Practicing my negotiating skills

As promised in yesterday's post, I'm writing another entry tonight.  It's not quite as I had hoped things would work out, but close enough and I'll take what I can get.

Basically, ever since the Motorola Droid cell phone came out recently, I've definitely had a case of "Droid envy"!  Last spring when Bill and I upgraded to our Palm Centro phones, the whole new world of having a smart phone was opened up to us.  The problem, though, is that over the summer Palm came out with the Pre phone, and basically drove the last nail in the coffin of the old Palm OS, which is what the Centro runs on.  So essentially, there are no new programs for use on the Centro, especially none that really utilize a smart phone's capabilities.  There are a ton of new and awesome programs available for the iPhone of course, and even the Pre, but neither of those are on Verizon's network.  I've been a Verizon customer for about 7 years now and their network is by far the best in northwest Ohio, plus almost all of our family and lots of our friends are on Verizon so we get free calls to all of them.

So when I heard that Verizon was getting the Droid, which uses Google's Android operating system, I was totally psyched!  The only catch is that when we got our Centros last March, it started a new 2-year contract.  On Sunday I talked to my friend Jaime who works at the Verizon kiosk at the mall here, and she said to come by today and she'd see what she could do to get me upgraded.  I did, but unfortunately she couldn't do anything to get me upgraded since my renewal date isn't for another year.

Having read about others successfully upgrading to the Droid by calling Customer Service even when very far from their renewal date, I figured I'd give that a try tonight.  I don't really have much homework to do tonight, so I had some time for that sort of thing and I called in.

The first representative I spoke to first said I couldn't, but then said hold on while he speaks to his supervisor.  Eventually he comes back and says I can have the Droid for the 1-year contract price, which works out to $270 after rebate.  (Retail price is over $500, so that is a good deal, but not what I wanted.)  The 2-year price is $200 after rebate, which I was prepared to pay since I'll be able to sell my Centro for $75-100, and the rest will be out of my "allowance" fund.  But the rep wouldn't budge on the $270 price, so I asked to talk to his supervisor.

After some more time on hold, I talk with Mike, the supervisor.  He explains why they can't give me the $200 price - I've only been on this contract since March, we're on their lowest data/minutes plan, etc.  I reminded him that we've been loyal customers for more than 7 years, and we always pay our bill in full and on time every month.  I explained that I will either get the Droid or the iPhone, and I really don't want to leave Verizon to have to switch to AT&T to get the iPhone (I really never would because their network stinks here - but he doesn't know that!).  He asked why we have so few minutes on the plan, and I told him it's because most of the people we call are also on Verizon... and he'd hate to see them leave too, right? :) He also asked if I'd be purchasing insurance on the phone, and I said I hadn't decided yet.  It's $8/month, and if something would happen to the phone it would be replaced for $90.  I said I'd consider it, and that's when he finally caved and agreed to give it to me for the $200 price!  I don't know whether or not I'll keep the insurance, but paying the extra $8 for the first month is better than an extra $70 for the higher price.  I was quite thankful to Mike the supervisor, and I told him so... and he told me I'm a very good negotiator! :)

So my new phone has been ordered and is on its way!  I had really hoped to be able to get it at the store tonight, especially since I really don't have much going on this evening, but getting it by the end of the week is better than not at all.  I'm definitely looking forward to lots of awesome capabilities on the new phone when I get it!  And by the way... if anyone's interested in a slightly used Palm Centro, just let me know! :)