desperate Pre user stuck on contract; HELP!

[teach1love]

Hello everybody. Recent migrant from Precentral, have been reading Tibp for a few months, first post! I am currently stuck on a Pre with a contract that isnt up until May. I spoke to a sprint rep in oct. who said they would honor my upgrade in feb. Recent discussions have them sticking by the May date. Have the reps lost some discretion or has there been a policy change within Sprint? My other question is, can I just pay my ETF and then sign another 2yr contract? Are there any penalties for doing so?? I want to stay with sprint. Please offer advice community as my Pre is dying as we speak! Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks all!!

 

[Alli]

If you pay your ETF you will either be forced to get a new number with Sprint, or go to a different carrier. When my husband's 5th Pre died, he finally gave up and let C-spire pay his ETF and left Sprint completely.

 

[E_Brown]

I would be nice if Sprint let you pay the ETF amount, and then the upgrade price for a new phone. One would think they would allow this since, you could just pay your etf, and switch carriers. This would ensure them more money. They probably won't let you do that, but it's worth a shot to ask. Or you could just switch to ATT, or Verizon.

 

[eve6er69]

I wonder if you can get a new line, port the # over to the new line then pay the etf on the old plan.

Just a thought.

Or transfer to another carrier for a day like metro or virgin or boost and then report the # back to sprint since you don't have to sign a contract with the prepaid services.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9650 using Tapatalk

 

[Kristy_Lyn]

I had a pre for a little over a year out of a 3 yr contract. It broke so many times within the first year, requiring 4 times to be sent off for service. Once my 1 yr manufacturers warranty was over the phone broke again (power button wouldn't press in) Once this happened I went right up the ladder to the retention people at my phone company. Explained the extensive issues and they let me out of the contract and into a new one. (oh how gracious of them!!! grrrr)

Usually this is about the only way you can get out of a contract is by having a lemon phone. You might be able to use some scare tactics and say "if you don't let me out early then I will wait out the contract time and switch over to a new company when the contract is over" I know you don't actually want to switch but they don't know that so use it!. I did that with my cable provider this year and wow it was amazing the deal I got with them now....lol

 

[AlanG4s]

I had (and loved) my Pre for 2 years even though it was replaced twice and would have been a third time but Sprint said the cracked screen (a known issue on this device) was "cosmetic" and not worthy of a replacement. In the end it was dying as well, phantom finger presses on the screen, not responding, and a very short battery life even though the battery was replaced within the 2 years I had the phone. Add the question marks about WebOS and the switch to iOS and iPhone 4S was a done deal.

I've been with Sprint over 10 years (two phones, two lines) never missed a payment, never a late payment, and they would not budge on letting me upgrade early. I had to wait 2 months after the iPhone 4S came out for my contract to run out. I even offered to sign a longer contract to upgrade early. The girl was too preoccupied with reading her script to hear what I was saying. Not worth fighting over so I waited.

Switching to ATT or Verizon is not currently a good option in my area, where I use my phone, so if only for that reason I have been a long time loyal customer. Sprint talks about rewarding customer loyalty but they do it with trinkets and useless crap nobody wants - which is why they stopped the reward program. Really Sprint?

While I have no complaints about the service, the people at Sprint are clueless. You can bet the moment a better option comes available Sprint is history. I will even happily pay the early termination fee.

... and if someone from Sprint should read this and be tempted to post and say "you should have done this or that..." DON'T WASTE YOUR BREATH. Sprint is famous for after the fact response to problems, but when the issue is at hand and I am on the phone for an hour trying to understand your foreign reps, where are you then Sprint?!

what was the question again?

 

[zak]

...Or transfer to another carrier for a day like metro or virgin or boost and then report the # back to sprint since you don't have to sign a contract with the prepaid services. ...

just wanted to point out, boost is sprint's verison of pre-paid and virgin is on sprint's network, so you might have to switch to a different carrier if you are looking to try this.

 

[njt462]

That is how I got my Iphone4s from Sprint. I was under an old contract with a Photon and the ETF was $150 still. I had the contract 4 month so it did not go down much if any at all. I called Sprint spoke to Account Services and said please apply the ETF to my next months bill and reset my upgrade I want the 4S and am agreeing to pay the ETF since I can sell this Photon for 250-300 range.

The Account Service Rep said no problem sir your ETF of 150 will be on next months bill please wait 24 hours and place your 4s order online or pick one up at a Sprint store. I went to Sprint store the next day gave them my number and it said full upgrade.

So long story short just call and speak to Account Services and say apply the ETF to next months bill and reset the upgrade. They will gladly do it for you.

 

[verwon]

Sprint will make you wait, usually 30 days, before giving you a new contract of you do the ETF on the old one.

Look into their Sprint certified Pre-owned phones, some are free and they don't renew your contract.


Sent from my iOS ecosystem!

 

[VampyreKei]

Sprint will make you wait, usually 30 days, before giving you a new contract of you do the ETF on the old one.

Uh, no...No they do not. I cancelled my old line I used, which was a little over year into it with an Android, and got a new one to get the iPhone all on the same day. I dunno who told you Sprint makes you wait, but they do not.