Tdma - Gsm upgrade?
Hi,
Just found this forum and want to ask some advice.
I currently have a cingular Tdma plan, bundled with my Bsouth account, the plan expires Aug '05.
I want to upgrade to Family talk and add 2 lines for my wife & son at college.
This requires upgrade to Gsm plan.
Cingular rep claims I am not eligible for upgrade till Tdma expires, so I would have buy Gsm phones at full price.
Can I cancel the Tdma plan, and then start a new plan and get the discounts on phones? I know I will get stuck paying a cancel fee for Tdma plan, are there any other charges I might incurr?
My other idea is to go to bestbuy and start a new plan under my name with a separate account at cingular, once the plan is active, then cancel the old Tdma plan...
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Just found this forum and want to ask some advice.
I currently have a cingular Tdma plan, bundled with my Bsouth account, the plan expires Aug '05.
I want to upgrade to Family talk and add 2 lines for my wife & son at college.
This requires upgrade to Gsm plan.
Cingular rep claims I am not eligible for upgrade till Tdma expires, so I would have buy Gsm phones at full price.
Can I cancel the Tdma plan, and then start a new plan and get the discounts on phones? I know I will get stuck paying a cancel fee for Tdma plan, are there any other charges I might incurr?
My other idea is to go to bestbuy and start a new plan under my name with a separate account at cingular, once the plan is active, then cancel the old Tdma plan...
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call the cingular promotions dept at 1.866.650.1836, no offense to store guys, but i know alot of stores that will LIE just to get the commission....
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SuperSteve said:
call the cingular promotions dept at 1.866.650.1836, no offense to store guys, but i know alot of stores that will LIE just to get the commission....
we dont get commission on phones though, we get it on contracts and service plans. i could sell you a free phone or a $250 phone and i would make the same either way.
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SuperSteve,
I called the customer service dept, several wks ago and the response was "not eligible for phone upgrade till Aug '05", so phone prices would are not discounted.
I went to a Cingular store that afternoon and got the same reply.
I also looked on ebay, but prices for new/used phones is not that good and my experience with ebay sellers has not been pleasurable.
Not a good policy for happy customers.
So what do think about the bestbuy idea?
I called the customer service dept, several wks ago and the response was "not eligible for phone upgrade till Aug '05", so phone prices would are not discounted.
I went to a Cingular store that afternoon and got the same reply.
I also looked on ebay, but prices for new/used phones is not that good and my experience with ebay sellers has not been pleasurable.
Not a good policy for happy customers.
So what do think about the bestbuy idea?
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Chrisj2 said:
SuperSteve,
I called the customer service dept, several wks ago and the response was "not eligible for phone upgrade till Aug '05", so phone prices would are not discounted.
I went to a Cingular store that afternoon and got the same reply.
I also looked on ebay, but prices for new/used phones is not that good and my experience with ebay sellers has not been pleasurable.
Not a good policy for happy customers.
So what do think about the bestbuy idea?
read my post. you can upgrade your phone before aug '05. This is a company protocol.i dont think this is a market specific policy, it should be company wide. the NEW lines would be eligible for full discount prices since they are NEW...
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Corporate protocol states that if the customer is willing to sign a two year, they can be offered an 'exception upgrade' and get the phone at the one year price.
Make sure that when dealing with "Cingular stores" that they are not indirect retail stores. The easiest way to do this is by asking for a business card. If there is any name OTHER than Cingular Wireless on it, they are indirect. Indirects lose commissions on exception upgrades under the protocol, so they will be less likely to offer it.
Make sure that when dealing with "Cingular stores" that they are not indirect retail stores. The easiest way to do this is by asking for a business card. If there is any name OTHER than Cingular Wireless on it, they are indirect. Indirects lose commissions on exception upgrades under the protocol, so they will be less likely to offer it.
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phonepimp3376 said:
Corporate protocol states that if the customer is willing to sign a two year, they can be offered an 'exception upgrade' and get the phone at the one year price.
Make sure that when dealing with "Cingular stores" that they are not indirect retail stores. The easiest way to do this is by asking for a business card. If there is any name OTHER than Cingular Wireless on it, they are indirect. Indirects lose commissions on exception upgrades under the protocol, so they will be less likely to offer it.
thanks for backing me up, pimp 😎
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Only ONE problem... Even tho the "exception" is there, it has to be approved by a "manager". Guess what? They don't always do it. I recently saw one that was even denied by the Office of the President. In most cases, if you've been under contract for at least six months, and you've been a good customer( no late fees or suspensions) they'll allow it. But don't count on it... that's why it's called an "exception".
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CainMarko said:
Only ONE problem... Even tho the "exception" is there, it has to be approved by a "manager". Guess what? They don't always do it. I recently saw one that was even denied by the Office of the President. In most cases, if you've been under contract for at least six months, and you've been a good customer( no late fees or suspensions) they'll allow it. But don't count on it... that's why it's called an "exception".
maybe its just our store, but our manager doesnt have to approve them, and i dont think any managers in the area do. he trusts us to make the right decision. if you pay your bill, i'll do it for you. if you don't pay your bill, you have to wait.
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Well... trust me, you may be doing it now, but it will get stopped. People have been getting written up at the stores and call centers without getting manager approval first.
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CainMarko said:
Well... trust me, you may be doing it now, but it will get stopped. People have been getting written up at the stores and call centers without getting manager approval first.
but that's the thing, my manger backs us up, because we are not children and he trusts our judgement. we have "blanket approval" so to speak. if it comes back to bite him in the ass, then maybe he would make us act like children and go run and see him everytime we need to do an exception upgrade, but for now, we do the right thing and don't abuse the system.
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Um, I totally understand what you are saying, but I'm not referring to YOUR manager approval. I am speaking of Cingular manager approval. Agents and Direct store levels don't have that authority. According to the exact policy, no one besides a CINGULAR CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER can "approve" that upgrade. It can be escalated further but that's the first person in line who actually has that authority. Basically, even tho you had no trouble doing it when you did it, the csr you spoke with probably got manager approval before they did it for you.
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i dont call cust serv. to do them though. we do them right in the store here. we have access to do them ourselves.
i understand what policy states, but the root of my response was just to point out to the original person asking that they were eligible for the exception upgrade as long as the predetermined criteria was met, and that they needed to go to a corporate owned store for such an upgrade to be performed. 😉
i understand what policy states, but the root of my response was just to point out to the original person asking that they were eligible for the exception upgrade as long as the predetermined criteria was met, and that they needed to go to a corporate owned store for such an upgrade to be performed. 😉
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Doesn't the exception upgrade also require an excellent payment history and the last 3 months of revenue being above a certain level? I might be mistaken, but I didn't think everyone who was willing to sign a new contract would be eligible.
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the last 3 months of ARPU is only for determining a "standard" early upgrade. The exception is possible as long as there have not been more than 2 suspensions in the last 6 months.
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Hi,
another question: if I buy used Cingular gsm phones, what is involved in activating the phone? Is a new sim card needed? What do sim cards cost ?
thanks,
Chris
another question: if I buy used Cingular gsm phones, what is involved in activating the phone? Is a new sim card needed? What do sim cards cost ?
thanks,
Chris
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if you buy a used wireless phone, you will need to buy a new SIM card , as it holds the previous persons info, like their phone # , basically the sim card is the programming information.... usually SIM cards cost around $25. you should be able to get it at a store.
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taurus said:
if you buy a used wireless phone, you will need to buy a new SIM card , as it holds the previous persons info, like their phone # , basically the sim card is the programming information.... usually SIM cards cost around $25. you should be able to get it at a store.
most of the time if you come to me with a cingular phone and want to activate service, i'll throw you the sim card for free if you sign up for a $49 or higher plan. it all depends on the rep you see and how things are handled at that store.
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you really should know what you are talking about before you accuse sales people of being liars.
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Chrisj2 said:...
Hi,
Just found this forum and want to ask some advice.
I currently have a cingular Tdma plan, bundled with my Bsouth account, the plan expires Aug '05.
I want to upgrade to Family talk and add 2 lines for my wife & son at college.
This requires upgrade to Gsm plan.
Cingular rep claims I am not eligible for upgrade till Tdma expires, so I would have buy Gsm phones at full price.
Can I cancel the Tdma plan, and then start a new plan and get the discounts on phones? I know I will get stuck paying a cancel fee for Tdma plan, are there any other charges I might incurr?
My other idea is to go to bestbuy and start a new plan under my name with a separate account at cingular, once the plan is act
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