Touch Pro from Best Buy with $100 Sprint Rebate

[Darkjedi]

When I got my Mogul with SERO online I thought I was promised a 100$ rebate + another 250$ instant online discount bringing the phone's cost down to $200. There were multiple rebate forms with different expiration dates, so I just sent in the latest expiring one that I downloaded off the Sprint website. I found out a couple weeks later while checking the rebate website that my rebate was rejected because it expired and I got pretty upset. I was going to complain about it, but a couple weeks later I checked the website again, and it said it was approved, but for 200$ instead of 100$, final price being 100$. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. At this point I'm still not sure whether the original amount really was for 200$ or 100$. Patience paid off in this case.

[baldyguy]

My rebate was denied today. I will call the number on the postcard and see what happens.

Are they going to credit your account or send you a check in the mail?

Originally Posted by Addicted23

My rebate was denied because this offer required: "Your new Sprint Phone to be purchased at a qualifying store location."

I called the number on the post card 1-800-477-4127 and inquired about the rebate status and the rep told me it was denied for the reason above. He asked where I purchased the phone and I confirmed that it was Best Buy. He told me to hold while he researched and he came back and said Best Buy is a qualifying store and he will be issuing an expedited refund.

SWEET!!!

[twentysixtwo]

Just checked my $100 rebate and it was approved - paid $199 at BestBuy on January 6th so it will end up $100 oop. I tried to get the $75 loyalty credit but was shot down. May try again if anyone has suggestions.

[twentysixtwo]

My take:

1) Price discrimination is a well understood means of maximizing profit over a set of consumers with varying utility levels.

2) Rebates are a form of price discrimination.

3) Sales and discounts are another form of price discrimination.

4) Companies who knowingly don't close loopholes allowing discount and rebate stacking are allowing an additional level of price discrimination.

5) Discount stacking is understood well enough that companies who (unknowingly) do not close loopholes have made a conscious decision at a separate level that the downside and cost outweighs the benefit (i.e. marginal revenue greater than marginal cost.)

6) Network externalities mean that Sprint's marginal cost of providing me service is really miniscule. After rebate I will have paid $99 for my TP. At $30 a month they will certainly recover more than the cost of the device over the course of my contract.

In a nutshell, their yield management has to treat people like groups and not individuals and overall, even though some individuals may benefit more (resulting in smaller profits to Sprint) their strategy overall theoretically gives Sprint larger profits.

[skydve1]

I called the local sprint store at the time, and the manager said they'd price match Best Buy. I bought two Touch Pro's at Sprint for $199.00/ea , did the MIR, and it was accepted without issues.

[infamous styles]

Originally Posted by baldyguy

My rebate was denied today. I will call the number on the postcard and see what happens.

Are they going to credit your account or send you a check in the mail?

They send a check in the mail. Mines was denied due to not valid store location but I called up and told them it was best buy. They said that was a valid location for the rebate, apologized for any inconvience, and processed it through. They even expedited it so that i'll receive the check in two weeks instead of 30 days. Ive been with sprint since 2002, and this is one of the few reasons why I'll stay with them. Despite some people saying they have issues with cs, any issues that Ive ever had have been resolved pretty easy and somewhat painless.

[boxerlover02]

After reading this I called *2 and the rep said I was able to send it in and get it. We'll see what happens.

[Scoob]

Originally Posted by boxerlover02

After reading this I called *2 and the rep said I was able to send it in and get it. We'll see what happens.

Did it work for you?

I think BB may be considered a valid location because a few months ago the BB mobile division was offering the Touch Pro for about $179 AFTER the mail-in rebate (BB didn't offer an instant rebate at the time).

anyway, I'm going to call later and see what happens too. Nothing to lose I guess...

[stupenal]

an update for those who may also be in the same boat -

just called sprint to have them reverse their decision to deny my rebate due to the fact that it was purchased at best buy. The rep claims that best buy normally is not an eligible retailer for rebates, however, the touch pro is the 1 exception. Uh huh, sure. He reversed the decision for me within a couple of minutes, gave me the mumbo jumbo about how he'll "expedite the process" to only "15 business days" instead of the standard 30. Sadly, he verified that the amount is correct for $100. Reason I say sadly is because I know in the past, Sprint has had a knack for issuing rebates double or triple the original rebate amount.

Total cost for the phone will be $225 (incl tax) - $70 renewal credit - $100 MIR. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Sprint $30 SERO for those who care.

[Scoob]

Update from me-
I also called the number on the rebate card and they said BB is a valid store so they "expedited" the rebate and promised that it'll be mailed within 15 days.

Pretty cool.