Old Phone Died - did I make the right decision?
 

I have been reading this forum for the past few months waiting for the PPC 6800 to come out. I haven't been in a huge hurry because my Verizon Wireless contract didn't expire until mid May. I was planning to purchase the SERO plan with the PPC 6800 as soon as it was available.

Well, my existing phone died this past weekend (standard voice phone - no data/non PDA). I called Verizon and they told me that I could only get a new phone if I wanted to sign a new 2 year agreement. No Thanks.

I ended up calling Sprint to see if they could do anything for me because I can't be without a phone for work until the PPC 6800 comes out. I ended up ordering the SERO 500 plan with the PPC 6700 for $288 and she told me that I could exchange it for the 6800 within 30 days. Do you think I made the right choice? I am pretty much screwed if it doesn't come out on the 18th, but then again, I am screwed if I don't have a phone for work.

I am also worried that it may be out on the 18th, but they will tell me that it isn't available when I call to exchange my phone. In that case, if I return my 6700, will they let me get the discount on the 6800 when it becomes available?

It would have been easier if my old phone held out for another few weeks.

Acropolis

Why didn't you just buy an old junker Verizon phone from ebay and use that until the 6800 is released?

I mean, hopefully the 6800 will be out mid June but we don't have any confirmation of that. Not to mention that there are reports that the 6800 will only be released to the business/corporate channels first, with a release to the public some weeks later.

Sounds like you've already ported your number and everything, so keep your fingers crossed. But I think it would have been a much better decision to make do with a cheapie $20 phone for a few weeks until Sprint figures out what it's doing in regard to the launch.

Good luck... hope it works out for you.

I thought about trying to find an old phone temporarily, but when I looked at ebay, most phones were going for around $25 plus $15 for shipping. I asked Verizon about activating a used phone and they told me that I would have to pay $35 to activate it. I decided I really didn't want to pay $75 for a temporary phone.

I figured I would gamble on the new phone and getting a 6800 in a month. Plus the lady at Sprint told me that if I returned the 6700 within the 30 days, that I would be eligible for the discount again once the return showed up in the system. Of course that means trying to figure what to do without a phone again while waiting.

the june release is for business accounts i think. the retail release is on 7/16.

Someone else suggested I take the 6700 and wait to see what comes out in a couple of weeks. If I can't order the 6800, they suggested buying an old used phone for Sprint since I have switched and using it with Sprint until I can order my 6800.

I guess I will have to play it by ear at this point. If they actually let me keep the new phone credit like they told me I can, I will be fine. If not, I may have to tell them I am going to cancel my account under the satisfaction guarantee since they aren't keeping their promise.

or...before 30 days is up switch it for a treo ... and then switch it again for the 6800...or back to 6700...etc. switch until you get what you like.

Do they start a new 30 day period when you exchange a phone?

The 30day exchanges period is from the origional phone unless they want to be nice. Did you get Tep on your phone? If so a broken charging port.........

They didn't even ask me about Tep, but I called back shortly after ordering and she said I could order it any time in the first 30 days.

My issue with Tep is that they will probably give me another 6700. I am going to see what happens. If it is in fact available on the 18th - even if it is only to the business users, I should have a pretty good argument for an upgrade.

ESN swap?
 

It sounds like returning your current phone and getting another phone incurs an activation fee? I had always thought ESN swaps were free, but I guess this is only if the phone was activated before.

What I would recommend would be a lot of work. Get a prepaid phone to which you can port your number to off eBay. You can resell the phone once you get your 6800, but you may not be able to resell your minutes if you port your number to Sprint. So at most you would lose whatever the cost of the minutes were, but would get back the money for the phone.

If you keep your 6700 make sure to apply for all your rebates. UTStarcom has a $100 rebate, Kelloggs has a $75 rebate and you might be able to get a Sprint rebate as well (I managed to get $100, some have gotten lucky and gotten $250 from Sprint!). You can send in copies of the UPC to everyone since you have multiple rebates, you probably will have to call to follow up if/when they reject you.

Actually, there were no rebates for the 6700. She told me that SERO customers never have to mail in rebates and all discounts are instant. The price I paid over the phone was $288 (plus tax). I also didn't have to pay an activation fee or shipping.

I think with the right customer service rep, I should be able to swap the phone even if it is only available to business on the 18th. As long as I call after the 18th and before my 30 days and tell them I am not satisfied that a new phone is available. I'm willing to wait until the retail date to make the swap if I have to.

The Sprint rebates, like I said are iffy, many people including me got them with SERO. The manf. rebates are:

$150 UTstartcom Manf. Rebate (used to be $100) this must be mailed in within 15 days of purchase, so I would recommend doing it regardless, no harm.

Also if you are still within your 15 day window take advantage of Sprints $25 referral offer. You get $25 as well as the person who "referred" you. I'm sure you could contact anyone on this thread for a referral if needed.

$75 Kelloggs rebate (won't work for your price)

I think since you are on SERO that will make it all the more difficult since you may have to deal with InPhonic for returns as opposed to Sprint and they are horrible. Also SERO phones don't get updated as the same time as Sprint, so I think the 6800 will show up on SERO even later than it does on Sprint. I would recommend calling Sprint and finding out if you have to deal with Inphonic and then calling Inphonic to see what they say as well. Retentions might still do something for you of course even if your other options fail.

Actually, I don't think that they require you to deal with Inphonic for returns any more. The lady I ordered the phone from (who seemed extremely knowledgable) told me that if I want to return the phone, just call customer care and they will email me a label. She said that I can either use the label to mail the phone back, or I could take the phone and the label to a Sprint company store and they will exchange it right there (she emphasized that I had to have the phone and label to take it to the store).

I think they are starting to realize how frustrated people are dealing with Inphonic.

That is good news, it used to be that ordering from Telesales/Inphonic would prevent you from going into the store to do a return. I guess as long as you have the label the store will accept (and use it to verify) that its a valid return.

Yep, I called to varify yesterday. He said that if I am going to return a phone to the store I need to let them know because the sheet/label I print will be slightly different. He also said that it has to be a Sprint Company Store that is set up to accept returns.