Getting a PRS-505 for $150

[Zero9]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Why oh why does Sony not do this deal for its Canadian customers?

Sorry, Canuck_in_Japan.

[Zero9]

I was able to register for the Sony Rewards site late Friday evening (so about 60 hours after I was approved for the Sony Card). I might have screwed up my chances of automatically getting the $50 part of the $150 though.

When I first logged in I had 50 rewards points. Instead of just adding a PRS-505 to my cart and checking out, I accidentally added it to my wish-list. The first time you add something to your wish-list you get an extra 50 rewards points. So now I had 100 points, which made my order $298.99, which was under the "$299 or over" first purchased required to get the $100 part of the $150 (and presumably the following $200 for using the Sony Card for 6 months). So I called Sony Rewards customer service and the helpful CSR showed me how to tie up 50 of my points in some "spin the wheel for a prize drawing" feature on the site and bring my purchase price back up above $299.

However, the CSR was concerned that I wasn't being charged $2 for shipping and handling. I pointed out that the site says S&H was included, but he said the $2 S&H was supposed to be automatically added for the PRS-505 deals to insure the price would be over $299 when you ordered. He made some notes in my account explaining that I was making this purchase for the $150 credit deal in case I need to call back again later.

So now I'm waiting for my reader (should ship tomorrow) and hoping I don't have to call back in 12 weeks to ask about my $50 credit. Very excited about the reader though (and still wondering if I should have sprung for a PRS-700 ).

[Zero9]

Originally Posted by Willie Aames

Yeah, I'm living on the edge a bit on this one. You may need to register as you need at least 50 Sony rewards points to add an item to your cart, and I'm assuming registering adds those points. But, I'll worry about all that later, as my 505 arrives today, and I need to burn through my last pBook before it arrives.

FYI - My card was finally able to register today, without receiving the physical card (after ~5 days).

Willie, does this mean you got your reader about 5 days after your ordered it? I ordered mine on Saturday (May 30th), and today (4 business days later) I haven't even received an email saying it's shipped out.

[Willie Aames]

Originally Posted by Zero9

Willie, does this mean you got your reader about 5 days after your ordered it? I ordered mine on Saturday (May 30th), and today (4 business days later) I haven't even received an email saying it's shipped out.

Correct - I ordered on a Monday evening (5/25), and received by that Friday (5/29). Shipping confirmation came on 5/28.

[Zero9]

Got mine today. Credit card charges are still only pending and I have yet to get any shipping info in my email. Still, happy to have it!

[LiquidHAL]

So I got approved for the card, got a temporary card number with an expiriation date next week. I registered using that card number and it worked after about 12 hours. I'm guessing i have to purchase points to complete the order, strange system. Only when I input the temporary card number and the expiration date of 06/2009 (can't specify the exact day) it tells me the card has already expired and won't let me proceed. How did you get past this step? I suppose if most people tried this at the end of may their expiration date was in June so they didn't face this problem. It's hard to believe sony's shopping cart would be so bad that it won't let you use a credit card that expires later in the same month.

[Zapped]

Originally Posted by LiquidHAL

... when I input the temporary card number and the expiration date of 06/2009 (can't specify the exact day) it tells me the card has already expired and won't let me proceed. How did you get past this step?

That's strange. I just checked my printout of my approval from last Monday and the expiration is 6/2012. Are you certain you have the year correct?

As an aside for anyone else going through this, the cards arrived in Saturday's mail (5 days). The credit line was initially about $5K but the info that came with the cards set it to almost double that.

[LiquidHAL]

Originally Posted by Zapped

That's strange. I just checked my printout of my approval from last Monday and the expiration is 6/2012. Are you certain you have the year correct?

I had originally thought it was 2012 but when I enter that the card keeps coming back as "declined." I guessed that perhaps it meant the 12th of this year and I'd get a new expiration and number on the physical card. Trying 06/2012 now and it's still coming back as declined even though the last page of the registration site said "You can spend up to $1800 of your credit line today." and I was able to register on Sony's site with the card.

[Zero9]

Originally Posted by LiquidHAL

I had originally thought it was 2012 but when I enter that the card keeps coming back as "declined." I guessed that perhaps it meant the 12th of this year and I'd get a new expiration and number on the physical card. Trying 06/2012 now and it's still coming back as declined even though the last page of the registration site said "You can spend up to $1800 of your credit line today." and I was able to register on Sony's site with the card.

If I were you, I'd just wait for your physical card to arrive in the mail. It should work for the deal just as well.

[Zapped]

Originally Posted by LiquidHAL

I had originally thought it was 2012 but when I enter that the card keeps coming back as "declined." I guessed that perhaps it meant the 12th of this year and I'd get a new expiration and number on the physical card. Trying 06/2012 now and it's still coming back as declined even though the last page of the registration site said "You can spend up to $1800 of your credit line today."

When there are two numbers on any credit card, e.g. 06/12, it always means month/year (MM/YY), never month/day (MM/DD).

It sounds like they haven't activated your account yet. As Zero9 said, you can wait for the physical card to arrive, or call the toll-free number you were directed to call when they declined your purchase to try & get the operator to activate the account.

[Willie Aames]

Just checked my account online - $121.59 is due. Looks like the discount was already credited, and was even able to use my ~28,000 reward points to get the 505 under $150.

Thanks again to the OP for the deal.

[Zero9]

I just checked now too and I have the $100 credit already. Here I was worried about doing everything the right way, and it seems like everything worked out great for you. That's great!

[benham]

So you got the credit after you received the 505?

[LiquidHAL]

Update to my little problem in case anyone had something similar, it seems it was indeed an activation issue. I emailed sony and two days later got an email welcoming me to the sony store (almost two weeks after I registered at the store with my new card). Not sure if my email prompted someone to activate it or if it was automatic, but the card finally went through. Thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by benham

So you got the credit after you received the 505?

You get the credit card info immediately after registering and getting approved, and it takes about two weeks for them to ship the card out, so you can order and receive the ebook before you actually get the card.

[benham]

I got approved immediately, registered for Sony Rewards and ordered last Thursday. Got the unit today! Neither the credits or the Sony have appeared on the statement online yet.