Did I miss something? Who said anything about a refurb? He said he wants to buy one for $250, nothing about refurb, not that it matters either way. You should definitely buy one for $250, that's what I did, as I sold my old one for $400 the week before the announcement, made $150. There are plenty of people selling iphones for $200-$300 on craigslist. You could theoretically make a ton of cash just buying iphones off of craigslist, then unlocking them if they aren't already unlocked, and selling them on ebay for ungodly amounts. The business of flipping iphones is particularly profitable right now!!!!!!
Just assuming that he had insurance, and that's what insurance does when they send you a new phone... give you a refurb. There's nothing wrong with refurbs, esp. ones completely free from scratches & totally wrapped up -- that's the stuff that goes for $450+ on eBay.
Only a refurb for $250, unless you can get a better deal somewhere else.
I have a plan with State Farm, called a Personal Articles Policy (PAP), in which they insure both my laptop & cell phone (only phones over $400 or some crap like that). You pay a yearly fee (anywhere from $40~100/yr depending on your agent, what you're insuring, & how clumsy you are), and no deductible. So... say you break the screen on your iPhone and it's been more than a year (Apple said they'd cover broken screens for a year or so, right??), you just tell them what happened, and they write you a check for what its worth. You can buy another one, buy something similar for the same price, or buy something else more expensive. It's a *good* plan.
