Wirefly has some BS policies

[RPMGSXR]

So after much anticipation and waiting the Motorola Bionic finally comes available on September 8th. I waited a few days to make sure it was as good as I had hoped before I started my search for the best deal. I ended up ordering the phone from Wirefly.com for $185.73 delivered. Sounds like a great deal, and it is, unless you want to use an upgrade from one of your family plan lines that is not the line you want to use the phone on.

I have 2 lines on my family plan, mine (primary line), and my wifes (secondary line). Her line is eligible but as she is much less interested in latest technology she said I could use her upgrade to order a nice new Bionic. I ordered the phone and waited 6 days for it to arrive. I was actually home all day due to a Mountain Biking injury so I was waitiing for FedEx all day. I found my phone on my front step around 5:00pm and was excited to say the least to get it opened up, charged and activated.

Now comes the BS. In the package is a yellow paper that is the first I have heard of this BS policy where if you purchase a phone from WIREFLY.COM that is must remain on the upgrade line for 181 days. WTF???? Are you kidding me?? After over an hour on the phone with WIREFLY.COM I end up with an RA# for my anxiously awaited Bionic to go back to them as they will not budge on their inexplicable policy.

All in all, I guess it would have been a great deal save the ridiculous policy regarding that teh phone remain on the upgrade lines number for 181 days. However I did confirm that at Verizon this would have no bearing on eligibility.
What a krappy day, I'm in excruciating pain and now can't even try to forget the physical pain by playing with the hottest phone on VZW's network.

 

[9wire]

Excuse the potentially ignorant question, but how would they know? And what will they do if you don't go with their silly rule?

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[RPMGSXR]

Excuse the potentially ignorant question, but how would they know? And what will they do if you don't go with their silly rule?

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In their documents it states that if notified by Verizon....
Point is maybe they don't find out but if they do it states that they will charge me $200.00 back to my credit card.
Fact is, I found out the Radio Shack has it for $199 and they will do the line swap after the upgrade so I will FedEx the Bionic back to wirefly and they can kiss my a**.
Especially where there is nothing on the VZW side that requires that the phone remain on any particular line within an account. VZW only cares about the contract being broken or not.

 

[9wire]

I agree, BS policy, send it back. If there was some logical reason, how come the carriers don't care?

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[DRILLINDK]

Seems pretty illogical. Why would wirefly care if the carrier doesn't? They just lost out on $185 profit.

 

[RPMGSXR]

Seems pretty illogical. Why would wirefly care if the carrier doesn't? They just lost out on $185 profit.

Especially where Radio Shack even offered to do the number swap after the upgrade. Oh well it's off to FedEx in the morning then To Radio Shack. Once the jerk offs at wirefly.com reverse my upgrade.

 

[gixxer1kdaddy]

wirefly return policy

Wirefly also has some stupid refund policies. Ordered a Incredible 2 from them on launch day for 38 bucks ... promotion they were running that day. Spent an hour on the phone with the sales guy and everything was cool. Next day they email me saying that i need to call them to confirm the order. So i call and they say they made a mistake and i need to pay another 100 bucks if i want the phone. i tell them to go screw and put my money back on my card. This is where they lost my business for the future. Waited a week no money, called customer service they say i need to chat online with someone else. wasted an hour with that dude and he asks for my banks fax number. Who has that info? I try the banks 800 number while chatting with Wirefly rep. Bank rep is like "WTF" and i'm like "yeah WTF". So i had to go to the bank the next day anyway so I talk to them and describe what i'm trying to accomplish. He gives me his card with a fax number on it. I give to wirefly chat line and they say money will be returned.
Well its been like 3 months and nothing. Lesson learned cost me 38 bucks.

 

[RPMGSXR]

Wirefly also has some stupid refund policies. Ordered a Incredible 2 from them on launch day for 38 bucks ... promotion they were running that day. Spent an hour on the phone with the sales guy and everything was cool. Next day they email me saying that i need to call them to confirm the order. So i call and they say they made a mistake and i need to pay another 100 bucks if i want the phone. i tell them to go screw and put my money back on my card. This is where they lost my business for the future. Waited a week no money, called customer service they say i need to chat online with someone else. wasted an hour with that dude and he asks for my banks fax number. Who has that info? I try the banks 800 number while chatting with Wirefly rep. Bank rep is like "WTF" and i'm like "yeah WTF". So i had to go to the bank the next day anyway so I talk to them and describe what i'm trying to accomplish. He gives me his card with a fax number on it. I give to wirefly chat line and they say money will be returned.
Well its been like 3 months and nothing. Lesson learned cost me 38 bucks.

Well count me as number 2. Terrible customer service as I went up the ladder through 3 reps that barely spoke english to a manager that says she spoke to the department that writes the policies for them. To be left feeling disappointed and without the phone that I have been waiting for since I saw it at CES last January.

 

[Beka27]

I'm all for saving money. I check for the best deals and always double check return policies and fine print. But at a certain point, saving a few bucks is not worth the hassle. With a little bit of research (e.g. the dozens of wirefly threads on this forum), any concerns you had would have been addressed and you could have gone an alternate route. Calling out WF for "bs policies" is unnecessary.

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[Chizzele]

Wirefly also has some stupid refund policies. Ordered a Incredible 2 from them on launch day for 38 bucks ... promotion they were running that day. Spent an hour on the phone with the sales guy and everything was cool. Next day they email me saying that i need to call them to confirm the order. So i call and they say they made a mistake and i need to pay another 100 bucks if i want the phone. i tell them to go screw and put my money back on my card. This is where they lost my business for the future. Waited a week no money, called customer service they say i need to chat online with someone else. wasted an hour with that dude and he asks for my banks fax number. Who has that info? I try the banks 800 number while chatting with Wirefly rep. Bank rep is like "WTF" and i'm like "yeah WTF". So i had to go to the bank the next day anyway so I talk to them and describe what i'm trying to accomplish. He gives me his card with a fax number on it. I give to wirefly chat line and they say money will be returned.
Well its been like 3 months and nothing. Lesson learned cost me 38 bucks.

You should have your bank process a chargeback for you on that $38. WF never gave you the product and you should not pay them any money. Its a simple form and a simple process, you will have the money back in your bank account the next day.

 

[slaya786]

Speaking as a previous rep for an authorized Verizon Retailer, I understand the reasoning of their policy aswell as your frustration.

Although in verizon's contract with you the customer, it would seem like a silly useless policy. But verizon isn't so generous with the regulations of authorized retailers (this would include wirefily, amazonwireless, letstalk, any local authorized retail location)

I can best explain this by illustrating the agreement between Verizon and third party retailers.

To begin, all retailers purchase these phones at the wholesale cost of the retail price. So in this situation, wirefly is shelling out atleast $400 per unit.

At this point, they sell the phone at a subsidized price at which they will lose money on the unit, considering the consumer is agreeing to extend their contract, for which Verizon issues them a commision for.

Basically, they buy the phone for 400$, sell it to you for 200$, loose 200$ on the phone, but are given a commission from Verizon for 300$. At the end of this equation, they profited 100$. These prices are obviously just for use in example, not actual. But it is a fact that they are losing money on the unit but making money off the contract.

In their agreement with verizon, if you remove that phone from the line within 181 days, or even change your plan verizon will issue the authorized retailer a chargeback. At that point, they sold you a $400 phone for 200$, lost their commision from verizon, and are now in a negative.

To remedy such a situation, verizon does allow authorized retailers to process an upgrade of a line to be used on any other line. Though, this has to be done all at once, it is a seperate process in itself and is part of the contract between you and verizon, aswell as an authorized retailer and verizon. I haven't checked, but i'm sure wirefly could have done this for you if you had done it from the initial process, just as you did when you went into radioshack.

 

[alucard9114]

wirefly was a great company about 3 years back i always got phones from them and had no problem with customer service then they sold the company off and the new company started outsourcing and put up these policy's.This is a growing trend a company will build a great reputation and client base then sell it to the highest bider then that new company will reap the benefits until there name is crap Cabo wabo tequila is another point of this practice was the best brand of tequila around now its like drinking piss:angry:

 

[TisMyDroid]

Amazon also has the same policy. You have to keep the phone on the upgraded line for 180 days or be charged $200. Many second party retailers on eBay also have same policy. Verizon doesn't and Costco does not. Because it is a common second party retailer policy, I always check with their customer service prior to buying.

When I got my great deal on my charge from Costco, I talked to their customer service to make sure I could switch the phone to another line. They told me they didn't even care if I sold the phone to a stranger once I bought it.

I had no problems switching my Costco charge to another line but if I buy a phone from them again, I am going to check to make sure they haven't changed their policy.

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[nikecar]

So after much anticipation and waiting the Motorola Bionic finally comes available on September 8th. I waited a few days to make sure it was as good as I had hoped before I started my search for the best deal. I ended up ordering the phone from Wirefly.com for $185.73 delivered. Sounds like a great deal, and it is, unless you want to use an upgrade from one of your family plan lines that is not the line you want to use the phone on.

I have 2 lines on my family plan, mine (primary line), and my wifes (secondary line). Her line is eligible but as she is much less interested in latest technology she said I could use her upgrade to order a nice new Bionic. I ordered the phone and waited 6 days for it to arrive. I was actually home all day due to a Mountain Biking injury so I was waitiing for FedEx all day. I found my phone on my front step around 5:00pm and was excited to say the least to get it opened up, charged and activated.

Now comes the BS. In the package is a yellow paper that is the first I have heard of this BS policy where if you purchase a phone from WIREFLY.COM that is must remain on the upgrade line for 181 days. WTF???? Are you kidding me?? After over an hour on the phone with WIREFLY.COM I end up with an RA# for my anxiously awaited Bionic to go back to them as they will not budge on their inexplicable policy.0

All in all, I guess it would have been a great deal save the ridiculous policy regarding that teh phone remain on the upgrade lines number for 181 days. However I did confirm that at Verizon this would have no bearing on eligibility.
What a krappy day, I'm in excruciating pain and now can't even try to forget the physical pain by playing with the hottest phone on VZW's network.

Then you obviously didn't read the upgrade eligibility page on wirefly.


ON A FAMILY PLAN, CAN I USE THE UPGRADE ELIGIBILITY FOR ONE LINE TO APPLY TO A LINE THAT ISN’T YET ELIGIBLE? Some carriers will allow you to upgrade one phone on a family plan, then later swap phones on the account, activating the new phoneona line thatisnotupgrade-eligible. However, doing this within the first 181 days after purchase may be considered a deactivationbythe carrier,and isa violation ofthe terms of purchase. To avoid additionalcharges,youshould onlyorder a cellphoneupgradefor the specific line thatwill beusing thatphone.

Sent from someplace, and with something that you need not worry about.

 

[takeshi]

Now comes the BS. In the package is a yellow paper that is the first I have heard of this BS policy where if you purchase a phone from WIREFLY.COM that is must remain on the upgrade line for 181 days. WTF???? Are you kidding me??

Every 3rd party reseller has restrictions like this and nearly every thread on resellers has at least someone pointing out that you need to carefully read and ensure that you fully understand the reseller's terms before buying. Read the fine print carefully and call and ask for clarification. Don't make assumptions. Do your due diligence before making the purchase. If you don't like a reseller's policies then don't shop there.

If you weren't aware of this policy then the failure is on your behalf. Refer to:
http://www.wirefly.com/about/purchaseterms/

Please note some of the reasons your wireless carrier may notify us of a deactivation include if:

You transfer this equipment to another carrier line of service after it is activated