I just bought my 8100 Pearl a few weeks ago (and love it by the way) and had the same issue when I went to Rogers. Though the person you deal with face-to-face can't do anything, if you ask them who you can talk to, they'll let you call "Roger's HEadquarters" and if you whine enough, they'll give you basically the same deal as a new subscriber, you just pay the full amount and they give you rebates back on your next bill. As long as you're willing to spend 30 minutes on the phone, you'll get the "new subscriber" price.
Good luck.