BlackBerry Tour pre-orders not available for Verizon Wireless customers looking to upgrade
Verizon Wireless confirmed today what a lot of excited and angry Verizon Wireless customers knew already — The BlackBerry Tour is currently not available for pre-order if you are upgrading your current line. It’s not a random ordering glitch or a problem with Verizon’s website as many initially thought. Front and center on the Tour pre-order page and stated in bold red letters is the ugly phrase, “Pre–orders not available for upgrade orders at this time.” Yikes. So what do you all think? Is it reasonable to let new customers have first dibs or a major fail that will alienate current customers to the point of revolt? As an aside, luckily many CS reps still have no idea what’s going on so there’s a good chance that if you put on your best Isaac Hayes voice and sweet talk the rep, you’ll be good to go. Let us know how things work out.
Thanks, Ben!
Sprint customers would only roam on Verizon towers if there are no Sprint towers around. Their phones will always prefer the weaker Sprint towers even if there’s a stronger signal Verizon tower nearby.
We are talking about just a phone right?
I was going to come in here and do some VZW bashing but I see my thunder has been thoroughly stolen.
If Sprint is smart(finally) they would make pre-orders that not only apply to existing customers, but either ship it a day early so it arrives on Monday, or just send it to a Sprint store of the customer’s choosing so they could pick it up on Sunday.
@ jdizzle
“and verizon is a network for qu**r s****ng b**t” ***********************************
yeah 86 million of ‘em
jdizzling idiot
@bubba, panels my friend,next time you see a “tower” look for all the different levels of panels, companies Often share a tower.
I’ve been a Verizon customer for years due to the assumption that their coverage is tops. But my 8830 has been showing 1xev and 1x as opposed to the 1xEV that is required for real 3G speeds. This happens 1-3 times a day (requiring a battery pull) and is really getting old since it cripples my browsing and I can’t get emails. I live in NYC so there is no excuse for lack of coverage. Another thing I’ve come to notice is that when my friends use their iPhones they are able to zip around their apps and get to the real useable information they are seeking WAY faster than I can on my pitiful browser–EVEN WHEN THEY’RE USING EDGE!!! I’m not talking about loading 1 particular page. I mean like going to yelp and finding the real number of the restaurant you want. If it’s not a watered-down and less-useful mobile version of the site it loads ridiculousy slow. (Same for reading comments on engadget, etc.). Think of how long it takes you to navigate to the real data you’re looking for with a berry. I’m really starting to wonder what the point of this sticking to Blackberry on the “great” 3G network. End Rant!
Its very simple people…. its designed to screw over the SALES REPS not the customer. If you can only pre-order ONLINE for new accounts, they do not need to pay a commission to a VZW Rep.
Considering the fact that all VZW reps quotas are becoming insanely high and hard to reach, this is not a surprise at all!
I called and spoke to a customer service rep asking about an upgrade question and asked about the blackberry tour, she said “the Tour went up on the went side and whoever did it, apparently did it wrong. By Monday you will probably see it removed from the website and replaced back on and YES you will be able to pre-order if upgrading” So no worries people
@ matt jones
went side?
Well – it doesn’t say that on this page….
http://estore.vzwshop.com/bbtour/
The best phone out there is the iphone but its with a crappy carrier. Seeing that vzw won’t let me upgrade the tour, I’m jumpin ship for the iphone. So long vzw
$70 rebate is instant with pre-order and MIR for in store purchase. Pretty good reason to pre-order if you ask me.
Moron.
Instant rebate online or MIR in-store? What’s better stupid?
Verizon wants their loyal customers to stay away from their newest devices? And by newest devices… you mean blackberry tour? This phone is almost like blackberry bold that AT&T had for like 8 months now?
And how could people trash talk on AT&T? This is absurd.
im pissed that i cant pre order because i am a loyal customer to verizon. but will i be able to order at 12:01 am on july 12th?
All of you are right about getting the phone the same day as the pre-order people will get there phone but the point of ordering your phone online is to get the online discount. If you go into a verizon store on the day the Tour is released, You’ll get your Tour and if you’re eligible for the new every 2 you’ll get 50 bucks off, but you wont get the 70 dollar rebate that comes with ordering the phone online.
It’s bull that verizon is making their longtime loyal customers wait to get the new phone while the new customers get first dibs
So i to called trying to see why i cant pre-order / upgrade my phone they said i have to wait to do so till the 15th thats poop but it makes sence to wait if i get 70$ instant over the in store 50$ MIR plus i can use my annual upgrade of 50$ i can get the phone for 150$ online sux but i am gona have to wait =( that stinks I want it now but it should be avail for everyone to pre order =(
I am about to try the Business Line route stated a lil while ago and see if that works on upgrading my phone will post if it works and what i did. Cross Fingers 2 all those Verizon BB Feeens =)
Just found out that you can pre-order the blackberry tour at best buy. Here’s what I did:
I just left my local best buy. I was the SECOND person to do the pre-order. They will charge you $50.00, but give you a $50.00 gift card, as the placeholder. They will then call you the day the phones come in, and you get the phone. As I have a corporate account, this is the only way I was able to pre-order.
If the Best Buy you go to can’t find the info, tell the sales rep to go into “employee news” or “employee mail”. The flyer is in there. There is a UPC they have to scan.
Good luck !
I just checked. The Tour isn’t shown as one of the phones to which I can upgrade. I’ve been eligible for the “new every 2″ since mid-February and my two-year contract expired a couple of weeks ago.
Based on the pricing of the other phones, I expect (or should I say demand) that the Tour will run $100 after rebates for those who are eligible for the discounts.
I was able to get the Tour for $99 with my $100.00 every two years and was able to upgrade last Monday
Verizon finally updated the web site. The phone is $270 with a promotional credit of $170.
On top of it all, current Verizon customers get shafted because the Tour is $489! Verizon is only selling the phone at $200 to two year upgrades and to new customers.
I can cancel my Verizon account for a $125 early termination fee and then I am free to decide if I want an iPhone from AT&T or the Tour with Verizon, either for $200. Well, if I am free to choose I sure as Hell won’t be choosing to stay with a company that does not value my business. Bye-bye Verizon.
It seems once again that Verizon couldn’t give a shit about keeping their current customers. Maybe the only thing the executives of Verizon care about on a spreadsheet are the numbers of new accounts but fail to look at lost accounts.
What sort of idiot Verizon executives made the decision to provide discounted phones and a two year plan which will prevent those customers from buying into upgraded phones and services at a later time? Don’t they want existing customers to buy the upgrades? I guess not.
The Tour will be a slow seller as the many existing Verizon customer will not pay $489 for the phone and AT&T has been improving their network to handle the iPhone.
I went last Sunday to buy the Tour on the first day it was available. There were a few in stock, but they were all on hold. I called VZW to complain that other customers were given the opportunity to put the phone on hold, but that I wasn’t.