New phone with discount

Hi all,
I'm sorry if this question has already been asked, but I'm rather frustrated at the moment.

Eight months ago, I switched from T-Mobile to Cingular/AT&T. I had an unlocked Treo 650, so I didn't bother to buy a phone.

A few days ago, my 650 broke. Any of you with smartphones know that once you get used to the calendar capabilities of it, if anything happens to your phone and you're not synced up, your life just vanished. I use the thing constantly. Well, I borrowed a friends phone for the time being, and today when the Blackberry Curve came out, I rushed to the store to buy it. Bad news: I'm not "due for an upgrade." What upgrade? the word "upgrade" assumes I have something to upgrade from. Since I never bought a phone from them, it seems unfair to deny me, a 2 year contract signer, a phone at the price any other 2 year contract signer got. At the beginning, I was under the impression that I would be able to buy one later at the discount anyways, since I hadn't bought a new phone.

Now before all you flameboys get on my case for being an idiot and all of this being my fault and "it says so in the contract", yes, you're right, you don't need to tell me that. What I'm asking is, is there any way to get around this? As a customer of Cingulars, that pays ~$120 per month, I think it's ridiculous for them to claim that they have no power in this situation to give me any sort of discount (I went up the chain of phone support and managers), and charge me a full $250 more for the phone than a brand new customer would pay (remember, I never got a phone with them to begin with).

What can I do in this situation? I don't want to pay $450 for this phone when its offered right there for $199. Any ideas?

(Also, just for kicks, here are a few numbers I decided to run. Cost of canceling the 2-year plan: $175. Cost (in lost revenue) to Cingular/AT&T for the next sixteen months (that's how much is left on my 2-year contract): $1920 ($120 * 16, this doesnt take into account the added cost of all the blackberry data services). Seems far greater of a loss than just giving me the discount that I would've received, had I bought a phone at the beginning of my contract?
At that point, if I did discontinue my service, I could then switch to another provider, who likely has the same, or similar blackberry for $199. OR I could create a NEW account with Cingular, all over again, and then buy the Blackberry Curve for $199; which, either way would end up being a total of $75 entire dollars cheaper than paying the full $450 for the blackberry through Cingular itself.)

Anyways. Let me know what you think, and what my options are.

Cheers![/b]

This one's short and easy. I don't work for Cingular and even I know the answer to this one.

It is stated that the phone you buy when you establish new service is heavily discounted. So the next one you buy will be for the regular price until you've had service for, I believe 18 months. The word "upgrade" is short for "elgible for a new phone at the new subscriber price". If can find a better word for it, then you should suggest it to them. In the meantime, the 8125 is all over E-Bay, you're bound to be able to find one fairly easily and cheaply. And, no, there's no around paying the full price in your situation. Run numbers all you like, their number-crunchers and you obviously aren't gonna agree. I've been using mobile phones for more than 15 years and this has been the case with all the carriers for all this time, except for cases that involve insurance, of course. And sure, go ahead and switch providers. Whatcha gonna do when you find yourself in the same boat down the road with another provider, switch back again? If you know anything about time management, you can figure out what a time-waster all of this BS is turning out to be. The bestest thing for you to do is look for an 8125 on E-Bay. Then, when you qualify for an "upgrade", or whatever you want to call it, buy a new 8125, or the newer one, and put up the E-Bay model for a spare for whan you lose a phone (again).

Hmm, it wasn't that short, was it?

Geri O

=(

But I don't want an 8125. I want an 8300!
haha

Anyone else got any ideas?

Ahhh, okay. E-Bay is once again your friend. I swear, you can probably buy a kidney or a liver there.

Geri O

Heyyyy.that's good to know. I want to upgrade my EDGE card to one that's capable of GMS/HSPDA, but I was thinking I'd have to wait until August. I might give this a try.

))

Geri O

be prepared to negotiate. play it like a poker hand. you should do OK. if the rep says he cant do any better ask for someone who can. be advised there will be a new contract for cingular (thats non negotiable)

New phone with discount

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