Yeah, yeah, yeah, us Sprint SERO plan owners are whining non-stop and have been ever since the SERO/Palm Pre incompatibility. Well, I’m going to whine some more because now, it is nearly impossible to get the Palm Pre without spending a boatload of cash. Here’s the deal:
Most of us with the SERO plan are in contract, but if we want the Palm Pre, we have to upgrade to at least one of the Everything Plus plans. Well, say you’re willing to upgrade to an Everything Plus plan and pay at least twice as much on your montly bill from here on out, you’d think Sprint would applaud this action and give us the new activation discount for doing so, right?
WRONG!
Confirmed by a Sprint customer service rep; upgrading to an Everything Plus plan will not give you the $199 new activation price of the Palm Pre. According to Sprint, you can make changes to your plan without having to resign your contract, thus making it impossible to receive the new activation discount until you are actually out of contract.
What. The. Hell! Come on, Sprint! I’m friggin willing to pay TWICE as much monthly, I’m doing you a favor by giving up my SERO plan (which many people claim is COSTING Sprint money), and all you’re going to do for me is offer up the Pre at full retail price? Not much incentive to ditch my SERO plan; sounds like Sprint wants me to keep my plan.
I can’t believe this BS! Once again, great strategy, Sprint. I knew Sprint hated its SERO customers, but not this much.
Bottomline: come July 6th, if you have SERO, you’d better be willing to shell out at least $500 to cover full retail price of the Palm Pre. . . if you want it, that is.
Update: A person I’m following on Twitter tweeted this:
Anyone looking to take over a Sprint SERO plan? $30 for 500 mins, unlimited texts, mms, internet/data. Save $40+/mo! Message me for info.
He wants to get rid of his current plan so he can re-sign up and get the discount. Clever, very clever indeed. SERO owners wouldn’t be going to such drastic measures if we weren’t getting screwed so badly 
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Ahhh! I’m so angry with Sprint. Talking with e-care and retentions for a few days and unless something drastic happens, we’re screwed. To think I’ve gone phone-less (no insurance hot-tub accident) for over a month in anticipation…
If you switch to the $69.99 or greater MRC you qualify as a Sprint Premier program customer after 3 months, making you eligible for an upgrade every year. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing, which is what the other carriers are gonna stick ya with.
I’d love to snatch two sero plans if people are offering them
Adam – I’ll keep you in mind
I’m seriously thinking about getting rid of my SERO 500 plan. Thanks for the advice on the Premier program, I never knew about that! To me, it is worth it for an upgrade every year since I get bored with my phones pretty quickly.
If I am going to have to pay that much for a Sprint plan, then I think I will just leave Sprint and get an iPhone. I never thought I would leave the SERO plan but obviously we will be kept from having ANY of the decent phones that come out.
I am a poor college student and I have been looking for a SERO plan.
I wouldn’t mind to take over your old smartphone too!
Tell retention you will rather switch to iphone.
this is BS. i am not going to get out of SERO.
i am not going to pay full price for freakin PRE.
what you do is:
a) wait for BB bold.
b) stop referring your friend to Sprint, tell them to go ATT instead.
TELL everyone you have sprint and you have horrible reception and constant drop call as a form of protest.
it is one thing to get customer with SERO. it is another to hate on SERO customers, which will create more customers in insurrection. and now the bad mouthing will begin.
My boyfriend upgraded his phone today to the PRE and he asked the rep when/if SERO customers would be able to get the PRE and not change their plans. The rep told him that in September, Sprint employees and anyone under their plans (I’m assuming referrals count?) will be able to get the PRE in September. Has anyone heard this?
Each customer with sprint (exception is the premiere customers) have the same upgrade eligibility requirements. If you do not have a plan that supports all of the services the pre has you will need to change your plan SERO customers and those not on SERO accounts. With that said it is still your choice to change your plan and purchase the phone, your discount off the price in store will be based on how long you have ha your current handset i.e. if you have had your current phone model for 22 months you will qualify for the lowest instore price with mail in rebates. your discount is based off how long you have had your handset not what plan you are on
Thank you, Sprint employee
It’s not true about being on current phone model for 22 months in order to be eligible for the upgrade. I’ve had 3 different models (Motorola Q and 2 different Treo’s) in the past 2 years and just upgraded to the Pre (so worth paying $60 a month for… having the gps with traffic and pandora to go in the car alone is worth it, not to mention just how amazing the phone itself with all of it’s capabilities is) for $200 (go to bestbuy and you don’t have to worry about the mail-in rebate).
I didn’t want to give up my SERO for $30 a month but finally caved… and could not be happier! Trust me guys, it’s worth it!
Howey your such a loser, I bet your really a Sprint secret agent trying to reduce the amount of Sero customers, well its not going to work you hear me.
Still trying to figure out… if I did leave my sero (which I might have to cut off a finger first)…. what is the cheapest plan I can get if I want the Pre?
Mary, you would have to get the Everything Data 450 plan. Basically the same thing as SERO, but runs $69.99 and has 450 anytime minutes.
What about new phones coming out? HTC Hero and Touch Pro 2? Will they be allowed on SERO? I’m on a rare SERO plan (25$ instead of 30$) and have no intentions of giving it up. No way I’d pay double now just to get a newer phone.