Reply With QuoteIt's out of stock online unfortunately which puts you at the mercy of the shady dealers that demand you buy overpriced accessories and who will add insurance and other things to your plan without your permission.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
in store with port $49 + act fee and $65 plan requirement
online(no port needed) $99. no act fee $40 plan requirement
historically Metro phones have unlocked after 6 months with or without continuous services (TOS does indicate continuous service requirement though YMMV)
Samsungs relatively easy to convert to unbranded firmware
this is really good deal
I've got more phones than fingers
It's out of stock online unfortunately which puts you at the mercy of the shady dealers that demand you buy overpriced accessories and who will add insurance and other things to your plan without your permission.
I've got more phones than fingers
Well now that it's free with no activation for Black Friday deals in store, it may be worth the headache.
https://www.metrobyt-mobile.com/deals/black-friday
Phone fan
and only a $40 plan needed....Originally Posted by EtherealRemnant
I've got more phones than fingers
They're not going to let you out of there without the $65 plan no matter what the site says. They'll say their system won't let them have the sale price without it.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
it really just depends on the store and often times the employee who is helping you
dealers get a really hard time from the corporate side if they do not have a commission structure and sales quotas that heavily discourage sales on the cheaper plans and without addon's like insurance.
they tell dealers they should have 'triggers' in the commission structure and pay really well but only when a high percentage of sales are on the highest plan and with insurance.
the crazy part of it though is that when they still had corporate stores those locations almost never tried very hard to push the higher plan or addon's and they were managed by the very people pushing the dealers to do so.
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I haven't dealt with Metro in years. So for an offer like this in the store, do you just pay sales tax, activation, first month and after that, not pay them anything else, let the account close for non-payment and the device unlocks automatically in 6 months?
I've climbed a cellphone tower
Most in-store accounts that I've read on SD indicate that it's the exception not the rule. Insurance, activation fee, upsell plan, case, etc are required before they'll sell it to you - and not provide you a receipt. Basically, it's a horror show. I guess online sales are over for this model? That's the simplest, stressless way. But yes, after 30 days just wait until 6 months pass. Autopay should be off by default but double check.
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Thanks for the insight into the retail process. Yes, the device is out of stock online.
I did a search for locations and was shocked and how many authorized dealers were nearby. Doing all of these in-store upsells as described on SD must be quite the profit-maker.
Post Machine
I live in Topeka KS and there are only two Metro authorized dealers in town. The whole state of KS doesn't have one single Metro corporate store. I went to a local Metro store one time and the salespeople were activing like a bunch of sleazy, hungry car salespeople.
Below is the actual experience of a HoFo forum member who shared it with me via PM.
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Well, my one experience with Metro store confirmed that at least some of them are as scummy, sleazy, as we read! Went in to get an S23FE with port of one of my TF numbers. They said it was $65 plan, $25 activation fee and sales taxes on the full $600 normal price. Was to be about #135 and they would throw in a case and screen protector. I questioned the tax on the "normal" price as in AZ we only pay tax on the transaction price. They insisted that was the way it was. I said OK and went ahead with it. (As an aside, the zip code I retrieved from my acct was not right but Metro called TF and got the port done). Got the phone and started to drive away and saw that they had charged me for the case and screen protector and $75 for the first months service but only $4.73 tax. Total was $134.72. I went back in and asked them for a corrected receipt that showed $65 charge (they now said the $75 included $10 insurance that they earlier said was free for the first month), the free accessories and the sales tax on the $600. I knew they would only remit $4.73 to AZ for the tax. After some back and forth, they said they could only reverse the whole transaction, but I would lose my TF number. I said I would see how the FCC and the AZ Attorney General Consumer Fraud office would feel about it. They then offered a $43.43 refund to return the case. I said OK. So, the end result was $91.29 for the phone, 1 month service, insurance and a screen protector, AND a very bad taste in my mouth for Metro stores!
I've climbed a cellphone tower
There are no Metro corporate stores anymore since the beginning of the year.
Memory correction: the horror stories were detailed in r/metropcs.
Last edited by AnciusD; 12-07-2023 at 06:05 PM.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
something to keep in mind that can drastically alter the in store experience
dealers are under tremendous pressure to limit what are called 'NGA' sales which are activations that a second month of service is not paid
if a customer sale is suspected of being a likely NGA sale you are likely to receive a radically different treatment than the average customer
for an independent store owner or a store manager who is seeing the sales reporting and other data with time it become relatively easy to spot which sales are likely to turn NGA. the biggest give away is someone who both does not seem to fit the average customer profile combined with looking for a specific handset deal. very few long term prepaid customer come to a store looking for specific handset deal, most come in because their existing phone broke or was lost and they need a new one. they are typically already a customer getting new phone or they are porting from a similar company such as Boost or Cricket. customer porting from prepaid/MVNO offering only or primarily available online or from big box stores tend to be very high risk of NGA. anyone who already has an account number and transfer PIN ready is very high risk for sure. it is quite unusual for a Metro or Boost customer to know what is needed to port when they enter a store. than there is just the overall interaction and questions and answers prior to transaction that tends to just be quite a bit a different on most NGA sales than whats typical.
if a sale seems very high risk the store is likely to start bundling in accessories, slamming features, etc. in a effort to discourage a sale they believe will both be unprofitable(dealer has all compensation charged back on NGA sales) and lead to visit from corporate asking for details and explaining too many more similar sale could result in the store being terminated.
these 'horror stories' you read about in SD, here and other places are not necessarily the typically experience most customers receive.
please don't think i'm condoning any of this behavior, just wanted to share a little insight from my time on the other side.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
Really, the provider should just structure the promo so cheating is just not possible.
If a workaround is allowed by the system, then it is not cheating!
Last edited by PaulCrawhorne; Yesterday at 01:33 AM.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
the sales tax issue is matter of varying states laws, many(but not all) states do require sales tax to be collected on the full price when a portion is cover by an instant rebate. corporate stores do not collect the tax since they do not actually receive a rebate back and more of a 'discount.' this is very similar to how coupons work at supermarkets, you pay the tax on the amount before the coupon discount.
stores that do not collect the tax on the full price in many states can and do get audited and held liable for the uncollected sales tax.
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