Sprint to offer 'certified pre-owned' devices

By on Oct 11, 2010 at 10:29 PM
General October 11, 2010

If you’re one of those people always looking for a bargain, whenever available, Sprint has a new offering that may entice you. Today, the nation’s third largest carrier officially launched a new “certified pre-owned” handset program that targets the aforementioned personality type. As the press release explains: “Sprint Certified Pre-owned devices offer customers exceptional, feature-rich refurbished devices at lower prices. Customers who purchase a pre-owned device from Sprint not only get one of today’s devices at a great value, but also simultaneously help Sprint to achieve its aggressive reuse and recycling goals by giving these pre-owned devices a ‘second life.’” Some of the devices being touted in the announcement are the BlackBerry Tour — priced at $80 — as well as the Samsung Reclaim and Sanyo 2700 — both priced at $50. All CPO devices are “thoroughly inspected, tested and, if necessary, remanufactured according to original equipment manufacturer new unit specifications” and come with the same 30-day return policy as new devices. A similar pre-owned program is also being offered by CDMA rival Verizon Wireless.

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  • Chris Beiser

    Are they offering Pre-owned-pres? *brains explode*

  • Jeannie

    There is still a 2 year contract associated with these phones.

    You can’t just buy them off contract at those prices and you must either be a new customer or qualify for 2 year upgrade pricing.

    Weak if you ask me. Signing a new 2 year contract with old devices when you can get brand new phones free elsewhere.

    • jjlo

      Agreed. Very attractive option if you do not have to sign a 2 year contract. Hopefully they will rethink that one. A shorter term such as 6 mos to a year would work well if they insist on a contract.

    • Josta

      You do NOT have to sign a contract

    • Azralag

      I work for Sprint and according to an email you can buy these phone and it will not mess with your eligibility.

      The Sanyo 2700 is free if your eligible for an upgrade, why would they make the same person pay $50 for a pre-owned one?

    • http://www.rossmanngroup.com Louis Rossmann

      I agree.

      Should I buy an $80 tour off craigslist with no contract or a used one from sprint with a contract?

      A no brainer.

    • VZWEmp

      Not true, no contract is required for CPO devices and also doesn’t change your upgrade date.

  • Slash

    I assume this is with a 2 year contract?

    • VZWEmp

      There is no contract with certified pre-owned devices and it doesn’t even take away your next upgrade eligiblity either. But you do have to be an existing customer. This is a great option for people who lost their phone and have an upgrade coming up and don’t have insurance. Before people on contract who declined insurance were stuck without a phone on contract and were forced to buy from ebay or craigslist or from friends. Some people don’t like to do those things online. Also, with Verizon the CPO devices work under the Worry Free Guaruntee so if it’s within 30 days and you don’t like the phone you can get a different CPO or replacement. They’re also covered under warranty for 90 days. Plus you can add insurance with an extended warranty if you like, which is a lot better than craigslist or ebay and your friends can do for you.

  • ?

    ew, why would u want a used phone?

    • Celz

      Because after you use your NEW phone for a MONTH it will be USED anyway.. So you buy a used phone to start and pretend you had it for a month and buy a case and screen protector and it will look and function better than your brand new phone will in a few weeks..

      • ?

        because people are gross… the mouth contains so much bacteria, i rather have a fresh phone…no germs required.

      • ?

        its like sitting on a public toilet seat….ew

      • Shial

        I used to work at a company that was a certified motorola repair center for T-Mobile (We were cranking out like 12,000 phones a day) those razrs were horrible…

        Unless it was in pristine condition any part showing wear was replaced, once done they looked like they were brand new. They even had to go through frequency testing using RF shielded boxes. Of course some of those had weird intermittent issues that might test once fine and reach the back of the line and fail out horribly…

        Given what I saw come through there I wouldn’t get anything pre-owned like that. We had one that was marked as having fallen into a hospital toilet, and more than a few where we found evidence of creative use of the vibrate function….

  • TONY

    Attractive. If he EVO or Epic are involved. If not. No deal.

  • serpentor

    Andrew, you made it sound like Verizon was the only other major carrier doing this. Sprint is actually the last one to offer this.

    • u

      he only care about slowrizon.

  • marc

    i wouldnt buy a tour which i had to return thrice. maybe i would buy a 9650 bold but i doubt they are on the used circuit yet.

  • Roger A

    Earlier they had the HTC Hero up there for $79 or $29 with new 2 year – but this afternoon they have pulled it.

    Seems they arent trying hard enough to keep some customers happy.

  • Carmen

    So it looks like this is a non-contract-affecting purchase. Phew. I couldn’t see this being a good deal if eligibility were involved or a new contract were required for these price points.

    This should make a huge splash in the “I just signed a contract six months ago and lost/destroyed my phone” crowd.

  • Kay

    As usual, People ASS-U-ME. The prices listed are off contract prices. The price with contract for these phones is $0.00. If you don’t want to sign a new contract, those are the prices you will have to pay to get one of the devices offered.

  • 3 Phones Jugglin

    I recall seeing a Pre Owned Palm Centro on the Sprint Site for a Few weeks.

    Surprisingly……the MSRP on it was a Measly $80. With that being said…it was only available for…a few weeks. If their off contract pricing will be similar to that…then this will be an Excellent option for people wanting to “Buy” theirselves time until their Upgrade is due

  • jmk

    #9 is spot on. I know with VZ, you can get one of these as your 2yr if you’d like, but….why? This is more for the lost/stolen/broken crowd that didn’t have insurance and is still under contract, yet wants a phone that wont (a)effect said contract.

    • Carmen

      Yeah, I didn’t know if it was affect or effect. I’m still not sure, but I believe that I should (and did) use affect.

  • slammer

    This could actually be a great move. If people catch on to this, it could force manufacturers to decrease the costs of new handsets making subsidized phone more of a reality.

    John B.

  • mstarman

    They tried to offer me a tour for 79.99 to replace a Hero with a broken / defective charging port. No change in contract length. Im using that money to pay the ETF instead.

    Sprint fail.

  • slammer

    “Unsubsidized”

    John B

  • slammer

    Mstarman,

    I’m sure there is a part of the story missing here in your rant. However, given the lack of content in your post, I can only say this: There is a large difference between “offering” and forcing.

    John B.

    • mstarman

      That wasn’t a rant; This is a rant. No one’s going to read this but if someone does, please point me where my expectations are unrealistic.

      About four weeks ago my wife complained that the charging port was loose and intermittently failing to charge. We took it to Sprint corporate store, where an employee removed the gel case and showed us that the chromed plastic area surrounding the port was chipped. Because of this she said it was damaged by us and there was nothing that she could do but suggested we call customer care and see if they’d offer an early upgrade.

      Because the phone was still usable and we weren’t interested in the costs incurred by upgrading we sat on it. My wife felt terrible, she’s never dropped the phone and was fairly cautious with it.

      Over the past month the port became increasingly temperamental and within the last week the headphone jack failed. The phone always thinks there are headphones plugged in and the handset speaker will not work. I turned to some of the community forums to troubleshoot that issue and came across this: http://androidforums.com/sprint-htc-hero/14676-plastic-chrome-trim-cracked.html

      At least 5 individuals reporting failure of the plastic chrome shroud of the power port within days of release. I bought the phone the morning it came out so it’s possible this defect was only present in first run production but for Sprint to categorically deny there was any chance of a manufacturers defect is contradictory to the evidence.

      My wife came home from work and the phone is totally shot and won’t charge at all. I called Sprint and talked to four people repeating this narrative and was told at each level there’s nothing they can do because the account was ‘flagged’ and I should go back to the store and plead my case there. Really? Customer Care seems like a misnomer.

      You are correct, there was more. I was told the best they could do was offer a $35 discount on the Tour or have my account flagged to look for a Hero and given a time frame of ‘within a week or two’ My wife travels and we have a young child, being without a phone for weeks waiting for the Refurb Fairy to dispense a new handset doesn’t even approach reasonable solution.

      Sprint #Fail

  • Gazoobee

    Apple does the same thing, but they have the smarts (or the *nerve* depending on your point of view), to charge full price for them.

    If you’ve ever taken your iPhone into an Apple store for a defect and they give you a replacement phone, what you got in your hand is a “service phone,” containing refurbished parts and made from all the other phones returned previously. They don’t give you a new one.

    • uptheblock

      Have you ever owned an iphone? When you take back your phone, they give you a new one at the Apple store.. I’ve had to do it twice with my phone and it was in the package, complete sealed within the hour… Ive also taken back parts of my laptop, ie battery and they ordered a new one. They don’t give you back defective (refurbished) parts because that would defeat the purpose of you returning it.

  • Todd’s

    Actually they do give you a refurbished phone at the apple store they have stock of both in the back just because its in a new box doesn’t make it new but that’s what they want you to believe

    • VZWEmp

      I’ve owned an iphone and I can tell you for sure it’s refurbished when they replace them.

      • employee

        ive worked at the one in soho and they arent refurbished.. 3rd party stores like Best Buy and AT&T may but Apple doesn’t.

  • JR

    Geez, people, read before you post.

    “Existing customers can purchase one of these pre-owned devices at regular price without a contract extension and without affecting their current upgrade eligibility status.

    * BlackBerry Tour at $79.99, and

    * Samsung Reclaim in green and Sanyo 2700 in pink and blue are each available for $49.99.

    * Customers with a new two year contract can get the Hero & Tour at $29.99 and the green Reclaim or pink & blue 2700 for FREE.”

  • Booga Booga

    The negative clicking on posts by me has struck once again!

  • Hmmmm

    The same reason people get a used wife?

  • Magaly

    Hi

  • Magaly

    I’m curious to hear the reasons on why people get a used wife! Lol

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