All About the Discount - NVP, that is.

Some one sent me a message asking about the NVP discount that we offer to employees of companies that have accounts with Sprint. More specifically, this person received conflicting answers from many different employees as to whether or not the discount would apply to his particular plan. I began replying, however very soon the short note back had become several sections long and it was apparent that this would be a great topic that a lot of people may have questions about, or are maybe not aware of what exactly is involved in the process and why it can take up to 60 days (1-2 cycles) to reflect on your bill. Oh, and of course - which plans the discount does not apply to.

Essentially (and in terms that don’t give away anything internally that shouldn’t be), here is how the NVP Discount program works & what the process is & some other info that may help to understand all about NVP Discounts:

What is NVP? It stands for Sprint’s National Value Program, and it allows business customers(& employees) to receive set discounts on their MRC (Monthly Recurring Charges) each month on their bill/invoice.

But I’m an individual, what gives with this Corporate Classiication? There are four primary account types that pertain to NVP Discounts: NOTE: Standard consumer/consumer accounts  MUST be converted Corp/IL type accounts as a part of the discount process. You’ll see why later.

1.  Corporate/Corporate Individual (i.e. someone who works for a company like General Motors or JC Penney’s whose company has a business agreement with Sprint, and has a Nextel device)

2.  Corporate/Corporate Individual (CDMA workaround) (someone who works for a company like General Motors or JC Penney’s whose company has a business agreement with Sprint, and has a Sprint device)

3.  Public Sector/Gov’t Individual (police officer, fireman, teacher, or someone in the public sector whose company has a business agreement with Sprint, and has a Nextel device)

4.  Public Sector/Gov’t Individual (CDMA workaround) (police officer, fireman or someone in the public sector whose company has a business agreement with Sprint, and has a Sprint device)

NVP is synonymous with ‘Company Discount’, ‘EVP’,  and ‘Employee Discount’ as different terms are used to describe the program in different areas, however they all reference the NVP Program/Discount.

Let’s start at the beginning. You have to get the discount added to your account. You can do this online (http://sprint.p.delivery.net/m/p/nxt/ais/wdyw.asp), via echat (http://www.sprint.com/chat) or via customer care (*2 from your handset). You can either tell the agent which company you work for and they can look up the NVP code for you, or you may already have the code from your employer/group.

It’s important to note that no matter what normal method you use to request your discount, it is not added real time. The agent will simply fill out a web-based form with all of your information, including the discount amount and code, and it is then submitted to a special back office team for processing. After the form is submitted the agent will read this to you(often paraphrased):

This is generally where the fun begins. In short, a special back office team receives the request in the form of a case/ticket and works them generally in the order received. Now, if you want to understand what goes on behind the scenes, here’s a good place to start:

To receive the discount, the customer’s account has to be attached to the sponsoring company’s ‘hierarchy’. This creates two common scenarios that customers are not often aware of:

• 
  
  Changes the billing cycle for the customer to match that of the sponsoring company. Everyone receiving the discount under a particular company will have the same bill cycle.


• 
  
  Can create partial-month charges (these will process one day after the customer’s current cycle).

Upon receipt, the discount form (now a ticket/case in the que) is assigned to be worked on the first day after the current billing cycle. This is what creates a lot of confusion, as if it’s toward the end of your cycle then your request will be processed in as little as a couple of days; or if you just started your billing cycle at the time of requesting the discount, it could be as long as almost a full month before your request is even processed. You won’t be able to speed this up, so as much as you don’t like it – it is what it is. You are told of this 30-60 day process when requesting the discount, and frankly no one you can speak with will have the ability to change it once the request has been submitted.

Once your current billing cycle ends, the very next day your request will be processed in the billing system. The account will be converted from an Individual/Individual account type to a Corporate/Individual account type. Your bill cycle will be matched to that of the sponsoring company. Since your billing cycle has just began on this day, that means if it happens to only be a day or two away, that you will receive a partial month bill for a few dollars for those few days on your ‘old’ billing cycle – this also means that if it’s almost a full month before the company’s billing cycle starts, that your partial month bill could be almost your full normal bill.

• NVP(IL) Discounts are bases on the volume of sprint account


• A valid email address is required to process the request. This will only be used to notify you on the status of the discount(confirmation or follow-up). A Corporate email address is preferred, as this speeds up the validation process. The customer will receive a confirmation email, but not immediately. It will detail the discount amount as well as any partial month charges.

Here are the restrictions places on the NVP Discount Program Eligibility:

• 
  
  The online form used to submit NVP Requests is only a portal which creates a ticket/case for a separate back office team to process. It’s important to remember this is NOT a real-time change.


• 
  
  The back office team will reject any case that does not meet eligibility, requirement regardless of any other statements made at the time of case submission.

Here they are:

• Account requesting discount must be a valid IL/Subtype combination
  
  
  
  • IL/Third Party Employee is NOT a valid type for NVP
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • IL/Phone Connections (SERO) is not a valid type for NVP
  
  
  
  


• 
  
  CorpID provided must be a  valid _Z* extension (i.e. _ZZZ, _ZZM, ZZZ P2, etc…)


• 
  
  Account must be in good standing (no NPD or other suspended status)


• 
  
  Contact making request must be the listed BAN owner

Even though a BAN has been qualified for a discount, there are certain price plans and charges that the NVP Discount will NOT apply to:

• 
  
  Any Month-to-Month Plan


• 
  
  $99.99 Simply Everything Individual Plan


• 
  
  $89.99 Simply Everything Multi-Lines (2+)


• 
  
  $29.99 Basic 200 Plan


• 
  
  $39.99 Blackberry Unlimited attachable plan.


• 
  
  $50 Free and Clear Area-Wide 1000


• 
  
  $59.99 Unlimited Data Plan (Connection Cards)


• 
  
  $90 Unlimited Access Pack


• 
  
  $119 Unlimited Access Pack


• 
  
  $149.99 Unlimited Access Pack


• 
  
  TEP/ERP/ESRP Monthly Charge

Q. If I submit a web form and the customer's current bill cycle is today what will happen?

A. After the form submission the web form will be sent directly to the back office group for processing without any delay.

Q. What communication does the customer receive when we include their email address?

A. You can assure the customer that their email will NOT be used for any solicitation. Customer will receive a brief initial email (after you submit the form) thanking them for participating in the discount program and second and final email just before they get their invoice with any changes that were made to their account (i.e. account and/or bill cycle change, discount percentage).

Q. Do I give the customer the case number once I have submitted the web form?

A. No.  From the customer's point of view you have completed their request and they will get the discount on their next invoice.  The case number is for internal purposes only.

Q. If the customer is already on a hierarchy, can I still use the web form?

A. Yes.  The web form can be used for any consumer (wants to get a discount) or individual liable (wanting to change the company) customer.  It does not matter that they are already on a hierarchy.

Q.  Is this discount off the entire invoice?

A. No, the NVP discount is only applicable on the MRC for the plan.

If you have other questions regarding how the NVP/Employer discount works, comments are open! The process is fairly straightforward, and anyone can qualify for the Credit Union discount, which is a base 10% off with no verification, simply by saying you use a credit union!