After 30 days, is a new, reduced-price phone possible?
Our TDMA contract just expired, and I want to get the $59.99 family plan before Sept. 1 (don't worry, someone at an onground store told me about the new rates coming out, too, so it's not just leaking on here).
I really wanted to get the Nokia 6230, but apparently that would be a bad idea until they fix and re-release it. Can't say that I like the other phone options all that much, either.
So, we're looking at the SE z500 for now. My question to you all is this: if the fixed 6230 doesn't come out within the 30 days, will I have to pay full price for it, or is there another way to get the phone at reduced cost, without signing a new contract and losing the $59.99 family plan?
Thanks for your time! 🙂
I really wanted to get the Nokia 6230, but apparently that would be a bad idea until they fix and re-release it. Can't say that I like the other phone options all that much, either.
So, we're looking at the SE z500 for now. My question to you all is this: if the fixed 6230 doesn't come out within the 30 days, will I have to pay full price for it, or is there another way to get the phone at reduced cost, without signing a new contract and losing the $59.99 family plan?
Thanks for your time! 🙂
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I guess another question would be, is the Nokia 6230 that good (when it's not crashing)? It looks like the best combination for me of features and size/form factor, from what Cing. has available.
Also, I like the bar form factor - my 8260 has been a very convenient pocket phone. However, I was told that it would be a bad idea to carry the 6230 it in a pocket because the TFT screen can get damaged easily. Is that true?
Thanks again! 🙂
p.s. I'll cross-post this to the 6230 forum
Also, I like the bar form factor - my 8260 has been a very convenient pocket phone. However, I was told that it would be a bad idea to carry the 6230 it in a pocket because the TFT screen can get damaged easily. Is that true?
Thanks again! 🙂
p.s. I'll cross-post this to the 6230 forum
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you can talk to the store manager, but i'd be willing to bet that after your 30 days you will not be able to get the discounts on the equipment again. its basically the same situation as if they came out with a new phone after your 30 days and you liked that better. after 30 days = full retail price
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Get it from the manufacturer or from Ebay.
Either would be cheaper than full retail through the store. Usually.
Either would be cheaper than full retail through the store. Usually.
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Thanks for the replies. I spoke with a retail store rep (better service 🙂 ) yesterday and was told the same thing - after 30 days, you're stuck with the phone you have unless you pay full price for a new one or get one elsewhere. Sooo...
If I get a cheap/free phone with the family plan now, I'll save $240 over the life of the contract, which I can use to justify spending full price on a decent phone later (assuming one comes out that I like). If I wait, Cingular still might not come out with a phone I like later this year, and I'll be stuck at the $69.99 rate, anyway. If I compromise and get a decent phone, but not what I want (I want something comparable to the 6230, like the 6682 or even the 6102), and then something else comes out...
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If I get a cheap/free phone with the family plan now, I'll save $240 over the life of the contract, which I can use to justify spending full price on a decent phone later (assuming one comes out that I like). If I wait, Cingular still might not come out with a phone I like later this year, and I'll be stuck at the $69.99 rate, anyway. If I compromise and get a decent phone, but not what I want (I want something comparable to the 6230, like the 6682 or even the 6102), and then something else comes out...
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This is what I would reccommend to everyone:
I get people coming in asking what "comes with the plan". I get so frustrated when I hear this. You CANT THINK OF IT THIS WAY.
Nokia 6010s, Samsung C207s don't "come with the plan", they are just so freaking cheap that they can be made for hardly anything and sold out for free with an activation. It's not like it's the phone Cingular reccommends or anything.
You are going to pay for what you get with a cell phone. If you want to be cheap about it and get a free phone, that's what you are going to be stuck with for your 2 years.
Do yourself a favor, splurge a little bit extra for a better phone. This is something you are going to be living by for two years, why cut yourself short...
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I get people coming in asking what "comes with the plan". I get so frustrated when I hear this. You CANT THINK OF IT THIS WAY.
Nokia 6010s, Samsung C207s don't "come with the plan", they are just so freaking cheap that they can be made for hardly anything and sold out for free with an activation. It's not like it's the phone Cingular reccommends or anything.
You are going to pay for what you get with a cell phone. If you want to be cheap about it and get a free phone, that's what you are going to be stuck with for your 2 years.
Do yourself a favor, splurge a little bit extra for a better phone. This is something you are going to be living by for two years, why cut yourself short...
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Also remember that the 6230 is discontinued. and any exchanges with WSC(XBM) will result in a substitution currently with a moto v551 or Siemans S66.
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AshDizzle, thanks for taking the time to respond, but I need a response that is specific to what I was asking. I never said I was "being cheap about it;" so the straw-person fallacy is not needed. I *am* after a phone I'll be happy with. What I just want to know is if it would be smarter, financially, to wait and buy at full price the phone that I really want, to gamble that one of the new phones I listed will come out within 30 days (or, ideally, a fix on the 6230 - not likely), or to get a high-end phone now that I may not be happy with because it's not really what I want. So, the hypothetical question was, if it were you, what would *you* do? (And technically, at least AshDizzle has answered that, in a way, so: thanks, AshDizzle.)
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Where are you? As of two weeks ago, my local Cingular store still had 6230's in stock. Zip-95621
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See the "6230 STOP-SHIP!" thread in this forum: apparently, if I buy any of the 6230's currently available (and the stores in my area have now pulled their stock anyway), then I'll have a phone that crashes a lot. Not the ideal solution. 😕
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I second the Ebay option. The best place to find unlocked phones for less then retail. Find a used T637 to hold you over if you cannot get the price you want for the 500.
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The rep you spoke with about the 30-day return is correct. We (agents) have to return the phones to PALCO (Cingy's return company) and they will verify if the return was within the 30-days.
Here's what most people don't understand. Agents have to BUY their equipment from Cingular. It's just not handed to us. When we activate a phone AND plan for a customer, Cingular compensates the store X amount of money. Depends on the phone, the plan, and how long the contract is.
If a phone is returned after 30 days, since the agent has to buy the phone, there is no "re-compensation" on it and the agent would be stuck with it.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not going to lose money. So basically that's why. To my understandin...
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Here's what most people don't understand. Agents have to BUY their equipment from Cingular. It's just not handed to us. When we activate a phone AND plan for a customer, Cingular compensates the store X amount of money. Depends on the phone, the plan, and how long the contract is.
If a phone is returned after 30 days, since the agent has to buy the phone, there is no "re-compensation" on it and the agent would be stuck with it.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not going to lose money. So basically that's why. To my understandin...
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I've had reps in three different onground stores now tell me with confidence that they'll bring back the 6230, fixed. All false confidence, then? Or do they lack information that you have? (Just curious!)
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they are not bringing it back. Once it's gone it's gone. Nokia is replacing it with the 6682(?)
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