T-Mobile G1 coming to Wal-Mart at reduced price?
According to the fine folks over at Engadget, Wal-Mart might be poised to pick up the T-Mobile G1 in the very near future. The deal would involve the top 10 stores in every regional market gaining the privilege of hawking the very first Android handset to the masses. If all goes according to plan, we could see the phones hit shelves as early as November 24th at a discounted price of $148.88. This doesn’t represent a huge savings over the current T-Mobile retail ticket, but might provide enough of a financial incentive to bring some new folks into the fold. The 24th is still quite a ways away, so we’ll spend the next month or so pondering the wisdom of providing a $31.11 discount on a piece of electronics.
Already Costco and Sams Clubs are reported to sell these in select locations (no discount).
Walmart is believable. People are also reporting picking them up on 1 year (instead of 2) contracts via T-Mo promo codes.
In Connecticut I haven’t seen them out and I think it’s because we are not a 3G state (not until 2009 according to my trusty salesman Brian in Berlin CT)
Talk of a price cut less than a week after launch? Wow. . . and I thought the iPhone’s cut was quick. That G1 must be doing REALLY well.
Did you even read the article? The $150 price @ Walmart won’t happen until November 24.
I saw the phone @ Costco and the price is the same ($179.99).
Wow – this is almost like “direct to video” in the movie business. That didn’t take long.
That’s fine and dandy but don’t you dare come into my T-Mobile store after you bought it from Walmart and ask for any help from me and if you complain about it then go back to Walmart and cry. When i sell a phone i spend an hour of my time teaching my customer about it. At Walmart they don’t give a crap. I earn my money on commission and I’m not gonna waste my time on you cheapskates. If a “true” customer has a problem with their account or phone they know they can call me at anytime of the day. I may not be able to help them at 3am in the morning to return a defective memory card but I bend over backwards for my customers and bend over forwards for T-MO.
Oh hush tmobile flunkie. If someone comes in and needs help, you WILL help them, it’s not you’ll have a choice.
@nancy
lol whoops @nancy, that is why tmobile customer service blows and why i would not go to one of your stores in the first place.
I dont know about nancy but i have been with t-mo for a very long time and they have the best customer service i have ever had with any other compamy (nextel and att)
I bought the G1 and i am so happy with it, had a tmo dash before , i cant believe how the dash was so slow compared to the g1 … it is so easy to use its unbelievable!!
I am happy I jumped on it instead of waiting forever for the xperia ! winmo was so slow!!!
Also I was so worried about the look of the phone but now that i have it the design may not be as good as i wished but it is so much better than the pics!! the feel is really good too!!
@nancy
lmao, wow, you’ve got balls. You guys should finally be happy that you’ve got a phone that someone besides T-Mobile wants to sell to people.
I would love to buy from you instead of my local store and\or calling tmobile directly. If you can help get me the phone for less than 350 i would be very happy, and will continue to not shop at walmart.
I am told the G1 will cost me 350 bucks + upgrade fee with a 2 year contract. I have been a customer for several years only doing a handset upgrade once (march 07), but according to the stores and customer service reps i did a upgrade last month. Apparently putting my SIM in another handset reset their counter. If you can help me out let me know!
Garrett
I wonder why that happened. I last bought a t-mobile handset in Dec 2006. Since then I have put the sim on a shadow purchased through ebay, and also an unlocked iphone more recently. As of this month, my two year fully discounted upgrade prices began to show up as expected with my online account.
Though, with a March 07 upgrade you would need to wait till Jan 09 anyways.
Great. Now I get to hear how, “Well Wal-Mart has it cheaper,” when cheap rednecks and mexicans come into the retail store. Perfect.
But I kind of have to agree with Nancy, when a customer decides to be a cheap bum and get it from an indirect, then they should go right back to that indirect dealer and try to get service. We service our customers great, I do everyday. But when you go elsewhere for products and services, go right back there for support. Because 95% of the time when people come in who have bought a phone from wal-mart or costco or some other indirect, they’re complaining because they ruined their accounts.
you wanna be cheap? it’s what you get.
Oh. and i’m mexican. so don’t play that card.
The Wal mart in Rancho Cucamonga CA had a display in the tiny phone section almost as big as the one in the tmobile store.. no dummy phones out but like 3 signs.. might be sooner than nov 24 if the signs are out already
@ nancy..whoa buddy..if anything wal-mart selling these fones its helping us (I work as a sales rep in a T-Mobile store) I would gladly help anyone with T-Mobile service that needs help, no matter where they purchased the phone. That’s like you saying “oh since u bought the fone at the T-Mobile store down the block, I cannot help u”..think of the bigger picture..providing great customer service is what leads to more customers and ultimately more perks etc for u..I’m sad to see that someone with the mentality u have is part of our team..smh
@Nancy: wow, I HOPE you are just a troll pretending to represent T-mo. Otherwise, you are in the wrong line of work. Maybe you should work for Microsoft, that might be more your speed if you can cut it. IMHO distributing thru Wal-Mart is a smart move. Get the phone into the hands of the masses who shop there. As for those cracks about ‘cheap Mexicans and rednecks’ … screw you. The economy is in a tailspin, ashhole. Why should people spend one dollar more for a semi-disposable gadget (avg cell phone life= 18 months) than they absolutely have to? If commission is your livelihood then you need to take that up with T-mo, not blame the customers.
Damn! A little uptight isn’t she (Nancy)? Is this not America, where we can go and do whatever, go wherever, see whoever, say whatever, buy wherever “we” want? And you call yourself a customer service rep? That’s not very customer service friendly. And I have to agree with “Dominico”. What if I bought the phone at another T-Mobile store, would you not help me?
@ Nancy.
I work at a third party T-mobile retailer, and I have to tell you — indirect customer service can be terrible. I pride myself in educating my customers to the fullest extent when they leave my kiosk, but I cannot always speak for the bums who get hired and fired here in the same week. I have 3 years experience selling T-Mobile, and I’ve had customers tell me crazy stories from T-Mobile reps, corporate owned or not. There is a corporate store down the street from us that tells customers we only sell refurbished phones and will tag on “add ons” to their account without authorization to boost our commission. There are shady workers all over no matter the company.
& SO WHAT IS THE COST OF THE G1 IN T-MOBILE STORES ??
I don’t know how anyone can sell the G1 for less than $179 with a contract. G1 is a phone dealers does not make money on commision, because price is so reduced with plan!
it’s pure BS!
BTW, can anyone confirm, does dealers get commision if they do a add-on with a refurbished or used phone? or a non-branded phone?