A few months ago, Sprint announced that they were going to be offering a new tiered version of their popular Premier membership program. This caused a bit of an uproar for Sprint customers simply because it caused them to lose one of the program’s biggest perks, yearly upgrades.

Originally there were 2 ways to qualify for a Premier membership. You could either be a customer for 10 years (wow) or sign up for a qualifying plan that was either a $69 and above single line, or a $99 and above family plan (primary line only). The latter was the easiest as these 2 plans were probably Sprint’s most popular (and affordable) unlimited data plans for new customers who picked up the Evo 4G when it launched last year.

Then on April 1st, things changed. Sprint bumped up the plans needed to qualify for that yearly upgrade. It is now $89 for a single line and $169 for a family plan (primary line only). If you think it’s wrong how Sprint could just go and change the contract you made with them when you signed your 2 year agreement, its probably because it is.

Thanks to my friends on Twitter, I found out of a few ways people were reclaiming those precious yearly upgrades for one last time (and right before the launch of the Evo 3D). First way would be by calling Sprint customer care by dialing *2 from your cellphone or by calling them at 1-888-211-4727 and demanding your yearly upgrade back. I should note, the more saliva that spews out of your mouth during the call, the better.

But if you’re like me and haggling Sprint customer care isn’t your cup of tea, there is a slightly less… aggressive way. Simply visit this forum on SprintUsers.com and DM the Sprint Premier Team Member who is in charge of helping Sprint customers get back those lost upgrades. All you have to do is provide him with your name and primary number on your account in the DM and he will take care of the rest.

Pretty easy, right? I know this is going to help a lot of people who thought they wouldn’t be able to afford an Evo 3D and I want to thank everyone who helped provide me with this info so I could share it with you. Don’t forget to comment back here with your own results and good luck to all of you!