Sprint announced a new credit incentive program to draw customers from other carriers on Friday. The carrier will offer new Sprint Framily subscribers up to $650 in trade-in and early termination fee credits.
“At Sprint, we believe in ‘Happy Connecting’ through the value of a Sprint Framily Plan,” said Jeff Hallock, Sprint chief marketing officer. “We are seeing great momentum with the Sprint Framily plan, and we want to make it as easy as possible for customers to join our Framily.”
When customers sign up for the Sprint Framily Plan, they can get a $350 prepaid Visa card to cover any early termination fees their previous carrier might hit them with, and a device credit of up to $300, for a total of $650.
Customers do need to bring their existing phone numbers over to Sprint, and choose a new phone, giving Sprint their old phone for credit. They will also need to submit a claim to receive reimbursement for early termination fees, including a bill showing the exact amount of the fees for each line.
Sprint’s promotion emulates T-Mobile’s Uncarrier initiative, launched back in January. The T-Mobile plan also gives customers up to $650 to switch to T-Mobile. However, Sprint’s promotion is temporary, with an expiration date of May 8th.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere didn’t waste any time mocking Sprint for the move, with multiple posts on his Twitter account, such as:
“Hey @Sprint- Paying off ETFs 2 get people 2 switch is a great idea (I should know) but for just a couple wks? That’s #FruckedUp #Cheapskates”
and
“For the #uncarrier, offering contract freedom is a philosophy. Apparently it’s just a gimmicky promotion for @Sprint!”
