted $150 or something. I talked to the right person at Customer Care, and they shipped it to me for $36. So no, I am not happy with the discount I am getting.
I think I will wait until the 11th and see what the price on the RAZR is, and then start in on Customer C...
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- I dont mind signing a contract
- I dont think I should have to pay as much to get the phone as a new customer
- I cant sign up with another name, I want to keep my number!
The V330 is free after rebate on Amazon right now. The T-Mobile store wants $149. Why would I think thats a good deal?
Also, amagorno, maybe 18-24 months ago I did a handset upgrade to the Nokia 6610. At that time, I had the same issue, in that the store wanted $150 or something. I talked to the right person at Customer Care, and they shipped it to me for $36. So no, I am not happy with the discount I am getting.
I think I will wait until the 11th and see what the price on the RAZR is, and then start in on Customer C...
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gtrietsc said:...
Thanks for the replies. To clarify:
- I dont mind signing a contract
- I dont think I should have to pay as much to get the phone as a new customer
- I cant sign up with another name, I want to keep my number!
The V330 is free after rebate on Amazon right now. The T-Mobile store wants $149. Why would I think thats a good deal?
Also, amagorno, maybe 18-24 months ago I did a handset upgrade to the Nokia 6610. At that time, I had the same issue, in that the store wanted $150 or something. I talked to the right person at Customer Care, and they shipped it to me for $36. So no, I am not happy with the discount I am getting.
I think I will wait until the 11th and see what the price on the RAZR
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I would like to say, more like a frugal shopper. As I said before, typically getting the same price as new customer is not really the case. It would be nice, but getting a better deal than the new customer defeats the purpose of those deals. Those deals are intended to get people to sign up. I won't criticize a person for trying to get a good deal, but what I said before is the general situation. As far as getting a better deal from customer care, yup I've seen that. And if that's what you want to do, go for it. But please keep in mind that just because you are a regular customer already, that doesn't necessarily mean you are more special than a new customer or more deserving.
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Our policies are changing too concerning phone upgrades, and further handset discounts, even for retention. Starting July 1, we can't under any circumstance further discount ANY handset. The pricing is supposed to start changing as well, adjusting for account history, tenure, payments, previous adjustments etc...so we have to follow the price that pulls up on the upgrade form from now on. You can try to negociate all you like, but it's not going to get pricing down any lower. It's going to make my job a bit harder, too, and all the other AG's.
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How will this inflexible system handle phones that have been returned? At the moment, it is a manual search that has to be done through the record to confirm a phone was returned. Then a superviser has to approve the subsequent upgrade. Will the new process automatically take into account returned phones within the 30 day period (California).
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even the old system required a manual review if anything occured such as a phone return, mobile number change, price plan change...the only difference is we knew what the phone price would be. That's a very good point, with newly proposed system I don't know how we would validate pricing if it needed to be done manually...
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Hope you waited now there is a $100 mail in revate when you renew your contract!!! 😁
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And to comment on the v330 amazon price if you notice you would have additional t&C as in higher cancellation fee, gotta wait to send off rebate cant change rate in time before rebate and as well not even be late on the payments at all.
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What are the details on this $100 rebate for renewals? I'm thinking of getting a new phone and my contract ended over a year ago.
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Well, I don't know what to do. I am not paying $200 for an equipment upgrade. ESPECIALLY since new customers get it for $199 and I would have to pay $249 and wait for some lousy ass rebate. If Cingular were worth a crap as a phone company I'd switch in a heartbeat and get a free RAZR - I guess I'll just stick with my Nokia for now til the price comes down to reality a bit.
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Did you call in to see if that was the price they would offer you? Besides, the V330 is a good phone that after rebates and all is only $99. It actually is a better overall phone than the RAZR.
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Your whole premise here is really skewed. New customer pricing is what it is because we as a company take a calculated loss to gain a new customer. Phones cost more money than you ever pay for them, even when you upgrade early at a partial discount. In this case you are getting the same pricing as a new customer, just partly in a rebate instead of instantly. We do this because we know a certain percentage of people are too lazy to fill out the forms, and that saves us some money. However, there is no reason you need to be one of those people, and you will therefore get the same as new customer, which is our MAXIMUM DISCOUNT. I'm happy that you've been with us for several years, but its not as if you were donating money to us every mont...
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And I'd love to tell ya, but all streamline has to say about the 6101 is TBD.
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JDigital said:
Your whole premise here is really skewed. New customer pricing is what it is because we as a company take a calculated loss to gain a new customer. (snipped)
I don't really think my premise is skewed, and here is why: I am willing to sign a contract, just like a new customer must. And any business school will teach you that it costs much more money to gain a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. Or that one unhappy customer on average will tell 10-11 people, who will then tell probably 5 people.
I don't think I am entitled to a free phone. I just think I should get a better deal than a new customer, who they don't know will pay their bills on time, stay loyal, etc. Bu...
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I agree completely. I haven't had the best service from T-mobile and have been giving them the benefit of the doubt for quite some time now and have yet to switch companies even though T-mobile is lacking behind. Now that there are new phones available I would be glad to stay if I were offered some loyalty and a further discount. I have already talked everybody I know out of signing up w/ T-mobile because the selection of phones and the service are sub-par. I guess I'll switch soon and continue to spread the word...even though I'm sure the other companies have the same practices, but better service. If T-mobile were smart they'd offer longterm customers really good deals (like on the Razr for example) to stay on board and promote a posit...
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Just got off the phone with a CSR and after being told I would get the RAZR for 249.99 and a 50.00 mail in rebate I told them I was going to consider Cingular because I could get the black RAZR for 199.99 without bothering with a rebate. After being on hold for a bit the CSR came back and hooked me up with the phone for 174.99 and no rebate if I agreed to another 12 months.
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Did you take it? There are some people saying they got it for $100. I think retentions stopped that, cause people was abusing the system. So, now they can only get it for $175.
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Yeah, I took it. I didn't talk to retentions although I might should have. I was really surprised to get the 175 as in the past they would never go below the new account price. Heck, I been with them for like nine years as I was a charter member of Powertel you would think they would give me the thing.
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I'm very aware that it costs more to gain a new customer than to keep an existing one... that was my whole point. If we sold every existing customer a RAZR for $99 or whatever, that would no longer be true. In the wireless business, a huge chunk of the money required to gain a customer is handset loss. If we started going more in the hole on upgrades, that would be a terrible business decision. This is especially true since we only have one-year contracts. Beleive it or not, a single-line customer on a $39.99 rate plan is just barely starting to be profitable for us after TWELVE MONTHS, unless of course he has lots of overages or added services. Take into account the fact that you only sign up for a year at a time, and that you are eli...
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I guess I have to agree with what you're saying. Personally, I have thought about moving over to Cingular several times, but all I have to do is got to their forum and watch their reps discuss things and it cures me from wanting to move to Cingular. My only difference of opinion here is, if Cingular is offer a better upgrade price for their current customers on a phone that T-Mo sells as well, why isn't it ok to ask if they can meet that price for an upgrade for me a T-Mo client for 4 years now? I not asking for a $99 RAZR, that's a little steep, but a similar upgrade cost like my friend on Cingular for $175 doesn't seem totally unreasonable.
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If you can call in to customer care and convince them to send you one at a better price, then I can't really blame you. Just remember that with Cingular you are committing for another two years to get that pricing. They can afford to give you a little better deal since they are guaranteeing themselves an extra twelve months of income from you. I know that we have actually been testing a program where certain eligible customers are sent an offer in the mail to upgrade to a V330 or V600 for very cheap or maybe even free if they agree to renew for two years, so that may be something that T-Mobile makes official in the future.
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That would be ok, two years to get a good deal. I like T-Mo, don't really want to leave it, but the phone thing keeps making me think.
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When I say phone thing, I really don't mean the prices, but the how new the phones are.
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what makes u think that u deserve more than a new customer? u pay for what u get. u want a better phone ur gonna pay some cash for it.
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