[Touch Pro CDMA] yerp:
there seems to be a lot of conflicting comments in this post....it seems like you are all commenting based on your experiences some of which are, at this point in time, "outdated"....i am not claiming to be 100% correct, but i, like many of you, am going to comment on my experience and those of friends/coworkers both ~8 years ago up until ~2 weeks ago. Sprint has morphed policies many times during my relationship with them and probly even more then i can recall, since in my first 6 years, i only changed phones once.

Early experience (6 years):

- I am a long time subscriber 9+ years with sprint. my first 6 years, my account was under "Preferred Business Partner" under my fathers name as he was a UPS(yes, the men in brown who deliver your phones) employee. The plan was ~$40 for what was essentially a SERO plan with slightly more minutes.

It is important to note that during this time, I always paid the bill with my $, from my bank acct. and i am not a "Jr., the 3rd, etc". Sprint was aware of the situation and let it slide. There was a brief conflict once when i switched to a "Power Vision"(early evdo, Sanyo-M1) phone and they tried to raise my bill $15, but that was in the good ol'days when customer service could make changes to your account if you if they "liked" you.

Mid-phase experience (1 year):

- When i moved from home, my father wanted me to switch the acct into my name. This caused conflicts and set off my quest for SERO....

- My father and i walked into a Sprint Corp. store and switched the acct. ownership. The whole process took 10 mins most of which were the girl messing with the computer. She printed up a sheet, we both signed and that was that. For the next 2 months, my fathers name was still on the account.

- When it finally changed to my name, the first bill i received was over $100.....i called customer service and they informed me that my monthly bill was now ~$70 due to the name switch and the extra was retro-charges from the change. Since i was not a UPS employee, i could no longer get that cheaper rate. My employer at the time(State of NJ) only had discount rates with Verizon and ATT, so i couldn't get a rebate on my own.

- After a few months of paying $70 and reading the Sprint Users Forums looking for a better plan, i learned about SERO, which at the time was actually restricted to employees and family members. I called constantly and tried to convince the customer service reps to give me the plan. However, i had no employee contact and even though one girl apparently tried to use her info to give it to me, it did not work.

- During this time, the iPhone was announced exclusively for ATT(pricing was not yet released) and i called Sprint one more time to use it as leverage. The customer service rep i spoke to this time was actually rude and i told them to "cancel my plan NOW!". This was the magical moment when i was first introduced to the "Retentions" department.....These people were everything early customer service was and more. In minutes, i had the equivalent of my old $40 plan back and was very satisfied.

Recent experience (2 years-early 2009):

- Shortly after my new job started, one of my new coworkers exposed me to the wonder that was newer WM phones(he had the Touch). Again i hopped on various phone sites that i knew of at the time(phonescoop, Sprint Users) and researched Sprints WM phone offerings and PPC/smartphone plans.

- I decided on the Mogul and though a helpful post by an employee on Sprint Users Forums that SERO had recently and quietly opened up to employee friends/new customers and could be attained easily by using a website. All that was required for conformation on the site was a valid sprint email address for reference. The OP noted that a specific and generic email(customer_service@sprintpcs.com IIRC..) would work and many others posted saying they had success using it.

- I just missed out on this....when i tried the email, it did not work...so i got crafty....i googled the interwebs for Sprint executives contacts. I used one of the VPs emails and it worked! Days later, my Mogul arrived and all was good....i though....

- The next week i received 2 bills, i called cust. serv. to straighten it out and the rep could only "see" one account. confused, the noob rep. pased me off to a more experienced rep. who could only "see" the "other" plan. after yet another transfer, i spoke to a rep who could "see" both accounts.....

- apparently, my Mogul was on a new # under the SERO plan and my old phone was still active on my original #. This was a major headache....over the ensuing week, i was on the phone with Sprint cust. serv. literally every day, for a total of 24 hours....Initially, they gave me the ultimatum of keeping the Mogul with the new # and SERO, or keeping the old plan and # and getting the Mogul on that plan. Obviously, i wanted the Mogul/SERO on my original # and tried tirelessly to make this happen. In their defense, the Sprint reps were all entirely sympathetic and genuinely tried to make this happen for me, but the "system" would not allow them to make it happen. The problem lied in the fact that Sprint was in the middle of switching to a new "system" and i had one account in each which was why some reps could only "see" one of them.

- finally....again, through use of the magic words "cancel" and "iPhone", i was directed to the all-powerful Retentions dept. With a little work, they were able to make my dream a reality. The only catch was, i had to "buy" the Mogul again and return the one i already had. Annoying, but totally worth it.

- 1 year later, i upgraded to the Touch Pro on the day it came out. I called telesales and they sold me the phone and even though i was technically not eligible, gave me the discount. The only change to my plan was resetting my upgrade/rebate date.

Friends:

Ram - Summer 2007:

- shortly after i successfully got my Mogul and SERO, i told my friends and the coworker who opened my eyes to WM about my plan. i coached my coworker through the process first and he actually got a plan better then SERO(5000minutes/$35 & cheap calls to India) with his Touch.(more on him later)

Jason

December 2008

- after learning how much he was paying for his Blackberry on verizon($80/month), i schooled him on SERO. he and his girl at the time switched to SERO, porint their #s through the website....only stipulation, they had to buy new BBs from Sprint.

January 2009

- after seeing my TP during our ski trip, he fell in love with HTC/WM. he upgraded, again, without technically being eligible and only changing his plans upgrade/rebate date.

NOW (early/mid 2009 - present):

things done changed apparently......

my recent knowledge through convo:

- I called a few months back to see what kind of deal i could get on the Pre(just curiousity...no real intent to actually switch). based on my past experience, i immediately threatened to cancel and got to Retentions. During my convo with this rep. i learned a lot:

1 . i was informed that at some point mid-2009, retentions was somewhat "neutered". They no longer have %100 percent control of making changes to accts.

2. SERO, as i/we know it, is no longer is offered to ANYONE. New employees are now given a modified Everything Plan.

3. I was also informed that Sprint policy now is to do everything legally in their power to phase out EXISTING SERO accts. This is done by making changes to contracts at resigning tied to upgrades/rebates.

i cannot confirm #2 as i don't know any sprint employees. i can confirm both #s 1 and 3 though....

#3 was confirmed through my attempt at haggling for a Pre. durring the above convo, i was told flat out that they would make me agree to a new plan to get the "1/2 time" smaller rebate($100 off IIRC) on the Pre. I tried again the next day and this time, i spoke to someone obviously coached in how to deliver the new company line.....this rep said "The Pre is not 'compatible' with the SERO plan" and i would need a newer "compatible" plan, which of course, the cheapest was less than the $99 Everything Plan, but $20 more than my SERO....

#1 was confirmed with my buddy Ram's recent experience.....His Touch crapped out last week. No touchscreen = HTC Paperweight. His 2 year contract is up on October 11th and he will be eligible for for his full upgrade/rebate. He has called retentions multiple times this week and even tried going into a corporate store and everyone has told him the same line....he has to wait till Oct 11th to get his full rebate....the best they would offer him was the "1/2 time" rebate. As the nice guy i am, i dusted off my Mogul and lent it to him to activate until Oct 11th. Once this date hits, i will be able to comment more on #2 as he is planning on getting either the TP2, Pre, or Hero.....

my predicition:

on Oct. 11th, he will be forced to change his plan IF he wants the upgrade discount. While he technically doesn't have SERO, his plan is better....

my strategy going forward:

this goes back to my very honest conversation with the retentions rep a few months ago.....he said that policy is to "do everything they can LEGALLY to phase out existing SERO plans".....unless a new contract is agreed upon, Sprint cannot change the terms. Pairing the upgrade/rebates to new contracts is their strategy. The way to get around this is to buy phones at full price and then have them activated. It sucks to drop $600 on a phone, but saving $60 per month by doing so is worth it.

cont....