Frustrated & Sad

[CinnamonSwirl]

Today was finally going to be the day that I got my Kin Twom. 

However, when I went to make the final purchase, I was told I couldn't get it because they couldn't find the prepaid pricing on it and they guessed it wasn't compatible with prepaid accounts. I told them that

1)  I was told any feature phone could be placed on an existing prepaid account.

2)  The last time I was at the Verizon store, another gentleman, who brought out the Kin to show me, even though it had no service and couldn't be turned on, said I could buy it at a slightly lower than retail price since I'd had my current prepay phone for so long (4 years).

They told me the Kin wasn't exactly a feature phone, and that they just couldn't find the pricing so they wouldn't know how to ring it up. I told them just go ahead and charge me the full retail price, I was pretty much expecting that anyway. They wouldn't do it. So the hours I've spent researching this phone, reading all of the posts from you helpful folk, and watching youtube how-to videos, are down the drain. And, I was really getting excited about the phone. Despite its quirks and downfalls, it has everything I need plus the bonus of wifi. 

Oh, and when I first told the final sales guy which phone I was interested in, the expression on his face was comical, like he was trying to find a way to tell me I'd just made the worst decision of my life.

So now I don't know what I'll do since none of the other feature phones have everything I was going to get in this little bundle.    

If I actually used my phone as a phone, I would go ahead and get a regular plan, but I get the $20/month unlimited messaging and only add more money when I plan on making calls during trips or whatever.  I basically use it as a texting machine, camera and music device.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them. Otherwise, thanks for all of the advice especially to fisharefriends and SydneyK  (sorry if I spelled that one wrong).

[SydneyK]

Thanks for the nice note of appreciation.

I'm really sorry to hear this, both that you can't use the phone on the plan you want and also how you were treated in the store. There is nothing at all wrong with the Kin as a feature phone, so I don't understand the animosity in-store.

I don't know a lot about prepaid, but I've never heard that every feature phone could be used. For instance, if you check into prepaid plans on this site, it only shows seven options.

I can think of only one option for using the Kin on prepaid ... from what I've heard, you can use a Verizon phone that's not on contract with Page Plus Wireless prepaid plans. It uses  Verizon's network. HOWEVER, I don't know if I'd risk losing all the perks that come with Verizon's services just to use a particular phone. Honestly, I don't think the reliability and customer service is going to even come close to what you get now.

If you do get the Kin Twom and have a regular Verizon plan, the cheapest you can get is the 450 min. plan for $39.99, plus the smallest texting package, which is 250 messages for $5. Or you can get 500 messages with unlimited Verizon mobile-to-mobile texting for $10. So yeah ... it'll be $45 to $50. You'll have to decide if it's worth it to you to get the Kin. But do let us know what you decide!

[fisharefriends]

here's my advice: Since you said that originally they were going to allow you to get it and ring it up, and it was only until you got another rep to tell you otherwise, try going again and hoping its another rep. I also wasn't aware that pre-paid phones could use any feature phone..but you could get lucky with another verizon rep that tells you the same and lets you purchase it.

Again, i'm not sure how pre-paid phones work..the facts are that one of the 2 reps was wrong..you can only hope that it was the one who told you it wouldn't work. You could be sneaky and just go up against the salesman to get a better deal by sounding like you're about to switch to another network when they tell you that the Kin won't work...many salesmen are told to hide the best deals until the customer declines, or some just add in a bonus (like say, a Kin two..) to get your business. I personally don't like doing this, but at the same time, i also hate how sales people don't do all they can do for the customer and only do so in situations like this...but i guess one way to think of it is what can you lose. You can try going at different hours, or just to a different Verizon store.

[KINuser2010]

I got one just before Christmas, could not transfer contacts so I waited a til after Christmas to activate it and use it.  That phone quit working in less that 2 months. I got another one free (refurbished). There is still no way to transfer contacts unless you go to a store.

You really are not missing out on much.  It does a lot, but not really great at anything.  Look at an LG or other brand.

[harpman]

not many choices to choose from KINuser2010,,,the kin twom is now the top ranked messageing phone on phonedog...the lg octane which is second has voice quality issues....just about all the feature phone are of poor quality now

[fisharefriends]

Here's the article harpman was talking about.

http://www.phonedog.com/2011/02/24/kin-twom-cautiously-makes-it-way-onto-phonedog-s-top-messaging-ph...

Sadly, it is a general trend that the gap between smartphones and feature phones is getting larger and larger. The one thing that it mentions is the browser for the kin is far superior to other feature phone browsers; that is completely true, but sadly, the Kin is often compared to smartphones. The article fails to mention the bugs and missing common features such as no contact backup and the failure to open individual messages, forward/delete/groups, so consider that in the cons of the phone too. But you compare it with everything else that is out there on the feature phone market..guess you gotta pick and choose the pro's and cons, cause pretty much all feature phones have some major flaws to them. The cosmos touch is very well designed and has very few problems, but as a whole it is on a much lower tier to begin with and has much fewer features; but if you want a smooth experience, go with that. Like harpman said, the octane has call quality issues; that is one of the main things that kept me away from that phone.