vB Easy Archive - Why is Razr $199 on cingular.com but FREE if I sign up on Amazon? What's the catch?

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Why is Razr $199 on cingular.com but FREE if I sign up on Amazon? What's the catch?
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Posted by: lindseybp

I will be switching to Cingular soon. My wife has a new job and she will now be on cingular with her work cell phone. I figured I would move to Cingular also since I could get free mobile 2 mobile and the majority of calls would be to her anyway. I saw the Razr for $199 on the cingular website but then I looked on amazon and it was FREE. What's the catch? Where is my best bet to sign up for new service and get the best deal? I'll probably wait for the Sony W600 but the Razr is nice also. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Lindseybp

Posted by: elushon

Free online after rebates...No store overhead to maintain...No sales commission to pay out, this lets them move and hit a bonus payout.

Also I'm gonna guess that in order to get the final rebate you have to keep the phone for 180 days. At that point if you cancel your service the online store will not suffer the chargeback and lost it's commission on the contract. That should clear that up.

Posted by: avian

Plus I think that the Amazon deal requires a two year contract with Cingular.

Posted by: lindseybp

Is there any difference, besides the term, between signing 1 yr and 2 yr contracts?

Posted by: scaredpoet

One other thing: you can't port your number. SOOoo many people (including a friend of mine) got burned by this. Read the fine print carefully if you buy at Amazon: a ported number WILL invalidate the rebates and your phone will cost just as much as if you bought it at the Cingular store.

Posted by: ymc

The catch is that it is a rebate and you can't port your number.

Posted by: ILuvMyMac

you also have to wait 6 months to send in your rebate, and another 2 months after that until you actually get it. you can't make any changes to your plan in that 6 months or your rebate is voided. that's the catch.

Posted by: Tauro72

I did not dealt with Amazon but I got my NOKIA 6102 FREE thru Letstalk.com I did not had to wait on rebates to get the FREE phone, so if I want to cancel my service, can I just call Cngular and cancel knowing that I am still within the 2 week trial ?

Posted by: mulletwireless

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindseybp

I will be switching to Cingular soon. My wife has a new job and she will now be on cingular with her work cell phone. I figured I would move to Cingular also since I could get free mobile 2 mobile and the majority of calls would be to her anyway. I saw the Razr for $199 on the cingular website but then I looked on amazon and it was FREE. What's the catch? Where is my best bet to sign up for new service and get the best deal? I'll probably wait for the Sony W600 but the Razr is nice also. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Lindseybp

a lot of people always rant about not getting Amazon.com rebates so buyer beware. Try to see if your wife's new job has a discount with Cingular B2B so you can get a discount on the phone's and the service too but discounts do not apply to family plans.

Posted by: sharksfan

Amazon wants to see your second bill, showing your first month was paid in full. If you read the T&Cs you have to wait 60 days to send in the rebate (with the second bill).

My wife signed up for service with VZW through Amazon in June. We had the $150 rebate check in hand the second week of October. IMO a 4 month turnaround isn't too bad.

Posted by: lindseybp

Good info. Thanks to all.

Posted by: blibman

You CAN port your number with LetsTalk.com and some other sites, but you do have to sign 2-year agreements to get the rebates and wait 6 months to submit them ("4th bill").

Brian

Posted by: supranatural

What if you upgrade your plan? I signed on with the $39.99 450 anytime minutes plan to the Family Plan for $69.99 with 700 anytime minutes, would that invalidate the rebate? I was under the impression that as long as you maintain a plan of minimum $39.99 the rebate was valid.

Posted by: CIAlias

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tauro72

I did not dealt with Amazon but I got my NOKIA 6102 FREE thru Letstalk.com I did not had to wait on rebates to get the FREE phone, so if I want to cancel my service, can I just call Cngular and cancel knowing that I am still within the 2 week trial ?

Cingular will not charge you to cancel your contract if you are within the 30 day period, but be aware that LetsTalk.com will want their phone back, or else they will charge you full price for it. Also, Letstalk.com will not accept the phone back after 7 days, or after you've used 30 minutes of talk time, which ever comes first.

Posted by: HarvesterOfBeer

Quote:

Originally Posted by scaredpoet

One other thing: you can't port your number. SOOoo many people (including a friend of mine) got burned by this. Read the fine print carefully if you buy at Amazon: a ported number WILL invalidate the rebates and your phone will cost just as much as if you bought it at the Cingular store.

I got a new T610 + service through T-Mo in early Dec 2003. Ported my number over from AT&T. Had no problems with the port or the rebates. When I did my port, I just made sure to let the CSR know I needed to keep the existing account and not set up a new one for the new number.

YMMV with Cingular.

-Pete

Posted by: Interpol

You can also get it for 69.99 on bestbuy.com if available in your area...And you CAN port..

Posted by: BuggyBoyWA

What is this talk about not being able to port with Amazon and get the rebates?

I got my VZW Motorola V710 from Amazon about 4 months ago w/ $150 rebate from Amazon. Ported my number the first week of service from Cingular, put the new number in the rebate form... And just got the check about 2 weeks ago.

Posted by: HarvesterOfBeer

I think the trick is to make sure the CSR you're dealing with for the port doesn't just set you up a new account with the ported number and kill off your old account/number.