[storm-to-tour]

I wanted to start a thread for what I think about often.....how am I going to get my 9630 for free?

I bought the Storm the day it came out and the novelty has worn off. I have come to grips that this is not a production phone and need a real QWERTY keyboard to survive. Ultimately I did not get used to the Storm like I had hoped and realized that the Storm purchase was a mistake. The Bold is such a great phone, I expect the Tour to be comparable. I am of course going to try to get my Tour for free.

I think this thread would be a good place for those who have similar goals to collaborate on how to beat the system. I am sure there will be thousands of people who will be trying to do the same thing as me. If we were to work together to obtain our goals, we should be more successful.

If tomorrow the Tour were to hit the streets my strategy would be as follows:
1) Call customer service and work my way up the ladder speaking to managers. It would be important to start early as the popularity of the Tour is going to be big.
2) I would complain about the dust under the screen with no solution.
3) I would complain about the lack of OS upgrades and an unusable camera that I had to deal with all these months.
4) I would remind them of how loyal of a Verizon customer I have been and have always paid my $150 per month cell phone bill and my wifes bill in addition to our Fios and land line bills. Totaling nearly $4,000 to Verizon each year.
5) I will have a deal in mind like sign on for 2-more years, swap the Storm for the Tour straight.

My friend called Verizon and tried to get a reasonable deal on the Curve after having the Storm for six months and was denied. He like myself pays a large amount of money to Verizon each year and threatened to take his business elsewhere and the customer service rep did not try to stop him. Then he asked to speak to a manager and proposed keeping his Storm in exchange for a Curve for he and his wife for $100, 6-months into his 2-year contract. He envisioned selling his Storm on eBay. The manager agreed to the deal but notified him that this deal required approval from his supervisor and was going to send him a letter. Shortly after he received a letter stating that his deal did not go through.

From his experience I have learned a few things:
1) It appears that Verizon is willing to listen to deals.
2) It probably is better to get the manager to agree on the spot to a deal rather then wait for a letter. Maybe a broken phone would speed up the process.
3) Threatening to take your business elsewhere does not seam to work.
4) A hard nosed return policy on Storm returns has not been established.

I am interested in hearing your experiences and ideas.

[Seraph08]

No one is likely to get any free phones and if you don't think Verizon is going to have a strategy in place for this I think you are being naive. Your friend couldn't even get a phone that isn't going to exist at the end of this year, what makes you think you will get a brand new phone?

[rfvijn]

Every Storm is still under warranty. Find some sort of fault with you Storm, get Verizon to replace it under warranty (they'll send you a new one).

Don't activate or open it. Just take it straight to eBay. You'll get close to retail.

Buy your new Tour.

[ShanePouliot]

Every Storm is still under warranty. Find some sort of fault with you Storm, get Verizon to replace it under warranty (they'll send you a new one).

Don't activate or open it. Just take it straight to eBay. You'll get close to retail.

Buy your new Tour.

Don't do this as someone that works for an indirect retailer selling Verizon Wireless products and services I can tell you that if you do as stated above you will have the full retail price of the Storm charged to your account and the person that buys it from you wont be able to activate it due to the fact that the ESN is listed on your account once it is shipped to you.

[blackmannx]

Calling customer Care to speak to a manager will not get you a new phone....The fact is that when a new phone comes out customer care is packed with calls from people that "know how to get a free phone" if your device is damaged or not working correctly you will get a new Storm. Like stated the best thing you can do is sell that Refurb device on ebay and use the funds to go to your new device.

[rfvijn]

Don't do this as someone that works for an indirect retailer selling Verizon Wireless products and services I can tell you that if you do as stated above you will have the full retail price of the Storm charged to your account and the person that buys it from you wont be able to activate it due to the fact that the ESN is listed on your account once it is shipped to you.

Obviously you are going to ship your broken phone back, and obviously you need to activate a different phone instead of the replacement. I'm not saying to steal the phone.

I've done this before. I was sick and tired of my Voyager which kept breaking, so instead of activating the latest replacement, I put it on ebay and got $400 for it. Paid for my Curve in full.

[jwonchalk]

if this is the case your account is probably flagged like everyone else I got away with like one or two Q's in 06 and low and behold i had a 900 bill three months later with two full retail phones on there

[rfvijn]

if this is the case your account is probably flagged like everyone else I got away with like one or two Q's in 06 and low and behold i had a 900 bill three months later with two full retail phones on there

Flagged for what?

I bought a phone, it broke, I had it replaced. And then I sold it instead of continuing to use the replacement.

I did nothing against the terms of service. It's no different than the people who buy phones with their NE2 and then flip on eBay.

Christ, seriously, you guys will do anything to make someone else look like a bad guy.

[storm-to-tour]

If your phone legitimately breaks in warranty, and you then decided that after you got your re-furbished replacement that you can no longer deal with a phone that continues to break, or in this case collects dust under the screen, you should be able activate another phone, and sell your old one on eBay because it is your property. If you were upfront with Verizon that this was your intention I don't see how they can come back and charge you later.

Although they may have you over a barrel due to the fine print of your contract, which can be found here: (Customer Agreement), which I apparently agreed to as stated on the receipt:

I AGREE TO THE CURRENT VZW CUSTOMER AGREEMENT, INCLUDING THE CALLING PLAN, AND OTHER TERMS AND SERVICES AND SELECTED FEATURES I HAVE AGREED TO PURCHASE AS REFLECTED ON THE RECEIPT, AND WHICH HAVE BEEN PRESENTED TO ME BY THE SALES REP. AND WHICH I HAVE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW. I UNDERSTAND THAT I AM AGREEING TO AN EARLY TERMINATION FEE OF UP TO $175, LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY FOR SERVICE AND EQUIPMENT, SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES BY ARBITRATION AND OTHER MEANS INSTEAD OF JURY TRIALS AND OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS IN THE CUSTOMER AGREEMENT.

I will read over the Customer Agreement and get back to you.

[CSSVT]

How many replacements have you received? Only time I've heard of VZ-Dub replacing phones for a new one of a different model or brand is if you complain of 5, 6, 7 replacements that were due to product problems and not things such as drops, loss, theft, etc.

[Darthkuriboh]

It won't happen with the tour. We'll be lucky to have enough for those who are willing to pay full retail or saved their NE2. We employees might not even be able to get it for a while.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[waterfrontmgmt]

wow..lots of misguided post on this thread. for one...if you replace your phone within the first year 3 times (i think it is still 3), you can get a different replacement phone.

all the storms should still be under warranty when the tour comes out. if the storm has given you problems and you feel the storm is not for you, you can get a free tour, or at least an early upgrade price, if you talk to the right people you have to be smart and get up to past the supervisor level.

i am getting a free tour. i may even get a free curve to use in the meantime.

the lure of the storm sucked a lot of people into buying something that has had issues since day one for some people. for some the storm is stable and works great. for others it has been a terrible experience. verizon is well aware of the issues this phone has had.

[rfvijn]

If your phone legitimately breaks in warranty, and you then decided that after you got your re-furbished replacement that you can no longer deal with a phone that continues to break, or in this case collects dust under the screen, you should be able activate another phone, and sell your old one on eBay because it is your property. If you were upfront with Verizon that this was your intention I don't see how they can come back and charge you later.

I am not breaking my contract, just because I activate a different phone instead of the replacement, I am still bound by and continue to serve the remainder of the 2-year contract.

However, there is no reason at any time you couldn't sell your phone that you use now and use the money you get to pay the $175+Last Bill and end your Verizon service.

[ushneb]

Ummmm, sell your Storm then buy the Tour. How hard is that?

[Tifoso]

Gimme gimme gimme. WTF people?
I'm not 100% satisfied with my storm which has dust issues, a shoddy camera and a poor OS (until .148) but I'm not looking for a freebie. I have every right to send it back under warranty because of the dust and get a refurb. I made a choice, albeit a hasty one, to get the latest and "greatest" blackberry. You have options but I'm sorry to tell you that getting a free Tour is not one of them. Learn from your mistakes like the rest of us.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[joshgoff]

Back in the day I had a Motorola Q and it was constantly having hardware issues. The third time I went into the store they let me swap it out for a phone of equal retail value. I believe they have a policy about switching after three replacements. That's what the rep said to me at the store that day and it worked. And we all know a Verizon rep wouldn't lie.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ushneb]

But if you swapped out for a different phone you also reset your upgrade eligibility date. I'm not going to do that. I have an alternate upgrade available to use, plus I don't want to lose my $100 NE2.

[thebignewt]

Hey, I just had a great idea lol:
1. Ditch Vzn for $175.
2. Sell Storm on Ebay for $175 and break even.
3. Get free 8900 on Amazon as a new Tmob customer. Data and voice are cheaper than similar Vzn contract. You'll save a few hundred/year.
4. Now you've got a similar phone to the tour with WiFi/UMA and your bill goes down. Win win?
5. Just kidding Verizon fans

[Stang68]

Hey, I just had a great idea lol:
1. Ditch Vzn for $175.
2. Sell Storm on Ebay for $175 and break even.
3. Get free 8900 on Amazon as a new Tmob customer. Data and voice are cheaper than similar Vzn contract. You'll save a few hundred/year.
4. Now you've got a similar phone to the tour with WiFi/UMA and your bill goes down. Win win?
5. Just kidding Verizon fans

Lol...T-Mobile...8900.

TOUR, BABY!!!



I plan on just using my brother's upgrade. He doesn't know any better lol

[eSteve_UofA]

Gimme gimme gimme. WTF people?
I'm not 100% satisfied with my storm which has dust issues, a shoddy camera and a poor OS (until .148) but I'm not looking for a freebie. I have every right to send it back under warranty because of the dust and get a refurb. I made a choice, albeit a hasty one, to get the latest and "greatest" blackberry. You have options but I'm sorry to tell you that getting a free Tour is not one of them. Learn from your mistakes like the rest of us.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Gotta say this is the only post in here with legitimate advice..
Selling your Storm or trying to replace 3 a year may work for some but if there is anything to be learned from buying a Storm it would be don't pay for one day old tech like SurePress unless your absolutely sure that's what you want.
After OS and Memory issues with the Storm I think ill wait about 6mo. After the Tour, storm 2 or what ever new smartphone gets pushed through RIM before jumping on another buggy device

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[salomondrin]

I wanted to start a thread for what I think about often.....how am I going to get my 9630 for free?

I bought the Storm the day it came out and the novelty has worn off. I have come to grips that this is not a production phone and need a real QWERTY keyboard to survive. Ultimately I did not get used to the Storm like I had hoped and realized that the Storm purchase was a mistake. The Bold is such a great phone, I expect the Tour to be comparable. I am of course going to try to get my Tour for free.

I think this thread would be a good place for those who have similar goals to collaborate on how to beat the system. I am sure there will be thousands of people who will be trying to do the same thing as me. If we were to work together to obtain our goals, we should be more successful.

If tomorrow the Tour were to hit the streets my strategy would be as follows:
1) Call customer service and work my way up the ladder speaking to managers. It would be important to start early as the popularity of the Tour is going to be big.
2) I would complain about the dust under the screen with no solution.
3) I would complain about the lack of OS upgrades and an unusable camera that I had to deal with all these months.
4) I would remind them of how loyal of a Verizon customer I have been and have always paid my $150 per month cell phone bill and my wifes bill in addition to our Fios and land line bills. Totaling nearly $4,000 to Verizon each year.
5) I will have a deal in mind like sign on for 2-more years, swap the Storm for the Tour straight.

My friend called Verizon and tried to get a reasonable deal on the Curve after having the Storm for six months and was denied. He like myself pays a large amount of money to Verizon each year and threatened to take his business elsewhere and the customer service rep did not try to stop him. Then he asked to speak to a manager and proposed keeping his Storm in exchange for a Curve for he and his wife for $100, 6-months into his 2-year contract. He envisioned selling his Storm on eBay. The manager agreed to the deal but notified him that this deal required approval from his supervisor and was going to send him a letter. Shortly after he received a letter stating that his deal did not go through.

From his experience I have learned a few things:
1) It appears that Verizon is willing to listen to deals.
2) It probably is better to get the manager to agree on the spot to a deal rather then wait for a letter. Maybe a broken phone would speed up the process.
3) Threatening to take your business elsewhere does not seam to work.
4) A hard nosed return policy on Storm returns has not been established.

I am interested in hearing your experiences and ideas.

I hate saying this, because it really makes me feel like a hippie, but don't go that route to get a new phone for "free"...

Your best bet is to go to vegas put it all in RED or BLACK and then see if you make it... if you do... you have a new phone... if you don't... then you don't...

Its just bad karma

[trebb]

My dad has gotten my upgrade pushed up over a year quite a few times. He usually has his way with those people.

[Pastuh]

I personally do not think you will be successful at getting the Tour for free. The thing we have to keep in mind is Verizon is not the manufacturer for a phone. They simply provide you with the wireless service to talk, text, use data, etc.

They are probably going to want you to do another exchange via the mail for another Blackberry Storm, and then if you continued to experience problems with the Storm they would look at another handset.

You did say something that really shows your true intent. You said, "Ultimately I did not get used to the Storm like I had hoped and realized that the Storm purchase was a mistake."

We all purchase vehicles, houses, clothes, etc. that we end up not liking and realize our mistake. But we do not go back to the vendor demanding a new car, etc. You bought the phone. Sounds like to me your mind is made up on the Tour and no matter what Storm they send you...its going to have problems.....

Good luck on getting the Tour though. Heck, grab me one if they end up wanting to give some away

[Lovecore]

Escalating to a supervisor usually won't get you too far with VZW. If you're really out to get one for free, there ARE ways to do it. You would have to have your storm replaced 2 times within 90 days of eachother, AND you account must be remarked to make use of the policy that we at VZW have access to. Once noted, you will then be given the options of what you can, "multi-fru" as its called, into. If this is done while the Tour is out, it will be the only phone you could go into. So take feel free to take that info how ever you may ;-)

[Pastuh]

Any way you could mark some of our accounts for us?