Palm Pre Availability: A Mixed Bag
Hoping to get your hands on a Palm Pre? You may be able to walk out of a Sprint store with one today, or you may have to wait a month or longer. Apparently, it all depends on which Sprint store you select.
I called several Sprint retail stores in and around Boston and New York City to see if they had the Palm Pre in stock. (The Pre is available at Sprint stores and some Best Buy and Radio Shack stores; it's not yet available online.) Most of the stores said they had anywhere from "a few" to "several" Pres available, and anticipated no problem getting the Pre if I were to come into the store in the next few days.
A handful of stores, though, said that they had sold through all of their available Pre smartphones. Still, most of these stores did not have lengthy waiting lists; most said that they were getting more Pres in stock within the next few days, and suggested I call back in a couple of days to check.
Of the more than 10 Sprint stores I called, only one had a lengthy waiting list -- at least a month, if not longer. The Sprint rep at this store, just outside of Boston, said that they anticipated getting more Pres in on an almost daily basis, but that all of the phones would go to people on the waiting list first. She said the waiting list was "about a month long" and that she didn't anticipate having Pres to sell off the shelf until that waiting list was gone, which she thought would take at least two months.
The moral of the story? If you want a Palm Pre, you certainly can find one in stock today. If the first Sprint store you visit has a lengthy waiting list, just try another location.
Image © Palm
Comments
As another option Sprint has announced you can purchase the Pre via 1-800-SPRINT-1. Online option still not available (yet)…
If you’re in the Boston area and especially eager to get a Pre, the Square One mall in Saugus was stocked full of them yesterday. I picked up 2 on a family plan and had, hands down, the best customer service I’ve had with any service provider, cell or otherwise.
Seems like Sprint is starting to take the customer service element seriously.
With all of the media play, I decided to visited a Sprint store in Northern, VA this Friday to take a look at the Pre. To my surprise, the Sprint store was completely empty. There was not a waiting list for the Pre per the Sale rep. Also, she said that she had quite a few available and I can get one.
I decided to run a small experiment. Using the Sprint store locator, I called 105 stores in the following cities: Fairfax, VA, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, PA (incl. stores in NJ), Boston, MA, Orlando, FL and San Francisco, CA. I also called 5 Best Buy stores. In total, 6 of the 105 Sprint stores had a “short” waiting list (short = I can get a Pre w/in a week). Curiously, a couple of the 6 stores that had a waiting list said that I can get one if I came in right away. Four of the five Best Buy stores had a waiting list.
The Pre is not sold out. If you want to purchase one, it is available pretty much everywhere I called.
you called 105 stores? That would take 3.5 hours.
You city kids are spoiled! Up here in Maine the stores are saying the waiting lists are long and they couldn’t even order Pres til last week. The ONE actual company store in Maine, in Portland, had them on opening day but has been behind the curve ever since, and the service people are prone to hanging up when asked. Yeesh. I’m just waiting for the dust to settle. I still plan to get one, but I’ll use my old phone for awhile.