Haggling with a cell phone provider on handset price?

I had to send my G1 back to T-Mobile after the hinge broke on me six days in to owning it. They credited me for the S&H, and I told them I wasn't interested in being sent a replacement. I'm a little soured on the G1, so I'm considering either an N95 or a BlackBerry Curve.

If I go the N95 route, I'm obviously not getting it through T-Mobile, but if I get the Curve, I'm probably going to go through them.

The problem lies in, they want $450 for the Curve, which, in my opinion, is ridiculous, especially considering that I've been with T-Mobile for ages. The cheapest I can seem to find is $400, assuming I want to restart my contract (not gonna happen). By comparison, I can get the N95 8GB for $400 on it's own, and AT&T only wants $329 for a BlackBerry Curve without a contract.

Is there any way to talk them down on the price of the handset? I could always give them the "Well, maybe I'll just have to cancel my contract" line, but I don't know how well that works.

Any suggestions other than that?

Trust me, my replacement sidekick was one where it freezes, locks up occasionally, loses connection, and the "battery cover removed" warning appears, even though the back cover is on. And that usually ends up me accidentally having the phone shut down, and then afterwards my myfaves contacts quadrupled (right now my girlfriends phone number has been copied 20 times.)

*sigh*

anyways, I think you should discuss about the headset. I'm pretty sure they already have heard the "im going to cancel my contract" line many many times. Tell them that you are already under a budget while still paying for their service. Make it seem like you are financially upset, make them look like that you're so loyal, that even though you are financially upset you still pay for their service. play the "give me sympathy" card.

or if they can view your financial status then I wasted your time by having you read this garbage text.

cuhnool said:

anyways, I think you should discuss about the headset. I'm pretty sure they already have heard the "im going to cancel my contract" line many many times. Tell them that you are already under a budget while still paying for their service. Make it seem like you are financially upset, make them look like that you're so loyal, that even though you are financially upset you still pay for their service. play the "give me sympathy" card.

or if they can view your financial status then I wasted your time by having you read this garbage text.

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Well, generally, the "I'm gonna cancel" line is the one that gets them to do pretty much anything for ya.

Use both lines

cuhnool said:

Use both lines

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Thinking about it. It's alot easier to have sway when you do it in person too, so I may walk on up to the T-Mobile store.

Just walk in and tell them you are canceling to go to AT&T. When they ask why, tell them you want an iPhone and then let them talk you into staying with the phone you want at the price you want.

Derek McNelly said:

Thinking about it. It's alot easier to have sway when you do it in person too, so I may walk on up to the T-Mobile store.

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Yeah that usually helps too.