Virgin Mobile HTC Evo V 20% off, $239.99 with FS

hchen42 said:   Also, if you already have an existing account. Top up via callingmart.com. Callingmart.com does not charge tax. If you make two purchase with first about $230, you get 1%. Buy another $10 with the points you accumulated from the first $230 transaction, you end up with about 2% discount of $240 (about $4.80). Apply the top up to your VM account, and purchase the phone. You save money on sales tax. For NYC residence, tax is about $22.

I have an existing account with Virgin Mobile. I do not see any option to buy with my current Top-up money under my account or the website. Can you elaborate more? Do I have to call them?

I buy my top-up cards with discounted Best Buy or Radio Shack gift cards. I save 6% to 12% every month depending on the discounted gift card. Coupons from Best Buy can be used in addition. Remember if you upgrade to a better phone your old rate is upgraded too. Hence you have the $25 grandfathered rate will up grade to $35 for EVO.

QQ35 said:   I buy my top-up cards with discounted Best Buy or Radio Shack gift cards. I save 6% to 12% every month depending on the discounted gift card. Coupons from Best Buy can be used in addition. Remember if you upgrade to a better phone your old rate is upgraded too. Hence you have the $25 grandfathered rate will up grade to $35 for EVO.

Where do you get 12% discounted gift card? Best I could get is 10% off. I'd rather buy from Callingmart.com. I live in NYC, so I have to pay 8.875% tax. So even with 10% off discount card, I still pay a few pennies more than callingmart (which I would get about 2% discount now) and no tax - not to mention I can just order from my computer without running out.

QQ35 said:   I buy my top-up cards with discounted Best Buy or Radio Shack gift cards. I save 6% to 12% every month depending on the discounted gift card. Coupons from Best Buy can be used in addition. Remember if you upgrade to a better phone your old rate is upgraded too. Hence you have the $25 grandfathered rate will up grade to $35 for EVO.

Those USPS change of address booklets had 10% Best Buy discount cards in them. I would use them all the time to buy my VM top up cards. Not sure if they still are inside. Great way to legally not pay tax!
T&C allowed the use of them!

After the new rates were in effect last year, I upgraded from the LG Optimus V to a Motorola Triumph - and I am still grandfathered in the $25 plan.

Is this a GSM phone? Can it be used with T-Mobile or AT&T sim card?

funlovers said:   Is this a GSM phone? Can it be used with T-Mobile or AT&T sim card?

No, Virgin Mobile is CDMA and runs on Sprint's network.

*Side Note: This is a decent deal, but I think I'm going to hedge my bets for another Virgin Mobile Black Friday sale this year. I got my Motorola Triumph for $120 last year. I really want the Evo V to go under $200 before I bite. The Evo V supposedly has a Wolfson DAC in it...streaming music should be great on this thing.

Yeah, I would rather buy using AMEX and hope I get $22.5 from FW CashBack vs. a $4.8 discount.

hchen42 said:   netmaster911 said:   hchen42 said:   Also, if you already have an existing account. Top up via callingmart.com. Callingmart.com does not charge tax. If you make two purchase with first about $230, you get 1%. Buy another $10 with the points you accumulated from the first $230 transaction, you end up with about 2% discount of $240 (about $4.80). Apply the top up to your VM account, and purchase the phone. You save money on sales tax. For NYC residence, tax is about $22.

I have an existing account with Virgin Mobile. I do not see any option to buy with my current Top-up money under my account or the website. Can you elaborate more? Do I have to call them?

You have to have enough money in the account to see pay with cash balance. For example, if you have balance of $200 in your account, pay with cash option would show up for HTC One V (selling for $199), but not for Evo V 4G. So you'll have to apply top-up first. If you are a bit skeptic on this, try top off to $100 first. Then put a phone that's less than $100 in the shopping cart and you'll see. VM only accepts one form of payment. So you can't pay partially with cash and partially with credit card.

Nice! Thank you!

edplayer said:   Yeah, I would rather buy using AMEX and hope I get $22.5 from FW CashBack vs. a $4.8 discount.
You save $4.8 + not paying tax. For NYC resident, that's about $22 or roughly $26-$27 saving. In addition, what if one doesn't have AMEX?

One thing to note about Virgin Mobile is that although they ride on Sprint's network they do NOT offer roaming capability like Sprint does. So if you go out of range of Sprint's network but are still in range of another CDMA network (e.g. Verizon) the phone simply won't work. If you can handle that the $35/month unlimited text/data is a killer deal.

What happens when you buy VM card from BB using BB gift card. Dont you pay tax to BB?

nyseGUY said:   QQ35 said:   I buy my top-up cards with discounted Best Buy or Radio Shack gift cards. I save 6% to 12% every month depending on the discounted gift card. Coupons from Best Buy can be used in addition. Remember if you upgrade to a better phone your old rate is upgraded too. Hence you have the $25 grandfathered rate will up grade to $35 for EVO.

Those USPS change of address booklets had 10% Best Buy discount cards in them. I would use them all the time to buy my VM top up cards. Not sure if they still are inside. Great way to legally not pay tax!
T&C allowed the use of them!

hchen42 said:   edplayer said:   Yeah, I would rather buy using AMEX and hope I get $22.5 from FW CashBack vs. a $4.8 discount.
You save $4.8 + not paying tax. For NYC resident, that's about $22 or roughly $26-$27 saving. In addition, what if one doesn't have AMEX?

Ordering from the site using my AMEX, NY tax was $17.70. Do you get FW CashBack if you use top up cards instead of a credit card? Personally, if you don't have an AMEX, you should get one as that free extra 1 year warranty is nice. I have a blue Cash Back, and have no annual fee.

greendeal said:   I created an account at callingmart.com
They have two kinds of top-up cards for Virgin Mobile one called 'refill' the other called 'unlimited'
Does it matter which kind I buy for the purpose of buying the HTC evo V ?I want to pull the trigger on this, got the cash, want the phone, already with virgin. But, like greendeal, I want to buy the right kind of card so as to get the phone without paying tax, save a couple more bucks.

So -- does anyone have the answer to this question -- which card is the right one, or does it matter?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thx !

I can confirm that Virgin Mobile has a top-up limit at $150. I called their CSR asked them if they could manually override it, as I was just going to use the cash to buy the HTC phone. No go, I had to wait until next day to bring by total to $240.

I noticed on VM website this deal will expire on 8/13, so keep this and the extra day delay in mind if you want to go this route.

arribasn said:   http://virginmobileusa.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5667...

What are the new device upgrade rules?
Starting May 27, 2012, if you are using the $25, $40, or $60 Beyond Talk Plans and you upgrade to a Beyond Talk Smartphone launched after May 1, 2012 (including the HTC EVO™ V 4G), you will need to switch to the current $35, $45, or $55 Beyond Talk Monthly Plan. When you switch plans, you will need to pay for your new plan and you will lose any minutes, messages, and money in your balance. This will also change your monthly payment date. So if you are considering upgrading to a new smartphone, we recommend that you wait until right before your next monthly payment date to activate.

*The following smartphones launched before May 1, 2012 and are therefore not subject to the new device upgrade rules at this time: VentureTM, LG ® OptimusTM Slider, HTC ® Wildfire STM, Motorola TriumphTM, LG ® Optimus VTM, Blackberry ® CurveTM 8530.

Glad I read this post - I had no idea it would bump up the monthly price. Thanks for the info!

Looks like the VM website is still charging sales tax here in Massachusetts despite the tax holiday this weekend. I suppose this will have to be handled through customer service. Does anyone else have experience with this process and how painful it is?

UPDATE: Just called the VM main tollfree line and spoke to them about this. I was transferred once but eventually got an agent who said she would look into the issue. Called me back after about an hour and, not surprisingly, said that none of their procedures/policies addressed this issue. Nevertheless, I was promised a $15 credit once I activate the phone as a "one time exception." I accepted the gesture but insisted that they further examine this issue because after all, it is the law. The relevant sections are below for others with this issue.

TIR 12-5: The 2012 Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday Weekend
http://www.mass.gov/dor/businesses/help-and-resources/legal-libr...

L. Internet Sales. If a customer orders an item of eligible property over the Internet, the item is exempt if it is ordered and paid for on August 11 or 12, 2012 Eastern Daylight Time. Generally, a customer pays for an item when the seller receives a credit card number, a debit authorization, a check, or a money order. The actual delivery can occur after the holiday period. For example: a customer orders a computer over the Internet with a sales price of $2,000 and charges the sale to his credit card at 1:00 p.m. (EDT) on August 11 or 12, 2012; the computer has a delivery date of September 20, 2012. The sale is exempt since the computer was ordered and paid for during the sales tax holiday.

A. Non-Exempt Sales. All sales of motor vehicles,[1] motorboats,[2] meals,[3] telecommunications services,[4] gas,[5] steam, electricity, tobacco products[6] and of any single item whose price is in excess of $2,500, do not qualify for the sales tax holiday exemption and remain subject to tax.

[4] “Telecommunications services” are defined in G.L. c. 64H as “any transmission of messages or information by electronic or similar means, between or among points by wire, cable, fiber optics, laser, microwave, radio, satellite or similar facilities but not including cable television.” G.L. c. 64H, § 1. Sales of prepaid calling arrangements and cards are not eligible for the sales tax holiday. Telecommunications equipment, such as a telephone or cell phone purchased for nonbusiness use, is eligible for the sales tax holiday.

battery life is short, need charge everyday.

juniorjam said:   Anyone who has this phone want to comment on battery life?

AusTex Deal Seeker said:   sars said:   battery life is short, need charge everyday.

juniorjam said:   Anyone who has this phone want to comment on battery life?HTC Evo 4G 3500mAh Extended Battery + Cover for $4 and $2 shipping, some people liked it on Android.forums.com.

I have not yet got the phone, on it's way, but I know it's a fairly thick phone already, and this thing might make it like carrying a brick around in my pocket.

And with one of thsee batteries I'd bet it'd be about impossible to find a protector that wraps the whole phone, which is something I like.

Anyways, got to looking around for ext life batteries and this is what I've found thus far, good luck all.

You might want to re-think getting that battery.