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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Sprint PCS / January 2004Amazon rebates
Anybody have any experience with Amazon cell phone rebates? I'm currently on a Sprint PCS plan ($30/mo for 300AT, unlimited 9P NW, plus $5 for WW) with my Kyocera 6035. I am well past my contract expiration date. I have given up on getting a Kyocera 7135, and am planning to settle for the mostly inferior Treo 600 (yeah, yeah... I don't like thumbboards, I'd prefer a clamshell, but I do like the RAM and flash memory slot -- and the improved processor). Anyway, Amazon is offering a deal whereby you get $150 rebate from Sprint (for a 2 year contract), and a $200 rebate from Amazon. With an up-front price of $600, this leaves me paying $250 (plus tax/shipping) for the Treo. My concern is whether I qualify for both rebates. I'm pretty sure that I'll qualify for the Sprint PCS $150 rebate (http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000SX2U2.01.RB36.LZZZZZZZ.jpg), which merely requires activation on "a new line of service" with a 1 ($100) or 2 ($150) year contract. Since I'm past contract expiration, I ought to qualify. At a local Sprint PCS store, they pretty much confirmed this -- they're showing the same rebate forms. It's the Amazon rebate (http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000SX2U2.01.RB38.LZZZZZZZ.jpg) that may be more problematic: "This rebate does not apply to phone purchases for use on an existing account and phone number. If you already have an existing account and wish to obtain a second line of service, you will qualify for the rebate if you purchase and activate the phone with a new service plan." I'm taking this to mean that although I'm out of contract, I'll need to first activate the Treo with a new phone number and THEN cancel my existing account. I can't keep my old phone number. I'd prefer to keep my old number, but it's not a big deal to me. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? A salesman at the local Sprint PCS store started weaseling mightily when I asked him to explain why I shouldn't take Amazon's offer, which was $200 better than his offer. He was trying to tell me that Sprint might not honor such a deal unless I hadn't been a SPCS customer for at least 3 months. He wasn't being terribly convincing about this claim, though. It sounded a lot like he was making it up as he went along... Anybody have any similar experience? Any SPCS insiders who can give me the straight poop? You probably won't qualify for either. Both require new line of service, which means new customer. A contract renewal normally does not qualify. I'm 99.9% certain you won't qualify for the Sprint $150 2 year contract offer, and 90% certain on the Amazon rebate. > Anybody have any experience with Amazon cell phone rebates? > [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > Anybody have any similar experience? Any SPCS insiders who can give me > the straight poop? > You probably won't qualify for either. Both require new line of service, > which means new customer. A contract renewal normally does not qualify. > I'm 99.9% certain you won't qualify for the Sprint $150 2 year contract > offer, and 90% certain on the Amazon rebate. Okay, thanks for your ruminations. I'm actually looking for someone who has experience one way or the other... In article <cGmPb.104251$Vs3.17138@twister.socal.rr.com>, rlsusenet@NOSPAMPUHLEEZschnapp.orgNoSuchPerson@bigfoot.com says... > > You probably won't qualify for either. Both require new line of service, > > which means new customer. A contract renewal normally does not qualify. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > I'm actually looking for someone who has experience one way or the other... Your existing phone number won't qualify for the rebates Amazon is offering. For all practical purposes, "new line of service" means the same thing as "new phone number." That is *not* the same as "new customer." Some customers can have 2, or even more, phone numbers. As long as it gets activated under a new phone number, and that number stays active the requisite 30 days, then you qualify for the rebates. That said, I've helped customers with Vision problems who bought a particular phone under a new line of service, then swapped it over to an existing one. Frankly, I can't find anything in our system that declares that invalid. As long as the new line stays active for 30 days, the rebate is owed.  Signature-+- RX_ O/Siris I work for SprintPCS I *don't* speak for them. > In article <cGmPb.104251$Vs3.17138@twister.socal.rr.com>, > rlsusenet@NOSPAMPUHLEEZschnapp.orgNoSuchPerson@bigfoot.com [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > as the new line stays active for 30 days, the rebate is > owed. Cool, thanks O. So, are you suggesting the possibility that if I kept both lines going for 30 days after receiving the Treo, I could then possibly transfer the Treo over to the old number? Alternatively, if I don't want the hassle and expense of switching, I should be able to cancel my old line of service shortly after activating the Treo without endangering my rebates? > > In article <cGmPb.104251$Vs3.17138@twister.socal.rr.com>, > > rlsusenet@NOSPAMPUHLEEZschnapp.orgNoSuchPerson@bigfoot.com [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > should be able to cancel my old line of service shortly after activating > the Treo without endangering my rebates? That should work, but what O/Siris has neglected to mention is that for the 30 days, you will be paying for two phone lines (of course, you'd sign up the new line with a minimum plan with no Vision, etc.). But worse than that, when you cancel the new line of service, you're liable for the early termination fee. That wipes out your rebate. >> > In article <cGmPb.104251$Vs3.17138@twister.socal.rr.com>, >> > rlsusenet@NOSPAMPUHLEEZschnapp.orgNoSuchPerson@bigfoot.com [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > But worse than that, when you cancel the new line of service, you're > liable for the early termination fee. That wipes out your rebate. Which suggests that I simply activate the new line of service, and cancel the old one, shortly thereafter. It's not that big a deal for me to change cell phone numbers. I'm an old fart -- nobody calls me, except on rare occasions. It would be *nice* to keep my old phone number, but not a big deal. I'm just wondering how long "shortly" needs to be. It would be a waste to keep the old phone activated until the rebate shows up (usually 8 weeks after submission). That's around $80 down the drain. So, it's either a matter of waiting a few days, or 30 days. I'll probably go with the latter, in the absence of any better information... We shall soon see. After 3 weeks of backorder limbo, Amazon has shipped my new phone! In article <eZEPb.963$cu6.707@twister.socal.rr.com>, rlsusenet@NOSPAMPUHLEEZschnapp.orgNoSuchPerson@bigfoot.com says... > Which suggests that I simply activate the new line of service, and > cancel the old one, shortly thereafter. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > We shall soon see. After 3 weeks of backorder limbo, Amazon has shipped > my new phone! One of the accounts on which I worked switched the phones across the very next day. I'm not a part of the rebate center, but I've found nothing in our system which requires either a) the original/old line remain active or b) the phone remains on the new line The new line must remains active for the assigned period, obviously. That, however is the only requirement I been able to verify so far. Signature-+- RX_ O/Siris I work for SprintPCS I *don't* speak for them. This is what I have been told. To get the Amazon rebate requires a new line of service that is in place for a least 30 days and you sign at least a 1 year contract. The Sprint rebate is available to you as long as you have been with Sprint over 18 months with the same original phones. You will be required to sign a 2 year contract to get the full rebate. The way to handle this whole scenario is this. Let us assume you have 2 original phones on one account and both are out of contract which means cancellable at any time. Go to Amazon, buy 2 new phones. Activate the 2 new phones with new lines of service under a 2 year contract. You must then keep all 4 phones active for at least 30 days. Do not sign a contract for the original phones!! Then cancel the original phones that are out of contract after 30 days and transfer those phone numbers to the new phones assuming you want the original numbers. I know for fact Amazon only wants to see the phones were activated and that it is a new line of service with a 1 year contract and active for at least 30 days. I verified this with an Amazon cell phone specialist. The Amazon rebate will not work if you just replace your existing phones. It must be a NEW line of service. As some others have said, if you don't have the credit to set up 4 phones in this scenario, you can forget the Amazon rebate, but you still qualify for the Sprint rebate. The Amazon rebate requires a Sprint bill which shows activation of the phone and 30 days of service with a 1 year commitment on it. You can buy and get rebates on up to 5 phones from Amazon. When ordering the phone from Amazon, you need to buy the phone, select your service plan, select 1 or 2 year commitment and then complete your purchase. The tough thing is if you buy a $500.00 phone, you pay $500.00 and have to wait probably 12 weeks for the rebates. I do suspect, you could cancel the original phones sooner than 30 days, but you will loose the original phone numbers. Bernie > Anybody have any experience with Amazon cell phone rebates? > [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] > Anybody have any similar experience? Any SPCS insiders who can give me > the straight poop? > This is what I have been told. To get the Amazon rebate requires a new > line of service that is in place for a least 30 days and you sign at > least a 1 year contract. The Sprint rebate is available to you as long > as you have been with Sprint over 18 months with the same original > phones. You will be required to sign a 2 year contract to get the full > rebate. Right. That jibes with my understanding. > The way to handle this whole scenario is this. Let us assume you have 2 > original phones on one account and both are out of contract which means > cancellable at any time. Go to Amazon, buy 2 new phones. Activate the 2 > new phones with new lines of service under a 2 year contract. You must > then keep all 4 phones active for at least 30 days. Do not sign a > contract for the original phones!! Yeah, well *that* is pretty obvious! 8-) > Then cancel the original phones that > are out of contract after 30 days and transfer those phone numbers to [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > 30 days, but you will loose the original phone numbers. > Bernie Okay, so your understanding is that it is possible to switch my old phone number to the new phone, but that I need to keep the old phone going at least the thirty days after activating the new phone, if I want to try that. Otherwise, if keeping the old phone number isn't worth a month's service to me, I could probably terminate service on that phone almost immediately after activating the new one. Sounds good. I appreciate the assistance, Bernie and O/Siris! >> Anybody have any experience with Amazon cell phone rebates? >> [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] >> Anybody have any similar experience? Any SPCS insiders who can give me >> the straight poop? You haven't provided a convincing argument why the old phones need to remain active for 30 additional days. Why not transfer the old numbers to the newly activated phones the very next day? SignatureJohn Richards > The way to handle this whole scenario is this. Let us assume you have 2 > original phones on one account and both are out of contract which means [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Amazon only wants to see the phones were activated and that it is a new > line of service with a 1 year contract and active for at least 30 days. > You haven't provided a convincing argument why the old phones need to > remain active for 30 additional days. Why not transfer the old numbers > to the newly activated phones the very next day? I think the rationale would be that 30 days after activation, they will be checking to make sure that the phone is on a new line of service. Once that happens, you can cancel the old line and transfer the number to the new line. I'm not sure I want to be a test case for whether they are willing to call my new service contract a "new line of service" if it's got the old phone number when they check on it. The way the Amazon rebate reads is you can't use the existing phone number with the rebate. The rebate says you must show a new phone number, a new 1 year commitment and a new service plan. It can be on the original account but must be a new line of service. So my guess is buy the phone, activate the phone, set up a new line with a new phone number, 1 year commitment, and a new service plan. Then once you get your bill showing all the above, mail a copy of your bill showing all the above and then you can cancel the original phone and port the original number to the new contract. My understanding is Amazon only wants to see the activation, 1 year commitment, new contract, new phone number attached to the phone just purchased. After you send in the rebate, you can do what you want. The logic is it will probably take 30 days to make this all happen anyway. The copy of the bill is the key. Again, this is only the Amazon rebate we are talking about. The Sprint rebate will be a given if you are out of contract or just adding extra lines. Srint wants the copy of yours Amazon phone sales bill and the new phone number and the account must be kept active for 30 days. If you change the phone number, you need to update the Sprint rebate at an 800 number to show what your did so the rebate stays in place Bernie >>You haven't provided a convincing argument why the old phones need to >>remain active for 30 additional days. Why not transfer the old numbers [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > call my new service contract a "new line of service" if it's got the old > phone number when they check on it. > The way the Amazon rebate reads is you can't use the existing phone > number with the rebate. I've been trying to find something authoritative on this, and failed. What follows is speculation: It seems to me that Amazon gets paid as long as the new phone number gets activated and stays so for at least 30 days. As a result, I can think of very little business incentive to enforce this, even if it's written as you say. I'm not saying it *isn't* written that way. I just haven't looked at Amazon's conditions for myself. Signature-+- RØß O/Siris I work for SprintPCS I *don't* speak for them. |
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