brian w edginton wrote...

> The way you describe the situation, they were offering a deal on a
> phone as an incentive to buy or continue services with Bigpond and
> Telstra landline.
> They were not selling a phone.....they were selling a package.
> Seems you wanted the phone deal without the package.
> Assistant was not in a position to "broker"....."haggle" in effect.

We started to discuss the package. However when it was realised that I
wouldn't be taking up the Bigpond part of it then that is when it stalled.
The guy wouldn't even try to work out if we could do something in order to
get me another phone and incidentally, onto another contract for whatever
term.

Normally a salesperson has some leeway as to what they can negotiate. the
woman at the "loyalty dept" was certainly able to. Why not the sales staff
in the Telstra shops?

> Kinda like going into a shop and seeing a sign that says "Buy One-Get
> One Free" and telling the bloke you only need the free one.

No, nothing of the sort. I wasn't asking for a freebie, just a way to get
a new phone (and onto a new contract) without having to pay out all of the
remaining part of my existing contract.

My comments were on the guy's unwillingness or inability to "broker" a
deal. And I left, no sale for the chap.