Holding Sprint to their word?

[jbalbany]

I just upgraded to two BB Curves. I currently have unlimited txt / vision / vision picture pack for free with my plan. Before I upgraded online I emailed ecare and asked:

"If I upgrade to the M520 or any other current sprint phone, will these services be billed the same?"

They replied:

"Yes, please be assured that monthly recurring charges of vision pack, text messaging pack and picture mail will not be changed if you will upgrade your phones. "

They want to charge me $30 extra per line for BB Internet. I want my plan to stay the same - vision/txt/pm for free on one line, and $5 extra on line 2.

What is the best strategy for getting this fixed? I do have a 25% employee discounts and a 10% misc discount on my account. Total bill for 3 phones $85.

From what I have read, I have more leverage if this isn't resolved after two weeks. Should I wait two weeks before I push this to executive support?

I am not trying to get something for nothing per say. They promised me that I could be reassured that my plan would not change if I upgraded my phone to any current sprint phone.

I feel like they said what I wanted to hear to get me to resign for two years, and then changed their mind after I already activated the new phone.

Thanks.

jb

[sfhub]

If you want the Blackberry services to work you are going to need that $30 option, no question about that. Your only other alternative for Blackberry services is to switch to one of the newer plans that has it bundled in.

Now if you don't care about the Blackberry services, you can tell them to drop the $30 BIS but keep your existing plan options. That means you can't use the email and messaging on the phone. You need to load your own versions of gmail, google maps, etc. It is doable, but less convenient.

You might be able to convince them to give you a recurring credit to offset the cost of the BIS, but I've never heard of a flat out zero cost option for BIS. Again without the BIS option on your account, their system won't allow Blackberry services to work. You can possibly trick support into populating your service books, but that is a long shot and it could go away if something gets reset so isn't very dependable.

Your call what you want to do, but the main point is the BIS option needs to show up on your plan options for Blackberry services to work. You may not need Blackberry services or they may be able to credit you some fees. You'll find it difficult to force them to honor to the letter their original communication to you because even if the rep wanted to, the system won't let them do it. The best they can do is issue you credits.

[jbalbany]

I am going to try loading some stuff over the weekend. I would like the proper plan for the device if possible.

I wouldn't mind the service credits, as long as they don't expire. I am theorizing the best strategy in dealing with Sprint to get what they promised me. I have read if I keep the phones for two weeks, they don't like to take them back. So that might give me some leverage.

jb

[sfhub]

I have read if I keep the phones for two weeks, they don't like to take them back. So that might give me some leverage.
I've never found that to be the case. I'm not sure why they would care between 1 week, 2 week, or 3 weeks. The phone is used either way and can't be sold as new.

I would think they care more about you returning within 2 weeks. For the retail stores, they get negative marks if you return within 2 weeks.

[BTSmith]

I've never found that to be the case. I'm not sure why they would care between 1 week, 2 week, or 3 weeks. The phone is used either way and can't be sold as new.

I would think they care more about you returning within 2 weeks. For the retail stores, they get negative marks if you return within 2 weeks.

There is a threshold on the usage counter on the handset after which it cant be sold as new.

[spazticrecords]

Re-occuring credits will drop off at some point, there not forever but you might be able to get them back. Stacked discounts are hard to come by, and blackberry requires it's own service, it doesnt matter you have free internet, text etc. It needs BIS (blackberry internet service)

[sfhub]

There is a threshold on the usage counter on the handset after which it cant be sold as new.
What is the cutoff for the usage threshold?

I've not heard of this selling previously activated phones as new policy. Are there more details?

[Skyh123]

I'm sorry But I would take this as a case of not being specific, and would not feel that you should actually qualify to get BB service at no extra charge. I see what they sent you in the reply, but if you had planned on upgrading this to a BB phone you should have mentioned that, also if you should always clarify this information when purchasing a phone. I would say pay the fee or return the BB and go for WM if you want a smart phone.

[Eyecon82]

If you want the Blackberry services to work you are going to need that $30 option, no question about that. Your only other alternative for Blackberry services is to switch to one of the newer plans that has it bundled in.



not necessarily true..you can use this trick to make the built in browser work, hence OTA downlaods...only thing that won't work is bb messenger and bb push mail...but the gmail is more than good enough for me

http://blackberrywithoubis.googlepages.com/blackberrybrowserwithoutbis2

[sfhub]

not necessarily true..you can use this trick to make the built in browser work, hence OTA downlaods...only thing that won't work is bb messenger and bb push mail...but the gmail is more than good enough for me

http://blackberrywithoubis.googlepages.com/blackberrybrowserwithoutbis2
BB messenger *is* the whole point of "blackberry" services.

If you read the paragraph after the one you quoted you'll see I mentioned you could load your own versions of the apps and use the existing data plan, but again those aren't blackberry services.

[Eyecon82]

BB messenger *is* the whole point of "blackberry" services.

If you read the paragraph after the one you quoted you'll see I mentioned you could load your own versions of the apps and use the existing data plan, but again those aren't blackberry services.

i would disagree...how is bb messenger the whole point of a blackberry? the whole point of a blackberry is email...but the gmail app takes care of that problem

[Three7's]

If you want the Blackberry services to work you are going to need that $30 option, no question about that. Your only other alternative for Blackberry services is to switch to one of the newer plans that has it bundled in.

Now if you don't care about the Blackberry services, you can tell them to drop the $30 BIS but keep your existing plan options. That means you can't use the email and messaging on the phone. You need to load your own versions of gmail, google maps, etc. It is doable, but less convenient.

You might be able to convince them to give you a recurring credit to offset the cost of the BIS, but I've never heard of a flat out zero cost option for BIS. Again without the BIS option on your account, their system won't allow Blackberry services to work. You can possibly trick support into populating your service books, but that is a long shot and it could go away if something gets reset so isn't very dependable.

Your call what you want to do, but the main point is the BIS option needs to show up on your plan options for Blackberry services to work. You may not need Blackberry services or they may be able to credit you some fees. You'll find it difficult to force them to honor to the letter their original communication to you because even if the rep wanted to, the system won't let them do it. The best they can do is issue you credits.

I have the BB $39.00 plan on my account for free. Shows as " included "

[Three7's]

I'm sorry But I would take this as a case of not being specific, and would not feel that you should actually qualify to get BB service at no extra charge. I see what they sent you in the reply, but if you had planned on upgrading this to a BB phone you should have mentioned that, also if you should always clarify this information when purchasing a phone. I would say pay the fee or return the BB and go for WM if you want a smart phone.

I would tend to agree with this, but it doesn't hurt to try

[sfhub]

i would disagree...how is bb messenger the whole point of a blackberry? the whole point of a blackberry is email...but the gmail app takes care of that problem
I didn't say it was the whole point of a "blackberry" phone. I said it was the whole point of "blackberry" services (ie BIS and BES) If the OP cared about blackberry services he's going to need to get BIS added to his plan or trick someone into giving him the service books.

If he doesn't care about blackberry services, then he can load his own versions of the apps, which is what I wrote in the original post you replied to.