Sprint

Sprint to kill its Premier Program

posted by Michael H. / Sep 16, 2011, 4:36 PM

Sprint has decided to shut down its Premier Program, which gives customers perks like discounts and early upgrades. It seems that there just weren't enough people using the program to necessitate keeping it around. Sprint is trying to highlight its other benefits like its smartphone selection and unlimited plan as being the reasons to choose, rather than the Premier Program.

The program will be closing for new members as of now, but there is a fairly complicated rolling expiration of benefits for those already in the program. This means that Gold and Silver members have until the end of this year to use benefits for: Complementary Plan Checkup, Accessory Discount, Anniversary Gift, Just Because Extras, First to buy occasions, and the Premier online community.

Benefits as far as the annual upgrade will last longer, but are a bit harder to break down, so we'd suggest just heading to the FAQ for the details.

source: Sprint & FAQ

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31 Comments

1. Dj21o

Posts: 437; Member since: May 19, 2011

Well, who needs a discount when there are sites like Ebay, Craigslist, and Amazon. Literally, get them over over half off, even from the Sprint store. But glad to see they are finally getting better phones for once. :)

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 5:12 PM 0

8. theBankRobber unregistered

Sprint had the best phone line up last year and has the best phone line up this year. What hole did u Finally crawl out of. Last year Sprint had high end phones no other carrier had at the time.

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 9:09 PM 5

11. Jerry209

Posts: 42; Member since: Sep 17, 2011

WRONG HAW

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 1:41 AM 0

21. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

Sprint's lineup until recently included a 2 year old evo and the epic.. and that was it. Tmobile has more 4g phones, faster 4g phones, more high end and dual core phones, and the most android phones of any line up. Sprint gets bonus points for having the best SGS2 (now), but thats still about it other than the new evo3d, which is the same as the sensation on Tmobile.

posted on Sep 18, 2011, 1:58 PM 1

31. Mike unregistered

As an owner of an EVO 4G purchased on day one I assure you that 2 years is a little over exagerated..by about 8 months. That said Sprint AT&T, T Mobile, Verizon, and the regional carriers all keep phones around for more than a few months. Kudos to TMobile for the early Android adoption, but you can still pick up a phone on their website that was introduced in 2010....coincidentally the same year the EVO came out.

posted on Sep 28, 2011, 8:42 AM 0

2. kyeongshik

Posts: 4; Member since: Mar 16, 2010

I guess if they keep the unlimited data and get the iphone I'd be ok with that even though i'm so close to the gold program. oh well.

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 5:20 PM 0

3. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

Keeping unlimited data with no throttling at the current pricing is preferable to getting an upgrade every year if I had to make a choice. Although I liked the early termination fee at its lower level ($200).

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 5:25 PM 1

6. RORYREVOLUTION

Posts: 3131; Member since: Jan 12, 2010

Its at 350 now for new customers.

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 9:01 PM 0

9. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

New contracts (even existing customers re-upping).

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 12:04 AM 5

15. TOdoubleD

Posts: 114; Member since: Mar 28, 2011

Depends on which phone you get. High end phones =$350

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 5:46 PM 1

4. TOdoubleD

Posts: 114; Member since: Mar 28, 2011

It was the little perks like this that made Sprint tolerable for many customers. It will be interesting to see Sprints 3rd and 4th quarter numbers. They've already been losing customers because of slow data speeds and lousy coverage. Now they will probably lose more.

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 5:38 PM 3

5. heyitzme

Posts: 87; Member since: Jan 03, 2011

They gained customors on the Sprint side but lost customers on the nextel side.

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 5:54 PM 3

14. TOdoubleD

Posts: 114; Member since: Mar 28, 2011

The majority of that gain is on the prepaid side. The prepaid for Sprint actually had it's lowest churn ever in the 2nd quarter. So that side is working well for them.

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 5:44 PM 1

26. ROrtiz unregistered

Get your facts straight the Sprint gained over 200000 new post paid customer on the sprint side. They increased on a net basis over 1.1 million new subscribers and thats including prepaid. postpaid and wholesale.

posted on Sep 19, 2011, 3:22 PM 0

7. Antnee unregistered

I have never had a problem with Sprint. I had them since 99 and worked for them from 2002 to 2010. Every problem before and after working for them has always been resolved. I actually had a worse experience when i worked for them. The premier program is great because I am always upgrading my phone... I would trade that to keep my unlimited data though. I am constantly online and love using my 4G. I tether my phone to my laptop and have very fast speeds. I don't wanna have to worry about checking my data. What's funny is vzw to have such great coverage... When me and my friend travel to NYC from FL, I actually get better coverage and she has vzw. People always talk about the coverage when you get free roaming anyways. Regardless where one company is covered another may not be so you are using that companies tower to roam so really everyone's coverage is pretty equal.

posted on Sep 16, 2011, 9:02 PM 3

10. humboldt1 unregistered

Here's why it matters(RECEPTION/COVERAGE) when there is free roaming. One example 1. You can't call *3,*4,* anything when roaming. Do you know sprints 1-800#? Not on my statement anymore. JUST TWO MONTHS AGO THE FIBER OPTICS INTO MY COUNTY WAS CUT AND THE WHOLE COUNTY WAS WITHOUT CELL AND NET SERVICE FOR ALMOST 24hrs. HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR AREA OF THE WORLD WOULD HANDLE THAT? I live in rural northern Cali and I am roaming a lot,largest city is 40,000 for 200 miles any direction. Used to be 2 sprint stores now none,people here hate sprint due to service while vzw thrives,im on sprint and wish they would care more about cities not named LA,NYC,MIA.

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 1:13 AM 2

12. SMB

Posts: 30; Member since: Aug 02, 2010

What so good about unlimited data, when their coverage and data speeds are HORRIFIC!? Sprint is horrible. Even a customer service associate told me that one time.

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 8:23 AM 1

13. ZayZay

Posts: 571; Member since: Feb 26, 2011

Huh... Coverage varies by area.

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 11:46 AM 0

16. Lotus

Posts: 6; Member since: Sep 15, 2011

In the past week Sprint has regressed a TON in their policies. Let's take a look, shall we? -Raised Early Termination Fee from $200 to $350 -Cancelled upgrade push (before you could call within a month of your upgrade and they'd push it forward for you). -Shortened their return policy by 16 days. You now only have 14 days to return your phone without facing ETF. -Removed their free first month guarantee. Now you'll pay for your service, even if you return the phone within the allotted 14 days. -And of course now they've killed the Premier program. Pretty disappointing to say the least. We'll see how long their unlimited data lasts when the iPhone hits the towers...

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 7:23 PM 2

18. paynekiller

Posts: 152; Member since: May 24, 2010

Why do I get the feeling all of this is because of the stupid iphone?

posted on Sep 18, 2011, 9:18 AM 2

19. Phoneguy007

Posts: 218; Member since: Jun 02, 2011

Once again sprint changes there way of doing business and its gonna hurt the customer.....I wont renew my contract

posted on Sep 18, 2011, 10:56 AM 0

17. InspectorGadget80 unregistered

Sprint still top dog when it comes to unlimited data. but I see when they got rid of their 30 day return policy now changing their Premier program kinda sucks. It's probably the Iphone 5

posted on Sep 17, 2011, 9:10 PM 0

20. downphoenix

Posts: 3165; Member since: Jun 19, 2010

All due to the Iphone. I may shop for a different carrier this time next year when my contract's about up.

posted on Sep 18, 2011, 11:07 AM 0

23. Rich unregistered

The changes in ETF and return policy are industry standard. I'm amazed at the whining. If McDonald's realizes they have to cut costs to keep all drink sizes a dollar they will change their pricing immediately. Why do people expect wireless companies to behave any differently?

posted on Sep 19, 2011, 1:02 AM 0

24. unknownmojo unregistered

Unlimited data or not. The facts remain the same. Look at the scoreboard. Verizon has always been more expensive that Sprint. ALWAYS. Verizon doesn't even have a better phone selection. So, more expensive and same equipment. Verizon has TWICE the customer base that Sprint has and the industry's lowest churn rate, highest customer satisfaction, highest network reliability, largest 3G, fastest 4G, ect. Sprint ranked in the top 5 worst customer service in the US for like 4 years and people want to say the Sprint has made the greatest leap in customer service, well going from worst in the country to 5th worst in the country is a pretty good leap I guess. So let's be real. Sprint is the poor man's Verizon. Eat your pride and admit it, you can't afford Verizon.

posted on Sep 19, 2011, 9:20 AM 0

25. unknownmojo unregistered

Also, Sprint is now going to brand itself as the only carrier with unlimited data. How long can they support that claim? The most powerful and profitable carrier's ATT, Verizon have realized that they can't support unlimited in the long run and have had to make the tough decision to cut off unlimited. What is Sprint's long term goal here? They don't have the capacity now to support unlimited, it will be only a matter of years before Sprint will be drowning in data consumption and will have no choice but to cap data and then what? Sprint is not a lasting brand. They are only still in business because they are in a growing industry. When the growth slows down and this industry peaks, they'll be the first to close up shop. Remember what happened to Alltel when they tried to brand themselves as the "cheaper than Verizon" carrier?

posted on Sep 19, 2011, 9:35 AM 0

27. Stephen Kennedy unregistered

I think Sprint isn't in the face of enough potential customers with their unlimited plan. If AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers knew they were cap'd or were throttled, they'd switch. This is simply why Sprint is the best (budget) brand. They've got the best selection of phones (yes, excluding the iPhone). The iPhone will become irrelevant far before Sprint does. Sprint's "get every cell phone user because we're cheap" is a sustainable model if done right. Look at Walmart. If iPhone users had an HTC 4G 3D phone instead of thier iPhone for 1 month, they'd switch. iPhone users simply don't know any better.

posted on Sep 24, 2011, 3:40 PM 0

28. Stephen Kennedy unregistered

...and Sprint better quit up'ing their prices or we'll find a different "budget brand".

posted on Sep 24, 2011, 3:42 PM 0

29. DISGUSTEDWITHsprint unregistered

Let me get this straight........ Sprint, who has sold me, and many other customers a 4G phone, increased our monthly service charge by $10/phone (that's $20/month) even though my wife's phone isn't even 4G, and who's salesman's assurance that "4G will be in the Phoenix-metro area in a few months" (that was in February 2011) turned out to be an outright lie as Sprint hasn't even started or even published a 4G roll out schedule........ Sprint, who is fighting a class-action suite in California for such misrepresentation of 4G networking and increasing customer rates with the insinuation that they should expect 4G network infrastructure in place....... Sprint, who claims that they have 4G infrastructure in 70 major markets, but Phoenix (6th largest metropolitan area in the US) has yet to even see mention of a schedule...... Sprint, who earlier in 2011 announced a Premiere treatment program for their loyal and beloved customers of 10 years (I have been with them for 17 years) would receive special benefits such as purchase discounts, 12 month upgrades, and annual presents, but now (6 months later) has terminated said program, increased customer charges, announced limits on their unlimited data plans, and all of this while they have the audacity to regularly drop calls, provide swiss-cheese-like coverage in every market that they have any presence in, and turn off data streaming whenever they feel like it (it happens all the time).....-- Sprint, who has the arrogance to have its customer-service representatives say "Go ahead, leave, I dare you to find as good a deal in cell phone service as Sprint provides". I'd like to point out to Sprint that Netflix has made the same stupid, arrogant statement not 60 days ago when they doubled their service rates. They just peed in their "tidy whitey's" when Starz didn't renew their contract for providing the majority of their entertainment content . Of course they apologized to their investors when they lost 1 million more customer subscriptions than they anticipated at the height of their arrogance, then they apologized to their customers and former customers for their arrogance. Oh yeah, their stock value plummeted costing them serious value in the $ billions, and their investors lost confidence in the management of the company. So, they have really pissed off their valued customers, their investors, their business content providers, etc. In a nutshell, they have their work cut out for them, just as Sprint management will soon. You can't just piss on customer loyalty. It is an asset. Don't piss on your assets. Arrogance is also not an appreciated position to take. Ask Netflix. You see, If I wanted to pay higher rates, I would have gone over to Verizon where at least I would get good voice and data coverage, no dropped calls, better choice of phones, 4G infrastructure, a much more efficient upgrade path to the LTE infrastructure technologies.

posted on Sep 25, 2011, 11:59 PM 0

30. DISGUSTEDWITHsprint unregistered

Yeah, that's right. Sprint is the only provider that missed that call. The world is heading to LTE technology in a straight path, and Sprint is going around the BARN first.......Brilliant! SPRINT, YOU WANT TO CHARGE WHAT THE BIG BOYS ARE CHARGING, BUT YOU DON"T HAVE THE SAME VALUE PROPOSITION. GO SUCK WIND!