Jan 15, 2009

Bargains are everywhere

I had to share this, it's a great example of how a willingness to ASK for a better price can pay off!

My Sprint cell phone contract was up for renewal next month. I had been loosely shopping around, but hadn't really done anything about renewing or switching just yet. That was, until I saw this past week's Best Buy flyer....they were selling the Blackberry Curve 8330 for $50 with a new Sprint contract! Now, I've been a Sprint customer for 5 years, so "new agreement" deals don't usually apply...unless you ask the right people :)

I first called customer service to make sure that I could renew my current calling plan exactly as it is (our nights & weekends start at 7pm, and we have a really good minutes plan with cheap overage charges). Turns out I could, which was good news. I then called my local Sprint store, and asked if they would price match the Best Buy deal. At first, they said no, and gave me the "new agreement" spiel again. Bollocks, I said! (ok, not really...)

I asked them if it would be easier for me to have my husband come in, start a new agreement with our same phone numbers, and get the phones at the price I wanted, or if they'd play ball. I also reminded them that I was a repeat customer, and would hate to take my business (and my referrals) elsewhere. Turns out there was a very nice manager who decided that as long as I had a copy of the ad, they'd honor the price match. Sweet!

So today I hopped down to the store, and picked up TWO new BlackBerrys for $100. Total. The data pack we needed to go with the phones wasn't much more than what I was paying for features on our old phones, and there's SO much more I can do with it, so our bill won't change much but we're all gadgety and stuff now :)

Yes, I would have gotten an upgrade credit because I was on the tail end of a 2 year agreement...but even WITH the current sale price and my $150 per phone upgrade credit, I STILL would have had to pay $180 per BlackBerry if I hadn't pushed for the price match. Did I mention that these phones normally retail for $550???? That means I saved OVER 90% off the regular retail. Crazy!

Now I just have to figure out how the darn thing works :)


3 comments:

Keely said...

Heh, good luck with that last part! My boss has had one for a few months and he's still confused by it!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Nicely done. I am so jealous. I want a Blackberry. Maybe I will have to try that when my contract is up.

Anonymous said...

I need a new phone and was going to buy a new one. BUT, someone stole my daughters cell phone and IPOD at school yesterday. Maybe, I'll give her my phone, and buy me a new phone. I told my son to be looking out for phones for me. Since I renewed my contract which was going to expire in July and my husbands contract, they gave me a $140 credit that I could use for a new phone.

 
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