Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

I have been shopping for a GSM replacement to my 3 old AT&T phone.
Current favorite is the Moto V551.

After checking on-line pricing from various 3rd party vendors I was
really surprised at the difference between their pricing and the
stores.

On-line average price was $0 with 2 year contract - best price was
-$75 ( they pay me!!)
Cingular store price $119 ( current "deal" with rebate)

I understand that someone has to pay for bricks and mortar etc and I
would be willing to pay more at the store for convenience of return,
service etc - say $30
But $120 to $185 more for the same boxed product is way too much for
me to swallow.

Maybe I'm missing something.
Can anyone shed light why - or give me a sensible reason to do
business at the Cingular store vs on-line?


Bill

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Did you check out Amazon? My T-Mo phone came from them. The T-Mo price
back then was $250 after the rebate, the Amazon had 2 rebates that put
the phone at just the shipping cost of $6. Same planes were available
from Amazon that you could get at the T-Mo store.

I think Cingular contracts with Amazon as well, check it out if you
have'nt.

bill.. wrote:
> I have been shopping for a GSM replacement to my 3 old AT&T phone.
> Current favorite is the Moto V551.
>
> After checking on-line pricing from various 3rd party vendors I was
> really surprised at the difference between their pricing and the
> stores.
>
> On-line average price was $0 with 2 year contract - best price was
> -$75 ( they pay me!!)
> Cingular store price $119 ( current "deal" with rebate)
>
> I understand that someone has to pay for bricks and mortar etc and I
> would be willing to pay more at the store for convenience of return,
> service etc - say $30
> But $120 to $185 more for the same boxed product is way too much for
> me to swallow.
>
> Maybe I'm missing something.
> Can anyone shed light why - or give me a sensible reason to do
> business at the Cingular store vs on-line?
>
>
> Bill
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Actually, there are lots of good deals out there.

I am wondering why doesn't Cingular offer them themselves too?

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 10:16:05 -0700, No Spam <JOHNSMITH@EXAMPLE.NET>
wrote:

>Did you check out Amazon? My T-Mo phone came from them. The T-Mo price
>back then was $250 after the rebate, the Amazon had 2 rebates that put
>the phone at just the shipping cost of $6. Same planes were available
>from Amazon that you could get at the T-Mo store.
>
>I think Cingular contracts with Amazon as well, check it out if you
>have'nt.
>

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

I just signed up with Cingular and I was going to get a V551 and went
to a store selling Cingular in a mall. THey tried to give me a free
phone (Nokia) but I wanted the V551. Of cousre they started at $179
and later went down to $159. I was getting a family plan with 2
phones. They didnt' offer anything for a second phone except a Nokia
as well for free or said they could unlock my TMobile V300 and use
that. Well an hour later I was online and found a place I could get
two V551's with this plan for free so you know which way I went.
there's no way I could spend that when I could get it for free online.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

In article <9bt321dboimdnkqokt439dmoqf2o5cp1tt@4ax.com>,
bill.. <b@c.com> wrote:

> I have been shopping for a GSM replacement to my 3 old AT&T phone.
> Current favorite is the Moto V551.
>
> After checking on-line pricing from various 3rd party vendors I was
> really surprised at the difference between their pricing and the
> stores.
>
> On-line average price was $0 with 2 year contract - best price was
> -$75 ( they pay me!!)
> Cingular store price $119 ( current "deal" with rebate)
>
> I understand that someone has to pay for bricks and mortar etc and I
> would be willing to pay more at the store for convenience of return,
> service etc - say $30
> But $120 to $185 more for the same boxed product is way too much for
> me to swallow.
>
> Maybe I'm missing something.
> Can anyone shed light why - or give me a sensible reason to do
> business at the Cingular store vs on-line?

If you get a DOA phone or a battery dies after 3 months, you'll rue the
day you bought online when you're waiting days for your replacement,
instead of instantaneous at the Cingular store. It's your choice.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Per Jack Zwick:
>If you get a DOA phone or a battery dies after 3 months, you'll rue the
>day you bought online when you're waiting days for your replacement,
>instead of instantaneous at the Cingular store. It's your choice.

Which Cingular store? In the Philly area, they used to have a walk-in repair
facility in Trooper..but they closed it some years back.f

Now I've got a couple of phones whose keypads are going and I'd *really* like to
get them fixed without being offline for a couple days while devices are in the
mail. Somebody mentioned a mail-in service, but I can't figure out how I
could get uninterrupted service using it.
--
PeteCresswell

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

bill.. Wrote:
> I have been shopping for a GSM replacement to my 3 old AT&T phone.
> Current favorite is the Moto V551.
>
> After checking on-line pricing from various 3rd party vendors I was
> really surprised at the difference between their pricing and the
> stores.
>
> On-line average price was $0 with 2 year contract - best price was
> -$75 ( they pay me!!)
> Cingular store price $119 ( current "deal" with rebate)
>
> I understand that someone has to pay for bricks and mortar etc and I
> would be willing to pay more at the store for convenience of return,
> service etc - say $30
> But $120 to $185 more for the same boxed product is way too much for
> me to swallow.
>
> Maybe I'm missing something.
> Can anyone shed light why - or give me a sensible reason to do
> business at the Cingular store vs on-line?
>
>
> Bill

I work for an authorized agent of Cingular Wireless, and I can tell you
that there is no way for us to match an internet deal. My owner would
lose money if he matched the online prices or Amazon's prices. It all
depends on what Cingular pays them for a new customer. The more
Cingular pays my owner, the better the deal we can offer a customer.
Cingular may be offering a really special deal to certain online
dealers. I can't tell you for sure.

What I can tell you is Cingular.com will offer you a better deal than
purchasing the phone from inside a store. They can do that because
they don't have to pay the middle man which would be the dealer, or pay
out commission to a sales rep.


--
scott14661
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cell Phone Forums: http://cellphoneforums.net
View this thread: http://cellphoneforums.net/t168136.html

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

>
> Which Cingular store? In the Philly area, they used to have a walk-in
repair
> facility in Trooper..but they closed it some years back.f
>
> Now I've got a couple of phones whose keypads are going and I'd *really*
like to
> get them fixed without being offline for a couple days while devices are
in the
> mail. Somebody mentioned a mail-in service, but I can't figure out how
I
> could get uninterrupted service using it.
> --
> PeteCresswell

We've had cell phones for long enough now that we have spares . . . and yes,
they work OK on Cingular GSM. If one of our T720s had a problem (unlikely),
we've got a Nokia 3595 that works just fine. Just pop out the sim and put
it in the nokia. Done!

Don't know why you couldn't buy the cheapest Cingular (or unlocked) GSM
phone you can find (new or used, as long as it works) off of ebay and pop
your SIM into it so that you can send one of your current phones in for
repair. I'm sure Cingular can service the phone without the SIM in
t. -Dave

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 16:38:24 -0600, scott14661
<scott14661.1l4w8z@nospam.cellphoneforums.net> wrote:


>What I can tell you is Cingular.com will offer you a better deal than
>purchasing the phone from inside a store. They can do that because
>they don't have to pay the middle man which would be the dealer, or pay
>out commission to a sales rep.


Good point - that makes this whole pricing comparison even wierder.
Forget the stores and compare the Internet deals to Cingular.com

Right now for my zip code, Amazon.com is $195 cheaper than
Cingular.com for the same phone/contract.

Bill

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

Per Dave C.:
>Don't know why you couldn't buy the cheapest Cingular (or unlocked) GSM
>phone you can find (new or used, as long as it works) off of ebay and pop
>your SIM into it so that you can send one of your current phones in for
>repair. I'm sure Cingular can service the phone without the SIM in

Phone fungability is probably the primary attraction of GSM for me.

But I'm on TDMA. Some "family plan" that they've stopped supporting, but still
is about forty bucks a month less than I'd have to pay to get the same service
with a GSM account.


--
PeteCresswell

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

"scott14661" <scott14661.1l4w8z@nospam.cellphoneforums.net> wrote in message
news:scott14661.1l4w8z@nospam.cellphoneforums.net...
>
> bill.. Wrote:
>> I have been shopping for a GSM replacement to my 3 old AT&T phone.
>> Current favorite is the Moto V551.
>>
>> After checking on-line pricing from various 3rd party vendors I was
>> really surprised at the difference between their pricing and the
>> stores.
>>
>> On-line average price was $0 with 2 year contract - best price was
>> -$75 ( they pay me!!)
>> Cingular store price $119 ( current "deal" with rebate)
>>
>> I understand that someone has to pay for bricks and mortar etc and I
>> would be willing to pay more at the store for convenience of return,
>> service etc - say $30
>> But $120 to $185 more for the same boxed product is way too much for
>> me to swallow.
>>
>> Maybe I'm missing something.
>> Can anyone shed light why - or give me a sensible reason to do
>> business at the Cingular store vs on-line?
>>
>>
>> Bill
>
> I work for an authorized agent of Cingular Wireless, and I can tell you
> that there is no way for us to match an internet deal. My owner would
> lose money if he matched the online prices or Amazon's prices. It all
> depends on what Cingular pays them for a new customer. The more
> Cingular pays my owner, the better the deal we can offer a customer.
> Cingular may be offering a really special deal to certain online
> dealers. I can't tell you for sure.
>
> What I can tell you is Cingular.com will offer you a better deal than
> purchasing the phone from inside a store. They can do that because
> they don't have to pay the middle man which would be the dealer, or pay
> out commission to a sales rep.

It never ceases to amaze me when people bring their messed up phones from
second party sources and want us to fix and/or warranty them.

If you buy a phone online you will recieve ZERO assistance from Cingular if
something should go wrong with your phone.

If you buy from an authorized dealer you will recieve ZERO assistance from
Cingular if something should go wrong with your phone.

These business' make their own deals regarding phone pricing through their
distributors or the manufacturers.

Have fun saving money though!

--
JJ

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

In article <_GvUd.67553$Bx5.16887@fe1.texas.rr.com>,
"Jiu Jitsuperfly" <jiujitsuperfly@satx.rr.complicated> wrote:


> It never ceases to amaze me when people bring their messed up phones from
> second party sources and want us to fix and/or warranty them.
>
> If you buy a phone online you will recieve ZERO assistance from Cingular if
> something should go wrong with your phone.
>
> If you buy from an authorized dealer you will recieve ZERO assistance from
> Cingular if something should go wrong with your phone.
>
> These business' make their own deals regarding phone pricing through their
> distributors or the manufacturers.
>
> Have fun saving money though!

I'm sorry, if I buy a phone from Cingular online, why WOULDN'T a
Cingular B&M store fix it??? You can't use the brand name if you're not
willing to stand behind it.

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

"Jiu Jitsuperfly" <jiujitsuperfly@satx.rr.complicated> wrote in message
news:_GvUd.67553$Bx5.16887@fe1.texas.rr.com...
>
SNIP

> It never ceases to amaze me when people bring their messed up phones from
> second party sources and want us to fix and/or warranty them.
>
> If you buy a phone online you will recieve ZERO assistance from Cingular
> if something should go wrong with your phone.
>
> If you buy from an authorized dealer you will recieve ZERO assistance from
> Cingular if something should go wrong with your phone.
>

If you buy from Cingular they will replace the phone in the first 30 days,
after that it has to be sent in for repair. Don't try and make Cingular out
to be some good smaratin in the phone business. You may also not know that
some retailers and online sellers will give you just as good a warranty
service as Cingular and in some cases better.

> These business' make their own deals regarding phone pricing through their
> distributors or the manufacturers.
>
> Have fun saving money though!
>
This is somewhat misleading. Yes, the dealers make their own deals for the
cost of the phones but if they are reselling Cingular service they usually
recieve a comission or fee for signing up new customers. For example, a
phone like a Moto V551 might cost say $300 US to the dealer. Cingular may
pay $350 for a new customer. The dealer may pass on part of that rebate to
the customer and only charge $50 for the phone so in the end they still make
$100 on the deal (minus whatever they pay the sales person).

TC

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (More info?)

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 16:45:01 GMT, bill.. <b@c.com> wrote:

>I have been shopping for a GSM replacement to my 3 old AT&T phone.
>Current favorite is the Moto V551.
>
>After checking on-line pricing from various 3rd party vendors I was
>really surprised at the difference between their pricing and the
>stores.
>
>On-line average price was $0 with 2 year contract - best price was
>-$75 ( they pay me!!)
>Cingular store price $119 ( current "deal" with rebate)
>
>I understand that someone has to pay for bricks and mortar etc and I
>would be willing to pay more at the store for convenience of return,
>service etc - say $30
>But $120 to $185 more for the same boxed product is way too much for
>me to swallow.
>
>Maybe I'm missing something.
>Can anyone shed light why - or give me a sensible reason to do
>business at the Cingular store vs on-line?

When you get a phone with service the service provider who gives you
the phone or gives you a cheap price is heavily subsidizing the cost
of the phone to convince you to use that carrier. The price that the
third party vendor sells the phone for is totally unsubsidized which
is why it costs so much more than from a dealer for new service. If
you had the phone that you got from the carrier lost or stolen you'd
pay full price for it.
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