I've found bits and pieces of info, but nothing really direct, so here's my situation.
I'm up for an upgrade with tmobile. There's some good black friday deals coming up, the s3 for $50, for instance (with new contract, not sure if thats an upgrade price as well). I don't really want the s3, so I'm considering buying any hot phone and flipping it so I can get what I want, maybe even buy a used mid-range smartphone and pocket some cash. I know many people have done this, but I'm worried about potential problems that can occur.
What are the chances of being caught by tmobile and being suspended? If I receive my upgrade by mail (which is most likely), do I need to worry about activating/deactivating it before I switch phones and sell it? I don't really care about opening the package, probably will in any case to remove the sim. Is there any way I can get the retail store to unlock it? Tell them I'm going to use it overseas or something? Any other issues anybody knows of?
The biggest risk is probably buying a used phone off ebay or craigslist, which, even if everything is clean and straightforward, I know can end up badly. Ideally, I would just buy one from a retailer, giving me peace of mind and a warranty. But, if the difference is spending $200 vs. pocketing $200 plus an upgraded phone (I'm still using the G1 by the way), then I would seriously consider doing any work necessary.
Anyone have some experience?
Related
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?
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
I'm buying a nexus s from somebody I'm just wondering how I would go about if something is wrong with it (phone comes with box)... Do I call samsung and ask for a replacement? or would I just be stuck with the faulty phone?
well...if it's broken physically or bricked, no one will cover it. But if there's a hardware issue i think samsung has a manufacturer's warrenty, if not then you're boned.
Only thing I know that covers it is the Best Buy 10 dollar a month full coverage plan. So if they have that and are able to transfer it to you, I'm pretty sure you don't have a warrenty.
Ok cool I mean I'm not gonna buy a bricked phone or a physically broken one I just meant like an issue that I could miss at purchase time, since I hear that theres a few issues with this phone.
You could probably buy the squaretrade warranty even though you bought the phone used (I don't have experience with that).
Also, T-Mobile and other carriers have $7/mo insurance available on phones. I had that on my Nexus 1. $50 deductible, I think, but covers loss/theft too.
Hey all,
I'm mostly a lurker around here, but I have had countless issues with my thunderbolt (I'm on replacement number 5, and I need to get a 6th). I have been working with Verizon to be swapped into a different phone. However, leaving the great Thunderbolt community, I want to go into a phone with a very strong following, hopefully the GN. However, I have two options from Verizon.
I could have tech support swap me into another phone. I have been offered the Rezound and the Razr. What they mean by swap, I don't know, but I am hoping not an M2 (early upgrade), but just they send me the new phone for free.
The rep I spoke to last night suggested that she could do an M2 to get me the Nexus, but I would have to pay for it. She said that I could then sell my Thunderbolt to recoup most of the cost.
So this leaves me with the following situation. I am really not in a place that I can justify paying any significant amount of money for a phone (I already shelled out a couple hundred bucks on this phone, and then the contract is expensive too). So I guess I need advice. How much is a Thunderbolt worth these days? The one I have I received damaged from Verizon (Scratch in the screen, little nick on the side, but hard to notice).
Thanks!
You might want to check ebay for the going rate. I believe it's a little over $100. I'm also in a position to upgrade and pay the difference, but I don't think I can justify it yet.
So I've been looking into getting a new phone, and I've been seeing some of these cheap clone phones, looking like Mate 40 or other $700+ phones but being less than $200. They claim to still have a decent processor and screen and all that. The one in particular I'm looking at has a 7.3" screen and 6800mAh battery (or so it claims) form AliExpress. But I'm wondering if it's worth the risk. I messaged the seller and they said if it doesn't work well on AT&T here in the states I can return it, but the return shipping could be $50 or something else obnoxious (and at that point I could probably just resell it here as long as it works OK at least). So the question is, is it worth the risk? Would you risk it, to potentially save $300 on a proper midrange phone? Or would you rather just spend the money and take the (relative) guarantee that your phone is gonna be a good device? The phone I would buy if I wasn't considering the cheap clone is a Motorola Edge S. Here's links to the two phones I'm looking at from AliExpress:
Motorola Edge S
Some kind of funky knock-off/clone
What do you all think?
PS: I'm not really interested in rooting or anything like that, honestly just don't need it. 99% of my phone usage is texting, calling, browsing the web, or watching videos. So as long as its response time is decent and it has a decent screen, it really should be fine.
No. I much rather buy something not made in China especially devices connected to the internet and my data.
I have zero confidence in their integrity.
Most phone's offered on AliExpress and comparable sources for little money aren't clones but fakes, means the device specs claimed aren't true at all.
My advice: Let your fingers off it.