Best Buy Mobile to offer Instant Rebate on Palm Pre 51
Best Buy just announced that they will begin selling the Palm Pre phone June 6 WITHOUT the hassle of mail-in rebates. Customers who buy the Pre at Best Buy Mobile will receive an instant rebate savings at the point of purchase. This has been a longstanding benefit of buying at Best Buy and we're elated to see the trend continue with the Pre.
Best Buy Mobile has 1067 locations around the U.S. including standalone stores and stores-within-a-store. They offer an array of services, such as "Upgrade Checker" and "Walk Out Working" aimed at improving the mobile phone buying experience.
According to Best Buy's website, there are Best Buy Mobile Specialty Stores in Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. On that same web page, you can find where there is a Best Buy Mobile location in a Best Buy store near you.
51 Comments
1st and will be 1st in line
Good luck because everyone and their mother will be at a best buy and not a sprint store: so go ahead, I will be sure to get one!!!
I won't be there... will be at home with my awesome iPhone!
...but yet here you are on a Pre blog? Something is not adding up...Pre-envy maybe?
you sir alex are gay
Tell me Alex, how many times do you hit the home button in going from the Email app, to the music app, to the browser? If it is anything over 1 then your phone is lame to me now.
Not an option for me because they are to far away from my home.
I just called a number of Best Buy Mobile stores in my area (Raleigh, NC, not the most bustling of urban areas) and there is already a huge waiting list at all those stores. Imagine what the demand will be in more populous metro areas?! So if you want get a Pre at a Best Buy Mobile you better get on the waiting list now!!
Demand is through the roof right now and will only balloon leading up to June 6!
Do they offer the same return policy as Sprint? I need to test out the device to make sure A) I like it and B) Leaving VZW and want to be sure Sprint coverage is good and C) After the BB Storm fiasco I want to make sure the Pre and Sprint are "da bomb". Storm is a dud.
I plan to buy one on a new line and test it out for a week before I decide to port over all three of my family lines.
Do they have a restocking fee? I understand there is a set number of days, 14 or 30 in which I can return, and I would just pay air time, pro-rated month of service.
Can anyone confirm? Thanks.
Yes, all the same as buying from Sprint.
PreCentral can't have all the answers buddy! Call Sprint and inquire!
I planning on doing the same thing (switching from VZW) but will be getting it from a Sprint store, not BB.
Soooooo only best buy mobile stores? or alll best buy stores.
Not sure why this is "news" - it has always been this way at Best Buy (or at least a long time). I typically get all of my phones there - unless Sprint is giving me one for free.
Will they accept $150 Phone Update credits and can they do things like set up plans with additional lines as well?
I called a few BBM stores. They will be able to do everything the Sprint Store rep can do.
Sweet!! I just called a Best Buy Mobile in my area and I am third on their waiting list now! They said that each BBM store will less than 15 units on launch day, so you better get on a waiting list NOW!!
@ Annie Latham
So if I am an existing Sprint customer will I get the discounted price of $449 instead of $549?
Hmm. i do have a BB gift card too. But, I think i'm going to try a sprint store first and maybe use the gift card to get the touchstone at BB.
Keep in mind not all best buy mobiles carry sprint. Call you check at your local store to confirm. Some store will carry t-mobile instead.
Working at Best Buy Mobile myself (in work right now actually) I can tell you there is nothing on SOP (as of yet) for doing a Pre waiting list and any store doing one is doing it of their own accord, which is wrong because without an SOP waiting list no store can guarantee to have enough phones to fill the waitlist.
When you do an official wait list or presale, a SKU is scanned at the register and entered in our inventory system to guarantee enough devices are shipped to meet demand.
They took my name and phone number and said they will call me once and if they have 3 phones on launch that I am guaranteed a phone if I answer the call.
Just called several BB's and not one of them is doing a waitlist. Thats pretty lame that some are and some aren't. Same with Sprint stores. Why are some places able to pick and choose?
I live in Raleigh, NC, a sizable urban area, but definitely much much smaller than an Atlanta or Philadelphia. 3 out of the 3 stores that I called has a waiting list, I was fortunate enough to get third in line for the last store I called.
What store was that because every store I called said they didn't have a waiting list.And the sprint store in Garner said they can't give out any info on the phone.
I called the Crabtree store in Raleigh.
I'm currently a SERO customer that will have to upgrade my plan to the everything plus referral program to get this phone. Can the Best Buy mobile store handle this or will I have to order through the phone with the SERO CSR's?
From what I have been told BB is unable to touch SERO accounts and that would include switching to the everything referral program.
Brett...just call CS and get your plan switched over the phone before you go and buy the phone. Had to do the same thing last year because me and my wife were on Sero plans as well. Better make sure BB can touch the Everything refferals plans as well.
I've never purchased a phone from Best Buy before. Does anyone know if a gift card can be used for the purchase of a phone?
I'm thinking of using a hotel points credit card to get $200 in BB gift cards at Safeway.
This way I earn hotel points, $.20 off a gallon for Safeway gas as well as a few Reward Zone points.
I've never bought from Best Buy before, either. I assume they can do the $150-off thing for people outside of their contract?
Does anyone know if Best Buy can charge the phone to your acocunt like a sprint store or online?
PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT PRE NOW! ERRR I MEANT SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!
Just called my nearest Best Buy, they don't know if they'll even carry the Pre.
Same here. I went to the store to ask. I wonder if I would have better luck at the Sprint store.
3 phones per store?? what a fookin joke!
Whoa, whoa! Nobody said 3 units per store.
Comments above.
More like 100 per best buy store
This makes sense. Best Buy usually has better deals than the Sprint store - I upgraded to the Sprint Touch Pro back in December (two weeks before the Pre announcement - argh) and it cost $199 out the door. No mail-in rebates and I was able to keep my sweet plan that still has an employee discount attached to it from back when I worked at RadioShack three years ago.
So if that is any sort of indication, upgrading to the Pre shouldn't be that much of a hassle. Hopefully.
I'm a current Sprint customer and still and a while before I can get the $150 renewal credit, so I'll probably just have to buy the thing at street pricing. If I do that, will I qualify for the $100 instant rebate?
Just go to RadioShack if you want to guarantee yourself a phone.
I wonder if Sprint will now offer the same deal, or whether they'll just collect the overflow from those who walked away empty-handed from Best Buy.
no waitlists at nyc best buys...just to let peeps know
Just called the Best Buy store in the DC area. They don't know the price they'll be selling the Pre for. If you read the press release closely, you'll notice there isn't a price listed there either. Sprint may not let BB sell the Pre @ $199. You may want to wait for the BB price to be announced before you start lining up.
I was in the Best Buy on Wisconsin ave across from the whole foods this morning. I am on the wait list. They have the full pricing info their computer (I saw it) and expect about 100 units for launch day. They have a wait list. I am on it.
The price at Best buy is $199.
The person lied to you becasue they want to sell you something else they have in stock today. that is a common sales trick. It is all there on their computer. $199 all savings instant!
Sprint may not let best buy sell it? oh man the Best buy guy took you for an idiot! (not that you are but he treated you like one). Best buy is the biggest seller of Sprint phones. Each Best buy sells five or ten times what sprint stores sell.
I was in the Best Buy on Wisconsin ave across from the whole foods this morning. I am on the wait list. They have the full pricing info their computer (I saw it) and expect about 100 units for launch day. They have a wait list. I am on it.
The price at Best buy is $199.
The person lied to you becasue they want to sell you something else they have in stock today. that is a common sales trick. It is all there on their computer. $199 all savings instant!
Sprint may not let best buy sell it? oh man the Best buy guy took you for an idiot! (not that you are but he treated you like one). Best buy is the biggest seller of Sprint phones. Each Best buy sells five or ten times what sprint stores sell.
I wonder if the 14th St. Best buy will get em?
Im a 3rd party sprint rep but will be at best buy to buy it like everyone else. I am tired of BB getting the ability to do this and our sales are going to hell in a handbasket.. and we wonder why, and wonder what we can do to increase sales. Sprint treats its dealers like crap!
I wonder how many phones each store will have because I'm not trying to drive all over town for nothing bad as I want the pre.
Sprint stores will probably sell out on the night of June 5.