Sad phone specials for current customers

B
Userlevel 2
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Many companies do this, they offer great deals to new customers and current loyal customers get the low end,  it is so infuriating. I have been with cricket for years now and now that I want to upgrade I have to pay 549.99 + 25.00 for a Galaxy S9  if I was a new number/customer I would pay 274.99 + 25.00 what is the problem here? I see no deals for loyal current customers. I may consider switching carriers since this is really upsetting since phones are so expensive these days.

20 replies

P
Userlevel 3
According to your post everyone has a phone so the best way to attract new customers offer a cheap phone for customers to switch. My point is Cricket should set a new standard by offering the same deal to existing customers every two or three years. This way Cricket customers would not want to leave to another company for a free or cheap phone. Attract and keep good customers should be the platform to build a business on.
B
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That is a bad analogy, no cable provider provides TV or laptops. What I feel is lack of customer respect for being a loyal customer for years and years. Why should a new customer receive more than half off a new phone? and a customer of over 5 years have to pay nearly full price? Do you see the issue? I do not want a new phone every year but when it is time to upgrade and you the deals are pitiful that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

Cricket did not offer any decent deals for my upgrade so I had to go to Samsung directly and buy a cell from them on a monthly payment plan, would rather had went through cricket. 

P
Userlevel 3
I agree with this question. I do not understand why my business is not valued the same as a new customer.
3
I agree totally I've been with cricket for 5 years now and have had to pay full price or pretty close for every phone I bought except for 2 weeks ago when I added my boyfriend to my plan and we decided to keep his old phone # from straight talk cus it was the only way to get his phone for free... But I was smart and gave him my phone (an LG stylo 3) and kept the new phone (an LG Stylo 5) for myself ....cool that it worked out for the both of us but only cus I added a line to my account with the transfer and keep ur phone # deal which was/ is only for new customers!!!! Not that it matters now cus the new phone I just got 2 weeks ago by adding my boyfriend to my plan and keeping what was sapose to be his new phone for myself, I dropped lastnight for the first time And shattered my screen when 6 hours prior I had just ordered 2 new phone cases and a 3 pack of lk tempered glass screen protectors for it cus I have bad luck with dropping my phones and shattering the screens.... Lol just my luck ofcourse smh lol ???? So Why dont us loyal long term customers get better deals on new phones but new customers can get the latest upgrades of certain phones for free where we have to pay full price or close to it anyways?? Does not make since at all and is definitely my biggest issue with Crickett!!
Bulldog
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@bustamanteverde Do you ask your cable provider for a new TV every year or your internet company for a cheap laptop? Cricket actually has some pretty good deals from time to time for upgrades. If they offered the same discounts to everyone they would have to raise prices on the plans which I know I don't want. I personally but used phones on Ebay and activate them. You can usually find some pretty good deals. I also use the refer a friend to get the max credits ($250) every year. 

Bulldog
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@bustamanteverde I think it is pretty comparable. They all provide a service (TV, Internet, wireless) and you need a device to use the service. All providers use incentives to get new customers which create monthly revenue. By giving existing customers a deep discount they don't gain anything in return. Therefore, if they offered deep discounts to existing customers they would need to raise monthly rate plan prices. 

PoboyProphet
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The only way you have paid full price for a Cricket phone is if you bought it within a month of the phone being available at Cricket. Prepaid companies subsidize all devices to decrease prices for customers. Each phone isnt sold at full price unless its an iphone. This is the same practice taken by every prepaid provider. The wireless market is saturated. Everyone has a telephone. Giving big discounts to current customers doesnt help the company grow. Growth happens when customers switch providers, hence low phone prices to make them want to switch. Hope this helps. 

Martin007
I've been with Cricket 6 month's.I agree with the folks upset about customer loyalty. I look forward to current customer only specials,upgrades, etc. The review's speak loudly! Customers that's been with any company for YEAR'S, should have incentives and best deals possible. ESPECIALLY, on upgrading phone's. Before cricket mentions the referral,everybody just doesn't have that option.Then again why refer when they will not get any perks in long run🤔✌️
Bulldog
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@peewee5001 Yes. A new standard of giving away money and not gaining new customers. It would be groundbreaking....until they go bankrupt. A business model of giving away hundreds of dollars to all of your customers while gaining nothing in return (like new monthly revenue) will crash and burn quickly. Per their most recent earnings report customer retention is at an all time high so they're not having any issues retaining customers.

Bulldog
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@peewee5001 Completely agree on the rewards program. Rewarding loyal customers who always pay on time with certain incentives makes sense. This is different than offering a large subsidy to all customers. Cricket used to have a Cricket rewards app that actually offered some great incentives. I would love to see something like that again.

P
Userlevel 3
According to your rational any company that values repeat shoppers will go out of business. There are many companies that offer incentives to continue to shop. So you think a rewards program is bad business I will just have to disagree with you.
P
Userlevel 3
I believe Cricket could develop and implement a rewards program which could enhance the business model currently offered. Example offer a few points for each month of paid service then offer dollar discounts for different point levels. This is the type of perk or service I wish Cricket would offer.
P
Userlevel 3
Verizon has a program called Verizon up. T mobile has free Tuesdays on certain plans. So yes there are cell phone companies which offer these types of progams.
P
Userlevel 3
My idea is a rewards program which puts 5 percent of your monthly bill into a rewards program. So if you are on the $60./ month plan $3. per month would be your reward. It would take 3-4 years to obtain the necessary money to get a different phone.
PoboyProphet
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@bustamanteverde Does any other prepaid phone service provider give deep discounts or free devices to customers that arent switching over to a new service or have been customers for a long time? 

PoboyProphet
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what perks or deals do other phone companies give you for being a customer for a long period of time? @Martin007 

PoboyProphet
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@peewee5001 so to be clear... a successful and profitable company, should go against the industry model and its competitors, by losing more money on devices that they already subsidize, to make customers that probably were not leaving happier? Seems like the platform a business will die on.

PoboyProphet
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I agree with the reward program. I thought Cricket had one in the past but it would be sweet of them to give rewards to long time customers through that. Someone write that idea down!

PoboyProphet
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Companies that offer incentives to repeat do so in order for customers to buy more items, not to buy the same items they would buy every single time. 2 for 1 deals, 50% off, etc are built to have customers increase the # of items in their carts. With Cricket we all buy a phone and a plan....there is nothing that we could buy more of to incentives a consistent customer to purchase more. 

PoboyProphet
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Those are all reward programs that require minimum costs from the company. We all agree that Cricket should do this. Cricket is actually giving away concert tickets and other merch to customers now. They should expand it but it is going on. No company offers deep discounts on phone sales for loyal customers. That's the point of this thread. 

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