RadioShack to Carry iPhone 4 at Launch

When I talked to the rep at The Shack 2 days ago he told me to keep checking back for what time they'll be open on launch day. He said there is a good chance I'll know when I pre-orer the 15th.

As far as how many non pre-order phones they plan to have, he told me they will likely have as many stock phones as they get pre-ordered. Doesn't apply to those pre-ordering as much as those hitting up RS for shorter lines that didn't pre-order.

I wonder if they will allow me to pay in full on the 15th as oppose to the $50 down payment. Either way I hope this helps Radio Shack out. I have been treated 100X better by the staff there compared to Best Buy OR AT&T. Plus they're prices seem better. When I was there asking about the pre-orders I purchased a car charger/cord to plug my ipod in to the glove box that runs thru the deck for only $37 with tax.

Blonde Buddhist
 
I don't think any Radio Shack sales people know what a transistor is.

You got questions? We have cell phones.

Why would they? Not many people buy them anymore.

In the 7 years I worked at RadioShack we didn't get much business for parts and when we did it was for the stuff we didn't carry. I think Fuses are the only things we sold often from those parts drawers. And it was always the same people coming in for parts anyways.
 
Gazelle buys old iPhones too. :)
true enough they do. though they only offered me $201 for my 16gb 3GS with AC adapter and cables in good condition. Ebay will give me AT LEAST an extra $100.. probably $150. But it's good for those without the patience or know how with an EBAY account Ill give you that.

Blonde Buddhist
 
Without any adapters and just the phone this is what Radio Shack says...
My phone was just replaced by Apple a few weeks ago. I am curious to see if the value drops as each day goes on. I don't want to be without a phone right now but that isn't a bad value being the value of them on eBay right now. Making $30-40 isn't worth the trouble on eBay. I will be trading mine in for sure.

1z9nbd.jpg
 
$45 Difference Between 16GB 3G Web Quote & Store Quote

Without any adapters and just the phone this is what Radio Shack says...
My phone was just replaced by Apple a few weeks ago. I am curious to see if the value drops as each day goes on. I don't want to be without a phone right now but that isn't a bad value being the value of them on eBay right now. Making $30-40 isn't worth the trouble on eBay. I will be trading mine in for sure.

1z9nbd.jpg
They're using different quote systems in the store. My pristine 16GB 3G with charger came in on the web @ $185.94 while the in store quote is only $141 and dropping daily according to the manager here. So I'm doing the FedEx pre-paid shipping to CEXCHANGE for the higher amount. Might have to wait for the gift card past the 24th but I'd rather get the higher amount. Plus my store manager says he'll hold my reserved iPhone until the gift card comes back if it doesn't arrive back in 2 weeks. :)
 
They're using different quote systems in the store. My pristine 16GB 3G with charger came in on the web @ $185.94 while the in store quote is only $141 and dropping daily according to the manager here. So I'm doing the FedEx pre-paid shipping to CEXCHANGE for the higher amount. Might have to wait for the gift card past the 24th but I'd rather get the higher amount. Plus my store manager says he'll hold my reserved iPhone until the gift card comes back if it doesn't arrive back in 2 weeks. :)

Well that is pretty dumb of them to do that. Makes no difference whether the store does it or you send it in. You would think they would want you to take it into a store so an employee can see the product and make their judgement.
 
Well that is pretty dumb of them to do that. Makes no difference whether the store does it or you send it in. You would think they would want you to take it into a store so an employee can see the product and make their judgement.

Thats exactly it, we judge them honestly bc we can get in trouble if we say its a pristine condition phone to get you more money then send it in and its old and busted...


I'm on a conf call and just got word about the early openings. As soon as i get to work in a minute ill post all the info i have. :)
 
Anyone know if I place a preorder on the 19th what the chances are I'll be able to make a reservation for the 24th?
 
My DM told me we can open anytime we want to no later than 8am. I have a best buy and ATT corporate store directly accross the street from me. Im waiting for them to announce when they are opening and ill be open 1 hr before them if they open at 6am, im openening at 5am.
 
My DM told me we can open anytime we want to no later than 8am. I have a best buy and ATT corporate store directly accross the street from me. Im waiting for them to announce when they are opening and ill be open 1 hr before them if they open at 6am, im openening at 5am.

I can't see Radio Shack being able to open and sell iPhones before Apple does. Granted your store isn't actually opening, it's for iPhone Customers only before normal business hours.

I am still waiting for my buddy that is a Manager to get an answer from his DM. He spoke up and asked about it on his Conference call this morning.
 
Anyone know if I place a preorder on the 19th what the chances are I'll be able to make a reservation for the 24th?

I would Pre-Order ASAP. The longer you wait the less your chances get. Being their are 4 Retailers confirmed to launch I am sure Apple has a big Inventory on these but how much will each Company be receiving is the question. I can see Wal-Mart getting the least from anyone.
 
I would Pre-Order ASAP. The longer you wait the less your chances get. Being their are 4 Retailers confirmed to launch I am sure Apple has a big Inventory on these but how much will each Company be receiving is the question. I can see Wal-Mart getting the least from anyone.
We are being told that inventory will be limited for non preorder customers. Basically, if you want one, you better preorder.


About opening before apple stores...

Thats what i thought too, but the only thing we were told is no later than 8am opening. Basically we can open anytime up to 8am.
 
We are being told that inventory will be limited for non preorder customers. Basically, if you want one, you better preorder.


About opening before apple stores...

Thats what i thought too, but the only thing we were told is no later than 8am opening. Basically we can open anytime up to 8am.

I am praying that the Managers here get told the same thing by the DMs as well. Would make things a lot easier. If Radio Shack announces they are opening before everyone else you better prepare for a lot of customers.
 
I used to work at radioshack too and the resources there suck. Activation will take longer than usual and they can mess up your account/credit. I hated activating phones cause it was a hassle since we were not connected directly with carriers.

Now for Radioshack. Brother-in-Law goes and his credit gets run twice by child who works at Radioshack and signs him up to expensive plan. So they have to call their 3rd party service provider and the manager there and employee make a big mess of his ATT account and turns out the phone they had was from a customer return, not even brand new. He ends up just getting bad credit after 4 hrs in the stuffy dusty shack. We go to apple next week, now he has to put deposit cause his credit was messed up but guess what? thats right apple waived it as they saw the mistake and he gets a brand new phone. :) Radioshack = worse place to get any phone Apple = smart well trained employees

I just talked about these cases closest to me but I'll tell you those Radioshack employees are the worst to buy any cellphone from. you take a risk with your credit, used phone possibly, long activations, and bad locale.

Just wanted to say that generally when people have these types of experiences, they are at RadioShack franchises and not company-run (corporate) stores. I have worked at both in the past, and though it's been about 6 years, I can say that things were definitely very different.

Franchise stores, at the time, did indeed work through 3rd party processors for cell phones so it was easier to mess things up. However, it was all through a web interface so more often than not the problems stemmed from the interface crashing or it not being up to date with the latest promotions, etc, than actual user error.

Corporate stores also ran through a web interface but it was directly through the carrier so it was much more reliable.

The bigger problem with cell phones at RadioShack was consistency. The sales flyers would always talk about this deal or that deal, and oftentimes that deal wasn't even offered to franchise stores.

I think a bit of this has been resolved, and I wouldn't mind getting a phone through RadioShack nowadays if there was a good promotion.

However, as someone else said, RadioShack prices on most other things are ridiculously high. I felt terrible when I saw a guy at our store sell this old man a 30-ft HDMI cable for $300. Not kidding at all. I don't know how they stay in business, their prices on most things are not competitive at all.

sw
 
Bibbz

I just talked to my local radioshack and they are also taking preorders. He told me he can't guarantee me the 24th. He said he's not sure when they will come in. How accurate is this? I really don't want to preorder if its not going to be there on the 24th.
 
Bibbz

I just talked to my local radioshack and they are also taking preorders. He told me he can't guarantee me the 24th. He said he's not sure when they will come in. How accurate is this? I really don't want to preorder if its not going to be there on the 24th.

If you pre order, you will have one on the 24th. That's kinda the point of a pre order. You know, to guarantee you get one. I'd try a different store if that's an option. If not, idk what to tell ya. Like I said though, if you pre order, you'll have one on launch day. On the Evo pre orders, you had two days to pick it up, if you didn't, we sold them and you had to wait till we got more to get one(all my preorders came and got theirs). Launch day and the day after. I speculate iPhone 4 will be the same way.
 
Okay, the guy I talked to seem pretty good. He just said he can't guarantee that they are even going to get the phones on the 24th. Thats what worried me. He said he couldn't promise me that they will have the phones on the 24th.
 
Okay, the guy I talked to seem pretty good. He just said he can't guarantee that they are even going to get the phones on the 24th. Thats what worried me. He said he couldn't promise me that they will have the phones on the 24th.

The way our DC knows to send us phones on launches is by how many we pre order.

For example for the evo launch my store pre ordered 10, so we were guaranteed to get 10. We also got some extra based on how many pre orders we took, so we got 15 total. The 5 extra were gone within the 1st hour. About 1/2 the pre orders were gone by 10, then the rest of the pre orders came in randomly throughout the day.

As a company we had 10k we could pre order. Once all the stores reached that limit, pre orders stopped. Then we had a different allocation of phones that were sent to stores based on how many preorders they did. I would imagine apple will have us in waaaay better position than just 10k for 4500ish stores.

One thing to be concerned about though if you are on the west coast is if we have say 25k to pre order from, the other 3 time zones have a 3 hour jump on those. All the pre orders could be gone by the time the west coast stores open. Pre order early, and pre order often!!
 
Been skimming over 4 pages here so
forgive me if this has been answered...

The only way this Radio Shack deal seems
to work well is if I can walk in the store,
hand them my 3GS phone and get immediate
credit towards an iPhone 4.

If I have to mail my 3GS back to RS and
then wait for a gift card to arrive in the
mail and then go to the store and buy the
iPhone 4 it is just not worth it.

So, the question is, can I simply go to
my Radio Shack store, hand them my
3GS and get immediate store credit on
the new iPhone?
 
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