buying a Droid charge from other places than vzw

[ginger7626]

has anyone ever bought a Droid Samsung charge from any other retailer other than VZW or know what the difference is bewteen buying it directly from VZW vs. another retailer???

[Elitist_Jerk]

If you buy it from Verizon you are sure to get a brand new phone. Sometimes resellers will sell a returned phone as a new device.. also sometimes depending on the place you won't have the same warranty for return that verizon offers and it might not be covered under manufactuers warranty

Overall it is much easier to buy it from Verizon, even if it costs $40 more-- you save that in headaches in the long haul

[Ann154]

There are often additional terms and conditions from the third party retailers. A second ETF if you cancel within a certain timeframe, disallowing any plan changes during the first few months of your contract, and other water.

You should read the fine print of retailer you are considering. You can also search through the whole community as I am sure of it as been asked as a general question.

[JoeNe]

I buy my phones from Best Buy.  They have a more flexible exchange / return policy than VZW stores and offer a better warranty with a $0 deductible if you elect the extra coverage.  I have used the warranty 3 times last year on my old iPhone and it was well worth it.

I also exchanged multiple times this year within the first 30 days before deciding to keep the Charge.  No restocking fees, etc.  The only time you will get a refurb from BB is if you use the warranty for a failre they can't fix in the store.  This is no different than VZW.

I paid the same price for the Charge at the time and I haven't seen anything about a separate agreement.  No issues that I can see and I will continue buying at BB in the future.  Costco would be my second choice, and only because of BB extended warranty and liberal exchange policy.

[mdram4x4]

if you have a promo plan, grandfathered plan, grandfathered data ect

be careful

bb may not be able to leave it in place

[rolla020980]

Bought mine from BB yesterday. VZW wanted $300. I paid $119 at BB after they price-matched Amazon. Kept my grandfathered plan too. BB has a 30 day return policy.

[addysdaddy]

I've only had a positive experience buying from BBY, Costco, HHGregg or similar .  Until recently I've was a 20 yr AT&T customer and only recently moved over to VZW, but the big box stores I believe keep all the terms and conditions the same.  In fact I'm friendly with the local HHGregg mgr and he told me that 30 days after the sale, they aren't even allowed to contact you because at that point your a VZW customer "again."  So they're not going to alter anything in your account without your permission.  

The return policies are generally better at the other stores then verizon corporate and VZW customer services deals with any problems you might have after 30 days, regardless of the place of purchase.  So IMO if you deal with one of the reliable authorized VZW resellers, you shouldn't have a problem.  Personally I wouldn't attempt to buy a cell phone via the internet, as I've had to many issues to deal with and long distance would only complicated matters.  I would rather pay a little more and deal with someone local.  Your mileage may vary.