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Exising Customers Are Phone Buyers Too
Posted on Friday, December 09 @ 07:49:57 MST by Christopher_Price |
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Update: Some have jumped to the conclusion that we alleged a Sprint sales manager at the national level issued this. We did not say that there was an order given to do this from any authority above the regional level. However, there is evidence of coordination in adopting this policy. We hardly ever received reports of such activity until EV-DO launched, and now we are hearing reports of being denied the ability to purchase devices on a daily basis. There were shortages before, there are shortages now. Thus, we raised the quesiton of how this incorrect policy was adopted so widely, so quickly (hence the "as far as we can tell"). We have clarified the policy, and there has been no error in our reporting.
There has been a lot of recent miscommunication to Sprint Stores in regards to new phone releases. As far as we can tell, stores that have been instructed to not sell new phones (such as the MM-A900) to existing customers due to low supply are doing so against Sprint policy. It appears that someone high-up did not read the merger master playbook about how cold phone sales are to be handled identically. At a time when someone would want to stuff a phone under a Christmas tree, being told they can't buy a phone and activate it later is well, wrong.
There are some exceptions, it is common affiliate market policy to hype commissions for sales reps by holding supplies of new phones for existing customers. Their rational? They're not part of Sprint, they can do what they want.
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Article Rating
Average Score: 1 Votes: 2
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Re: Exising Customers Are Phone Buyers Too (Score: 1) by Vagabond on Friday, December 09 @ 11:33:55 MST (User Info ) | Such a thing is done at a store level by store management, there are not 'higher up' orders to do this. The store managers also know that it's against policy, but they do what they feel is needed to meet quota. I'm not defending this breach of policy, but merely correcting what you're saying. |
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Re: Exising Customers Are Phone Buyers Too (Score: 1) by AdamLeonard on Saturday, December 10 @ 12:24:24 MST (User Info ) | I have bought 7 phones from Sprint in the past 8-10 years including the StarTak, Samsung A500, Treo 300, Treo 600, PPC6600, PPC6700, and some other Samsung phone for my wife. I want a Blade and the sales staff at a store in Austin I went to today said they don't have any for "upgrades".
Pissed me off. My money is as good as anyone else's and I am a very long term customer who has a large wireless plan and I keep 3 active phones on it (2 regular cells and a PDA Phone) at any given time. If they have what I want, they should be required to sell it to me. Its easier to keep a customer than get a new one. Sprint finally has a hot phone and it ticks me off that they won't sell it to me. Cingular and even Verizon always get hot phones before Sprint. Makes me wonder why I stick with them. $200 cancellation really isn't that much if you're pissed off. |
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Re: Exising Customers Are Phone Buyers Too (Score: 1) by Vagabond on Friday, December 09 @ 15:09:35 MST (User Info ) | In response to the Update:
This is a sensationalism article, and not news. |
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Re: Exising Customers Are Phone Buyers Too (Score: 1) by bdulay on Tuesday, December 13 @ 23:54:26 MST (User Info ) | The sad thing about this is that I've seen such a deceitful side to this issue. I one day saw the mm-a900 a store in San Bruno CA and I wanted it. I decided to pick it up the next day at a store in San Leandro CA and they did have them in stock. However the "Store Manager" would not sell the phone to me because i'm not a "New customer." I've been with Sprint for 6-7 years now with an average of about 2-3 phones a year. (Ex. Treo 650, Nokia 3588, Treo 600, LG pm325, Samsung i500, a bunch of samsungs, a bunch of sanyos, a bunch of lgs, and every damn Nokia. Never have I ever been denied to throw my money away on a new phone. No matter what you say they refused to sell me the phone. I called *2 and they called the store. Funny how the store manager denies refusing to sell a phone to anyone in fact he claimed that they haven't even had a a900 to sell to anyone that day. How horrible it is to be treated so poorly by a company you supported for so long. I've converted family, friends, and even my girlfriend to Sprint. Its disappointing that Sprint doesn't want my money. As the store manager said "not that we don't want your money because we do, but we can't sell you this phone." I'm thinking of a Verizon Razr now since Sprint won't sell me the real phone I want. |
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Re: Exising Customers Are Phone Buyers Too (Score: 1) by djtower on Friday, December 16 @ 19:17:12 MST (User Info ) | I wanted to input my experience on this serious problem that Sprint seems to be having now. I too tried to get a new phone upgrade this week. I attempted to get the a900. I had went to one store and they said they were out so I would have to call customer service to get an upgrade. As soon as they found out I was an existing customer the sales rep gave me the cold shoulder. That was rude at the least. So I happend to mention the policy that is mentioned in this article and they were like "No we are just out. We would never do that." Wow I had never been lied to in such an obvious manner before.
So lets just say I more than pissed, about ready to cancel my contract and switch. So given that I am very needy and demanding I decided to go to another store. This one has always been really nice to me when others had screwed me over. I went there and I met with a sales rep who I asked if they had any a900s in stock. He said that they were out. Then he decided to ask if I was an new or existing customer. I wanted to test the waters so I said I was a new customer. He was more than over joyed to show me a demo that they had hidden in the back. He also mentioned that he "had realized that they had actually gotten a shipment in today and he had forgotten about it." I bet he did.
To make a long story short I ended up coming back the next day, today, an asking for him again. I asked if he had anymore in and he said he had one left so he went to go grab it. We started out the normal "new line" crap. I decided to interrupt him and say by they way would it be that much of a hassle to transfer the number from this phone, as I held up my sprint phone. He was shocked first, "Is that an active line?" I was like yeah. I received silence for about 15 seconds. Then he continued to do the upgrade with the instant rebate and a new contract. During which time he was like "Didn't you say that you didn't have a Sprint phone?" My response was "Didn't you say that you were out?" He didn't say anything after that. I apologize that I was breaking the "rules" and he said that they want to give the new lines a chance to buy this phone because they had so little and there was a waiting list for the upgrades.
Well I know that my story is a special case, but I don't know if that would help any of you. I don't believe in this policy, if it is a real one. I think that they should treat there existing customers like second class citizens. |
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Re: Exising Customers Are Phone Buyers Too (Score: 1) by falconier on Friday, December 30 @ 22:42:54 MST (User Info ) | I'm sorry so many of you are haveing problems with gettig this phone. I do know that customer service does have them but you have to do a mail in rebate, this may change next year. The only suggestion i have is if you do get someone that tells you this, write their name and the store address down and send a letter to:
Sprint PCS
ATTN: Executive Services
Po Box 8077
London, Ky 40742
The policy is to sell phones first come first serv. If they are only selling to new customers then they are breaking policy and could lose their jobs and it may take a few people loseing their jobs to fix it. The only people who can be restricted from buying phones (other than phones that are only availible to business customers) are employees. I have several friends who work for sprint. It wasnt untill this month that they could buy any EV-DO phone. This usualy happens to them any time a high demand phone comes out. |
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