T-Mo BlackBerry customers being offered up to $200 to upgrade to a Samsung

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One of our readers just got in touch with us, forwarding a text they received from T-Mobile (pictured above). To begin with I thought it was a spam-text, but, turns out it’s a genuine offer. Head on over to this link and you’ll see a genuine offer from T-Mo offering you up to $200 to upgrade from your BlackBerry to a new Samsung device.

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If you’re due an upgrade, and you have a BlackBerry, T-Mobile really, really wants you to upgrade and take a new Samsung device. If you upgrade your BlackBerry, T-Mobile will give you a gift card for up to $200 paid on to a prepaid Mastercard. So, if you upgrade Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S5 or Galaxy Light you could net yourself some credit. The offer’s also available to customers enrolled in the JUMP! program.

What’s unusual about this offer, and the way it’s been promoted, is that it’s kinda buried within the announcement from last week. If you remember, BlackBerry started offering T-Mobile customers $100 off the price of its unlocked devices from ShopBlackBerry. John Legere responded by offering the same discount off T-Mobile BlackBerries. His post was titled “An open letter – and offer – to BlackBerry loyal”. And went on to emphasize that the company is still committed to BlackBerry fans and users. And this was supposed to the company’s way of showing it. Giving a discount on new BlackBerry devices.

His link to the offer is what’s unusual here. It now leads to a page offering BlackBerry users $100 to upgrade to a new smartphone, but up to $200 if they go Samsung. I don’t remember that being in the offer initially, but, the offer page states that it’s available to BlackBerry users as of 4/3/14 (a week ago). So if I missed it at the time, I do apologize wholeheartedly. If this has been snuck in later on, then I guess this is new information. I don’t see it reported anywhere else and it’s not easy to discover by browsing T-Mobile.com, so something tells me this is a new offer T-Mobile didn’t want to publicize too widely.

Either way, if BlackBerry thought T-Mobile’s original “switch to an iPhone” marketing campaign was bad, that bears nothing on actual financial incentive involved in this Samsung offer.

Now, not just anyone can switch and get the credit. You have to be due an upgrade, so it’s not like any BlackBerry user from anywhere can just bring one in and swap it for a Galaxy S5, pocketing $200 in the process. If you have a BlackBerry, you’re due an upgrade and fancy a new Sammy-branded device, this is for you. Be sure to head on over to the offer page and go through the terms & conditions.

Let us know if you’ve received the text. Also, let me know if you spotted this ages ago, and I somehow missed it. Shout at me on Twitter if you like, @TiP_Cam.

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