[jtlapp]

Answers!! I got lucky and walked into a store that wasn't very busy. I had a conversation with two people, both of whom seemed really knowledgeable, one of whom appeared to be the manager.

Originally Posted by jtlapp

(1) How much interest are you getting in the phone? How many units are you expecting this weekend? When do you think you'll sell out? Are different stores getting different numbers of phones, according to expected demand?

This store is getting a ton of interest, lots of phone calls. They have no clue how many units they will be receiving. They haven't received any yet and likely won't receive any until Thursday or Friday. They don't know how corporate is deciding how many units to send.

(2) Who is eligible to purchase the phone? Anyone? New customers or customers adding new service only? Premier customers? Premier customers who still have a year left on their current contract?

Despite rumors to the contrary, anyone can buy a Pre this Saturday. When I explained the rumor about only selling to new customers, new lines, or upgraded service, they responded saying that that applied to the price you paid, not to whether were allowed to purchase. To me that means that only new customers and customers eligible for the upgrade discount will get the purchase discount

(3) Will you be having a launch party on Friday the 5th? What time? Who's invited? What happens if someone shows up who is not invited? Will anyone else in the area be having a June 5th launch party?

This store will not be having a Friday launch party. They believed that only certain "flagship stores" around the country would be having Friday launch parties. They knew of no Friday launch parties in my area.

(4) What time will you be opening on Saturday morning? Will you be opening even earlier for Premier customers or other specially-invited customers? What happens if someone shows up who is not invited?

This store will open at 8am on Saturday morning. Anyone can show. You get in line and customers will be sold phones on a first-come-first-served basis.

However, after they run out of stock on Saturday, they will start putting names on a wait-list, according to your order in line. When a new shipment of Pre's comes in, they will call the wait list customers in order to inform them that the phone has arrived. They will hold the phone for the customer for two days before selling it to another customer.

This wait list only applies to people who show up on opening day, Saturday. They had no idea when subsequent shipments of the Pre would arrive.

(5) Are you keeping a list of people who want to buy the phone this weekend? What are you doing with that list? When benefit does a person on that list receive? Can you put me on the list?

There is no list prior to the wait list that will be made on Saturday (see above answer).

(6) May I put a deposit down on the phone now, to reserve one for me this weekend? Is there anything I can do to improve my odds of getting a phone this weekend? (Note: This is not an offer to bribe!)

No deposit now, no reservation or purchase until Saturday. Best thing to do to ensure that you get a phone is to show up early. This store said, "When we open." So far they have only heard one customer say that he would be there at opening.

(7) Will you be issuing a mail-in rebate, or will you be applying the rebate at purchase time in the store? In other words, will customers with the upgrade discount be paying $199 or $299 at the store?

There will be a mail-in rebate. Purchase price at store for those eligible for the new customer or upgrade discount is $299.

(8) Will you be offering the Total Equipment Protection Plan for the phone? What benefit will it provide in the case of the Palm Pre? What will it cost?

Yes, the plan will be offered for the Pre. However, it can only be fulfilled at certain Sprint locations around town (nothing new). Because of the probable initial shortage of Pres, these service locations would first try to troubleshoot or fix the phone before replacing it. This particular store was not one of those stores, so I don't know how they'll be dealing with Palm/Sprint's apparent standing requirement that Pres be replaced and not fixed.

(9) I understand that you have to activate the phone before I leave the store, but is it also a requirement that the Palm Profile be set up before I leave? Do you have any suggestions for how I prepare my online accounts prior to activating a Palm Profile?

Here's a big clarification for me: to activate phone service, you have to create a Palm Profile, and this only requires a valid email address. You will not have to sync with your Gmail account or Facebook or anything like that while in the store. They merely enter your email address and your line goes active. You are not logging into your email account in the store. You can even wait until you get home before clicking on the link sent in the confirmation email. (Since instant confirmation is not required, I assume that you have a certain amount of time to confirm the email address, but I didn't ask.)

You will be required to activate the phone in the store. Come with an email address.

(10) May I see the phone? May I play with it? Will you demo it for me? Have you had time to play with it? What do you think of the phone?

I sensed that they already had access to the phone, though they wouldn't tell me so. In any case, they would not be demoing the phone to anyone until Saturday. Seeing them squirm at my question about whether they had a phone, I held back from asking them whether they liked the phone.

(11) Is there a limit on how many phones a customer can purchase? What if it's a business activating multiple lines?

They were not aware of any limit on how many phones a single customer could purchase, but I got the feeling that they simply didn't know the answer to this question. There might be a limit. I specifically mentioned the example of someone buying multiple phones for a business. In any case, each phone would have to be separately activated prior to leaving the store.

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I was very happy with their helpful enthusiasm. This was actually the second Sprint store I visited today. The first store was very busy, and when I finally got someone, I started with questions about the Airave. The answers I was getting were at odds with what I'd read on the net, and when I pointed this out, he said that his answers may be wrong, that he really didn't know. I figured there was no point in asking questions about the Pre and went to another store. Obviously, your mileage at Sprint stores will vary quite a lot.

But from having read what Sprint reps are telling other people, I find myself forced to conclude one of the following: (1) that the official launch day policy will vary by region or (2) that Sprint reps are woefully confused. If there is a single official policy, I'm confident that the folks I spoke with today articulated it pretty closely. They convinced me, anyway.

Don't let this stop you from getting your own answers. Let's compare notes.