Buying from a 3rd party retailer...

[herkyMD]

If I buy from a third party retailer (i.e., Wirefly, Amazon, Costco) and I have problems with the phone, can I take it into Verizon for them to check it out or do I have to go through the place I bought it from?? Or do I have to send it off to the manufacturer??? Anyone know?

[garrett]

as long as you buy it from a authorized 3rd party retailer once the phone is activated you can take it directly to any Verizon corporate store just as if you had bought it directly from them.

[JSM9872]

I've gotten phones from best buy, eBay, and Craig's list. All of them I have had no issues taking them into Verizon for replacements. As long ad the phone was active on one of my plans lines the insurance covered them.

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[nikecar]

I believe others have pointed out that if you needed to RETURN the phone, you'd have to go through the 3rd party to do so.

Warranty work you can do through VZW.

[takeshi]

Depends on the manufacturer but most handle warranty support through the carrier.

[Zilveari]

Thank god for the search function. I've been wondering about newegg, bestbuy.com, walmart.com, wirefly, and amazon wireless for awhile now. They have much deeper discounts on the phones than brick and mortar stores. But I've always enjoyed walking into a brick and mortar store for service.

Now do the authorized retailer VZW stores count as corporate stores? That always confused me. For instance if I got my phone and contract through newegg, could I then take it into any VZW retail store to get it serviced?

Also is it possible to get VZW's cell phone insurance plan through these online retailers? IIRC it was something like $5-8/mo and covered a couple phone replacements and a couple battery replacements over a year or two.

[rocket_girl]

VZW Authorized retailers are very different from Corporate stores - I learned this the hard way.

Most important, they do NOT provide service. They may appear to, but all they can do is call tech support...the same way customers call directly. Bad news.

They also can have different prices, different policies, different fees (i.e.: restocking fee to exchange new phone *within* the initial exchange window). The accessories are different from those sold at corporate stores and at VZW.com...and purchases (**including phones**) made at an 'authorized retailer' cannot be returned or exchanged at a corporate store - because they are different companies that use completely separate distribution channels. Example: a Motorola phone purchased at an Authorized Retailer comes from Motorola warehouse, whereas a Motorola phone purchased at a corporate store comes from a Verizon warehouse.

They look the same from the outside, but are as separate from a business perspective as Target is from Kohl's. Employees do NOT work for Verizon - they work for one of the companies that do business as 'authorized retailers'. To complicate things further, there seem to be multiple *different* companies that do business as 'authorized retailers' (including two big companies) - which means that even two stores that look alike as 'authorized retailers' may in fact be entirely separate and subject to the same differences I just described.

This can be OK if you understand the differences going in - except they (the Authorized retailers) don't spell this out anywhere. I had a long conversation with manager at a local Corporate store- learned from him what these differences mean. Learned more from googling 'corp store versus authorized retailer' or some such - finding sites where job hunters were asking for advice about whether to work for VZW or for an authorized retailer (big differences, from what I read...did not appear to favor the authorized retailers).

I learned all of this the slow, painful way - by experiencing each difference first-hand.

My advice is buyer beware. Be very aware. I will do business only with Corporate stores in the future. Just sayin...

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[rocket_girl]

as long as you buy it from a authorized 3rd party retailer once the phone is activated you can take it directly to any Verizon corporate store just as if you had bought it directly from them.

True for service, yes. For exchange of new device within initial trial period, (or for *any* accessories), no. Those exchanges must be made through an authorized retailer if that is where you made the purchase - because you literally are buying from a different company w/ different distribution channels and - for accessories - different products.

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[rocket_girl]

as long as you buy it from a authorized 3rd party retailer once the phone is activated you can take it directly to any Verizon corporate store just as if you had bought it directly from them.

True for service, yes. For exchange of new device within initial trial period, (or for *any* accessories), no. Those exchanges must be made through an authorized retailer if that is where you made the purchase - because you literally are buying from a different company w/ different distribution channels and - for accessories - different products.

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My diatribe (above) may be confusing.

For service and replacement under warranty or insurance, yes - go to VZW Corporate. To return or exchange on a 3rd party purchase transaction (***this includes authorized retailers***) go to 3rd party. Authorized Retailers do not employ service technicians (their sales dudes can only call customer service, but you can do that yourself).



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[DRILLINDK]

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse, but I'm still confused. So, if a customer were to purchase a phone from a 3rd party retailer (ie-amazon, bestbuy, newegg, etc) they can still take a defective/broken phone to a corporate store with no questions asked.

Can you purchase insurance though the 3rd party retailer or should this be done with a corporate store?

One would only run into problems if the customer would attempt to exchange or return a phone for a new/different phone. In which case, you would have to return the phone via the third party retailer you originally bought the phone through?