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If I buy a NEW phone on ebay (example HTC Touch Pro or Blackberry Storm), and it is defective, could I go to a Verizon store and return or exchange it without a receipt (assuming I still have the box).
Does anyone know if this is possible?
Hi. Keep in mind I'm sure they track serial #'s / ESN's & such so even if they are nice enough to exchange it (which I've never had the gonads to try) you run the risk that the phone was reported stolen, is under contact on someone else's account or who knows what, you're standing there with your pants down. Then again I suppose they wouldn't let you activate the phone on your account if those were true.. (Sorry I've been in the GSM world too long where you move your SIM as needed.) Anyway I'd say you're taking some big chances there since they surely link phones with accounts or service it was purchased with. I'd love to hear of anyone who has succeeded in this.. It's not like you're buying a toaster & returning it to Kmart for a merchandise credit or something. lol
Bill
by the phone being on someone else's account, does that mean for example they bought the phone at the 2yr contract price only to turn it around and sell it on ebay for profit?
The ebay buyer did nothing wrong in that case, the ESN was clean and ebay purchased cells are easily activated.
thanks for responding.
Yeah that's what I meant but you are assuming best case scenario.. As I said who knows, the phones could have been stolen from a reseller or dealer (I do computer support for a sprint/nextel dealer & they've had many stolen even by employees who turn around & sell them on ebay. The store definitely figures it out eventually & they get reported as stolen & flagged. Maybe within days or weeks or months.) or who knows. That is one of biggest risks of buying off ebay. You may not know the history. Not trying to scare you just saying remember you'll be the one in the store holding stolen merchandise. Again, you risk the same trying to add the phone to your account so I guess they'll track you down either way. lol
As far as your original question, I wish I could say I knew but I don't. I assume there is virtually 0 chance of a return with refund and only a slight chance of an exchange assuming the phone is not flagged & you have a good story. Maybe someone else could chime in who has tried it. Again we are talking expensive phones normally bought with a contact linked to an account so easily traceable so don't be surprised if they scan it in & call you by the name of the guy who sold it to you. lol
Bill
It's just amazing that Verizon makes it so hard to upgrade your phone before your contract is up (even if you're willing to pay full price!!). The only way you can really do it is by buying a phone off of ebay and activating it yourself.
Yeah I'd imagine. That is one nice thing about GSM: Just move your SIM, assuming the phone isn't locked to another carrier which is usually pretty easy to get unlocked. I have bought about 50 phones off ebay (That would have been like 2 had I needed to call AT&T every time I wanted to switch! lol) & for the most part I've had pretty good luck with some duds. (Incompatible model missing 850 band, broken or more worn than expected) If you are in a pinch you might not have much choice but just make sure you buy from someone with high & good feedback & you should be OK. Better yet make sure they have a good return policy or even their own warranty. Not sure if the trick will work for you but I've bought 'Pay as you go' phones & put my SIM in when I needed a phone quickly. Maybe verizon has such a thing too but the prepaid phones are usually pretty awful. Of course there is a chance they'd refuse to add it to your account too. Buy yeah I wouldn't chance buying something on ebay hoping you can return to the local store if needed. I'd say buy new & hopefully sealed, not used (especially for expensive phones unless you want to risk it. Of course you can always try selling back on ebay if needed) from a good seller like I mentioned above & you should be fine. Btw the other thing to consider is go to an authorized Verizon dealer (vs a real Verizon store). You might find them much more likely to work with you on selling you a phone without a contact. I know they make big bucks signing up people but if you're willing to pay retail for a phone I'd imagine they won't turn you away especially if you suggest you'll be back when renewal time comes.
Bill
Ok, so believe it or not, I called Verizon and the rep told me that even if you don't have the original receipt, the verizon store uses the proof of purchase barcode to tell when the item was purchased. If your item is defective you can exchange it, and she even said in some cases they'll even let you put the money towards a new phone, although they prefer to have a receipt.
I'm shocked as I thought they would have a very strict return policy.
Also, any cell purchased in the last month is returnable until Jan 15, which means blackberry storms and htc touch pros and omnias bought on ebay can simply be returned to a verizon store if they are defective!
Wow! Did you get that in writing? lol Guess they have a very lenient return policy. Sounds like they do track them big time but instead of holding it against you they actually HELP you with the info. Geesh, if that really works I'd say they have some killer customer support policies! Makes me want to break a phone to try it & see. Then again I'm on ATT & they'd prolly laugh as they escorted me out the store. :|
Good luck with that, I'd love to hear follow up if you end up needing to try it but then again I'm sure you'd rather NOT have to try. Anyone else ever actually do this with any carrier?
I have had my Fuze just under 4 months.
This past weekend I noticed the mini-USB port at the bottom of the phone was cracked. I'm talking about the plastic "tongue" with the 5 or 6 metal connectors on it (the part the charging cable connects to).
At first I was un-able to connect my charger to the phone, but after using a knife to move the tongue back to where it is supposed to be I was able to connect it.
However, it's only a matter of time before it breaks off and I will no longer be able to charge my phone. I did not purchase insurance.
I called AT&T and they told me that it is considered "physical damage" and therefore not covered under their warranty.
They referred me to HTC who gave me the same BS.
I see it as a manufacturer defect. I did not abuse the phone. HTC designed it. I can only charge it using the equipment they supplied with the phone. Apparently, 4 months of connecting and dis-connecting the charging cable is too much for the phone to handle! Of course, it is a cheap, $400 phone. What did I expect?
HTC told me I can send it to them and they will examine it. If they see fit to repair it, they will. If not, it will cost over $300 to fix it. Either way I will have to pay $35 just for them to look at it.
Has this happened to anyone else?
So my options as I see them are:
1. Return the phone to HTC and prey.
2. Purchase insurance from a third party and wait a few weeks to report the damage (and hope it lasts that long!).
3. Cancel my AT&T account (all of them, inc. my land line and DSL) and go to Verizon. I wanted an Omnia anyway. (This would be subject to getting an acceptable signal at home, something that I cannot do with AT&T).
It will cost me $180 to leave AT&T, but that is cheaper than paying over $300 to fix the phone!
I just bought a Fuze 2 weeks ago for $220 on craigslist. Screen has a MINOR scratch, thus the low price. My girlfriend bought her Fuze 3 days ago for $275 in absolute perfect condition. Both of our phones came with everything that came in the box and mine even had the original box. If you look on craigslist, you can find amazing deals. Me and my girlfriend were looking for about 3 weeks though, checking about twice a day for new posts.
This way, you spend less than the repair, and you have your original phone as backup/parts phone. You also don't have to wait as you pick the phone up yourself locally. Just never go alone, meet INSIDE a restaurant or store. I've never had bad experiences on craigslist, luckily. So far, I've bought 17" rims, 2 160GB HDDs, 4 80GB SATA HDDs, AMD Athlon x2 3800+ (for $20!!!), a complete watercooling kit for my PC, a palm treo 750w, a palm centro, an HTC Hermes, and now 2 HTC Fuzes. I make sure that the phones work perfect, check all the buttons, insert my sim card, make a phone call, etc.
I cooked my own quick little rom and the Fuze runs AMAZING compared to about 5 other roms I've tried on here, so don't give up on the phone, it has potential!
My suggestion would by to try a different approach with calling att support. Tell them the phone is not charging, will not sync, etc. Tell them you dont see any sign of physical damage and you have never dropped the phone or submerged it in water, etc. After about 5 minutes of scripted troubleshooting they should be making arrangements to send you a new phone. FYI they have a 1 year warranty on their phones. Obviously you don't want them to think you may have damaged it in any way. Best of luck!
Thanks sethstejskal, but no go.
They typed "notes" in my account saying I had already told them the port was cracked.
They also told me their "powerless" if I choose to cancel my service. The have no authority to replace my phone due to the "physical damage".
I am amazed that my 9+ years as a customer means less than a $400 phone.
Zoskalon, your suggestion would bring the cost of my Fuze to about $650 (inc. original purchase price). At that price they should throw in a blow job.
my friend had a treo on verizon that wouldn't charge. he just bought another battery and an external charger. i think that's your best bet, as long as you don't use the usb port for data transfer or internet sharing :\
leebo said:
Thanks sethstejskal, but no go.
They typed "notes" in my account saying I had already told them the port was cracked.
They also told me their "powerless" if I choose to cancel my service. The have no authority to replace my phone due to the "physical damage".
I am amazed that my 9+ years as a customer means less than a $400 phone.
Zoskalon, your suggestion would bring the cost of my Fuze to about $650 (inc. original purchase price). At that price they should throw in a blow job.
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I wonder if calling the ATT warranty number would yield different results than the standard customer service line. With a different department/building/computer system maybe they don't share notes interdepartmentally. I know its not terribly helpful but its better than getting the royal shaft if it works.
Sorry to resurrect this old thread but I had same problem with EXACTLY the same experience with AT&T and HTC. How did you resolve this issue?
I hope to resolve it in a couple of months. I'm just waiting for user reports on the DROID. Even though I'll still have one year remaining on my "contract" with AT&T and will have to pay around $120, I'm leaning toward switching to Verizon.
Believe it or not, my story actually got worse. I limped along with my broken Fuze, then took it to Europe where I lost it. I had purchased "insurance" for it, and was told it only was only covered in the US! (This was not through AT&T).
I asked AT&T for a deal on purchasing it again, and the best they could offer was, get this, a refurbished unit for $50 MORE than they had sold me the new one for!!!
I ended up buying a refurbished one on EBay for $200.
Presently I am so disgusted with the increase in dropped calls, plus the fact that I barely get a signal in my apartment ever since AT&T took over Cingular. I was considering buying their femtocel, as ridicules as that is to pay $150 for a device just so I can get a signal from the company with MORE BARS, but they're not even selling that in L.A. yet.
so if the reports on the Droid live up to the hype, I'll try out Verizon for 30 days. I'm hopeful that will "resolve" the issue.
well, if you have a broken port on your phone
1) you can't sync
2) you can't charge
3) you can't use those adapters
Solution
1) wifi/microSD card ... more complicated, but still usable
2) get a desktop cradle with battery charging... more complicated to charge, and need to physically change batteries, but still usable
3) bluetooth headphones?
Solution
1) wifi/microSD card ... more complicated, but still usable
2) get a desktop cradle with battery charging... more complicated to charge, and need to physically change batteries, but still usable
3) bluetooth headphones?[/QUOTE]
4) Keep your mouth shut and stop complaining.
5) Give your money to any other company besides AT&T.
Of these I believe #5 is the only one AT&T will understand.
So my ultimate goal is to try and get AT&T to give me a new phone - a Touch Pro 2. Silly, I know. But I have known many Fuze owners who got AT&T to offer them Blackberriers or iPhones after dealing with them and a few refurbished phones.
So I'd just like some advice. My 1-year warranty expires November 19th. Do you think it's possible? Or worth it? Have you done it? Any advice? I love my Fuze, but I don't want to spend another year with it when the Touch Pro 2 is out, and I'm not paying 350 dollars just to get it.
Alternative plans? Maybe speculation on when I'll be able to buy it somewhere else cheaper? Just advice in general.
thehyecircus said:
So my ultimate goal is to try and get AT&T to give me a new phone - a Touch Pro 2. Silly, I know. But I have known many Fuze owners who got AT&T to offer them Blackberriers or iPhones after dealing with them and a few refurbished phones.
So I'd just like some advice. My 1-year warranty expires November 19th. Do you think it's possible? Or worth it? Have you done it? Any advice? I love my Fuze, but I don't want to spend another year with it when the Touch Pro 2 is out, and I'm not paying 350 dollars just to get it.
Alternative plans? Maybe speculation on when I'll be able to buy it somewhere else cheaper? Just advice in general.
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Click to collapse
AT&T will replace it with another Fuze as long as they're available.
If you want to get out of your contract with AT&T, there should be something in the fine print regarding "if AT&T changes your plan w/o notification, a person can opt out of their contract". The surcharge that they bill changes every month and they establish it so therefore its a change to your contract that they did. They will try to agrue but legally they can't.
AT&T usually charges more for their hardware than their competition.
Another thing you may want to consider is insurance. Its about $7/mo. and if you time it right, you can get an upgrade.
Not likely. My friend did make them upgrade from my tilt to the fuze. It took him nearly 6 months. I do not recommend it but this is what my friend did to upgrade to the fuze.
- You will have to damge your phone in a way they can't tell. Shoving hand sanitizer in the usb or sdhc slot will ruin it but not register any alarms.
- They will send you another one. Wait a couple months... Damage it.
- Damage the second one after a few months
- After that your on your last. Damage it.
Finally they MAY let you pick a new one. I cant say if they will offer the T2 I do know they will offer a Samsung Epix, and/or a Blackberry. FYI: This is fraud. It is illegal. I do not support or have any responsibility for what you choose to do. This is a story. This took about 6 months for my friend to complete. Up to you if you wanna risk your life.
What you do is fraud and illegal. Telling AT&T that the Fuze gets extremely hot during phone calls or internet usage is not. It's true about the Fuze. I think you can get them to take it and send it back via that. And it's not lying - it really does get egg frying hot.
thehyecircus said:
What you do is fraud and illegal. Telling AT&T that the Fuze gets extremely hot during phone calls or internet usage is not. It's true about the Fuze. I think you can get them to take it and send it back via that. And it's not lying - it really does get egg frying hot.
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if you want it hot, enable GPS, wifi, 3G, data connection....
just with GPS + iGo, power draw seems to be between 300-500mAh...
they warrantied mine cause of a wobbly slide.... kinda wiggled some, but everything else worked.... i kind of got hooked up tho... i work at a phone place near a device support center, and we send customers to each other.... so i just wore my work shirt up there, and they gave me no problems... easy to tell i dropped it some...
had a friend warranty his sony when he busted his lcd.... couldnt tell it was busted while it was off, so *someone* unhooked it during a flash, and killed it somewhat... they replaced his phone no problem, and at the retail store... so maybe flash it dead? read something about the microwave trick too... up to u whatever u do....
@ jesusishere WTF?
Scamming a company to get a new device?
It's called FRAUD, it's not acceptable.
You are not a customer but a thief!
See this as your first and FINAL warning.
EqX
ok i just checked the att website for the new tilt 2 but it isnt out til oct 18. but i seen the the fuze is no longer on there. ive had my fuze sense nov 10. and i was wondering if i say i lost my fuze around lets say oct 20 will they send me a tilt 2. im saying this because i used my insurance a while back on my old phone and they didnt have that phone anymore so they sent me a phone that was the same value.. do u think it will work??
I posted a thread on this in the Rhodium as well. I have insurance too and had my fuze for about 6 months now and bummed i couldnt of held out for the tilt 2 and i dont have the money to pay 500 bucks for a no contract tilt 2. I wish a carrier would have a exchange program or something instead of this 2 year upgrade. I burn through phones within a year
Anyways what people replied to me was they probably have a lot of refurb fuzes
Interesting
I recently lost my Tilt to a horrible accident involving a puddle and concrete... so I got a Fuze for replacement... and it was refurbished and had the burn-in issue on the screen... I got another refurb Fuze to replace that one... this one is having the same issue - so I am going to keep requesting Fuze's till I get one person to acknowledge my request to get a NEW phone and not a refurb...
That might be a way to get your Tilt 2 if you receive a bad refurb and raise enough cane!
Well, truth be told they likely will have a large backstock of refurb fuzes for a while. If you are a person who's had chronic problems with your phone and it's under warrenty, if you make a fuss about the problems over multiple phones, they may bump you up.
lafastfords said:
ok i just checked the att website for the new tilt 2 but it isnt out til oct 18. but i seen the the fuze is no longer on there. ive had my fuze sense nov 10. and i was wondering if i say i lost my fuze around lets say oct 20 will they send me a tilt 2. im saying this because i used my insurance a while back on my old phone and they didnt have that phone anymore so they sent me a phone that was the same value.. do u think it will work??
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Click to collapse
Aside from the moral issue of insurance fraud, it should work. Just hope you don't get caught.
ya know - I've about had it with people doing crap like this. Look - if you want a new phone then buy one. If you don't want to pay full price for it then sell the phone you have or wait a few months for the price to come down.
It's creeps that commit fraud like this that cause the detuctibles on these devices to end up being 125 bucks for all the honest people.
....Disgusting....
I just swap out the phone before the 1 year warranty ends and sell it on ebay. Use the money for your new phone.
Mine has a busted flux capacitor anway.
They will have a large supply of Fuze's laying around, they know people will try to do this, I'd love to do it, I think they still even had a stock of the first Tilts around for quite a long time. Just to let you know a couple months back I still had the ability to buy a Tilt through the premier store even though they didn't have them on the regular site. Right now I still see the Fuze on their premiere site. So they most likely have a stock. However, from what I understand how these places work is there's a stock for sale and a stock for warranty, they don't come from one giant stock pile. So if they run out of their warranty stock, maybe you'd be able to pull it off, but who knows, maybe they'd just siphon a couple off the sale stock into the warranty stock (most likely they'd do this so the ones they sell have a backup incase something goes wrong). Thought I'd just through that out there.
well i upgraded to a fuze from the tilt... i broke my tilt and had to use the insurance... they replaced it with a refurb tilt but i kept having problems... it took at&t 4 tilt phones before they upgraded me to a fuze and then i still kept having problems... it took them to send me 3 fuzes until they finally got it right... it wasnt a scam just they kept sending me crappy phones and if i must keep up my end of the bargin and pay ontime then they must step up to the plate and send me a phone that works as well as a new phone.. which they did...
... and everybody is complaining why insurance is so freaking expensive!!!
Beside the fraud fact (DISGUSTING) sell it on eBay, craigslist or one of the other common suspect pages, bunk the money and BUY the TP2 or whatever you want.
I did that with my last two phone which was always a 50% to 75% "off" in terms of the purchasing price of the new phone.
jayhue said:
well i upgraded to a fuze from the tilt... i broke my tilt and had to use the insurance... they replaced it with a refurb tilt but i kept having problems... it took at&t 4 tilt phones before they upgraded me to a fuze and then i still kept having problems... it took them to send me 3 fuzes until they finally got it right... it wasnt a scam just they kept sending me crappy phones and if i must keep up my end of the bargin and pay ontime then they must step up to the plate and send me a phone that works as well as a new phone.. which they did...
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Click to collapse
Before anyone starts dissin anybody, it is a fact that sometimes they just can't get it right. I had a problem with my original fuze and it took them 4 times to send a "decent" one, and by decent I meant a unit without:
-broken/recessed hardware key
-earpiece that's breaking up
-speaker that's breaking up like it's been used for a rock concert
so the last Fuze that they sent, which I'm using now, has a slightly recessed Answer key and crappy speaker. I decided to use it because I don't wanna go through the endless cycle of crappy replacement.
The moral of the story is, they do send out crappy replacements.
tyguy said:
... and everybody is complaining why insurance is so freaking expensive!!!
Beside the fraud fact (DISGUSTING) sell it on eBay, craigslist or one of the other common suspect pages, bunk the money and BUY the TP2 or whatever you want.
I did that with my last two phone which was always a 50% to 75% "off" in terms of the purchasing price of the new phone.
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Click to collapse
not fraud u dumb ass.. i have that burn in screen and the plastic is coming off the hard keys.. just like everyother fuze
lafastfords said:
not fraud u dumb ass.. i have that burn in screen and the plastic is coming off the hard keys.. just like everyother fuze
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Click to collapse
Careful who you talk to and what language you use my friend!
YOU WROTE...
i was wondering if i say i lost my fuze around lets say oct 20 will they send me a tilt 2. im saying this because i used my insurance a while back on my old phone and they didnt have that phone anymore so they
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Click to collapse
...SO WHO's THE RETARD?
Can one who agrees with me notify the admin that this BS thread gets closed? Topics like this were discussed numerous times and answers like lafuckfords - or what his name is - simply don't belong here.
baymon said:
Before anyone starts dissin anybody, it is a fact that sometimes they just can't get it right. I had a problem with my original fuze and it took them 4 times to send a "decent" one, and by decent I meant a unit without:
-broken/recessed hardware key
-earpiece that's breaking up
-speaker that's breaking up like it's been used for a rock concert
so the last Fuze that they sent, which I'm using now, has a slightly recessed Answer key and crappy speaker. I decided to use it because I don't wanna go through the endless cycle of crappy replacement.
The moral of the story is, they do send out crappy replacements.
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Click to collapse
Basically what happened to mine. I was getting Screen burn in and while I dealt with it for a while, I knew my warranty was about due. I called and asked for a replacement 3 times. Each one was defective.
-The half of the touchpad buttons didn't work on the first one (depressed).
-The second one had a broken slider track so it dragged opening the keyboard.
-The third one the speaker was screwed.
When they wanted to do a phone swap, I thought I'd ask for a Samsung Jack for my wife since her line is eligible for an upgrade. I figured I would "downgrade" to the Jack and use her line to buy a Pure or TP2. The lady said they wouldn't let me downgrade to a lesser phone?! So if I can't go down, perhaps they'd let me go up... so I asked and it worked.
Kinda scared about not having a Dpad on the Pure.
I think its stupid they wouldn't let me "downgrade" to the Jack. I woulda just turned around and signed another 2-year contract and plopped down $350 for the TP2.
my 2 cents in this situation is just save money and then buy it just like what that guy said, best and safe way to get a new device without the risk of violating any terms or law
AT&T exchange policy
well the truth is that, att has a policy that if you exchange a phone 3 times during the year of warranty, at that time you can change model. I did this twice, first with a Palm Treo650 changed it to a palm treo 700, then with the Tilt I was able to change to the brand new released(back then) Fuze, completly free only S&H.
Hello. So I have had my Touch Pro 2 since it came out and the HD2 since it came out as well. I managed to talk my girlfriend out of her iphone and gave her my Touch Pro 2 over a year ago and have had her on my account on a second line. I have always had insurance on both phones. I almost filed a claim on my HD2 about a month ago because you have to "bend" the usb cord to get it to charge but didnt get around to it. Today apparently mygirlfriend managed to break the TP2 by stepping on it. And I want to attest to HTCs build quality because both of these phones have had more than 9 lives. So I was going to file a claim on the TP2 and my girlfriend is trying to convince me to file the claim on the HD2 and get another HD2 so she can have my old one. She "hates" the TP2 and loves my HD2. Other than some possible moral issues does Tmous have any way of knowing that we would then have two HD2s? On the same note I doubt they even make the TP2 anymore so would they let her choose something else? i paid full price for both of these phones which was a pretty penny when they came out. I could go on about how Tmous royally has screwed my with a second contract as my moral validation but I won't.
As a side note, we are paying about $150 a month for "flex pay" with only 750 minutes shared between us because my credit isn't the best. I have really been looking for some sort of other prepaid or no contract solution...
Any news on this?
Did Tmo ever find out?
My friend Jake had the same issue with his phones, and filed a claim on the better one and got away with it. So I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do the same. Hope that helps answer your question.