Pre-Mature Elaboration: Sprint Cancels Palm Pre Offer

September 8, 2009 at 2:00 pm PT

KEYSTONE KOPS If there’s a Guinness World Record for shortest-lived promotional offer by a wireless carrier, Sprint’s (S) surely a front-runner for it.

Just six or so hours after offering a $100 service credit to new subscribers who purchase a Palm (PALM) Pre and port their numbers over from another carrier, Sprint canceled it. Here’s the company’s official statement on the matter:

“After further internal review today, the offer of a port-in service credit of $100 to new customers who buy the Palm Pre has been pulled, because it was put into the system in error.”

The company tells me it will honor its obligation to anyone who purchased a Pre during the brief window in which this offer was open.

Remarkably, the offer page is still live on Sprint’s site as I write this. Unbelievable. What a Keystone Kops-style marketing blunder.

Tagged with: carrier, credit, digital, Guinness World Record, hardware, John Paczkowski, Keystone Kops, Palm, Pre, promotional offer, S, Sprint, statement, subscribers, telecom, wireless

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http://www.kenokel.com/video.html Ken Okel

Sounds like a great way to earn some bad publicity and frustrate your sales force.

Obviously there seems to be difference of opinion in terms of promotions.
Anonymous

I was so happy when I heard of their offer.