My husband's rugged (HAHAHAHAH) phone is dying. Did i mention its the second model of this phone he's had? And he babies it? Never drops it. My rumor phone hits the floor every day and its fine. Scratched up but works great. So far his phones have run is $130, my phone $50. Hubby called our cell company to see about a credit for a new one. They have him a $150 credit. Sweet! He found a new phone that will be $20 after the credit. The associate starts ringing us up and casually mentions 'You know this will extend your contract for 2 years, right?' Hold up, what? Nobody said anything about that. We walked out. We're fine with our cell carrier (best one we've had so far) and have no desire to switch. Why would we walk out?
Our plan costs us $100 a month. 24 months x $100 = $2,400
The new cell phone without discount runs us $170.
If I am going to renew my contract for 2 years, I am negotiating a better rate! Otherwise I am not locking us into a contract. Lets so we only get $10 off a month.
24 months x $90 = $2,160
That means we save $240 over 2 years. The phone was $170. We just saved $70 buy not falling into their 'cheap' phone trap.
Say we negotiate down to $80 a month for the same exact service.
24 months x $80 = $1920
That would be a savings (off the original contract) of $480. Phone was $170, we would save $310.
Now say we did something even more radical and find a used phone from our carrier. Wow, we could really save! We didn't sign onto their plan blindly excited to 'save' the $150 off a new cell phone. Now we have the opportunity to look for a used phone, and negotiate a better rate if we want to extend our contract. And currently, we don't!
Gosh isn't it nice of the cell company to give you $150 phone credit while you give THEM $2,400? lol
