Inexpensive Damaged Phone Upgrade Option Through Walmart
Here is a very inexpensive phone upgrade option THAT WORKS and saves money!
I had: VZW regular service plan, phone 14 months, broke it, no insurance, out of warranty.
Went to VZW stores and kiosks,was told of supposidly all options: pay lower phone price + $20 for early upgrade fee (and lose $100 new in 2 benefit) and sign up for a new 2 year agreement, or, pay full retail for phone (about $120 to $150 more than lower price) plus $20 early upgrade fee. Would not sell to activate a prepaid phone. Bottom line, to get a phone that did anything, this was going to cost me around $180 or more.
Told by a little bird to go to Walmart, buy any 1 of 3 decent VZW "prepaid" phones they have which sell for $49 or $69 or $99, then call Custo...
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I had: VZW regular service plan, phone 14 months, broke it, no insurance, out of warranty.
Went to VZW stores and kiosks,was told of supposidly all options: pay lower phone price + $20 for early upgrade fee (and lose $100 new in 2 benefit) and sign up for a new 2 year agreement, or, pay full retail for phone (about $120 to $150 more than lower price) plus $20 early upgrade fee. Would not sell to activate a prepaid phone. Bottom line, to get a phone that did anything, this was going to cost me around $180 or more.
Told by a little bird to go to Walmart, buy any 1 of 3 decent VZW "prepaid" phones they have which sell for $49 or $69 or $99, then call Custo...
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gunny: they did for vzw stores selling prepaid, but walmart gets there phones not thru vzw. so it would almost be impossible for vzw to stop this. unless walmart got thru vzw. then they would have the esn numbers. but as of know. any one can still go to walmart and get phones there and use.
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you got lucky. that must of been an old pn-215 because all the new ones are bound by the esn as pn-215pp
and they will not be able to be activated on a post pay line regardless.
and they will not be able to be activated on a post pay line regardless.
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how do you know if the esn is boud pp? it doesnt say on the phone it says it in the billing system when its entered.
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i think you can still get them to go through if the rep is using the i2k billing system. I know fastpath and will not allow this but sometimes when we run into issues with the new system customer care will push stuff through using the old system and i bet it lets these slide. But in theory and this should not happen.
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I have an idea don't know if it will work in this siuation but why can't you manully chang ethe ESN on-line, you can does this from what I was told as long as the phone is not a V-cast phone I used to do it all the time, it might work.
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The phone will activate in I2K BUT had one the other day... couldn't get it to activate in general...it wouldn't OTA and the manual programming didn't work either.
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I was standing in the customer service line at Walmart (oxymoron there) and saw three straight customers there with this very situation. They were returning the phones because they bought them trying to activate them on a postpaid plan...replacing a handset...and were unable to do so. They were told the phone MUST be activated on a prepay plan and remain on that plan for at least 6 months before the ESN could be released. Three straight customers...all three exact same situation and answer.
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Hey Eagle, remember a couple of months ago when this exact same post was made and the guy had bought a phone from walmart, against all of our warnings and he took it home and tried to activate it online and it didnt work?
I guess people will never learn, why should they take our word on it? We only do this stuff every single day.
I guess people will never learn, why should they take our word on it? We only do this stuff every single day.
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Let me help you I work in a corp store right across the street from wal mart and the loophole has been closed according to the store manager at last weeks saturday meeting.
Up until that point the two techs in the store were telling people to just go to wal-mart and buy a pre-paid phone.
Can't be done anymore.
Up until that point the two techs in the store were telling people to just go to wal-mart and buy a pre-paid phone.
Can't be done anymore.
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What state do you work in? Our local corp store is right across from a Wal Mart too.
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Bottom line, is Consumers: it works, as stated! As stated, it must be done over the phone and is a normal transaction.
For instance, if you have standard family plan shared service, it CANNOT be changed online anyway and can only be done over the phone by the consumer (but nothing online tells you that).
Most of the VZW workers' don't know as much as they state on this site, and posts are often misleading because they keep referring to "online" ESN phone switching....as the original post said, it was done over the phone. Also, I think some misinformation is intentional.
The VZW people make statements like "3 people could not do it online" without knowing the facts or having the right info.
For instance, if you have standard family plan shared service, it CANNOT be changed online anyway and can only be done over the phone by the consumer (but nothing online tells you that).
Most of the VZW workers' don't know as much as they state on this site, and posts are often misleading because they keep referring to "online" ESN phone switching....as the original post said, it was done over the phone. Also, I think some misinformation is intentional.
The VZW people make statements like "3 people could not do it online" without knowing the facts or having the right info.
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OK. So we have established that you cannot read. I CLEARLY stated that they were TOLD they could not do this. TOLD. Online cannot TELL you anything verbally.
I have now been told by VZW's level 2 tech support and techs at the local retail store that it now CANNOT be done. They keep a database of prepay ESN's and postpay ESN's.
I have now been told by 3 customers that they were told they could not do this by customer care and 2 other reps that are in the know. I asked my vzw rep and she came back with a confirmation that VZW did close that loophole.
Just because it will work for one person, doesn't make it fact.
Example, someone has an excessive compulsive disorder. They must clean themselves every minute of every d...
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I have now been told by VZW's level 2 tech support and techs at the local retail store that it now CANNOT be done. They keep a database of prepay ESN's and postpay ESN's.
I have now been told by 3 customers that they were told they could not do this by customer care and 2 other reps that are in the know. I asked my vzw rep and she came back with a confirmation that VZW did close that loophole.
Just because it will work for one person, doesn't make it fact.
Example, someone has an excessive compulsive disorder. They must clean themselves every minute of every d...
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You can't even do that with Cingular phones anymore, and all that takes is popping the SIM into the new phone. Once they see the prepaid serial number on the account it gets suspended.
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Ah heck, its all one big racket. The whole prepay versus postpaid is a perfect example. These phones are freaking cheap, but they limit where you can buy the phones.
Here is an example. VZW was selling the E815 to the indirects for resale at (can't remember the EXACT price, but) 325 each. I had a customer looking to buy one cold and when I told him 350 he about had a heart attack. Then he proceeded to show me that on Moto's website he buy it full pop for 270. Ok...so either vzw's purchasing agent is piss poor that you can buy one for 270...but they bought 10,000 at 325 each (I say that because VZW swears they do not profit off the phone when sold to an indirect dealer). I sent an e-mail showing this to my indirect agent and she f...
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Here is an example. VZW was selling the E815 to the indirects for resale at (can't remember the EXACT price, but) 325 each. I had a customer looking to buy one cold and when I told him 350 he about had a heart attack. Then he proceeded to show me that on Moto's website he buy it full pop for 270. Ok...so either vzw's purchasing agent is piss poor that you can buy one for 270...but they bought 10,000 at 325 each (I say that because VZW swears they do not profit off the phone when sold to an indirect dealer). I sent an e-mail showing this to my indirect agent and she f...
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i think the problem is that walmart doesn't activate the phone once it is activated then it's bound to PP. At least that's what i was told.
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I am going to wait and see what happens when wal-mart starts telling verizon how much they are going to be charging for phones. This could be a good thing for customers.
And, shame on verizon for charging less for prepaid phones, and gouging the post paid. Why would you take a hit for prepaid over post paid, as crazyeagle said. That makes no sense at all. With prepaid, there is nothing keeping the customer as a customer, with postpaid, there is a contract holding that customer at bay, yet they charge the postpaid more for phones when it comes to retail. I agree with Crazyeagle, I dont buy the phone deal either.
And, I predict that walmart will start selling cell phones for all carriers at retail and a lot less then what verizon ...
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And, shame on verizon for charging less for prepaid phones, and gouging the post paid. Why would you take a hit for prepaid over post paid, as crazyeagle said. That makes no sense at all. With prepaid, there is nothing keeping the customer as a customer, with postpaid, there is a contract holding that customer at bay, yet they charge the postpaid more for phones when it comes to retail. I agree with Crazyeagle, I dont buy the phone deal either.
And, I predict that walmart will start selling cell phones for all carriers at retail and a lot less then what verizon ...
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trucksmoveamerica said:...
I am going to wait and see what happens when wal-mart starts telling verizon how much they are going to be charging for phones. This could be a good thing for customers.
And, shame on verizon for charging less for prepaid phones, and gouging the post paid. Why would you take a hit for prepaid over post paid, as crazyeagle said. That makes no sense at all. With prepaid, there is nothing keeping the customer as a customer, with postpaid, there is a contract holding that customer at bay, yet they charge the postpaid more for phones when it comes to retail. I agree with Crazyeagle, I dont buy the phone deal either.
And, I predict that walmart will start selling cell phones for all carriers
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yeah ijust came from there, wasn't all that impressed with their prices and their upgrade prices where more expensive thatn verizon even if you don't get ne2. WAsn't impressed.
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I am a tech at verizon and the only problem with buying those phones at Walmart is the fact that they are PrePaid. The PRLs (the list you download by dialing *22😎 are different and software is a little different. It is possible that you could have problems with roaming. Now the easy way to fix that problem is to take it to a Verizon Wireless Communication Store and have a tech 🙂 flash the software so that it would not roam and such. Mind you that all dealer locations sell phones sometimes that we do not have in the stores therefore we might not have the software. Its a hit and miss situation. I hope this information helps.
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