The results of a call to "customer retention"

[M A V I C]

First off, let me thank this community for being very awesome. I haven't upgraded my phone in four years so some of my questions are noobish. This is my first experience with Windows Mobile as well.

Anyway, having not upgraded in four years I have the original Vision plan. Well, "had" until I got the Q. It requires PV as you know (though on person managed to get regular vision grandfathered in, that gave me some hope.)

When I got PV, I didn't realize I lost my picture mail and unlimited text messaging. When I looked at the cost of adding that, I was a bit upset.

I contacted the rep at the store who upgraded me. She said she couldn't do anything but gave me the "backdoor" line to customer service and a number to customer retention. I called CS first and was blown away that a person answered the phone without any prompts. I explained my situation, she was looking through info and I got disconnected.

I called back, this guy said that's just the way it is. Back then they were trying to move people to data and now everyone wants it so they can charge more. I said ATT has better data rates and he said they're about the same. So I cited them and he quit with that argument. Asked if I wanted to talk to Customer Retention.

My thoughts about switching were serious. I honestly signed up for Sprint way back when because of the reasonable data rates. I really like the iPhone too

I explained my case to the CR lady. She added picture mail to my account as well as unlimited text messaging. That increased my bill by $13/mo. She couldn't give me a $13/mo credit, it had to be multiples of five. So she gave me a $15/mo credit. I now have PV, picture mail and unlimited text messaging for $13/mo. $3/mo more than I was paying, but I'm fine with that since I was fine paying $15/mo thinking I was getting all of that.

[Amosrock]

the fact that you got pv, unltd txt, and picture mail (which you can't actually use on the Q) for 13 bucks is extremely impressive...

at&t's data rates suck though....

for unltd data you have to have smartphone connect with is 20 bucks...they don't have unltd text...the most you can get is 3000 for 20 bucks...

essentially...with sprint the average cust pays 30 bucks for all that stuff...with at&t/cingular the average customer would pay 40.00

[hanski9]

My version of a noobie question on this. I can send e-mail with a picture as an attachment from my Q to any PC...or in theory someone else who gets e-mail on their phone...what feature does picture mail provide that e-mail does not? Can't I e-mail ###-###-####@sprintpcs.com...or something like that, and a person get the picture?

Thanks,

[M A V I C]

Originally Posted by Amosrock

picture mail (which you can't actually use on the Q)

Yeah, I knew that. Point being that I didn't want to pay more and get less.

essentially...with sprint the average cust pays 30 bucks for all that stuff...with at&t/cingular the average customer would pay 40.00

Right, but with that $40 you get tethering which is worth $10/mo for me. The point I made to guy #2 was that if I have to pay $30 extra for what I was getting for $10, I might as well pay an additional $10 and get tethering.

Originally Posted by hanski9

what feature does picture mail provide that e-mail does not?

As pointed out, there is no picture mail for the Q. That's probably because, you're right, there is no real difference. Other phones don't have that sort of email capability (or at least with the ease of the Q), and that's where picture mail comes in.

[cliffy2k5]

I had to rack my brains on how to send and receive picture mail on my Q. What I had to do is basically add my one of my email addresses (hotmail or sprintpcs.com) to my Messaging folder (same one that has my text messaging and outlook email). Once I finally got them sync'd up, I was able to send and receive pictures from that email address. The good news is that I can view pictures directly in email if someone sends them to my email.

I guess with that being said, there's essentially no need for picture mail. Thoughts?

[MrClean]

Originally Posted by M A V I C

I really like the iPhone too

I thought I like the iPhone also. Then I did more research on it and decided I'd be crazy to like it. First is the price. $400 - $600 (last time I checked). Second, it uses 2G technology............WTF?!?!?! Which means data rates are going to be SLOW. It just amazes me with all the advances in technology and Apple puts out something like this.