Have I been wrong all this time???
I just had a customer come in and want to upgrade to the V180. He said Customer Care offered him the phone for 19.99... WITHOUT a contract extension. I told him I'd never heard of such. (The phone was ultimately back ordered, so he was going to buy it from us, til he found out it was 99.99 + 1 year extension.)
Soooo.... he calls Customer Care. They told him that extending your contract is merely and option and that you can certainly upgrade the handset and stay in a month to month. So there, I was looking like a jackass. I called MY boss, and he said he'd never heard of such a thing. He has owned wireless stores since 1997. He thinks perhaps you can buy the phone without discounts and NOT have to extend; but if you receive the sub...
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Soooo.... he calls Customer Care. They told him that extending your contract is merely and option and that you can certainly upgrade the handset and stay in a month to month. So there, I was looking like a jackass. I called MY boss, and he said he'd never heard of such a thing. He has owned wireless stores since 1997. He thinks perhaps you can buy the phone without discounts and NOT have to extend; but if you receive the sub...
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I'm assuming you are an indirect dealer, as am I. Some customers are what T-Mobile calls "blue customers"; basically they are VIP's because they have been with the company for a long time or have a high ARPU. These customers can indeed often upgrade at a discount without contract extension. This is only through the direct channel, so you cannot offer this; or rather, your store cannot get paid for doing this. It sucks, I know, but I have actually had that happen and the customer bought from me anyway because I offered them the same price that they would have gotten from the direct channel. It seems like most of them don't really care if they have to agree to another year, which makes sense since most of these "blue customers" have alrea...
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Actually JDigital...the policy regarding BLUE customers has changed. We still highly value these custoemrs, but they are now REQUIRED to agree to contract extensions for all promos just like any other customer. As for the Moto V180, it is $19.99 across the board thru CIHU(for qualifying customers only...11 months tenure on a $39.99 individual plan or higher, or $69.99 family plan or higher). This means a qualifying customer can get the phone for $19.99 without a contract, but we will more than likely attempt to get a contract first in the best interest of our company. Participating indirects are capable of giving this same pricing structure and ALL directs are currently participating in the program. TexasJulie, you must not be included in th...
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T-Mobile policy has nothing to do with what we can or cannot do. The fact is, we DO NOT get paid without a contract renewal, and we CAN NOT get paid for said contract renewal unless the customer was in the 11th month or greater of their previous contract. If the above conditions were met, then I would certainly honor that pricing on the Motorola V180.
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Right...but T-Mobile still offers currently the V180 for $19.99 without contract renewal if the customer meets the 11 month policy (both time since last upgrade and time on qual. pp) Which is fine if you don't want to upgrade them, they can just order ir from us. If you're a corporate store, though you should abide by what CIHU says and SL policy.
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Thank you bizkitsngravy. I wasn't trying to talk down on JDigital, I was merely stating the facts. I personally feel he has a chip on his shoulder. 😉
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What chip on my shoulder? Most direct sales people have no idea how business works on the indirect side, and I was just trying to clarify that regardless of what corporate policy is for upgrades, no indirect is going to offer discount pricing without one because they won't get paid.
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Isn't that a really dangerous policy? A customer provides x ARPU and bc it may appear that they arenet initending to leave, you upgrade them without contract extension? That scenario times xthousands of customers can add up to severe loss, as these people can cancel shortly after, unlock the phone, and bounce to any other GSM provider (Orange)!
Just bc they have a high ARPU, doesnt mean that you arent providing them the service they need!
Just bc they have a high ARPU, doesnt mean that you arent providing them the service they need!
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JDigital said:
I'm assuming you are an indirect dealer, as am I. Some customers are what T-Mobile calls "blue customers"; basically they are VIP's because they have been with the company for a long time or have a high ARPU. These customers can indeed often upgrade at a discount without contract extension.
Sorry, but this is outmoded information. Blue customers are required to sign a contract just like anyone else. The confusion regarding the contract extension for the phone is due to the fact that the Moto V180 doesn't have a rebate on it. Currently, the V180 price for an eligible upgrade customer is 19.99, just like the Samsung C225 or the Nokia 6010. Neither the Moto or the Samsung have rebates, ...
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Julie, I'm down in retail too. When you go into the customer's account in CAM, hit upgrade "yes". It gives you 2 options to upgrade with or without a contract. T-Mo changes prices at the drop of a dime, so its good to keep up on SC emails. The only difference between the extension option and non-extension option is a mail-in rebate.
Hope that clears it up.
Hope that clears it up.
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Well, there is some clarity that needs to come of this, then because there is often MASSIVE confusion over the whole thing..."BLU" doesn't mean squat anymore. They are still subject to the same terms and conditions as other customers. However, and nobody is a jackass for anything, you CAN get the V180 right now, ANYONE, blu or not for $19.99 WITHOUT extending your contract, but only IF you meet the "same as new" CIHU eligibility requirements, which is 11 months since last discounted handset, 11 months at qualifying pp ($39.99 individual or $69.99 FT plan) and those 11 months in their entirety are active. If you get suspended for a non-pay, that month won't count. (thats the only reason, ie: ladex,FUYT, ELST, SEASONAL etc... don't matter). Ho...
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And they have these newfangled things called "paragraphs," in which you make a space division in between discrete chunks of information. For example, this paragraph deals with one bit of information.
This paragraph deals with a completely different piece of information.
Dividing up large blocks of verbiage by the use of these "paragraphs" makes it easier to keep up with where you are in the information chunk, and also keeps the headaches to a minimum.
Therefore, paragraphs are our friends.
😁
This paragraph deals with a completely different piece of information.
Dividing up large blocks of verbiage by the use of these "paragraphs" makes it easier to keep up with where you are in the information chunk, and also keeps the headaches to a minimum.
Therefore, paragraphs are our friends.
😁
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Aleq said:I hereby nominate this for "funniest thing I've read all year". My hero.
And they have these newfangled things called "paragraphs," in which you make a space division in between discrete chunks of information. For example, this paragraph deals with one bit of information.
This paragraph deals with a completely different piece of information.
Dividing up large blocks of verbiage by the use of these "paragraphs" makes it easier to keep up with where you are in the information chunk, and also keeps the headaches to a minimum.
Therefore, paragraphs are our friends.
😁
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mmhmm wise guy eh? suppose you'll be wanting it in mla format next time, too huh? 😛 (touche, btw)
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Having lived much too long in this dreary vale of tears I don't dare to dream of seeing MLA standards adhered to any more, sadly my aspirations have lessened and my expectations been drastically reduced. I am now finding myself content if I can decipher the original meaning within the egregious misspellings... *le sigh* 😉
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