[PhantomApolyon]

Originally Posted by Cicatrize

This is mainly for informational purposes for those of you who are on SERO plans who have not ordered a Touch Pro 2 yet. It's also partially a rant.

Allow me to preface this with a few facts. I'm currently on the $30/mo SERO plan with a Touch Pro that I purchased with upgrade on October 24th of last year.

My initial contact with Sprint 2 days ago regarding the Touch Pro 2 resulted in a response stating that I must upgrade my SERO plan to the Everything Plus $59.99/mo plan in order to get the phone. I also was informed that I would have to purchase the TP2 for the full price of $599, due to my upgrade eligibility.

I then called retentions yesterday and mentioned I had talked to Verizon, and they told me the phone was $199 after rebates and I could order on Friday. This had no effect on her, and she pretty much told me to go ahead and cancel my plan since there is no additional discount she could offer me on the TP2.

I called the employee line today and got nowhere with another guy, so he transferred me to retentions again. This lady was a little nicer, but also got nowhere with her, so she transferred me to her manager. The manager's best offer was to give me my $75 upgrade discount (1 yr) one month early, and also knock $25 off my bill, making the phone $499. Not one of the people I talked to was willing to give me a credit toward the purchase of this phone, even though I've been a customer for 2.5 years now. They all said they've been given direct orders to specifically not discount this phone, and when I asked why, the manager told me that their policies have changed a lot, and the company is more geared toward a cheaper plan approach, rather than the cheaper phone approach as they've had in the past. After weighing all my options in an Excel spreadsheet, purchasing the phone for $500 on my current plan is MUCH cheaper (even for only 1 year of service, not taking the 2 yr contract into consideration) than the other plans through Sprint or Verizon. That pretty much leaves me stuck having to buy a phone for $500...which is a little crazy if you ask me.

Share your experiences. I'd like to see if anyone without upgrade eligibility was able to get further than this.

This is just silly.

#1 - You SHOULD have to pay full retail price, you already used your upgrade- which was YOUR choice, not Sprint’s (I assume you got your TP1 via your upgrade).

#2 - The phone costs what the phone costs, there’s no more to the story. It’s a whopping $50 more expensive then the TP1 was (and its more than 50 dollars better). I don’t really see how the price is SO outrageous.

#3 – The retentions department is for at-risk accounts and genuinely there to help people with legitimate issues. You are not really at risk (and they know) and you definitely don’t have a legitimate issue.

#4 - 2.5 years is not a long time.

If you want to argue about phone pricing you really should send an email to the logistics and marketing teams for sprint corp. and HTC as well, but bugging a department that is there to help people with legitimate issues (retentions) about something they have no control over is silly. Why are you, as an extremely low paying customer ($30/mo) thinking you should get more discounts. If you look at it from a company standpoint, you should pay the MOST of any of the customers because your monthly rate more than makes up for the higher phone pricing and they make little to no money on your account anyways.

I’ve seen 2 TP2’s given away at $0 to business account customers. Why was that possible….because they pay a descent monthly fee, sprint will re-coop the costs in the long run and the customers asked nicely and with legitimate reasoning.

Now don’t get me wrong…I’m ALL for discounts and making customers happy and satisfied…when its applicable. Hell, I give customers free stuff and discount stuff all the freaking time. You seem fairly intelligent, why are you adding to the pile of unreasonable customers that want handouts for no reason? It’s a premium product and it sells for a premium price…pay to play.

/endrant