Stay away from third party retail when buying a droid!

[Tskjuggalo]

Just returned from a...literally...7 hour excursion with a third party retailer swapping out a phone...get comfortable kids, this is a long first post. so long i couldn't even post it from my brand new (third) Droid...


Bought the phone on a whim at (if your from southeasternPA i was in exton square mall) from a third party store. Wanted the phone so bad I added a line just to get it. First problem was when i bought the rubberized Verizon branded snap on case. The tabs stretched out the mechanism that slides the phone out which made it difficult to slide the keyboard out. So i took it to my local corporate store for an exchange and, to my surprise, wouldn't exchange the phone because I purchased it from a third party store (store was all Verizon branded, just independently owned) So...20 miles later I'm back at...i'll say it... FREEDOM WIRELESS WILLOW GROVE (next to the food court third floor)...swapping out the phone. Spent an hour and a half arguing the fact that the Verizon case made the slide bend, but got a replacement sans a 100$ restocking fee that they tried to charge me.

Next problem was a specific device issue; i was dropping calls like crazy. Verizon customer service cloned the phone OTA and concluded this was a device issue. At this point I'm within the 30 day satisfaction guarantee so here's me plan; plain and simple: cancel the line through the third party because corporate stores will not honor a device purchased there and go to my local store and start over with a new line and phone...easier said then done...

To make an already long story short: third party retailers play by their own rules; they're not all the way under Verizon's corporate umbrella and this does not benefit the customer. they charged me the 100$ restock fee and cancel the wrong number (which i've had since i was 16...23 now) and the manager REFUSED to speak with me directly. If he took 5 mins to speak with me I wouldn't have been physically removed via security from the mall and be forced to drive my 8 miles a gallon truck 40 miles away to the next FREEDOM WIRELESS EXTON SQUARE MALL (where i originally set up the new line)kiosk. Finally get the phone returned and all...and I forgot to email myself some pictures from said phone. I ask them to not cancel the phone so i can get these pictures and low and behold...one of the employees already stole the card out of the returned phone and left the store for the day!!! Police have been called, corperate has been notified...
and so have you all....DO NOT BUY THIRD PARTY!!!!!


Love,
Brian(first time poster)

 

[P8ntballer789]

Wow I knew something was fishy about third party, how did verizon know it was third party? Thanks for the info!

 

[Dragoro]

No offense but thats what get for buying it from a no name. Its america's version of street hustlers, and ya got hustled. Buy from what ya know. No sympathy, you bought from shady people and got screwed, go figure.

 

[Tskjuggalo]

^^^the only way i knew was from the receipt after i bought all the equipment; they had fine print on the goddamned neon signs lol. like i said i bought it on a whim not at my normal Verizon store. I'm not asking for pity, just letting the people know not to make the same mistake i make is all homie

 

[Tskjuggalo]

they have their ways of knowing where the phones came from, come on now; its almighty Verizon lol!

 

[bots]

Hmm, I bought mine from wal-mart and had to return it once. No problems there. I know that's not really a third party in the sense that you are using the term. I was just curious, if I got it at wal-mart, could I have taken it back to verizon or would they have given me grief?

 

[Tskjuggalo]

Hmm, I bought mine from wal-mart and had to return it once. No problems there. I know that's not really a third party in the sense that you are using the term. I was just curious, if I got it at wal-mart, could I have taken it back to verizon or would they have given me grief?

More then likely; same deal with a best buy or what have you. all they can do is sell you vzw equipment and add a line. that equipment is pretty much married to whatever third party retailer you get it from; thats what Verizon told me in a nutshell. if i read all the fine print i'm sure FREEDOM WIRELESS has it stated somewhere that you must return the device to that retailer specifically.

 

[New2u]

Hmm, I bought mine from wal-mart and had to return it once. No problems there. I know that's not really a third party in the sense that you are using the term. I was just curious, if I got it at wal-mart, could I have taken it back to verizon or would they have given me grief?

More then likely; same deal with a best buy or what have you. all they can do is sell you vzw equipment and add a line. that equipment is pretty much married to whatever third party retailer you get it from; thats what Verizon told me in a nutshell. if i read all the fine print i'm sure FREEDOM WIRELESS has it stated somewhere that you must return the device to that retailer specifically.

Best-Buy and Walmart are both direct resellers of verizon's equipment. The third party resellers can pretty much do a heck of alot more to screw over a customer.

 

[Terra]

Walmart is a different beast all together, granted they might not have the most knowledgable staff, but they have very customer friendly return policy (best buy too, although they put up a a little bit more of a fight but eventually given in). These mom and pop shops are equivalent to a used car sales type of experience.

 

[New2u]

Walmart is a different beast all together, granted they might not have the most knowledgable staff, but they have very customer friendly return policy (best buy too, although they put up a a little bit more of a fight but eventually given in). These mom and pop shops are equivalent to a used car sales type of experience.

Yup and usually 3rd party mom and pop shops also have you sign other forms and crap that aren't there for verizon, even though they might look like it. So they can stick it to you if you ever need to return the phone or anything to that effect. (Not all do, but i've seen some have you sign a contract that looks a normal contract but it's more of a store contract to hold you to paying more money if you ever need service)

 

[bots]

Good info, thanks! I feel better about buying mine at wally world now!

 

[Graffin]

Yeah, my cousin works for Verizon and I thought she was going to slap me when I said I found a good deal at a third-party retailer. They have nothing but problems with them. Go to the Verizon store, so much easier if anything goes wrong, and they usually actually know what they're talking about.

 

[Tskjuggalo]

Well, lesson learned. Went last night and started fresh with my local corporate store and all is right with the world and my droid

 

[keiichi25]

Not to sound like a douche or a Verizon Fanboi, but unfortunately, the way capitalism works is to find a way to get it cheap, but there is also the statement of "Let the buyer beware..."

We had similar discussions on the forums where people were bitterly complaining about paying $199 for their Droid when other places like Wirefly and Dell Mobility were selling at $149 or $119.

The issue is, Verizon Wireless is a service, first and foremost. When you purchase equipment from them, they are responsible for the equipment. You can purchase Verizon usable equipment anywhere else, but their service only covers things you purchase directly from them in so far as replacement and repairs are concerned.

Anything else, it is basically, you have to deal with the group you got it from.

Hell, if you got a phone from Amazon.com, technically, you are buying it from a third party group and you will have to deal with whoever you bought it from directly, not Amazon or Verizon.