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Sprint Premier Ends. Changes here.

Sprint getting rid of sprint premier. Screwes customers again. - xda-developers

Sprint is doing away with their Premiere Program (for Gold Members) and if you don't use it by Dec 31, you loose it. They also will only give you 14 days to try phones instead of 30, ETF's are now $350. Unlimited Data will soon be gone replaced by Data Caps and Bandwidth Throttling.

What's funny is I just spoke with a Retentions Manager and he told me that the e-mail came out 30 minutes ago and how did I know about it already. I told him the Webz is a Blaze with the news already. They want to be Verizon and AT&T with lesser service (Data Speeds), their 3G is a Joke compared to the other 2 and 4G (WiMax) is no where near LTE. He claimed they will have LTE, but that will take forever and a day. I have had a Tower down by my house for 2 months now and need an Airwave just to get 3G service in my house.

This is what happens when you get the Darn iPhone. It's the Carrier Killer. They think their Crap does not stink now. I HATE the iPhone and wish it stayed far away from Sprint:mad::mad::mad: Looks like the Bionic is in my near future. I just bought the Photon too. Guess I will eat the OLD ETF as I am still Grandfathered into that one and go with Verizon.
 
Yup, Sprint Primere benefits are ending. And, now the 30 day return policy is only 14 days (likely due to abuse, imo).


http://www.androidcentral.com/leake...r-program-return-policy-and-more-and-you-wont


Edit: humm.. must be iPhone related, IMO. If you'll notice, the return policy change starts on the 16th... the day that the Galaxy S 2 (Epic Touch) is launching... that would put the end of your return time frame just before the iPhone 4/5 is rumored launch on Sprint. ...Just a possibility (its fun blaming Apple for this shit, and usually true).

However, there is some good news... Full upgrades are now available at 20 months instead of 22.
 
Do you really think they care. They are getting the iPhone and feel they can be Jerks now. The Retentions Manager TOLD me he just got the email within the last 30 minutes. It's happening. The Raping is coming. When it does come don't act surprised.
 
So sprint won't grandfather any of their customers? That seems fairly bogus to me. Both AT&T and Verizon have grandfathered in previous customers.
 
BenChase7 said:
Yup, Sprint Primere benefits are ending. And, now the 30 day return policy is only 14 days (likely due to abuse, imo).
Click to expand...

This is what Android Central's Jerry Hildenbrand wrote in response to a reader who questioned his support of Sprint in making difficult decisions:


That's a bit uncalled for, don't you think?

Sprint is dying. They haven't expanded their network footprint in almost a year, lost a huge favorable roaming contract, and have spent all their time and money trying to block the AT&T-Mobile deal so they can ensure that T-Mobile goes bankrupt and not them.

At this point, they have three choices:
1. Kill the data plans, which is the only real reason they get ANY new subscribers.

2. Raise rates to the level of the two competitors.

3. Kill customer loyalty plans that drain their bank account, and clearly aren't drawing new customers.

Anyone who thinks Sprint (or any carrier) cares about anything other than the bottom line is a fool. Besides, if they run themselves out of business, they can't offer you a damn thing.

Now you may not agree with my analysis. You don't have to. But don't insinuate that I didn't write what I think.

​
I agree with Jerry. Sprint has to take action to avoid failure. I believe Sprint offers a competitive service and without Sprint, Verizon and AT&T would raise rates without a response.
 
^^
I saw JH's response, too. I couldn't agree more with him, and think he sure worded it well. Like he says, without Sprint, we'd all really be screwed (no matter what carrier you're on). As long as Sprint keeps their unlimited plans that include everything, They'll be my favorite carrier. I wont deny this sucks, especially since I was a Premier Gold customer, but jeez... I've gotten a new phone every year for the last 6 or so years at new customer price... and getting another new one on Friday. Thats pretty hard to complain about. I guess I'll just have to live with upgrades every 20 mos, now. My only complaint w/ Sprint is the 3G speeds can be slow at times, but I'm hoping that the Network Vision upgrade that is underway will fix this for all of us. Anyways, sorry to make a short story long... just sayin, for now, I'm not turning my back to Sprint.
 
There is no doubt in my mind that these changes are all due to Sprint getting the iPhone and that they've been forced to implement them because of Apple. I can't see any other reason why Sprint would remove such attractive incentives with the exact same pattern both AT&T and Verizon did as the iPhone's popularity grew.

Unlimited isn't going away but unless people start moving to Sprint for unlimited plans, it'll become more difficult for Sprint to justify them.

Best thing you can do is to get as many friends and family members to switch to Sprint and proclaim very loudly that it's all because of unlimited data. One thing that Sprint has been doing very well lately is listening to their customers (example - allowing the removal of bloatware from their phones).
 
I would think that Sprint would know that the way to lose the most customers is to raise rates and move to tiered plans. I would much rather have the choice of paying more for a new device between upgrades than to be forced to pay more for service per month, regardless of carrier.

I have been noticing huge improvement in data speeds and service so as long as they maintain and continue improving and retain the lowest prices then I am good.
 
TheHoodedClaw said:
Sprint Playbook shows big changes coming to Premier program, return policy, and more (and you won't like any of them) | Android Central

Cr@pola!

Annual upgrades are indeed coming to an end, though we will get one more, looks like. If the above is accurate, we will need to use the final annual upgrade by Dec. 31, 2012. They are cutting the regular upgrade time down from 22 months to 20 months.

D@mn. I knew I shoulda gone to Verizon before they did away with new unlimited data!
Click to expand...

Yep, looks like our awesome perks are going away. We do at least get one more upgrade under our old policy as long as we use it by the end of next year. By then most people will have forgotten about how it used to be.

What's more annoying is the downgrade of the 30-day return policy to 14 days as well. This pretty much guarantees I won't be buying a new phone on release day in the future but instead wait for 4-6 weeks to make sure all the launch bugs are worked out (or at least acknowledged). Especially if upgrading will be far more expensive over the next 20 months, I'll want a phone I *know* works.

Edit: on the plus side, it looks like Sprint is doubling down on keeping unlimited plans, even with the imminent fruit invasion. Hopefully the Lightsquared LTE deal will prove better than the one with Clear/WiMax. I really don't want to pay the Verizon tax.
 
Read on Engadget last night that Spring is pulling a new rule starting 09/16 the trial period will be shortened from 30 days to 14 days. What the heck? Are they doing it so people don't return their phones when new iPhone hit the shelves?
I don't care about iPhone, but still care about regular 30 days of making up my mind, especially if newer Android announced during these times.
 
As long as Sprint keeps unlimited data plans, I'm perfectly fine with whatever else they want to do, within reason, of course. If they do go to tiered plans, it won't be worth it anymore and I'll be jumping ship to Verizon, and I'm sure I won't be the only one. I do like how they moved full upgrades up by two months, though.
 
SFBayArea said:
Read on Engadget last night that Spring is pulling a new rule starting 09/16 the trial period will be shortened from 30 days to 14 days. What the heck? Are they doing it so people don't return their phones when new iPhone hit the shelves?
I don't care about iPhone, but still care about regular 30 days of making up my mind, especially if newer Android announced during these times.
Click to expand...

It has been mentioned in some other threads that the understanding is that people have been abusing the return policy. And frankly, you hear it all the time on these forums. "Gee, I tried the Evo 3D/Photon for 25 days, and now that the Galaxy 2S is here, I think I'll bring in my phone and get the new one."

And yes, I suppose the iPhone is driving a LOT of these changes. For instance, the premier gold is going away. I read somewhere that the subsidy on an iPhone is about $200 more than a standard premium cell phone. If customers are permitted to upgrade every year, that means Sprint is probably losing $400 out of pocket for iPhone replacements every year. That is a lot of money to keep a program that no one else in the industry has.
 
A good compromise (good to me at least, because it would let me keep my premier gold status) would be to get rid of plan price based premier levels but keep it for the 10 year+ customers. That way you could both reward and encourage loyalty.

Is there any way to determine what percentage of premier gold customers are there for longevity rather than the plan they've purchased?
 
I don't necessarily like it but I understand why they are lowering the return window. Too many people playing musical chairs with their devices on day 30. I cannot tell you how many times I have read on here about people having 3 devices in 3 months simply because something better came along that they wanted.
 
Didn't Verizon pretty much do the same thing right before they got the iPhone?? I could be mistaken but it seems like they made changes to their upgrade program & to their return policy just in time for the iPhone.
 
epark1281 said:
So sprint won't grandfather any of their customers? That seems fairly bogus to me. Both AT&T and Verizon have grandfathered in previous customers.
Click to expand...

There is some mild grandfathering going on. If you are a Gold Premier customer now and have used your upgrade in the past six months, you will still be eligible to upgrade one more time next year (as long as you do it before the end of 2012). If you are now eligible for an upgrade, you can also hold on to it and use it next year if you wish. I think the second option may also apply to Silver members too, but don't quote me on that.

I fully blame the upcoming iPhone for this, but as long as they hold on to unlimited data I'll stick with Sprint. From the language of the leaked documents, this is why they're eliminating these loyalty programs and reducing the return period.
 
CarrieK said:
I don't necessarily like it but I understand why they are lowering the return window. Too many people playing musical chairs with their devices on day 30. I cannot tell you how many times I have read on here about people having 3 devices in 3 months simply because something better came along that they wanted.
Click to expand...

No joke. I guess it was a matter of time. We'll just have to be more cautious in our phone buying. I'm also feeling better about this after I priced out my family plan on Verizon out of curiosity. Since Verizon does not offer unlimited data anymore, for the same price I'm paying now I was limited to 4Gb of shared monthly data. According to their own usage charts, you could burn through that in a couple of hours by streaming movies! No thanks.

(And I just realized I forgot to throw in warranty/TEP on my two lines in my test pricing, which would either bump the price or lower the data allotment.)
 
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