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T-Mobile rip off price on the Vibrant

M

MonkeyManiac2010

Newbie
I went to the store today. I am 13 or 14 months into my contract. The best they could do was $340 *and* it renews my contract. What!? I could pay the ETF, go over to Sprint and pay $199 for an EVO at that rate.

Ridiculous.

Their service rep on the phone told me $265.
 
Follow up:

Called up T-Mobile's 611. The lady there was awesome, is giving me a full discount (even though I'm technically not eligible). So new phone will be $267 - $50 mail-in rebate = $217. New two year contract. So I'm saving $123 just by calling them up instead of ordering in-store. I've been told that in-store people try to screw you because they want commissions.

New phone's on its way now!
 
That is true about the commission part which is the reason why I'd rather call customer service (retentions people) then deal with those *ahem* people. :) When I got the phone earlier, the person charged me $264.99 and I realized that after I swiped my credit card. So I said to myself that I would just call customer service rep when I get home. Once I called, 5 minutes later, I got my $15 credit. :cool:

Why settle for $267 though? You should have tried to get that $249.99 price before rebate, but I guess it's too late now.
 
I quit going to the stores for anything years ago. You almost always get better deals via the website or by calling corporate.
 
What store did you go to? Did you go to an actual T-mobile store or an authorized dealer? The phone from t-mobile is $499, if you get it with a 2 year contract it's $250 dollars plus you get a $50 dollar mail in rebate. Authorized dealers have different pricing schemes for the phones.
If you went to a T-mobile store and they are trying to charge you more, just mention you will just purchase it from the website. They would rather honor what is listed on the t-mobile website than lose commission.
 
The T-Mo store I went to also charged me an $18 upgrade fee per phone. I bought one and one for a friend. When I returned both phones because neither of them worked properly, no GPS, lousy signal strength, etc. they charged a $10 restocking fee on each phone. They immediately credited the phone cost and the $18 upgrade fee. While she was processing the credit I called 611 and the CSR credited each of our accounts with the $10 restocking fee.
 
I ordered on the phone with customer care because I know the t-mobile stores work on commission and they aren't as likely to give you a good deal since it hurts their pockets.

My Vibrant will be arriving tomorrow and after I ordered it for $199 after mail in rebate I saw that Costco was selling it for $99 for upgrades.

I called up customer care again and after talking to a couple of reps they matched the Costco price and credited my account $99. So I got it for Costco price over the phone t-mobile.:D
 
When it comes to selling the phone itself, reps aren't paid on how much they sell the phone for. They are paid on renewing the contract and adding any applicable data features. They get paid the same if they sell the phone for $5 or $500. The reason they don't offer you the phone for less, is because they don't have that authority; the screen is populated with prices based on tenure of current contract and that's what they have to work with.
 
I bought the gel skin and screen protector last night and they rang it up for the girl that helped me because they said it was off commission. So accessories are.
 
I paid full price for my phone. Yep, $499. I'm on the Even More + plan, so I pay a ridiculously low fee each month which basically offsets the full price of the phone. Plus, I can spread it out into 20 payments. Additionally, I sold my Blackberry 9700 for $300. So I'm not TOO torn apart by the high price of the Vibrant. MM - I'm glad you got a good deal!
 
pantlesspenguin said:
I paid full price for my phone. Yep, $499. I'm on the Even More + plan, so I pay a ridiculously low fee each month which basically offsets the full price of the phone. Plus, I can spread it out into 20 payments. Additionally, I sold my Blackberry 9700 for $300. So I'm not TOO torn apart by the high price of the Vibrant. MM - I'm glad you got a good deal!
Click to expand...

Thats how I bought my wifes Nexus one and mine. ~550 each phone. The big benefit is that we only pay 109.99 a month for talk, unlim data and text.

Pretty damn cheap monthly. If we keep these phones 2yrs like the contract wanted we will save decently.
 
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