Touch Pro from Best Buy with $100 Sprint Rebate

[chronster]

so did you have to renew the contract with sprint or sign up with a new one? Was your two years up? $100 tp with a sero plan sounds nice. can you send me some money?

[nursemm05]

Originally Posted by tt7

You all know that at Best Buy they apply the rebate instantly so you don't have to mail it in, that is why you don't qualify for the mail-in rebate when you purchase the phone from Best Buy instead of a local sprint store where you would be paying considerably more out the door. I mean this is regularly a roughly $700 phone, can't you be happy that you get nearly $500 off when you purchase it with a 2 year contract?

actually that is not totally correct. At best buy AND at sprint if you are eligible for the upgrade discount you get that. this is an additional rebate offered by sprint. This has nothing to do with your upgrade discount which is taken off at the register.

[dvdmon]

Originally Posted by nursemm05

actually that is not totally correct. At best buy AND at sprint if you are eligible for the upgrade discount you get that. this is an additional rebate offered by sprint. This has nothing to do with your upgrade discount which is taken off at the register.

It's a little hard to compare BB and Sprint, now that I'm looking at their prices in my zip code. According to the online info at Best Buy, the original phone is $400, but that's when you buy it with a new contract (or upgrade), then on top of this you get an additional $100 "instant savings." At Sprint, the "regular price" (presumably what you'd pay without contract renewal), is $580, then there's a $180 "instant savings" which is presumably what they give you for your contract renewal (or new contract), making it the same $400 as the BB price, then finally you get $100 but in a mail-in rebate.

So essentially it is the same - $400 base (with new contract or renewal) and then an additional $100 which BB gives you instantly but Sprint makes you send in a form for and wait 8 weeks. For whatever reason, Sprint decided to provide the discount for Best Buy up front. Could be something Best Buy demanded, or could be they just agreed that BB's clientelle wouldn't pay $400 for a phone out of pocket, who knows. To be honest I think it's partially Sprint's own fault that this confusion, but they may have decided for BB they had no choice as they don't have the money to have Sprint stores in many of the locations that BB stores are in. But it seems like they are also "punishing" people who buy phones through their own stores or website by making them wait for this money. They are probably hoping that a decent segment of the purchasers will just forget to mail it in or will misplace it and then forget, etc. This is a big part of how the whole mail-in-rebate thing is constructed and to me it verges on the scammy side.

Anyway, I think basically the person who posted initially was trying to get an additional $100 off as a mail-in rebate from Sprint in ADDITION to the $100 that they already got off the phone from BB. One could argue that it's justified because Sprint is getting to bilk others out of the supposed rebate (hoping they'll forget to send the form in in time), but ethically that doesn't come out right, that's all I wanted to say. People need to make their own judgements about this stuff, but I also find it a bit odd to be discussing HOW to do it mos effectively so openly since it's I'm sure technically unethical if not "illegal."

[Eve6MediaHQ]

Originally Posted by gordec

Bought the Pro from BB back in Oct with the $199.99 deal and sent the Sprint 2 year renew rebate. The rebate got rejected about 3 weeks ago, but last week got an email from Sprint says rebate went through. Got rebate about 2 days ago for $100.00 which is still really good deal. Not sure if anyone else got this. Kind of strange rebate amount. Anyways, I'm on SERO.

I am attempting to send the rebate through for my $199.99 Sprint Touch Pro from Bestbuy as well. Reports on various websites are that even if you get a rejection notice, you will still get the rebate. If not, you can call up and appeal and often they just push the rebate through. I'm thinking my Touch Pro will end up $100 as well. I'm also on SERO.

[nursemm05]

Originally Posted by dvdmon

It's a little hard to compare BB and Sprint, now that I'm looking at their prices in my zip code. According to the online info at Best Buy, the original phone is $400, but that's when you buy it with a new contract (or upgrade), then on top of this you get an additional $100 "instant savings." At Sprint, the "regular price" (presumably what you'd pay without contract renewal), is $580, then there's a $180 "instant savings" which is presumably what they give you for your contract renewal (or new contract), making it the same $400 as the BB price, then finally you get $100 but in a mail-in rebate.

So essentially it is the same - $400 base (with new contract or renewal) and then an additional $100 which BB gives you instantly but Sprint makes you send in a form for and wait 8 weeks. For whatever reason, Sprint decided to provide the discount for Best Buy up front. Could be something Best Buy demanded, or could be they just agreed that BB's clientelle wouldn't pay $400 for a phone out of pocket, who knows. To be honest I think it's partially Sprint's own fault that this confusion, but they may have decided for BB they had no choice as they don't have the money to have Sprint stores in many of the locations that BB stores are in. But it seems like they are also "punishing" people who buy phones through their own stores or website by making them wait for this money. They are probably hoping that a decent segment of the purchasers will just forget to mail it in or will misplace it and then forget, etc. This is a big part of how the whole mail-in-rebate thing is constructed and to me it verges on the scammy side.

Anyway, I think basically the person who posted initially was trying to get an additional $100 off as a mail-in rebate from Sprint in ADDITION to the $100 that they already got off the phone from BB. One could argue that it's justified because Sprint is getting to bilk others out of the supposed rebate (hoping they'll forget to send the form in in time), but ethically that doesn't come out right, that's all I wanted to say. People need to make their own judgements about this stuff, but I also find it a bit odd to be discussing HOW to do it mos effectively so openly since it's I'm sure technically unethical if not "illegal."

I can't speak for others but I did not get the $100 rebate off. I got my upgrade discount off. I paid the same at best buy I would have if I went to sprint. no extra money off.

[neoshi]

you know.. i've always bought my plans/phones at a place called fone art, which is a store that shows up on sprint.com store finder, but i'm not sure what's the deal (if they're an officially recognized sprint store or whatever...). anyhow, two years ago when i got my moto q through them, i got rejected initially, then got approved when i called in. they just said it was a system error. so if fone art worked for me.. technically bestbuy should too.

[bkrodgers]

Originally Posted by nursemm05

I can't speak for others but I did not get the $100 rebate off. I got my upgrade discount off. I paid the same at best buy I would have if I went to sprint. no extra money off.

No, that's not true. You paid $299 (or $199 if you got in on the sale) at BB, right? That price is with the $100 rebate already applied. If you buy it from Sprint (according to their website) you pay $399.99 in the store and get $100 by mail. So if you get it at BB and manage to get the rebate honored, you are absolutely double dipping.

I love a great deal, but as someone pointed out, Sprint's in pretty bad shape. I'd like them to stick around long enough for me to get some use out of this phone.

[nursemm05]

Originally Posted by bkrodgers

No, that's not true. You paid $299 (or $199 if you got in on the sale) at BB, right? That price is with the $100 rebate already applied. If you buy it from Sprint (according to their website) you pay $399.99 in the store and get $100 by mail. So if you get it at BB and manage to get the rebate honored, you are absolutely double dipping.

I love a great deal, but as someone pointed out, Sprint's in pretty bad shape. I'd like them to stick around long enough for me to get some use out of this phone.

um no. When I bought mine sprint AND best buy both had the price at $199. That included upgrades but NOT the additional $100 rebate. I checked it before I bought it to verify this. There was NO discount of $100 anywhere.

[neoshi]

these CSRs need to get on the same page then. because i've talked to four or five or them this week and they all know i've gotten my TP at best buy and when i asked them if i was still eligible for rebates, they all said yes. ugh..oh well.. $165 for the TP isn't bad.

[Addicted23]

Originally Posted by dvdmon

Guys, I hate to say it to be the lone parental voice here, and I know I'm going to get lambaseted for it, but all of this is just kicking Sprint when they are down. The ethics of this is obviously wrong but I'm not going to place judgements on anyone as I've done similar things myself in the past. However, just for your own interest, you might consider that making Sprint lose even more money is not going to help you either in the long run. Sprint is in trouble and every additional $100 that they don't get which they should is just going to hasten their demise or at least buy-out by some other carrier. Just as likely is their getting rid of all the friends and family/SERO super-discounted accounts and only let those people who are proven Sprint employees and their immediate families to have these. For those of us with SERO plans, we've saved a buttload of money, and it's a little disturbing having this forum host an open discussion on how to trick Sprint out of more money that really is not ours to have...

So here's your bottom line:

1) You have a super cheap SERO plan that you should not qualify for

2) You are afraid that if too many people abuse Sprint (like you are doing), they will do some cleaning and remove your SERO discount

That doesn't sound like you are really taking the ethical stand here. If you were, then you would call and get on a regular sprint plan.

Note, the $100 I "might" receive with this rebate is nothing compared to the monthly discounts you are receiving. I'll switch with you any day and would eagerly give you $100 (and more) if you can get me on a SERO plan.