So I've called Verizon and Best Buy asking about a way to get the new Blackberry Storm next week for the $249 pricetag new Verizon customers will pay. It seems I'm out of luck until my "new every two" comes to pass, which is in May of next year. If I have to wait six months then so be it, but I was wondering if anyone knew of a way for me to get it for the $249 price next week - I don't even care about the $50 rebate they are offerring with that, I just want the phone. The full retail price hasn't been officially revealed by Verizon, but many sites speculate it will be around the $500 mark; a bit more than I really wanted to pay. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
you are SOL unless you know someone else who account you can get on or someone else you are close enough to to open a new account for ya.
Hmm...I'm due for a new phone from Verizon when my thingy is up next month. They usually let me do an upgrade early. Wonder if I can do that with the Storm? Looks like one hell of a phone.
CALL customer care and do this. Dont go to a store. The store reps wont do squat for ya. But 99% of the time when you call the CS, they will bend over backwards for you. Tell the rep that when you called in 2 weeks ago and spoke with a Jason in customer service, he said to you that he would leave notes on your account saying you can get the Storm as the "new in 2" deal. Deceptive yes. But I have done it several times and its worked perfectly. And Jason is a vague name so noone gets in trouble. These phone subsidy s are killing me. I mean just make it the normal price for all. The cell industry moves at a crawling pace when it comes to lowering prices, Look at text prices. Crazyness. Keep us posted on if this works for you!
I will certainly give this a shot and post an update. Worst case, I have to wait until May - no biggie really. Thanks for the advice.
UPDATE 11/24/08 I called Best Buy today to see if any contract service exceptions had been allowed for the Storm. They told me there were none. I called Verizon to see if I could get a deal. Without doing anything more than asking I was told I could get it for $199 and, on top of that, the $50 mail in rebate didn't need to be applied to get that price because of the company I work for. So I ended up getting it for the "new customer" price straight up, without even having to wait 6-8 weeks for a mail in rebate check. I have no idea why or how Verizon did it, they just did. I also got it added to my phone bill so I didn't even have to pay right away. Of course now I'm on pins and needles waiting for it and it won't be here for a few weeks. Thanks, Verizon, for being so awesome!
I just went online on Friday and ordered it through verizonwireless.com. Basically, you can get any phone for their sale price as long as you do the 2-year contract (and have at least 10 months or so with your current phone). I've been doing that since last year. I picked up the Voyager last December doing that and now I'm getting the Storm the same way. Can't wait for it to come in. That phone looks pretty cool.
I'm not sure how you got around it, I've tried that several times to upgrade early on Verizon's site. When you order like a new customer their system detects you as soon as you put your contact info in. If I tried to order as an existing customer it told me I was ineligible to upgrade at the sale price. You've lucked out, evidentally, or you just put in different contact info.
I did an early upgrade (as a VIP so I save even more) and I got it for the new user price minus my upgrade savings.
How long have you been on your current plan/phone? Did you do the 2 year contract when you tried to upgrade? That is the only way, if you already have a contract, to do an early upgrade. If you try to do the 1 year contract it won't let you. I've been with them for about 4 years now. And 2 years ago (December 2006), when I upgraded I had a different phone and within one year (Dec 2007) I did an early upgrade. And now I was able to do an early upgrade once again for the new Storm. That's why I'm saying that after a year (or so) on any contract you can do an early upgrade. What's funny is that when you do an early upgrade you are ineligible for the $50 credit BUT today in the morning Verizon called and told me that I was eligible for it. Who was I to complain so I said "cool" . They just told me to call back when I receive my phone and have activated it so that they can credit me for it.
Finally received my phone yesterday. I guess I feel spoiled from the ease of the iTouch features that I expected more from this phone. But I'm not disappointed nonetheless. My one gripe would be the lack of the awesome finger-stretch feature that I love from the ITouch . Other than that I love this phone until the next pretty phone comes out.
