Sprint HTC Hero available today to Best Buy Reward Zone members
By Paul Miller 
posted October 9th 2009 10:47AM
posted October 9th 2009 10:47AM
[Thanks, Ted]
posted October 9th 2009 10:47AM
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I went to my BB store today. I bought the phone outright as I was not able to upgrade. The phone was $599.99 but I got BB to price match Sprint for $429.99. which is actually $50.00 cheaper than Sprint was going to sell it to me for. So after my $50.00 pre-order card was applied it was only $379.99 out of pocket. plus tax of course. Sorry to hear of your bad luck.
Already on sale at the Newport Mall store in Jersey City. Smaller in size than I expected.
Got mine today. They tried me with the whole "coupon" thing, which the sales rep admitted she called a mgr over to get it sorted out earlier and she first told me no coupon, no phone.
I walk outside and phone reward zone. Rep on the phone was VERY helpful *shock wearing off* and wound up speaking with her supervisor, then the mobile rep in the store (she asked me to hand her the phone). Within 30 minutes, all was sorted out and I had my Hero for $179.
If you go to the Tampa/Dale Mabry store, they now know that you do NOT need the coupon.
joel i actually went into the brandon store and as soon as i was pulling out the paper and mentioning hero the girl knew exactly what i meant. unfortunately they could not give me the phone for 179 bc Im not eligible for the full upgrade until may. told me i had to pay 599! crazy talk. i walked out but i was oh so close!!! dang it :/
Beaverton, OR Best Buy. I didn't even have to give them a credit card to hold three over the phone. Went in today and never showed a coupon and picked them up. There was one employee who worked in the mobile section being helped by one employee who knew nothing about the department. Guess which one I got? lol. It only took an hour and a half. Was worth it though.
For some of the questions that have been asked:
Pandora is the first app in the "multimedia" section of the market.
The phone, as someone else commented, is smaller than what I expected, in a good way. You look at so many high res pictures and you think you're going to be stuffing a brick in your pocket.
The phone is zippy, responsive and thoroughly enjoyable.
It comes with Cupcake, 1.5, not Donut 1.6. I imagine they're going to update that soon.
I had a horrible experience today at the Best Buy in West Covina, CA. After hearing all of the news about the early sales event, I called the store that I preordered from (West Covina) and confirmed that all I needed to bring was my Reward Zone card. Long story short, the 'Customer Service Manager' and the person who was referred to as 'being in charge' chose not to sell me the phone despite having my Reward Zone card in hand.
I was told that I had to have the coupon because they needed something to scan...otherwise it would compromise their relationship with Sprint. Really??? Additionally, I was told that the promotion was for 'selected' Reward Zone members - though neither Best Buy employee was able to indicate what the selection criteria was. They showed me the internal memo which clearly stated that employees could simply go to the employee toolbox to print a coupon for customers who either could not print or forgot their coupons. I also did not see any reference to any specific type of Reward Zone member or criteria. It simply said that the promotion was available to Reward Zone members. I pointed this out and the two employees basically dismissed my points and indicated that they weren't attorneys... It was written in plain English - not many ways to interpret it.
Conclusion - I wasn't able to purchase the phone...as the two Best Buy employees I dealt with used their discretion to refuse selling to me. I will be on the phone with Best Buy corporate to try to clear this up. Something definitely doesn't seem right here... I am not pleased that I wasted my time after having confirmed over the phone that I could just show my Reward Zone card and was essentially spoken to like a person who was trying to 'con' Best Buy. Seriously, I was just trying to purchase a phone when I was told I could purchase it...
I had the Best Experience purchasing my hero. I'm down here in Atlanta, Ga and I read online somewhere that Best Buy was Pre-relasing the Hero to Reward Zone Customers. So three days before the actual release I ran to the store at about 8:25PM and put my order in. Note I did not have my reward zone card or a flyer for all that matter.
I received a call on Friday by a Best Buy employee stating that I could pick my Hero up anytime During regular business hours. So I went right in "note" still did not have my reward zone card, in matter of fact I didn't even know I had one. I gave the sales rep my home number and she pulled me up in the system and sold me my Hero. Case Closed and I walked out the store within 20 mins of being there. I think some people just got the bad reps that who don't know nothing about nothing, but the ones I had were great and pleased me in every way.
and BTW I love my phone
Got mine at BB yesterday. A couple of bonuses were a free Madden NFL 2010 for XBOX because I was new to a two year contract (offer good through today) and the Sprint rep was there and told me that if I dialed #REF (within 2 weeks of activation, but before the end of the month) and entered the number of an existing Sprint customer, they would receive a $50 gift card and I would get one for $25. That's a couple of great deals. $179-$50-$25-$50=$54 for my new Hero! Golly I'm happy.
I called ahead and the salesperson did say that I had to have a flyer. I told him that I didn't get one and he said he'd print one out for me, so I got mine today without needing to be a Silver member. My first smart phone and I have to say that it's damn cool.
What is the cheapest monthly plan you can get with this phone? Anyone?