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Old 02-24-2008, 10:08 PM   #1
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Default Who's Idea Was This?

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Who's idea was it to require two year contracts for cell phone use?

All of the companies require it. That means you cannot leave if you get poor or no service without paying a bribe to do so! Whatever happened to good service kept customers?

Could other industries get away with this? Swan ice cream 2 yr contract?
Cable TV 2 yr contract? good service means I stay happily. Poor service should be rewarded with loss of customers and revenue!

Sprint is fine right now so it isnt about them. It is about the Gall of all_of_them!
I cannot accept that my phone would cost $500 to $1000 if I didnt have the contracts! The market would fix that price stuff! Bad price? No sell phones!



My contract was up in April coming up until I got a new phone (for bad service no less!). Now it is extended two years without asking. I know, small print somewhere?

Just frosts my blackberries is all!

/rant off
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:11 PM   #2
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actually we are lucky, many other countries require a 3 year contract. you also have the option of a 1 year contract, or no contract with Sprint. (only carrier I am aware of that does this). You pay alot more for the device (600ish for the 8830) but you still get to be without a contract. call customer service and ask for the month to month price (it is $10 extra a month)
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:14 PM   #3
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don't tell anyone but 1 year and 2 year are technically available at ATT as well as no contract with their new unlimited plans

no contract means eithe you pay full retail or have your own equipment and you'll pay for the SIM card as well
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:15 PM   #4
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Yea, someday we won't have contracts, right? Here's to crossed fingers.

Verizon also will do 1 year contracts, but as Sith says, you will also pay more for the device. The lower device price is the 'incentive' for the longer contract.
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:15 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by ezrunner View Post
don't tell anyone but 1 year and 2 year are technically available at ATT as well as no contract with their new unlimited plans

no contract means eithe you pay full retail or have your own equipment and you'll pay for the SIM card as well
lucky for me i have 3 ATT SIM cards, only 2 active. I always keep a backup SIM just in case.
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:16 PM   #6
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don't tell anyone but 1 year and 2 year are technically available at ATT as well as no contract with their new unlimited plans

no contract means eithe you pay full retail or have your own equipment and you'll pay for the SIM card as well
Sure, we won't tell anyone...... we'll just leave it posted here.
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:17 PM   #7
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industry went to 2 years because the cost of aquiring new customers went up and it took/takes longer for a customer to become profotable. Thats what the cell companies are there for to MAKE money.

Main reason I went GSM easier to replace phones without having to use the carriers Thanks TMO and ATT
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:18 PM   #8
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Sounds good if you like getting gored before being run over! $500 to 600 dollars for a device that should not cost that much and is priced that way on purpose to get you to sign a contract!

/Now rant off!
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:19 PM   #9
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on average it takes about 18 months for a customer to become profitable
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:21 PM   #10
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on average it takes about 18 months for a customer to become profitable
That is what THEY say yes? Of course THEY will say that!
"We lose money on you!" "Love us!"
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:21 PM   #11
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It's all about the 'churn'. When a line is cancelled, it adds to a carrier's 'churn'.

High churn is a bad thing for a company. So, they lock you in so you are less likely to leave, thereby not affecting their churn numbers.
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:23 PM   #12
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wouldnt it be oh so stimulating if about 20 Million or so just up and left the carrier citing poor service? Churn in Capital letters then!

I wish it were about pleasing the customer. and I dont care to be a number. I am a person.
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:24 PM   #13
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on average it takes about 18 months for a customer to become profitable
That's assuming the provider is discounting the hardware to attract the customer. I don't believe there's any requirement to purchase a 2 year contract if you pay full retail for the device. And in that case there's no 18 month wait for profitability
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:26 PM   #14
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wouldnt it be oh so stimulating if about 20 Million or so just up and left the carrier citing poor service? Churn in Capital letters then!

I wish it were about pleasing the customer. and I dont care to be a number. I am a person.
Some carriers are learning this lesson the hard way. If I remember correctly, Sprint lost quite a few customers last year (not counting the ones they dropped). I stick with them mostly because my company gets a nice discount for employees. Oh, and because they have service where I live - which is another reason people stick with certain vendors.
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:27 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by SheepDog View Post
Sounds good if you like getting gored before being run over! $500 to 600 dollars for a device that should not cost that much and is priced that way on purpose to get you to sign a contract!

/Now rant off!
agreed but who is to say what something is worth and not worth?

alot goes into the design of devices many forget the price includes all the development engineering design marketing as well as hardware. testing shipping we as the consumer get to pay for it all.

are the prices hiked up alot? not as much as most think. I see the cost to ATT for devices there isn't a phone that doesn't go out for less than what ATT paid when bought on a new or upgrade contract except the iPhone.

Mark-up is in most cases less than 100%

If you wanna see jacked up prices check out the jewelry industry talk about mark_up in many cases almost 1000%
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:28 PM   #16
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hmm well wouldnt it follow that losing a customer to poor service SHOULD hurt the company so it has a desire to not want to lose customers? Instead they have a contract to protect themselves from thier possible lousy service!

"Yes, we suck- but you are on a contract!"
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:29 PM   #17
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hmm well wouldnt it follow that losing a customer to poor service SHOULD hurt the company so it has a desire to not want to lose customers? Instead they have a contract to protect themselves from thier possible lousy service!

"Yes, we suck- but you are on a contract!"
Welcome to America
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:29 PM   #18
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That's assuming the provider is discounting the hardware to attract the customer. I don't believe there's any requirement to purchase a 2 year contract if you pay full retail for the device. And in that case there's no 18 month wait for profitability
Carriers even when selling a device at full retail don't make all that uch on the equipment


Accessories is another thing but phones and Blackberrys the markup isn't all that much
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:33 PM   #19
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hmm well wouldnt it follow that losing a customer to poor service SHOULD hurt the company so it has a desire to not want to lose customers? Instead they have a contract to protect themselves from thier possible lousy service!

"Yes, we suck- but you are on a contract!"
Just to tack on...... I haven't personally received poor customer service from Sprint, but I have heard that others have.

The only beef I have with them is that when we closed our Nextel account and opened a Sprint account, they were not able to move the credit from the Nextel account to the Sprint account (same credit on Nextel as what was owed on Sprint).

Yes, I know they are 2 different billing systems, but it's been a few years since Sprint bought Nextel, hasn't it? To make sure they didn't cut off our Sprint account, I had to make a payment on the Sprint account, and they are mailing a rebate check from the OLD Nextel account. Seems a little ridiculous to me.

Not even my 'friends in high places' could help.
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Old 02-24-2008, 10:34 PM   #20
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hmm well wouldnt it follow that losing a customer to poor service SHOULD hurt the company so it has a desire to not want to lose customers? Instead they have a contract to protect themselves from thier possible lousy service!

"Yes, we suck- but you are on a contract!"
Thats why I am under no contract I can go when I please.


Customer service often comes down to the person you deal with in an ideal world everyone would receive excellent service and have all concerns and needs taken care of, unforunately there are those that abuse the system and one bad apple can ruin it.


this is why carriers have a 30 day trial period most can ascertain whether or not the carrier will suit them during that time
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