Ugrade by purchasing from Amazon.com

[pngu107]

I currently have a family plan with 3 phones with T-Mobile (no longer on contract). My son wants to upgrade to another phone. T-mobile charges $30 but Amazon offers $50 rebate for the same model if purchased with a plan. Can I purchase this deal from Amazon (phone & plan) then switch it into my existing family plan?
1. Is it OK with Amazon? Does it mean I cancel the plan I purchase with the phone, therefore I have to re-pay them the full price? Or not?
2. Is there any problem with T-mobile by upgrading this way?

[spleck]

I believe you can only do contract extensions with AT&T on Amazon. It will specifically ask "New Contract" or "Contract Extension (Existing Customer)". T-Mobile does not provide that option, so I can only guess you cannot. It seems much of the Amazon deal is a gray area--you may get away with it, you may not.

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by pngu107

I currently have a family plan with 3 phones with T-Mobile (no longer on contract). My son wants to upgrade to another phone. T-mobile charges $30 but Amazon offers $50 rebate for the same model if purchased with a plan. Can I purchase this deal from Amazon (phone & plan) then switch it into my existing family plan?
1. Is it OK with Amazon? Does it mean I cancel the plan I purchase with the phone, therefore I have to re-pay them the full price? Or not?
2. Is there any problem with T-mobile by upgrading this way?

Here is the deal:

You can't upgrade through amazon, amazon is there for new activation only the reason that you are getting a better deal there is they are commissioned to activate customers and you will sign two contracts one with amazon and one with tmobile or any other carrier, if you cancel an existing line within 180 days of starting the line through amazon, you reimburse amazon 250 dollars, if you change your phone number to your old phone number 250 dollars, if you're already a customer it's cheaper in the long run to pay the upgrade cost through the company. Now on the flip side of this if you are adding a new line to your acct then yes amazon is a great way to get a great deal on a great phone. Otherwise it's not worth it just to clarify the only penalties or fees that are involved are charged by amazon for this, tmobile will give you the best deal they can but we subsidize our phones based on market prices directly through other carriers, compare the carriers websites and you will see comparable pricing for similar phones. Hope this helps you make your decision

[pngu107]

Originally Posted by tmobileman

Here is the deal:

You can't upgrade through amazon, amazon is there for new activation only the reason that you are getting a better deal there is they are commissioned to activate customers and you will sign two contracts one with amazon and one with tmobile or any other carrier, if you cancel an existing line within 180 days of starting the line through amazon, you reimburse amazon 250 dollars, if you change your phone number to your old phone number 250 dollars, if you're already a customer it's cheaper in the long run to pay the upgrade cost through the company. Now on the flip side of this if you are adding a new line to your acct then yes amazon is a great way to get a great deal on a great phone. Otherwise it's not worth it just to clarify the only penalties or fees that are involved are charged by amazon for this, tmobile will give you the best deal they can but we subsidize our phones based on market prices directly through other carriers, compare the carriers websites and you will see comparable pricing for similar phones. Hope this helps you make your decision

Thanks for the info. It makes sense but a friend of mine said it's OK to "upgrade" this way without any penalty because I'll be signing a new 2-yr contract with T-mobile anyway (my old contract has expired)?

[spleck]

Originally Posted by pngu107

Thanks for the info. It makes sense but a friend of mine said it's OK to "upgrade" this way without any penalty because I'll be signing a new 2-yr contract with T-mobile anyway (my old contract has expired)?

If you sign up for a new T-Mobile account on Amazon, you'll be getting a new phone number. You'll probably have to cancel the old one and lose that number. You might be able to find a better way to work the system, but that's what I see happening.

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by spleck

If you sign up for a new T-Mobile account on Amazon, you'll be getting a new phone number. You'll probably have to cancel the old one and lose that number. You might be able to find a better way to work the system, but that's what I see happening.

This is exactly right and by the way the Terms and Conditions of Amazon's offer do state that if you cancel existing service after activating new service through them that you agree to reimburse them all the savings for the new phone so read the terms and conditions as long as you can honor them then do it if you want to change your number, it makes you lose out on preferred options for loyal customers that upgrade through the same acct. But you're friend is wrong it's not going to work for you to upgrade doing this you are considerred a new customer again.

[pngu107]

Good info. It helps me to do it right. Thank you all for providing it.

[seabass2781]

Hey, dunno if you've already gone through with the Amazon transaction, but you might want to consider _____________... (and no, I'm not affiliated with them in any way, I just had a good experience - very recently - with adding a new line to my account. I'm also on a family plan, going month-to-month). And actually, when I first signed up for T-Mobile I went through Amazon, although that was about, oh, six years ago or so (got my trusty old Moto v66 for -$50) - so at least I've tried both websites.

Anyway, what's nice about Letstalk is that it offers similar pricing (the same instant and mail-in rebates) - but it gives you multiple options to start off with: you can sign up as a new customer, upgrade your phone, or add a line. None of this adding-a-line-then-canceling-and-getting-reimbursed nonsense you would have to go through with Amazon. So basically, you can do a true upgrade (phone subsidies included) through Letstalk.

I think I probably deserve some commission from them for this post.

[seabass2781]

Wow, WirelessAdvisor blanked out the website name. Well, it's the "Letstalk" part that you need anyway...

[seabass2781]

Okay, check that; I think the mail-in rebates are good only for new customers. So you'd basically be paying prices similar to just upgrading directly through T-Mobile. I'm just having a nice little conversation with myself here.

I think I'll stick to asking for advice, not giving it.

Hey tmobileman, funny thing: my sister-in-law (the one with the new Samsung Blast) is starting school at Notre Dame in the fall. She'll be happy to know that she was helped by an alum (assuming you are, of course)...

[tmobileman]

not an alum, but am a fan good luck to her