[donniebyers]

Once again Sprint does its best to shoot itself in the foot. The company famouse for the worst customer service in the business just announced pricing for its new Curve 8330, and current customers have to pay more to upgrade for the curve versus new customers. And that's only if they fulfilled their current contract.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/333/C15167/

This may be standard practice within the industry, but sprint is already losing its existing customer base like rats deserting a sinking ship.
They company should actually reward loyal customers that have stuck with the company, not kick them in the nutz.

Sprint may actually lose me as a customer when my contract is up. Idiots...

[Sith_Apprentice]

*moving to rants/raves*


Its more profitable for a company to attract new customers, and its not as likely that customers will leave if they are existing customers. This is how the industry works.

[donniebyers]

That argument would hold water if it wasn't Sprint, which has seen customers literally running to competitors like ATT and Verizon in recent years. And I'm not sure the company is even profitible.

I predict they'll lose even more customer base, once the 3G iPhone is released. Sprint will react like usual, by bombarding your phone at night with offers for free cheap phones if you sign a contract with them.

And we all know how well that worked after iPhone 1.0...

[tel-x.com]

1 word "sprint"
^and that says it all

[TBOLTRAM]

Considering the debt load are any of the carriers actually profitable? After reading the information about Verizon I am not sure it is any better shape than Sprint.

[mark0341]

Wirelessly posted (8830)

You should check out Alltel. They will have the Curve out this Thursday.

[bigolsparky]

Wirelessly posted (8310)

My Wife has Sprint(Nextel). They seem to treat their existing customers worse than any company I have ever seen. I get my upgrade devices cheaper than new customers. Where I live there are only two players. Sprint/Nextel and ATT. Anything else gets sketchy coverage. I paid 99.00 for a new Curve and 29.00 for a refurb 8700 and a Pearl. Those phone from Sprint would have cost over 1000.00.

[koleary19067]

Tell sprint you are going to leave and they will change their tune.

[Sith_Apprentice]

scamming the carriers is never recommended for the record

[southwestcomm]

If you are at your contract renewal date you can upgrade at the same price as the new activation price. What isn't fair about that?

[koleary19067]

Wirelessly posted (Sprint 8830)

Originally Posted by Sith_Apprentice

scamming the carriers is never recommended for the record

I was not referring to scamming. Thanks!!

[Dinan3]

well, noone is making anyone do anything. Its either stay or leave. For me, I will gladly hand over the cost of etf to end my frustration.

[rDeuce]

Originally Posted by koleary19067

Tell sprint you are going to leave and they will change their tune.

That's not always true. My cousin and I both tried that at one time or another over the years and they just say "okay" and transfer you over to the cancellations dept. Sprint sucks end of story. Switching to Verizon was the best thing I could have done. I would have switched to AT&T but until recently they didn't offer insurance on PDA phones and I wasn't going to have an uninsured Blackberry or other PDA device.

[Cory Scheuer]

^ hey at you least you can get insurance... we dont as far as i know in canada, at least least i havent seen fido or rogers offer it... be happy you have the option :(

[SpectreBlofeld]

This line made my mind boggle:

You see, if you choose to get in on this CrackBerry action sans contract, Sprint is going to charge you an arm and a leg. The regular price is a whopping $749.99.

WTF?? I work for Verizon, and our 'full retail' price is $419.99.

Is there any good reason why Sprint's full retail is $330 more!?

[JGBerry]

Originally Posted by donniebyers

Once again Sprint does its best to shoot itself in the foot. The company famouse for the worst customer service in the business just announced pricing for its new Curve 8330, and current customers have to pay more to upgrade for the curve versus new customers. And that's only if they fulfilled their current contract.

BlackBerry Curve From Sprint Priced at $749.99

This may be standard practice within the industry, but sprint is already losing its existing customer base like rats deserting a sinking ship.
They company should actually reward loyal customers that have stuck with the company, not kick them in the nutz.

Sprint may actually lose me as a customer when my contract is up. Idiots...

i just read that article and wow... i am with verizon and after the on-sale price, new every-two discount, and $50 rebate...my new blackberry curve will cost me $50. sprint wants to charge its customers $229.99? HORRENDOUS.

in my opinion, you get what you pay for. for cell phone service, i don't go with the cheap b/c it always comes around and bites you in the @$$. i pay more for verizon than i would with other carriers, but i get the best coverage, the fastest data speeds, and overall i am very satisfied. i laugh when i hear stories of people with tmobile or sprint and then they complain about certain things...EXACTLY the same reasons WHY I WENT WITH VERIZON. pffff

[diaznatalie2006]

no the regular retail price of the curve is 599.99 and new customers and customers that are eligible for a 2-yr upgrade can get the curve for 179.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate....so for a new curve you pay less than 200 dollars and with the simply everything plan for $99 you can take full advantage of (navigation, blackberry email, web browsing, live tv, music store, unlimited txts and unlimited voice and still have great coverage) id like to see ANY other carriers offer all of that for 99$ a month

[strike2tamu]

Originally Posted by diaznatalie2006

no the regular retail price of the curve is 599.99 and new customers and customers that are eligible for a 2-yr upgrade can get the curve for 179.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate....so for a new curve you pay less than 200 dollars and with the simply everything plan for $99 you can take full advantage of (navigation, blackberry email, web browsing, live tv, music store, unlimited txts and unlimited voice and still have great coverage) id like to see ANY other carriers offer all of that for 99$ a month

Would you really?

[Dawg]

Originally Posted by diaznatalie2006

no the regular retail price of the curve is 599.99 and new customers and customers that are eligible for a 2-yr upgrade can get the curve for 179.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate....so for a new curve you pay less than 200 dollars and with the simply everything plan for $99 you can take full advantage of (navigation, blackberry email, web browsing, live tv, music store, unlimited txts and unlimited voice and still have great coverage) id like to see ANY other carriers offer all of that for 99$ a month

But can you send a multi media message? Nope so not everything for 99.

[ma077146]

Originally Posted by Sith_Apprentice

scamming the carriers is never recommended for the record

I agree about scamming, not worth the effort and usually fruitless. You can ask some pointed questions, and if you don't mind waiting through the awkward silence that follows, you might get somewhere.

When Sprint was ready to release the 8830, I had just "upgraded" from the 7510 to the 7100i a few months earlier. When I called to order the 8830, I was told I had to pay $549.00 for the device.

I think the discount and instant rebate made the phone $199.00 for a new customer. So, I just asked the person I was talking to, "Why does a new customer get a better price that a customer who has used Sprint Nextel for more than 14 years? Why should I be penalized just because I want the newest device?"

She asked me to wait a minute, and when she came back, she told me I could have the 8830 at the discounted price, but I had to verbally agree that if I tried to upgrade before one year, I knew I would have to pay full price for a new device.

You may need to call back a few times to get the right person, or ask to speak to the Retention Team, but if you're willing to make the phone calls, and if you express your interest to remain with a carrier, you'll usually get what you want, or something very close to it.

Remember, a carrier spends a lot of money in advertising and other expenses to get one new customer; after a heavy subsidy on the phone, it takes a while for them to start making money from a customer. Regardless of what donniebyers may be thinking, they don't want to lose him as a customer, and especially not if he's been one of the good ones that keeps his account current.