Free Lumia 520/521 with purchase of 12 months of Xbox Music Pass

[maevinj]

Purchase 12-Month Xbox Music Pass for 99.89 and get a 520 or 521 free with no carrier contract.


http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.296864500

 

[SunnyD]

Isn't that a "phone" you can buy for $30 without a contract generally?

Not terribly hot, even considering that you're actually paying for a music subscription.

 

[postmortemIA]

....and access to the internet, but not to your ISP

 

[notposting]

Well, the Music Pass would normally be $120/year at month to month rates. Throw in a free phone and it's a nice deal.

Of course, I tried to order this on Tuesday and it's been a nightmare. AMEX decided to block it the first time through for fraud prevention. After I settled them down, it just refused to go through in Firefox. Finally in IE it seemed to process okay.

Several hours later, no email, no update on my account, I call. They say it's gone in for review but that usually only takes a few hours. Point out it's been longer than that, and "oh, well it could up to 72 hours"!!!

Checked again last night, it hadn't actually been escalated, and they did give me a service reference number. Of course, the chat transcript, when emailed to me, CENSORS out the damn number. Oh, and both Live Mail and Outlook webmail both considered the chat transcript to be suspicious and couldn't verify the sender (microsoft.com).

Can't cancel it while it is in "review" either, so I figure by the time they get around to telling me too bad, the phones will be sold out.

*swear*

 

[maevinj]

Isn't that a "phone" you can buy for $30 without a contract generally?

Not terribly hot, even considering that you're actually paying for a music subscription.

They're going for 59.99 on Amazon. Plus you get a year of Xbox music pass.
This wpcentral article http://www.wpcentral.com/deal-alert-buy-year-xbox-music-and-get-free-lumia-520-lumia-521
states the phone is normally 99.99

 

[Centauri]

Isn't that a "phone" you can buy for $30 without a contract generally?

Huh? Where/when?

 

[SunnyD]

Huh? Where/when?

I know MetroPCS (T-Mobile) just had it on sale sans contract. Might have to buy an unlock code to use it elsewhere, but those are cheap enough.

 

[mikeford]

It was $35 for a few hours last week at Target, B&M only and quickly revised to $65.

Begs the question, how cheap does a phone you really don't want have to be to get you to buy it and used it for years.

 

[maevinj]

I just look at this deal as a music subscription, plus a player to play on, and an emergency phone if I need it. You don't have to activate the phone. Just use it like an iPod touch or something.

 

[notposting]

I just look at this deal as a music subscription, plus a player to play on, and an emergency phone if I need it. You don't have to activate the phone. Just use it like an iPod touch or something.

This. Going to dump my grandfathered Zune Pass with 10 songs monthly and save $80/yr.

Plus a phone to let others play with as far as WP, and a workout/shower/dishwashing/kidsafe music player with memory card support.

 

[notposting]

Edit: MS Store has problems. Not the only one with charges but no order showing.

 

[gorcorps]

It was $35 for a few hours last week at Target, B&M only and quickly revised to $65.

Begs the question, how cheap does a phone you really don't want have to be to get you to buy it and used it for years.

I've already considered getting one given its cheap price just to see if I like Windows. It's the same way I made the switch from iPhone to Android (bought a cheap Atrix to test Android). Obviously it's not something that can appeal to everyone, but there are those out there that need/want cheap phones.

 

[Staples]

Does xbox music work the same on iOS as it does wp? I may bite but doubt I will use the phone.

 

[bassoprofundo]

Edit: MS Store has problems. Not the only one with charges but no order showing.

I had the same thing. I ordered a week ago and never got a confirmation from anything but Paypal (nothing from MSFT store). When I tried to get my order history from the MSFT site, it would give me an "unexpected error." I had to call, and they told me that there was "an error in our ordering system that can't be fixed" and that they'd refund my money so I could order again.

I told them that I wasn't happy and wanted them to escalate it... said that there's no reason I should have to reorder, and what's to stop it from happening again? A day later, I get a confirmation from them that it's shipped and got my Xbox sub code.

Regarding the deal, it's actually a very good deal assuming you're in the market for a music service. It works the smoothest on Windows platforms (phone and PC), but there are clients for IOS and Android as well. If nothing else, you can keep the subscription and turn around and sell the phone for $40ish. If you're like me and like to have a spare phone as a backup, it's a great one to have. I have my kids all using them right now, and WP8 is totally smooth on even low-end hardware. Plus, throw in an SD card, and you have a heck of a music player. Plus, if a kid drops/bathes/eats one, it'll cost me a mere $50 to replace. Can't beat this kind of pricing on a full-featured smartphone that takes SD cards and has a removable battery....

 

[marmasatt]

BTW. This phone is terrific. The GPS on it is amazing. It has a big map app, a 3D terrain map, and then a GPS.