[Touch Pro2, Tilt 2 Windows Mobile General] 3GPocketPC4Me:
Well, I finally received it yesterday, but sure had a h3ll of a time with AT&T getting it...

The result of the matter was the following:

Tilt 2 for $199.99 + Tax and Shipping with Renewal of service for 2 years

"Get one month's service charge FREE" for renewal of service for 11 months or greater (-$59.99) This was a seperate offer I received in an e-mail a few days ago.

Got to keep my $30 "Messaging & Data Unlimited " plan and did NOT have to upgrade to a "smartphone dataplan."

All this with the POSSIBILITY of redeeming a $50 "promotion card" rebate that was found on the Premier Tilt 2 product page (not sure if it'll fly with everything I got).

Now before everyone says "WOW! You made out!" let me tell you, I had to jump through hoops to get this done, so expecting something similar to work out for you may take A LOT of work!

The first CSR (Jose) I spoke to was from Premier. After explaining that I had a Touch Pro 2 from T-Mobile in my hands on a 15 day trial and was debating whether or not I should switch carriers (which is true), He offered me the phone at the standard $349.99, but I didn't take it and asked for a transfer to retentions. He couldn't transfer me, so he just gave me the number.

The next rep I got was a pretty smooth dude named Matthew. I told him my story and he pretty much knew what I was trying to accomplish, but he said the absolute LOWEST he could give me was $259.99 w/o contract, but I would have to bump up my DataPlan to add $20 for unlimited texting. I wanted to take the offer just to help the guy out (after he told me he is paid fully on commission), but I was seeing that people on here were getting the phone at $239.99 and I didn't want to add the $20 to my plan, so I decided to pass and try calling back.

I then called retentions about 10 minutes later and spoke to a young lady named Kim. She had a cute little british accent (I loved the way she said 199.99 :D), and after I told her my situation involving T-Mo, she placed me on hold several times to see if she could find me a better deal from the $259.99 and came back with prices from outside vendors (I'm not sure which stores she was looking into, but she referred to one of the stores as "what you would call 'Best Buy' where you are from :p). After a few minutes, she came back with a $199.99 quote, but the deal called for an extension of my contract for 2 years.

After I heard this I told her that I received an e-mail saying that they would waive 1 month of service charge if I renewed my contract for 11 months (which I did about 2 days ago). She then told me that since her department doesn't interface with the department that I received the offer from, that she wouldn't be able to add it, but I could call the department from which I received the offer (866-422-5029) and see if they would add it. She documented my account very thoroughly and said she would call back on Monday at the latest if I didn't call them back before then.

So this is where it gets ugly.

I called the number attached to the "1 month FREE service charge" and was greeted by a fairly rude CSR (can't remember her name... don't wish to). She kept insisting that I needed to add the new "Smartphone DataPlan" to my account in order to proceed with getting the phone. Okay, I did try to haggle a little bit and tell her that I was currently using a smartphone on my current plan, but she wasn't budging, so I asked to speak with her manager to which she snapped "He or she will tell you the same thing." Which he did, but also added that as of 9/27, all smartphones had to be on an updated smartphone dataplan or higher.

So after being shot down by them, I decided to call premier back, and I received a CSR by the name of Barbara. Friendly lady, but she tried to start from square one, even after I explained my situation. At the end, she offered me the phone for $349.99 with $50 rebate.

So after being shot down this time, I decided that I was going to go with the smartphone dataplan and pay the extra $20 a month. I called retentions again and spoke with a representative named Latoya. She took awhile to decipher all the notes that I accumulated on the account :D, but after doing that, she placed me on hold to get in touch with the department that offered me the phone at $199.99. After being placed on hold for about 10 minutes, she came back to me saying that she was having trouble getting authorization to let the phone go at the price I was quoted. She asked me if it was the retentions or the Premier department who quoted me... At this point, I was getting impatient so I told her, "I think it was retentions, but you may wanna check with Premier as well..."

She asked to place me on hold again, and after about 20 minutes, she came back on and told me that she had extended my service for 2 years and the 1 month service charge would be credited to my next months statement. She then told me she had a CSR named Ken on the line to complete my order, but I would need a Credit Card to purchase the item.

After telling Ken to take down my number in case we got disconnected, I walked through the house to get my CC, and sure enough, we got disconnected! :eek: Wow!!! Luckily, about a minute later, Ken called me back and we completed the order.

Now I guess I'll have to monitor my account/cc balances, but I'm hoping everything works out as anticipated!

Now that I have my Tilt, I decided to put my T-Mobile Branded Touch Pro 2 in the Marketplace. If you're interested check it out here