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Warning to people buying iPhones

Southernboyj

Southernboyj

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 8, 2012
1,696
76
Mobile, AL
EDIT: NOTICE, I EMAILED CUSTOMER CARE AND CONTACTED THE DISTRICT MANAGER AND HAVE RECEIVED RESPONSES THAT CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 2 & 3



To anyone who is wanting to buy an iPhone 5 outright for full price, if you find it in stock.. I'd suggest calling first.

I live in the Southern part of Alabama. I happen to find 1 White 16GB iPhone 5 in stock at a Radioshack about 50 miles away across into Mississippi. They said they'd hold it, I drive over there.. They have it. Ask to buy it for full price.. "We can't sell that without a contract". After about 30 minutes of arguing with them and their manager I just left. Btw it's not that they "Couldn't" they just wouldn't... they wanted that commission from a new sale. I get back to my local Verizon and find out that another Verizon has 3 in stock. But only 32/64GB. I rush over there, they have them. The manager at the Verizon also won't sell it to me outright.. after about 10 minutes of complaining, he agree's to sell me it for $749.99 ONLY if I buy atleast $65 worth of accessories. After a minute of irritation, I bit the bullet and bought them. I bought a case, a lightning cable, and a wall charger. I asked about their return policy on items, they said I have 14 days. I asked if the phone could be returned anywhere.

He said "You have 14 days to return the phone but it will cost $35 for a restocking fee" He then made sure to add "The accessories can only be exchanged at this store" Notice he said exchanged.. he didn't want me to do anything, I call my local store and ask if I can return accessories from other stores and he replies "as long as you have the receipt" I drive to my local store.. give him the receipt and return the accessories for a full refund. :D

Seriously though... way to much hassle for them to just sell you the phone outright.. Anyone else experience this?
 
Last edited:
Southernboyj said:
To anyone who is wanting to buy an iPhone 5 outright for full price, if you find it in stock.. I'd suggest calling first.

I live in the Southern part of Alabama. I happen to find 1 White 16GB iPhone 5 in stock at a Radioshack about 50 miles away across into Mississippi. They said they'd hold it, I drive over there.. They have it. Ask to buy it for full price.. "We can't sell that without a contract". After about 30 minutes of arguing with them and their manager I just left. Btw it's not that they "Couldn't" they just wouldn't... they wanted that commission from a new sale. I get back to my local Verizon and find out that another Verizon has 3 in stock. But only 32/64GB. I rush over there, they have them. The manager at the Verizon also won't sell it to me outright.. after about 10 minutes of complaining, he agree's to sell me it for $749.99 ONLY if I buy atleast $65 worth of accessories. After a minute of irritation, I bit the bullet and bought them. I bought a case, a lightning cable, and a wall charger. I asked about their return policy on items, they said I have 14 days. I asked if the phone could be returned anywhere.

He said "You have 14 days to return the phone but it will cost $35 for a restocking fee" He then made sure to add "The accessories can only be exchanged at this store" Notice he said exchanged.. he didn't want me to do anything, I call my local store and ask if I can return accessories from other stores and he replies "as long as you have the receipt" I drive to my local store.. give him the receipt and return the accessories for a full refund. :D

Seriously though... way to much hassle for them to just sell you the phone outright.. Anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...
Vote with your wallet man. Screw them, remind them how every month you pour over a hundred dollars for their services. Dont be a chump and wait until you can walk in and buy one like a normal human being.
 
serialtoon said:
Vote with your wallet man. Screw them, remind them how every month you pour over a hundred dollars for their services. Dont be a chump and wait until you can walk in and buy one like a normal human being.
Click to expand...

Well, I ended up getting it for $749.99 since I just returned the accessories. Ended out ok because Radioshack wants $699 for the 16GB model, so for $50 more I got 32GB and I got black (I wanted black over white). Was just so annoying. They milk the hell out of the iPhone's scarcity.. :mad:
 
Dumb question, but why do people want to buy the phones without contract? Isn't the monthly bill the same price regardless if you bought the phone on a contract? An additional $500 just seems like way too much.
 
PhaserFuzz said:
Dumb question, but why do people want to buy the phones without contract? Isn't the monthly bill the same price regardless if you bought the phone on a contract? An additional $500 just seems like way too much.
Click to expand...

I bought an S3 on contract not long ago.. Didn't have an upgrade. Others buy it so they keep their unlimited plans.
 
PhaserFuzz said:
Dumb question, but why do people want to buy the phones without contract? Isn't the monthly bill the same price regardless if you bought the phone on a contract? An additional $500 just seems like way too much.
Click to expand...

Way too much for what? If you have the disposable income to buy it why should it bother you?
 
Southernboyj said:
To anyone who is wanting to buy an iPhone 5 outright for full price, if you find it in stock.. I'd suggest calling first.

I live in the Southern part of Alabama. I happen to find 1 White 16GB iPhone 5 in stock at a Radioshack about 50 miles away across into Mississippi. They said they'd hold it, I drive over there.. They have it. Ask to buy it for full price.. "We can't sell that without a contract". After about 30 minutes of arguing with them and their manager I just left. Btw it's not that they "Couldn't" they just wouldn't... they wanted that commission from a new sale. I get back to my local Verizon and find out that another Verizon has 3 in stock. But only 32/64GB. I rush over there, they have them. The manager at the Verizon also won't sell it to me outright.. after about 10 minutes of complaining, he agree's to sell me it for $749.99 ONLY if I buy atleast $65 worth of accessories. After a minute of irritation, I bit the bullet and bought them. I bought a case, a lightning cable, and a wall charger. I asked about their return policy on items, they said I have 14 days. I asked if the phone could be returned anywhere.

He said "You have 14 days to return the phone but it will cost $35 for a restocking fee" He then made sure to add "The accessories can only be exchanged at this store" Notice he said exchanged.. he didn't want me to do anything, I call my local store and ask if I can return accessories from other stores and he replies "as long as you have the receipt" I drive to my local store.. give him the receipt and return the accessories for a full refund. :D

Seriously though... way to much hassle for them to just sell you the phone outright.. Anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...

I hear you.
Way too much crap to deal with to buy a full price iphone.
And the people at those stores making you buy other stuff in order to make money is nothing but a scam.
Glad you were able to return them and just keep the phone.
 
I think Verizon must have some "add on" quota. I've heard stories of employees not letting people walk out the door without a case.
Dude must have been crazy about his metrics.
 
long story short, waitied 3 hours in line, was 7th person to buy the iPhone at a verizon store on launch day.
when 2 reps came up to me with a paper for my information, and model and all that, I said im just buying the phone outright.
I was then informed they were not selling retail phones, only new customers and upgrades.

WHAT?! Liars! Your gonna sign up a new customer before me? What a crock!
After explaining that it said to visit a store in person to buy outright, they then told me they "will see what they can do".
thats problem 1.

problem 2? When asked why I was buying the phone for retail, and explaining I wanted to retain my unlimited data,
they were almost strong arming me into upgrading and switching to a mobile share plan. After i said I wasnt interested,
they didnt relent. They asked if I knew how much data I actually used per month. I said i didnt care. They then checked for me
on thier iPad and asked why I wanted to keep it only using so much data/month. I told them its none of thier business and Im
STILL NOT INTERESTED. Again, they said they might not sell me a phone. idiots.

After waiting since 5AM, i was a bit ****** off when I finally got in the store and no other of the 30+ employees knew anything. Even what I
assumed to be a big wig of the company asked if things were ok, I explained the situation and she didn't know anything. FRUSTRATING.

Finally I was told I can purchase at retail if they opened my box and activated in the store. UM, DUHHHH, why wouldnt I?

Followed by the mandatory case presenting at the register, it was all just asenine and rediculous. No one did thier homework and it was
just a lame experience. Surprised that with all the bad press VZW has gotten, they haven't upped their personal interfacing skills.

sorry for the novel, it was just a piss poor experience, but i got unlimited LTE =) and NO i didnt buy any extra accesories cuz i was so mad at the dumb a$$es working that day.
 
For those that went to carrier stores, were they corporate stores? I've found that when dealing with a corporate store they are willing to sell phones at the outright price. When shopping anywhere else they tend to be less inclined to sell for that price because they really make no profit. All their $ comes from selling/upgrading the contract.
 
Salesman's wet dream you are. I'll only sell to you if you...... Bought it hook line and sinker! I would of been on the phone with corporate for which ever store I was in and had their bosses boss on the phone asking why their company didn't want to sell me a product I have money to purchase.
 
At least you were able to buy an extra lightning cable! I can't find them anywhere in town. You should have kept it and sold it on ebay for a profit. As far as full price, bought mine off the verizon web site with no issue and I am on month to month. In fact it was delivered a week ahead of time. I don't bother with the local stores. I always order online.
 
AFDoc said:
Salesman's wet dream you are. I'll only sell to you if you...... Bought it hook line and sinker! I would of been on the phone with corporate for which ever store I was in and had their bosses boss on the phone asking why their company didn't want to sell me a product I have money to purchase.
Click to expand...

I called Radioshacks corporate.. they said that it was up to the Store Manager. I find it hilarious how he bold face lied about the return. I picked Apple branded accessories incase I couldn't return.. cause I knew I could just resell them if not.
 
AFDoc said:
Salesman's wet dream you are. I'll only sell to you if you...... Bought it hook line and sinker! I would of been on the phone with corporate for which ever store I was in and had their bosses boss on the phone asking why their company didn't want to sell me a product I have money to purchase.
Click to expand...

I called Radioshacks corporate.. they said that it was up to the Store Manager. I find it hilarious how he bold face lied about the return. I picked Apple branded accessories incase I couldn't return.. cause I knew I could just resell them if not.
 
I remember reading about another user on MR that had the same thing happen to them - they went to a local branch (I believe it was Verizon, also) and the manager wouldn't let them have the new iPhone unless they bought x amount in accessories first.

That's BS.
 
They won't sell it to you at full price because they don't make dick off of it, as Apple keeps margins for their retailers razor thin. Simple as that. So they need the carrier commission or for you to buy some accessories to make a buck.

The thing I still don't get is why you can't get an unlocked phone without contract from Apple's US website.
 
chambone said:
They won't sell it to you at full price because they don't make dick off of it, as Apple keeps margins for their retailers razor thin. Simple as that. So they need the carrier commission or for you to buy some accessories to make a buck.

The thing I still don't get is why you can't get an unlocked phone without contract from Apple's US website.
Click to expand...

I thought the Verizon model is unlocked out of the box?
 
Had absolutely no problems buying off contract at Best Buy. It was a present for my wife and I asked to not open the box the either, and they didn't open the box. Everything went smooth.
 
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