Captivate Free at WalMart

[rajendra82]

probably shouldn't call and hope they don't cath the mistake. calling them is asking for trouble, worse thing can happen is that they cancel your order if you don't call

They are never going to ship unless they verify your ID. That's standard practice for them, and that's what the customer needs attention thing is all about. So you have to call. If you don't do that cancellation is certain.

 

[samven582]

i will never order form lets talk again. getting in touch with there customers representative is impossible

 

[macsrock]

I just called and they said its a mistake and the price is $ 499. I cancelled my order. What idiots!!

 

[samven582]

i canceled my order

 

[TrAiChEic]

I hope you hated AT&T before they cancelled your order...

Since that's not really their fault.

Like most others, I've not be thrilled with ATT's coverage in my area.
After they repeatedly confirmed and fairly obnoxiously stressed via their own social media outlets the $350 no commitment price, I saw an opportunity to get a top of the line android phone to upgrade my E71x and with the option available for me to cut bait and move on once we see what happens a year from now with Verizon's LTE rollout and rumors of the end of the crapple exclusivity deal (the wife likes it).

Following tips on these forums, I went to three corporate stores in my area looking to buy the phone at the $350 price. Having not been in these stores for quite some time, I found lines, long waits, and rude customer disservice reps. And I didn't even have a problem, in fact I wanted to purchase equipment!!!

I've been with ATT in its various forms, starting with SunCom, then ATT, Cingular, ATT again...etc for what, 10 years?

The service doesn't improve, the customer service ranges from unconcerned to downright rude, and always includes long hold times or waits in line.

Of course the grass always looks greener on the other side, but how much worse can it be?

This Wal-Mart deal was my last effort, now that it has fallen through I see no reason to stick around except maybe to wait for the Fascinate to come out on Verizon.

-ATT...you're fired.

 

[Mr_Armageddon]

Called in to try and do the ID verification, and they informed me that I do need to do the verification, but that there is also and error with pricing and it is now $499.
He also said that some individuals received shipping notifications but, they will not go out, as it was a pricing error.
Looks like I am going to have to use my upgrade.

 

[Newcron]

Got a rep at minute 25, when I told her about 'Customer Attention Needed' she immediately (before I can say 'gimme mah phone!') put me back on hold. I gave up at minute 38.

I may call in later when I have time or I may not, I don't really care at this point. I'm sure they won't just charge me $499 and ship the thing (even if they did, doing a charge back through my cc company would take like five minutes), so I'm not gonna bother cancelling online either.

Finally received my cancellation e-mail. Can't say I'm too bummed about it.

I've been really interested with Android this past few weeks and if this order had gone through it would be my first experience with it. Turns out I'm going to still be relying on my Nokia E51 + iPod Touch a little longer, an absolutely perfect combo for me that I have no problem with at all for the past two years or so.

Well, Dell Streak is up soon. Let's see if I can get a hand on it with the 'right' price

 

[MisterEd]

Fedex doesn't pick up from these places until the end of the business day. There is still a long time left for them to catch it.

 

[Terry S]

I really do hope that those who received a shipment confirmation or those who haven't heard yet do indeed get thier phones. It would have been nice if everyone could, but it will be nice to see some lucky people get them.

 

[Markdek]

I'm actually glad this "glitch" happened as it made me look @ the future of Android phones some more, and how great they might be by Christmas (Froyo, etc.). Thank you Walmart/Lets Talk........

 

[jeeves5454]

Actually it might be a good time to start invoking the name of the "Better Business Bureau". It definitely appears to be a bait and switch tactic. Advertise one price, and order it at that price. Then say that there is a "problem" , and when the customer calls, offer them a 2 year contract or the same phone for more than twice the price they requested it for. Given an appropriate amount of time, customers may lose cell phone service due to prior commitments to give or sell their current phones.

Lack of cell phone service, which in many cases is the primary method of communication can be detrimental to one's livelihood and method of being contacted in cases of an emergency.

All in all, there are a number of issues associated with the treatment that customers are receiving. the BB should step in and downgrade their rating. I spent 2.5 hours on hold with Customer Service and I finally just hung up without talking to anyone.....

 

[rajendra82]

I don't believe that LetsTalk did any bait and switch here. They advertised the phone as a free phone with 2-year account deal, and that offer is still valid. They made a pricing error on the no contract price that they fixed within a few hours. Their standard operating procedure to have confirm ID by calling is wacky, but that's what they do with all phone purchases apparently. The problem with getting customer service today is likely due to the huge number of phones they sold yesterday because of the pricing errors. They probably don't have 2 hour hold times all the time. Since they are going to refund the money of everyone that they took the erroneous order from, they are not going to get in trouble with BBB. I don't think they did anything unusual considering the situation. Asking them to fulfill thousands of orders at the pricing mistakes is totally unrealistic. Almost everyone that placed the order there knew that the price was meant to be $499, so if they sold their phone hoping to secure this one at $230, they are idiots. If there has been any bait and switch in the case of Captivate, it was pulled by AT&T, with the $349 off contact price to gather interest, and then saying whoops, now $499. AT&T actually sold phone in stores early at $349, and then pulled the switch.

 

[Terry S]

I'm actually glad this "glitch" happened as it made me look @ the furture of Android phones some more, and how great they might be by Christmas (Froyo, etc.). Thank you Walmart/Lets Talk........

There is always going to be something better than what you bought that comes out just a few days after you buy yours. If you keep waiting for "how great they might be" you will wait forever. I was still using my old Razor just waiting... I could have upgraded twice by the time I finally decided to stop waiting.

 

[TrAiChEic]

If a BBB complaint needs to be made, its not for a price error on launch day corrected the same day.

It's on the bait and switch perpetrated by ATT reps via social media, confirmed repeatedly, where select handsets were sold at that price prior to launch day in some markets, and then suddenly increased at the time of launch.

 

[jeeves5454]

If a BBB complaint needs to be made, its not for a price error on launch day corrected the same day.

It's on the bait and switch perpetrated by ATT reps via social media, confirmed repeatedly, where select handsets were sold at that price prior to launch day in some markets, and then suddenly increased at the time of launch.

Actually, not being facetious, but I still have no idea what the price is supposed to be. I know that AT&T sells in to 499$ now, but they were quoted stating 349$ a number of times. The pricing for this phone has been all over the map, and asking sales people even a day before release would produce 10 different answers. Heck I got 3 differnet answers within a store itself.

Also a number of resellers have different off contract and on contract prices from the carrier stores. Look at Amazon.com and wirefly to confirm. They offered to sell the phone at a very good price, and frankly I would not purchase a locked down phone for a lower than par quality network except at a good price point. It appears bait and switch, not to mention a severe waste of consumers time to get any info from anybody competent from the carrier's side....

 

[rainierez]

Mine has been in activation all day.... PLEASE SHIP. lol

 

[geeknik_old]

There is always going to be something better than what you bought that comes out just a few days after you buy yours. If you keep waiting for "how great they might be" you will wait forever. I was still using my old Razor just waiting... I could have upgraded twice by the time I finally decided to stop waiting.

This is probably good advice. My five year old Nokia 6682 died just a couple weeks ago. I got it with a two year commitment in 2005 - could have literally updated twice, and only have a year to go until I could do it again. If only I knew then what I know now.

Though I'm thinking about bailing on the AT&T ship altogether.

we'll see.

 

[jrdoll28]

You can get it for 49 if you grandfather your old contract in. That is what I did and it worked like a charm.

Sorry, but I'm confused. I am due for an upgrade, but I'm not the primary line. So how do I get around paying full price for it? Do I have to create a new plan for minutes or just add the data plan?

 

[airmanjerm]

HI folks...I'm new and this discussion inspired me to sign up. Question for those of you who may know this:

Yesterday my wife and I (family plan) went to the AT&T store and both upgraded to the Captivate. Both of us signed new 2-year contracts, $199 each phone, simple.

Anyways: I'm seeing here about the phone being FREE (or $49 if I grandfather the data plan) with new 2-year contract, and some people are taking there already-purchased phones back and then going with this free/$49 deal. If I've already signed a 2-yr contract though, am I not able to take the phone back to the AT&T store then take advantage of the free/$49 offer? How do I get out of this brand new 2-year contract? Does it matter if I'm not a "new" AT&T customer?

Thanks for any assistance. If we could recover $400-$500, that would go a long way towards all the diapers I'll be buying this coming year.

 

[nb_mitch]

HI folks...I'm new and this discussion inspired me to sign up. Question for those of you who may know this:

Yesterday my wife and I (family plan) went to the AT&T store and both upgraded to the Captivate. Both of us signed new 2-year contracts, $199 each phone, simple.

Anyways: I'm seeing here about the phone being FREE (or $49 if I grandfather the data plan) with new 2-year contract, and some people are taking there already-purchased phones back and then going with this free/$49 deal. If I've already signed a 2-yr contract though, am I not able to take the phone back to the AT&T store then take advantage of the free/$49 offer? How do I get out of this brand new 2-year contract? Does it matter if I'm not a "new" AT&T customer?

Thanks for any assistance. If we could recover $400-$500, that would go a long way towards all the diapers I'll be buying this coming year.

With At&T you have 30 days to decide if you want to keep it. But, I will say the one time I have returned a device, it took them 3 months to credit my account, it did happen, but it still had $450 in limbo forever.

Then you would have to reorder it online from Let's talk directly or through the Wal-Mart link. You could also walk into a Wal-Mart if you can find them in stock and get them for $148. Last, you might want to try and call At&t and ask if they will refund some of your money. If they know what you are about to do, they might be more willing to give you some of your money back rather than loosing it all. You would probably need to talk to a supervisor or the retention department.

Ps. when I just went through the order process on Letstalk, it gave me the first one free and the second for $199, so apparently you can't get them both for free or even discounted on the family plan.

 

[peterpp]

Well, they put me on hold when I called them this morning but I was running late for work, so I hung up. At lunch, I decided stop by the ATT store and they had it for $349.99 so I jumped on it and got it before they upped it to 499.99 and I was getting bad feelings about the Letscall deal, good thing I went ahead and bought it from the store. This evening I called and cancelled the Letscall order. I'm loving my new phone!

 

[Terry S]

Those that are saying they got this free with an upgrade at walmat. Are you saying at walmart.com or actually at a walmart store? Walmat.com would not let me do it unless I changed my current family plan since it is an old family plan that is no longer offered and I didn't want to change it.

 

[Terry S]

Well, they put me on hold when I called them this morning but I was running late for work, so I hung up. At lunch, I decided stop by the ATT store and they had it for $349.99 so I jumped on it and got it before they upped it to 499.99 and I was getting bad feelings about the Letscall deal, good thing I went ahead and bought it from the store. This evening I called and cancelled the Letscall order. I'm loving my new phone!

Do you know if this was a corporate store? Where is it located?

 

[peterpp]

Do you know if this was a corporate store? Where is it located?

South Florida

 

[nb_mitch]

Those that are saying they got this free with an upgrade at walmat. Are you saying at walmart.com or actually at a walmart store? Walmat.com would not let me do it unless I changed my current family plan since it is an old family plan that is no longer offered and I didn't want to change it.

It is online only, in the stores the price is $148.88. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart is subcontracting the online sells to Let'sTalk, which has really messed this up. But it is still free for the first line on a family plan or individual plan either new or renewal.