Treo 680 Free After Rebate Promo & Free GPS Kit

Posted By: Ryan Kairer on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 11:25:32 AM

The Palm.com Store is now offering the Treo 680 smartphone for FREE after a $50 mail-in rebate. This limited time offer includes free shipping and is only valid when purchased with a new line of service. The offer runs though September 16th.

In addition, Palm's online store is also offering the Palm GPS Navigator Car Kit for FREE after mail-in rebate with the purchase of select new Treo smartphones with new service activation. The GPS kit is regularly a $219 value. You can read our review of the kit here. This promo includes the Treo 700p, 700wx, 755p and 750 and runs through September 1st.

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Correction

gally @ 8/21/2007 2:40:44 PM #

The GPS kit promo does NOT include the Treo 680. Pity - with free phone AND free GPS kit I would have been tempted... Guess I'll just keep sticking it out with my T|T3 and sony phone...

RE: Correction

Ryan @ 8/21/2007 2:47:25 PM #

Thanks, I corrected the article. I meant it to include the Treo 755p, not the 680.

Palm UK has better GPS offer

ChiA @ 8/21/2007 6:09:53 PM #

The version of this offer offered by the Palm shop in the UK is better than the US as the 680 is eligible for the free GPS. Mind you, the only Treos you can buy in the UK are the 680 and the 750 series anyway.

The offer has been running for a lot longer in the UK and Palm has been offering it to ALL new Treo purchasers whether directly from Palm or not, online or otherwise since May.
http://euro.palm.com/uk/en/gpsmay07/index.html

Can i get this?

karishbhr @ 8/22/2007 12:19:25 AM #

I just bought a Treo 755p two days ago from sprint... any way I can get this deal?

Cost

JPT|X @ 8/22/2007 1:56:05 PM #

So how much does the phone service cost? I may have to take the plunge.

RE: Cost

Ryan @ 8/22/2007 3:11:15 PM #

The phone service cost depends on the carrier and plan that you select when ordering from Palm.com. They have prices and plans available after you select the carrier.

RE: Cost

SeldomVisitor @ 8/22/2007 3:17:48 PM #

The PALM site has the minimum-allowed service plan noted for this promo.

Don't trust ANYTHING rebate-related from the Palm store!

hkklife @ 8/22/2007 3:34:22 PM #

Palm's rebate fulfilment provider is absolutely horrendous. When I bought both of my Palm GPS Navigator kits from Palm.com, they had some kind of MIR with purchase. I think one was $25 and the other was $50.

Both times I completed the rebate form and met all of the requirements for the program. Both times my refund was denied. I got a postcard with the Palm logo on it saying that I had submitted a rebate request for an "invalid promotion" or something like that.

Palm's online store is so overpriced and so poorly run that there's absolutely no point in buying anything there unless it's an absolute must.

Needless to say, I've spent my dollars even on Palm-branded acccessories elsewhere since then. If Palm REALLY cared about shaking things up with a good promotion, they'd include the GPS kit free & clear in the same shipment as the Treo with no damn rebate or strings attached. I bought a digital camera from Amazon last year and they had a free SD card promo going and it was free WITH purchase and came in the same box! By insisting on acting like it's 1999 by dangling th carrot of a huge mail-in rebate that the customers will NEVER see, Palm's showing that they think all of their customers were born yesterday and are blindly loyal to the orange logo.

If a corporate monstrosity like Best Buy can completely eliminate main-in rebates then Palm can certainly do the same!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Don't trust ANYTHING rebate-related from the Palm store!

SeldomVisitor @ 8/22/2007 3:51:04 PM #

Rebates are money-makers for rebate-offerors.

In fact, PALM even said at the last earnings conference call:

== "...Gross margin was positively impacted by an update to the
== redemption rate assumptions for our mail-in rebate reserves
== based on new data received from our carrier partners..."

and

== "...There was a slight increase in ASPs during the quarter. That
== was primarily driven by the update that I had mentioned with respect
== to the redemption rates of the mail-in rebate, which impact both
== revenues and gross margin. So, that was the primary driver there.
== Otherwise, we would have been pretty close to flat on the ASPs..."

That is to say, "Average Selling Price", gross margins, and revenues were all higher because fewer people than expected successfully submitted rebates.

It very much is to their advantage to "screw up" rebates, either by the submitter or by their fulfillment contractor (as with just about everything else, that is outsourced and not performed by PALM itself).

To make this a LITTLE less PALM-specific, here're the results for googling "rebate scam":

-- http://www.google.com/search?q=rebate+scam

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