I have been with Sprint for 4+ years. During that time I went from a Treo 300 to Treo 600 to Treo 650. I have had a data plan for all that time. My wife has a second phone on the account as well.
As I mentioned yesterday, my Sprint contract expires Wednesday. I went to checkout the Palm’s Treo 755p which is advertised for “As low as $279” — which is the price for new Sprint customers willing to sign a 2 year contract.
So what price was I (a long-term customer with Sprint who has paid his bill every month for 4 years) offered if I was willing to commit to another 2 years?
$429.99.
When I asked about the pricing on Palm’s website, I was told again that I could have the phone for $429.99.
If I cancelled my contract and came back in a week, I could probably save $150. But they aren’t doing a thing to keep an existing customer, even in light of the iPhone which I also mentioned that I was looking at — to which they replied that they also hoped to be able to sell it, and boy, when they could, you’d see a big marketing campaign about it!
Yeah right, but everything reported in the media indicates that AT&T has at least a 2 year, if not a five year exclusive deal.
I’m not sure what business school any of these people went to, and I bet the schools hope no one finds out either.