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Hello everyone,
I have one hell of a story to tell about one boy, two phones (the htc hd2 and the samsung vibrant), and one freakin' committed customer service team (T-Mobile's). OK, so I'll begin my story of how I ended up with a brand-new Vibrant for essentially 350 bucks. Bear with me here, it's a bit long. So, I originally purchased an htc hd2 way back in mid-June for 300 bucks on Craigslist. The phone ended up being defective because of a hardware issue, and because it happened to be under the "buyer's remorse" period, at least the way T-Mobile saw it, I was able to return it by mail for a brand new one for free. I was surprised when I called to learn that T-Mobile didn't require a single piece of information to verify that I was the original owner of the phone, all they saw was that an htc hd2 had magically been activated on such and such a date. So, I returned that hd2 and recieved a new one in a couple of days, which ended up being just as buggy as the last one, so I decided to abandon the hd2 altogether in exchange for the Samsung Vibrant. I called T-Mobile customer service today to setup the exchange for the vibrant, which would cost me 50 bucks since the hd2 cost 450 and the vibrant costs 500, and I was FINALLY told that they had no record of me ever buying an hd2 (I wonder why, lol). I then explained to them that I wasn't the original owner of the phone and that I had bought it from the original owner, but that the phone had been purchased only a few days before they sold it to me. They told me at first that I would have contact the original owner and get the 450 bucks credited back to there account. The only problem was that I had no way of contacting the original owner, and that they had switched carriers almost immediately after purchasing the hd2. After about four hours, and many many phone calls later, I called t-mobile one last time to explain my situation, keep in mind that I was totally honest the entire time, I reached a very nice customer service rep, and after explaining what had happened to me, and after speaking to her supervisor for over ten minutes, she told me that even though they almost never do this, that they would "take my word for it" and send the vibrant, no questions asked, for basically 50 bucks. I was over the moon considering that less than 5 minutes ago I had thought that I had thrown away 300 dollars. I would like to give some major props to T-Mobile's customer support, never in a million years would I have expected a customer service team work so hard to keep a a customer happy. Talk about going the distance. Well, that's my story. Tell me what you think, and what your experiences with them have been like.
Peace, bobofosho12
I got mine for $164 and i wasnt even due for a full upgrade. Got my phone around august. Even my sister which is due for a full upgrade has to pay more. So i think im super lucky except for the tax and all that
Alex530 said:
I got mine for $164 and i wasnt even due for a full upgrade. Got my phone around august. Even my sister which is due for a full upgrade has to pay more. So i think im super lucky except for the tax and all that
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Yeah, its an online Special. However i Would Suggest your sister to call T-mobile and ask to be transfered to the Loyalty Department to get hers. because she will get a good deal as her contract is up...... They will give it to her at full Discount and provide her with a data plan of $24.99 a month. instead of $30.00 like you got... and she wont have to pay no upgrade fee's whatsoever.
Alex530 said:
I got mine for $164 and i wasnt even due for a full upgrade. Got my phone around august. Even my sister which is due for a full upgrade has to pay more. So i think im super lucky except for the tax and all that
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Same here. I renewed my contract last year, so did my GF. We both are eligible for full discount so I jump on it right away.
I hate buying ANYTHING with a contract, I know that even though I might pay through the nose up front, i'm saving tons more than I would if I had a contract for two years. I just generally buy an "almost" brand new phone on someplace like Craigslist and then I return it to T-mobile and get a brand new one for free, hence what I did with the hd2. Just my strategy though.
minogue said:
Yeah, its an online Special. However i Would Suggest your sister to call T-mobile and ask to be transfered to the Loyalty Department to get hers. because she will get a good deal as her contract is up...... They will give it to her at full Discount and provide her with a data plan of $24.99 a month. instead of $30.00 like you got... and she wont have to pay no upgrade fee's whatsoever.
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I have the 24.99 data plan and i will thanks for the info
my story on getting the vibrant new WITHOUT a contract for $133. Please note, this cannot be duplicated anymore as the "loop hole" has been caught and closed. I noticed this post on slickdeals.net the 2nd day it had been posted:
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2132124
So basically costco has the cell phone kiosk's which sell tmobile and a few other carriers. as we know, T-mobile offers and "even more plus" program with is NO contract. also as we know that if we went to tmobile and got a vibrant with this even more plus program is $500.
BUT for the first 3 or 4 days that costco sold the vibrant they were selling it for $250 with the "even more plus" plan or $99 with contract. EDIT( this $250 price was a wholesale price they were offering)
so went there and bought 2 samsung vibrants for 250$ each plus tax. ended up being about $540 by opening 2 new lines on the "even more plus" plan. note that this is different then the "even more" plan which is a contract. Even though "even more plus" is not a contract, costco would not sell the phone without an actual plan but thats ok because this "even more plus plan is no contract because normally you pay full price for the phone.
so then because the "even more plus" plan is not a contract, I called t mobile and told them that I want to cancel the even more plus plan and that I paid full price for the phone. (which i did pay costco's full price). they canceled the plans over the phone on the first try without any hassel (some people had a little trouble canceling)
So then i sold 1 on ebay for $485 including shipping and kept one for myself. After paying shipping, ebay listing fees, selling fees, and paypal fees. I came out basically paying the difference which is only about $130 for my new, NON contract vibrant
keep in mind I already have a tmobile contract from my mytouch, so i just put the sim card in the new vibrant and was good to go.
Costco and Tmobile both caught on to this within days, and now it went from 250 to 479 the day after i got mine.
so i basically ended up paying $130 for a New Vibrant, not subsidized, and non contract even less then if I had signed a new 2 year contract.
If so many people had not ONLY gotten this deal just to sell all the phones on ebay and craigslist, the deal probably would have lasted a little longer. (i just sold 1 to offset the cost of buying one for myself)
so keep in mind, this deal is now dead, and no one has had success trying to replicate it since the price change because costco and tmobile had caught on quickly.
Im still under contract with tmobile for another year because i bought mytouch last year. Wife's phone is still eligible for an upgrade I can use later this year
I got mine for $100 after $50 mail in rebate. I bought mine at Costco warehouse . It included the car charger, a carrying case and a Bluetooth headset.
still cant beleive you guys didnt just spam these forums spreading the good news on the price. so sad.
well thankfully, i got mine on bing cashback and so the phone might end up being $350 for me.
oh what i could have done with $100 extra, sigh
by the way did you need to be a costco member to get that price or could anyone get it?
I actually got mine for free, but in an extremely roundabout and lucky sort of way.
Got a Samsung Behold II with a new contract at the beginning of June for free from Letstalk.com. I won't rehash all the ridiculous problems I had with the phone, as it's fairly legendary at this point.
Had even more problems after the now infamous 1.6 OTA update, took my problems to T-Mobile corporate, and after 2 weeks worth of emails and phonecalls with their director of customer relations they basically convinced Samsung to toss me a Vibrant to make me happy enough to go away and leave them alone.
I sort of rode out the "perfect storm" here and was just in the right place at the right time. Still, this is the best free phone I've ever had!
Got mine for the same price as Alex.
i got mine for $534 after tax!
Just wondering, i've tried googling and I haven't found anything specific.
I got my Evo June 4th through Sprint so it was easy to throw the $7 a month insurance plan.
Now Im wondering, if I do upgrade in the future from a different store such as RadioShack, Wirefly, BestBuy, is it still possible to throw the TEP $7 a month on the new phone even though it's from another retail store?
Am I stupid for not wanting to put insurance on from the other stores instead of Sprints? I've had a good experience with Sprint when my evo power button stopped working. They said they had no more evo's in the warehouse and next-day aired me a brand new one.
Or... are the in-house (wirefly, BB, Radioshack) protection plans better?
Edit: Reason I ask are for the killer deals other stores have. For instance the Photon 4G at BB for $99 upgrade, where sprint has it for $199 upgrade
My name is David Keith Sims. Give Sprint my name. They hate me! They charged me $20+ for a phone call i made from +44 (United Kingdom) they saw my evil side!
Sent with Photon 4G "Neo"
bigblueshock said:
Just wondering, i've tried googling and I haven't found anything specific.
I got my Evo June 4th through Sprint so it was easy to throw the $7 a month insurance plan.
Now Im wondering, if I do upgrade in the future from a different store such as RadioShack, Wirefly, BestBuy, is it still possible to throw the TEP $7 a month on the new phone even though it's from another retail store?
Am I stupid for not wanting to put insurance on from the other stores instead of Sprints? I've had a good experience with Sprint when my evo power button stopped working. They said they had no more evo's in the warehouse and next-day aired me a brand new one.
Or... are the in-house (wirefly, BB, Radioshack) protection plans better?
Edit: Reason I ask are for the killer deals other stores have. For instance the Photon 4G at BB for $99 upgrade, where sprint has it for $199 upgrade
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It does not matter if you get your phone from a retail store its all Sprint at the end of the day. I purchased my Evo at Best Buy and another at Radio Shack. Now Best Buy offers a monthly insurance for I believe $10 which offers full replacement and upgrade protection. You have to just check around and see if those outside protection plans work better for you.
I have insurance through Best Buy and I just cashed in on my cracked screen this this past week. It took about 4 days to get a replacement (Labor Day holiday). I had a loaner phone in the mean time. When I finally got the phone, it was in better shape than that one I had...THUMBS UP!!!!!!
Rooted running CM7. Comes with an Otterbox Commuter case and a couple extra batteries and an external charger. Great condition and clean ESN. Always had a screen protector. $225.00 shipped CONUS or best offer. Email only please.
- Z
[email protected]
Bump to $210 shipped...
- Z
So you want $210 for a used phone that you can get at Sprint for $99 w contract, because its rooted (free) with an extra battery ($40 at radio shack) and a $50 case..that ads up to $190, brand new, and you want $20 more than that for your used one? Maybe why you still have.$150 is more realistic for your bundle, good luck.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
You forget one thing.. this phone is being sold off contract. This is why it used to cost 200 on contract and 450 off contract. Price is fine op
Deck's + SZ + SuperCharger script + ViperMod script.
What is the point of a no-contract phone?
Most Sprint plans only have 1 yr between upgrades anyways.
$99 for new phone + $5 batt. on eBay + $2 for a simple silicone case +$3 for full body protector.
Doesn't make any sense to me.
No more 1 year upgrades as of last week. Everyone upgrades at 20 months now. $210 is pretty fair for a no-contract price...
I brought my wife an evo 4g white off ebay for $144.00. I wouldn't pay more then $150 for it.
I have 5 batteries and I baby my phones. $200 is fine. If you don't want to contribute, don't dog it.
- Z
What is the point of giving this guy **** about the price he wants to sell his phone? I bet he doesn't give you input on what he thinks you sell your car or your house for. If you need a phone and can get it elsewhere cheaper, buy it there. If not, leave this guy alone and let him try to advertise w/o running anyone who is interested off. If it's not a fair price it'll sit on his shelf. Just like everything else on this forum, people have nothing better to do than ***** over nothing.
jimcgov3 said:
No more 1 year upgrades as of last week. Everyone upgrades at 20 months now. $210 is pretty fair for a no-contract price...
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Well, you're wrong. Just checked both by calling and checking online, sprint.com still says 72 days until next upgrade. And the nice lady in the phone reassured me that whoever I had heard that one year upgrades were gone, was mis informed.
ANYWAYS I wasn't being, or trying to anyways, a jerk. His post was up for 2 days with numerous views and no replies then he dropped the price and still nothing. I was just letting him know that people would probably be apprehensive about buying it because of this price. Paying $200 for a phone you can get for $100 to me doesn't make sense. Whoever buys it will (probably) use it on sprint, so why not re sign your contract. I see that he bought 5 batteries for it, which yes cost him money, but that just let's curious non evo owners know how bad our batteries suck, not exactly a plus. I told him IN MY OPINION what a fair price would be, I don't have a gun to his head forcing him to drop the price. He can advertise it for as much as he likes. It really doesn't matter to me. Like I said before to the op, good luck. (
Why don't you post this in the MarketPlace since that is what that forum is for. This forum is for discussing accessories for the EVO.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=476
I sold it for $200
- Z
dwall87 said:
So you want $210 for a used phone that you can get at Sprint for $99 w contract, because its rooted (free) with an extra battery ($40 at radio shack) and a $50 case..that ads up to $190, brand new, and you want $20 more than that for your used one? Maybe why you still have.$150 is more realistic for your bundle, good luck.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Comedy
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
LexLuger82 said:
Comedy
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
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- Z
I just wanted to point out, not being a douche here also, that the 1 year upgrades are gone. No more Silver or Gold UNLESS you already have it or signed up to it PRIOR to October 2nd, 2011.
You will have the option of upgrading one more time before the year is up for 2012, again, if you signed up for the higher price plan for Gold status. After October 2nd no one will be able to sign up for the Gold status. Everyone will be put on the new service of upgrading once every 20 months.
I signed up for the Gold status last month and when I saw the message of their tiers ending on my account section I bugged and called them until I spoke to customer retention.
Since I signed up for the Gold status before Oct 2nd, I will be a Gold member and can upgrade December 1st and then 1 more time 12 months from then.
dwall87 said:
Well, you're wrong. Just checked both by calling and checking online, sprint.com still says 72 days until next upgrade. And the nice lady in the phone reassured me that whoever I had heard that one year upgrades were gone, was mis informed.
ANYWAYS I wasn't being, or trying to anyways, a jerk. His post was up for 2 days with numerous views and no replies then he dropped the price and still nothing. I was just letting him know that people would probably be apprehensive about buying it because of this price. Paying $200 for a phone you can get for $100 to me doesn't make sense. Whoever buys it will (probably) use it on sprint, so why not re sign your contract. I see that he bought 5 batteries for it, which yes cost him money, but that just let's curious non evo owners know how bad our batteries suck, not exactly a plus. I told him IN MY OPINION what a fair price would be, I don't have a gun to his head forcing him to drop the price. He can advertise it for as much as he likes. It really doesn't matter to me. Like I said before to the op, good luck. (
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Hey guys,
I currently use a Nexus One, however I'm looking to upgrade. The n1 is getting to the point where I'm running out of internal space and I'm disappointed there are no more software updates on it.
I'm really yearning for a HTC One S, but there is a caveat. I am on an older T-Mobile EM+ plan so I do not get a subsidy on my phones and I'm uncertain I want to migrate to a new classic plan. Because of this, I feel like the One S will end up being too expensive. I'm assuming T-Mobile will price it at a minimum of 599 like the current Amaze and SII. Further after the 6% sales tax, I might regret spending 635 dollars on the phone.
The thought of a Galaxy Nexus has crossed my mind, but I figured if I was spending $450 on a phone I should be buying one that is HSPA+ 42, which the galaxy nexus is not. However, vanilla ICS is a big plus in my book.
So then comes the T-989. I found one on Craigslist for 400. It includes a one month old phone, extra battery, 16gb class 2 microsd, charging stand and a body glove case. It seems like the value is there. Furthermore, after contacting the person, they end up going to my university so I have a good feeling about the transaction trust wise. I'm going to check out the phone today.
I'm wondering, is this the phone for me? Am I silly and should wait for the S3, or go for the GN or One S instead? Will I be happy with the SII, especially because it will end up being cheaper than all my other options.
Thanks for the insight,
Mike
well there's one thing you can try to do... Tmobile recently altered their terms and condition where data roaming is no longer free. so if you ever used data roaming, you could fight it and get an early termination without ETF and sign up with them again using a different account holder of course. You can legally try to fight it without ever use data roaming because it is a breach in contract... but it is a lot harder to do... you can check out SD, they have a whole giant thread on it.
okay about the phones
1. i would not wait for any HTC phones because their recent releases have been disappointing.. I have used or played with every HTC phone for t-mobile... and they have fallen since the mt4gs.
sooo i wouldn't hold my breath for any htc phones yet.. maybe after some great reviews from xda members..
2. when the s3 is released, it is going to be very expensive... you're talking about not wanting to spend 635 or not even 450 so I would rule the s3 out of your budget.
3. you can't really go wrong with the galaxy nexus or the tmobile t989.. besides we just got ICS.. well still in the works lol
4. ASK yourself.. is there really a need to upgrade from the n1?
yes our phone is everything better than the n1.. but in terms of usability... do you really need to fish out $400+ for a phone you're already questioning about dropping money on. You can do anything on the n1 that you can on the gs2, don't fall for the hype that our phone has because of all the commercials and stuff.
alternatives:
1. why don't you exchange your phone or any cheap "smartphone" (bb, old iphone, etc) with the microsoft store promo, it's free... you should check that out. although they're WP phones... it would be nice to be rocking the htc radar, titan, or samsung focus by trading a crappy phone.
2. Are you out of contract? since you're on the EM+ plan... you can get a lot of deals by extending your contract another 2 years. If so, I can give you few pointers.
---------- Post added at 04:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 AM ----------
holy ****, just noticed this is your first post after 1.5 years lol
Thanks for the reply Teo032!
1,2 & 3 - Thank you for the advice. It is very assuring to hear such things.
4 - This is the hardest question to answer. I don't need to upgrade. However, I have the phone bug itch. I want a new phone. You do raise a good point though, the actual functionality won't differ too much.
A1 - I did not know about that challenge! I would definitely do that if I could. A new WP for free is exactly what I need to fix my itch for a new phone. I live in eastern PA. The closest MS Store would be Bridgewater Commons, which is about an hour away. Unfortunately, that store is still stated as "coming soon" and the promotion ends March 29, 2012. Hopefully they extend it once that location opens, since that would have been worth the drive...
A2 - For a contract extension, I'm a little hesitant since I am moving in about 1 yr and don't want to be locked into a 2 yr contract. Although I would probably have no coverage issues, I would not be too happy if I had poor reception at my new place but it wasn't bad enough for t-mobile to allow me to leave w/o an ETF.
Again thanks for the insight. You brought up some really great points. At this point I really don't know if I can answer that I need to upgrade and I think that might be my answer to whether I should buy the SII or not. I'm really disappointed the Bridgewater MS store isn't open yet, since I would have had made that drive today...
P.S. - Yes! My OP was my first post. After years of lurking, I finally made the leap. If I purchase a new phone today or not, I hope to continue contributing to the community through posting.
Why don't you check the coverage at where you're moving? If anything, use wifi calling.
If you're eligible for an upgrade, you won't get "discounted" phones since you're on em+... but if you talk to the retention department, simply ask them, what is the best deal they can give you if you plan to sign up for another 2 years. Each rep will give you different offers, you can call multiple times to try to get better offers. some will match a previous offer or even best it.
Common offers
$250 credit (this is actually the "discount" for the phones, although you would still be paying the full price for the phone but $350 isn't too bad for a new phone)
or $10 off each month for your contract ($240)
Your rate might even be better depending on what you need. My 5 line is actually paying about $20 less with a better plan now, which is NOT available to new contracts, only loyalty plans.
I called about 4 different reps. I made sure I told them to let me think about the deal and to call me back at certain times.
One guy was able to give me $200 credit + $10 off each month.. they're not suppose to do this, it's usually only one choice... but this guy sounded like a supervisor and hooked me up with a lot of stuff. I asked him to call me back, hoping to get $250 + $10/month from another rep.
next rep told me that it is impossible to apply both deals etc etc, And i was like are you sure? he told me yeah because the system only allows us to apply one discount and what the other guy told me was misinformation. He told me I only could get one or the other... The other guy called me back and I told him, I talked to another rep about the situation, and he simply told me, well lets just say I can do more things than any other rep can.
So my rate for 5 lines, unlimited talk text and 5 gb for 3 lines, 2 with premium insurance (7.99 each) is $155 without the tax and fees + 200 credit.
well unlimited for the 2 primary lines, and 500 minutes EACH for the remaining 3, which is still a lot.
EDIT: oh and after a year.. the ETF should be about what? $100? $150?
another tip: in my area, the skyrocket goes for less than the hercules. about $50 less, so I would look into that if you're planning to just CL
throw MIUI on the N1 and hang on to it for a bit longer. will feel like a newer phone.
otherwise yea what he said. S2 is still a great phone and will be for quite some time. best phone i've ever owned and I also love my N1
U not silly, I just bought my sII for 29.99 plus tax on Feb. 17...
http://www.squaretrade.com/best-buy-smartphone-warranty
They have better rates than bestbuy and sprint, and a lower deductible..has anyone heard of this company before? I'm like 4 days into having my note 4 and kinda thinking about insurance. bestbuy decided to impliment a protection plan identical to sprints. :/
No. But you have got me interested. Im going to call them this week and get some more info. 11 bucks a month for sprints insurance, its half the cost. One thing about insurion (or what ever their name is), i know for a fact they pay claims. Ive used them once when I dropped my droid razr maxx hd in my coffee. Had a new phone in 2 days. Not sure how reliable this one is. But Im definitely interested in knowing more. One thing that is a red flag is it has Sprints deductible at 200 bucks. Mine is 100 bucks, or at least it used to be.
Let me know what you find out. Ill do the same after I call them.
Thanks for the info. Good to know there is some competition for mobile device insurance.
AS FOR ME.....GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH
Unfortunately with the premium phones the deductible is $200 and $300 if you lose the phone. I will be looking into this tomorrow also.
I would read the reviews on Amazon, I was all for buying through square trade... Now I am rethinking it
I actually use to sell Square Trade and use them for all my electronics (except phones because I haven't broken one yet). If you read the comments you'll see that they're 5 star rated on Amazon and have an A+ rating with the BBB as well as numerous awards for customer service. They're totally worth it though I'm not familiar with their phone policies, I only TV, computer, and tablet warranties.
I do know that if you intend on keeping the phone for the full two years you can just buy the insurance instead of doing monthly installments. In the end it saves you around 50% give or take.
If you want more info call them or go in to a TigerDirect, they sell them there. You can get a device anywhere and buy the Square Trade at Tiger, just make sure to tell them you saw the online price and it was cheaper, it'll knock down the price.
Squaretrade is about the same as any warranty, customer service is ok, once you speak to a supervisor. Most lower reps don't know what they are talking about, when my note 3 screen cracked they replaced it with a new phone from amazon, but I was told that was a one time deal. Otherwise it is "gently used" or open box items. I paid 89 for two years with them, but I am also paying 13 a month with sprint and will probably stick with sprint unless Squaretrade does that again. Only recommend them if you don't want to shell out a monthly payment with sprint
Sent from my SM-N910P using XDA Premium HD app
Have we found out anything else regarding squaretrade? I haven't had a chance to call them at all but I'm thinking of just going with best buys insurance, even if the deductible is crazy high. ..
I have SquareTrade on both of my tablets but fortunately I never used the policy... I would insure my phone with them but they don't cover theft or loss like Sprint does.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
Come on guys, Google is your friend! Squaretrade is either $5 a month or $99 for two years. They don't cover loss or theft and their deductible is $75. Across the board they're more affordable than everyone else. You can also get it on any device at any time, you just have to prove it's working I guess.
http://www.squaretrade.com/smartphone-warranty
I am interested in switching to square trade but other than theft coverage Sprint's tep has one other benefit. There have been times where I go to a Sprint store for an issue, like my wifi radio not working anymore or something else. They have replaced it for free. Sometimes with a new device.
It looks like with square trade it's cheaper but you get a refurbished or used device.
DarkManX4lf said:
I am interested in switching to square trade but other than theft coverage Sprint's tep has one other benefit. There have been times where I go to a Sprint store for an issue, like my wifi radio not working anymore or something else. They have replaced it for free. Sometimes with a new device.
It looks like with square trade it's cheaper but you get a refurbished or used device.
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Sprint TEP will replace with used/refurbished phone also. It even states that in the fine print. It even says they can replace with different device of equal value.
I've used squaretrade for years, they're a good route to take, but as with any contract, be sure to read the terms and understand what you're reading.
Patch7 said:
Sprint TEP will replace with used/refurbished phone also. It even states that in the fine print. It even says they can replace with different device of equal value.
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Yep I know. That's why I said "some times with a new device".