# Don't bother with Best Buy



## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

Wanted to put out a warning to everyone looking for the s3 on Verizon. Best Buy is not taking pre orders . Period. at all. Do not put a deposit down in store and think you will be getting a phone.
I went into a local store yesterday to look into pre order , the employee said I could pre order with a $50 deposit played around on the computer then told me the phone would cost $199 . I asked if that was for the 16gb or the 32gb. His eyes galzed , he pecked around on the computer then said the 32gb was $299 . My price from Verizon is $169/$219 so I walked out.
Called another B.B. locally today , the mobile "specialist" told me that I could pre order for Verizon , same $50 , but they had not been given the final price for the phone. That would be sweet for them , crank the final retail price as high as they want or just keep my deposit.
They also lied about the cost and payout on B.B. buyback plan , I was told for a $799 retail price device the plan would cost $30 and pay out $250 when I'm eligible for upgrade in two years . The plan costs $60 and pays $160 at18-24 months out.
So I just got off the phone with corporate C.S. supervisor , she told me that B.B. is not taking pre orders on the s3 on Verizon and has no info on whether or not that might change . She called what the in store staff did " a case of them having the wrong information" . I call it a deliberate lie . Making up prices , confirming pre order when there is none , there is nothing else you can call it but a lie.
Don't get suckered into giving them a deposit thinking you will get a phone , YOU WILL NOT. I have no Idea how they deal with refunding a deposit so I'm not speaking on that .

Edit : Maybe my wording was a bit harsh . "deliberate lie" might be strong , even if that is my opinion . They made up prices for the Verizon variants of this phone based on the Sprint and AT&T prices , as there are no prices on their system for the Verizon s3. I stand by my statement about the buy back program lie however.


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## 0195311 (Jul 14, 2011)

I pre ordered mine through BB and was told $199.99 for the 16 gig version, and my receipt says that I have 72 hours from the time I am notified of availability to pick up and pay for my reserved phone in the store. Otherwise they are free to sell the phone to another customer. The only thing I would be wary of with BB is the possibility of losing your unlimited data plan if VZ comes out with shared data before the phone launches, which you can safeguard against by pre ordering with VZ. I Just had a $50 discount from a promo for a phone upgrade through BB so I decided to chance it with them.


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## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

0195311 said:


> I pre ordered mine through BB and was told $199.99 for the 16 gig version, and my receipt says that I have 72 hours from the time I am notified of availability to pick up and pay for my reserved phone in the store. Otherwise they are free to sell the phone to another customer. The only thing I would be wary of with BB is the possibility of losing your unlimited data plan if VZ comes out with shared data before the phone launches, which you can safeguard against by pre ordering with VZ. I Just had a $50 discount from a promo for a phone upgrade through BB so I decided to chance it with them.


Did you pre order in store ? If so then you didn't pre order anything according to customer service supervisor when I called their 800 number. Like I said , two stores were willing to take my money , but since corporate says that they are not taking pre orders for the verizon version , unless the supervisor lied to me , you will be sadly disappointed when the phone comes out .
Did they give you prices on the two different models , or just say that they thought it would be $xxx ? the stores I contacted guessed that it would be $199 , they didn't know there were two different sizes , because they can only pull up info on the att and sprint pre sales.


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## 0195311 (Jul 14, 2011)

I don't know who you talked to, but honestly it could just be an issue of semantics. I just got off the phone with a Best Buy mobile customer service rep about an unrelated question, but he confirmed that everything was fine with the Verizon SIII reservations. Perhaps the person you talked to was only hesitant to call it a "pre-order" because you are not actually buying the phone, and you are not guaranteed to have a phone available unless you go to the store and pick it up yourself. In that sense it's more of a reservation. It's just too hard to believe that Best Buy would be trying to pull off some grandiose scam... it wouldn't be a very good business model in the long term. If you're still concerned you should just call and talk to somebody else. You can't expect every rep to be completely knowledgeable, especially when they're selling like 16 different versions of the phone you're asking about.

Edit: What DID feel like a scam was when I "pre-ordered" my Droid X through my local Verizon before it came out, and I went to the store on the morning of launch day only to find that they had sold the phone I had been coveting so ardently over the past several weeks to another customer. They didn't even give me 2 hours leeway... and I had to wait a whole two days before I could get one. After that I kinda trust Best Buy's willpower to hold onto devices a little more than Verizon's. File it under first world problems.


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## Alix8821 (Jan 12, 2012)

acras said:


> Did you pre order in store ? If so then you didn't pre order anything according to customer service supervisor when I called their 800 number. Like I said , two stores were willing to take my money , but since corporate says that they are not taking pre orders for the verizon version , unless the supervisor lied to me , you will be sadly disappointed when the phone comes out .
> Did they give you prices on the two different models , or just say that they thought it would be $xxx ? the stores I contacted guessed that it would be $199 , they didn't know there were two different sizes , because they can only pull up info on the att and sprint pre sales.


Yea I dunno WTF yur talking about. But i pre-ordered, was reassured by ALL the employees there, called VZW to verify I would keep Unlimited Data, Called BB hotline as well... Everything was ok. Getting phone ASAP, keeping unlimited data, 16gb was $199... I honestly think yur Best Buy just didn't know wat was up... That, or yur getting Punk'd. Haha

Oh Well. Best of luck I guess... I'm Set


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## Chakra (Jan 7, 2012)

Yes at best buy you "reserve" a phone with the purchase of a 50$ refundable gift card.


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## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

OK , I was trying to give people a heads up that the employees in the store are not giving out the right information as per a supervisor I spoke to when I called corporate , thats all . I'm Telling people to verify someplace other than in store. It's not a matter of semantics when the supervisor said " we are not taking pre orders for verizon on the s3 , just at&t and sprint . That is pretty clear that from what she saidthe in store reps shouldn't be taking money for the Verizon version. Like I said , I am going off of what the supervisor said , that the store reps were giving me the wrong information when they said I could put a deposit down on the verizon s3 . I was trying to help people out just telling them to make a call to a toll free number to get verification . Glad to see took that as an invitation to be annoying , rather than in the spirit of helping . Really hope this insn't an indication of how the samsung boards are going to be when I switch over to this phone . Just a little harsh.
I won't bother anyone else on this topic . Sorry


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## neyenlives (Aug 5, 2011)

wow this guy gets intense over a VZW preorder fiasco eh?


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## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

Ok, I lied about being done on this topic , kind of enjoying the people that are saying I don't know WTF I'm talking about. So , let me ask a question . Would it be worth talking to someone higher up the food chain than the kid working the counter at the local B.B. mobile department if there WAS a chance that the "reservation" was incorrect? I thought it was , so I posted this .
Another question for those that think I have some vendetta against people buying from Best Buy , why does there website show the 16gb samsung galaxy s3 in blue or white for $199 on Sprint and AT&T , but there is no s3 on verizon ? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=526313306949809169&id=pcat17071&type=page&ks=960&st=samsung+galaxy+s3&sc=Global&cp=1&sp=&qp=crootcategoryid%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q73616d73756e672067616c617879207333~~nf349||53616d73756e67&list=y&usc=All+Categories&nrp=15&iht=n
Is that reasonable enough evidence to say that someone pre ordering , or reserving this phone from B.B. might want to check out what the current status is with 1-888-BESTBUY ? According to a couple of responses here , the answer is "no" , trust the kid at the local store . Cool with me , I chose to believe what the supervisor told me , no reservation on this , and I pre ordered from Verizon . Looking forward to people telling me how far my head is up my *** now.


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## jdubau55 (Feb 21, 2012)

I'm going to have to agree here. Even if you look online you can pre-order for Sprint and AT&T, but there are no VZW phones that show up. I want to pre-order through BB to take advantage of the $50 offer from a few months ago. I will call my local BB and BB Mobile to confirm. If I go through VZW I get a $30 upgrade discount (BS) but with the new stupid upgrade fee of $30 it puts me back at $200 basically.

Edit: Called the BBM store near me. He did say that they were accepting "reservations" for the VZW SG3. Which he said was basically you got one reserved then came in at release and picked it up. When asked about keeping Unlimited data he was unsure. Said that with VZW you pre-order and basically sign the contract with VZW at pre-order. Said with the BB system you come in at release and then that's when they process the contract changes. This makes me lean towards doing it with VZW even though I have that $50 promo from earlier in the year with BB. I would hate to pre-order with BB and then when I go in to get the phone I can no longer keep my unlimited data package.

So yes, sounds like they are taking reservations for the VZW GS3, but by doing so you might lose your unlimited data.


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## egodogg (Oct 16, 2011)

I preordered from Verizon because of my last experience with best buy mobile that took 7 months to resolve. If I hadn't, and was considering best buy, I'd appreciate the heads up. You try to help people from trouble and they choose to argue. If it doesn't work out for them, their problems. Thanks for the heads up

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2


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## jdubau55 (Feb 21, 2012)

acras said:


> I chose to believe what the supervisor told me , no reservation on this , and I pre ordered from Verizon . Looking forward to people telling me how far my head is up my *** now.


This is how I took it. I am not going to take the chance of going through BB and losing my unlimited data then being forced into the stupid Share Everything plans.


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## 0195311 (Jul 14, 2011)

Okay, this should kill two birds with one stone:

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/212730638233632769
That link is to a tweet from the official @VZWSupport twitter account, stating that you'll keep your unlimited data by preordering the S3 from Best Buy. So it's basically a binding legal document. ;D

I've got no idea why the VZW S3 wouldn't show up online, my best guess is that it's only available in stores, or perhaps they've already sold out of their preorder stock. Anyway I've confirmed that my S3 preorder is good to go with my local Best Buy, with a customer service rep over the phone from Best Buy Mobile, and now we have confirmation of both the phone's availability from Best Buy and the ability to keep unlimited data with a Best Buy preorder. No worries dudes! Enjoy your new phones wherever you get them from.


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## neyenlives (Aug 5, 2011)

0195311 said:


> Okay, this should kill two birds with one stone: https://twitter.com/...730638233632769
> 
> That link is to a tweet from the official @VZWSupport twitter account, stating that you'll keep your unlimited data by preordering the S3 from Best Buy. So it's basically a binding legal document. ;D
> 
> I've got no idea why the VZW S3 wouldn't show up online, my best guess is that it's only available in stores, or perhaps they've already sold out of their preorder stock. Anyway I've confirmed that my S3 preorder is good to go with my local Best Buy, with a customer service rep over the phone from Best Buy Mobile, and now we have confirmation of both the phone's availability from Best Buy and the ability to keep unlimited data with a Best Buy preorder. No worries dudes! Enjoy your new phones wherever you get them from.


there isn't anything binding or legal and certainly not the two combined about anything you posted

it's just like the droid-life blurb on their site that said "we spoke to our PR rep who said you will keep unlimited data if you preorder the GSIII".....but nobody on record to own the statement. anyone can say anything but what matters is what happens when VZW decides what they want to do.

truth be told, at the time of activation, Verizon is well within their ability and completely legal for them to nullify the agreement you agreed to when you preordered, and simply throw away your unlimited data and force you to pick a new plan and contract, or go elsewhere.

to be honest, they are being pretty clear they do not want anyone with unlimited data. as time goes on there are less and less people that are on the unlimited data list. at some point their bean counters are looking at it saying.......the losses are far better than the cost to let these people continue to use ridiculous amounts of data. I am not talking about the guys who use 5GB a month......I am talking about the assholes that obviously abuse what was never supposed to replace broadband and are moving 100GB a month...using it to supply their entire home with internet service. It's those assholes who are continuing to ruin things for the rest of the community who use their fair share but don't abuse it.

Wireless cell data was never meant to be used like they are. At the time the "unlimited" plans were introduced you could barely do much damage with the available hardware and infrastructure. At the time, and I didn't go back to check for correctness....so sue me.....but you would be hard pressed to use more than several gigabytes of data in a month. As time progressed and 4G became a reality, suddenly people could move 10 times as much data or more easily. At the time the number of people doing such were tiny in comparison. So the network and whatnot could take it. Who knows if their system is truly taxed or not? If they are smart it never got close to capacity and there was always a large overhead.

why don't you guys just stop messing around with Worst Buy who obviously doesn't have their crap together and just order it direct through Verizon like the rest of the intelligent life here?


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## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

ok , lets keep this party going . Yes , with pre order , we keep our unlimited data from Verizon , even if the phone comes to us after June 28 . I pre ordered from Verizon , and I have documentation that verifies such , and numerous people have posted the same thing , complete with screen shots of their orders.
Now , for the sake of argument , lets say that what I was told by B.B. is correct and they are not taking "reservations" , "pre oreders" , or anything on the Verizon version of this phone . You go down to best buy when they are available , lets say its after June 28 , the last day of unlimited data. If it wasn't in fact a pre order , but a place keeper for release date that you got , you will in fact be buying the phone , and extending your contract , AFTER shared data starts .
Again , I say its worth taking a couple minutes to really check this out so that you confirm that you get to keep your unlimited data. Not at the local store , call 888 bestbuy .
A question for those who "reserved" at B.B. , did you get documentation from Verizon showing that you kept your unlimited data ? I haven't heard from anyone stating that they have something from Verizon in writing . I've seen that people have been told that but no confirmation in writing . I'm wondering about the semantics now , at Verizon , we are "pre ordering" , which Verizon stated would maintain unlimited data . At B.B. you are "reserving" which may not be considered the same thing as far as keeping the unlimited data plan .


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## 0195311 (Jul 14, 2011)

neyenlives said:


> [background=rgb(245, 245, 245)]there isn't anything binding or legal and certainly not the two combined about anything you posted[/background]


That comment was not actually serious (note the smiley face at the end), but at this point it would cause a pretty huge PR problem for Verizon and Best Buy to back out of the whole preorder-to-keep-unlimited arrangement. You're right, it could happen... but I feel pretty safe about it now that we've gotten some public word from Verizon on the issue. Here's another tweet, just for fun! An official press release would just be an added bonus.


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## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

0195311 said:


> No need to put anybody down. Personally I find a $50 discount to be a pretty good incentive to choose Best Buy.
> 
> That comment was not actually serious (note the smiley face at the end), but at this point it would cause a pretty huge PR problem for Verizon and Best Buy to back out of the whole preorder-to-keep-unlimited arrangement. You're right, it could happen... but I feel pretty safe about it now that we've gotten some public word from Verizon on the issue. Here's another tweet, just for fun! An official press release would just be an added bonus.


I see what you are saying , and I read the tweets , I still question weather B.B. is taking pre orders , or if it is the questionable "reservation" people are getting . Verizon can say that you will keep your unlimited data if you pre order through B.B. , but if B.B. is not taking pre orders , just reservations , then verizon has no control of it , and you loose unlimited through the actions of B.B , and Verizon has done nothing wrong . If you think that B.B. would never risk angering customers by doing that , remember people looking to get this phone are a small % of their business . Also remember , they are working their way toward where Circuit City , Comp USA , and others have gone because of poor business decisions in the last couple of years . I want them to stick around , I like being able to walk into a real store to compare tv's cameras , etc. , but the writing is on the wall , how many stores are they closing this year ?


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## jdubau55 (Feb 21, 2012)

The $20 difference between the price of BB and VZW ($50 promo from February vs. the $30 upgrade discount from VZW) is not worth losing my unlimited data. Seriously if you're so hard up for that $20 you don't need to be buying a $200 phone. If you go through VZW you actually pick all the plan options and agree to the terms. BB guy said their system would process the contract at the pick up of the phone.


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## Chakra (Jan 7, 2012)

I am paying cash, no upgrade so Bust Buy will work fine for someone in my situation. I will not loose anything except my hard earned money ...


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## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

0195311 said:


> Yea I dunno WTF yur talking about. But i pre-ordered, was reassured by ALL the employees there, called VZW to verify I would keep Unlimited Data, Called BB hotline as well... Everything was ok. Getting phone ASAP, keeping unlimited data, 16gb was $199... I honestly think yur Best Buy just didn't know wat was up... That, or yur getting Punk'd. Haha
> 
> Oh Well. Best of luck I guess... I'm Set


More confirmation that you will get screwed out of unlimited data if you "reserve" at B.B. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1709463 . This, is WTF I'm talking about .


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## ben7337 (Jul 4, 2011)

Chakra said:


> I am paying cash, no upgrade so Bust Buy will work fine for someone in my situation. I will not loose anything except my hard earned money ...


Full price retail then? You should be aware that retailers tend to charge more than retail for phones. So a GSIII valued at $599.99 or $649.99 at verizon is likely $649.99 and $699.99 at best buy. Just so you are aware, you should always buy directly from verizon when buying at full price without an upgrade.


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## Chakra (Jan 7, 2012)

ben7337 said:


> Full price retail then? You should be aware that retailers tend to charge more than retail for phones. So a GSIII valued at $599.99 or $649.99 at verizon is likely $649.99 and $699.99 at best buy. Just so you are aware, you should always buy directly from verizon when buying at full price without an upgrade.


You are correct..... except...... Best Buy price matches!


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## joebob296 (Sep 2, 2011)

I completely agree with the OP I went into bb the day the pre-orders started on June 5th and they had no idea what phone I was talking about saying that it wasn't a real phone....based on this how can one trust a bb enough to secure an unlimited data plan for a phone that they don't even know about. Just go with Verizon. Even if you already did pre-order them through bb you can go to customer service and get your refend for the 50 gift card.


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## Stam2000 (Aug 1, 2011)

joebob296 said:


> I completely agree with the OP I went into bb the day the pre-orders started on June 5th and they had no idea what phone I was talking about saying that it wasn't a real phone....based on this how can one trust a bb enough to secure an unlimited data plan for a phone that they don't even know about. Just go with Verizon. Even if you already did pre-order them through bb you can go to customer service and get your refend for the 50 gift card.


My local best buy told me that Verizon's SG3 is coming with a quad core processor, LTE and a 12 megapixel camera.......

Sent from my HTC Incredible 2 using Tapatalk 2


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## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

Stam2000 said:


> My local best buy told me that Verizon's SG3 is coming with a quad core processor, LTE and a 12 megapixel camera.......
> 
> Sent from my HTC Incredible 2 using Tapatalk 2


If they are selling it for $199 I would DEFINATELY pick that one up , imagine what you could sell that unicorn for on ebay


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## BMc08GT (Jun 23, 2011)

Stam2000 said:


> My local best buy told me that Verizon's SG3 is coming with a quad core processor, LTE and a 12 megapixel camera.......
> 
> Sent from my HTC Incredible 2 using Tapatalk 2


 then you arent buying the US version. its been documented that its dual-core S4 with 8mp. Tegra3 is not up to snuff with the lte chipset yet(i.e why OneX isnt tegra3 in us)


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## PhantomGamers (Sep 27, 2011)

BMc08GT said:


> then you arent buying the US version. its been documented that its dual-core S4 with 8mp. Tegra3 is not up to snuff with the lte chipset yet(i.e why OneX isnt tegra3 in us)


is that the part that set you off? not the 12 megapixel camera?


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## BMc08GT (Jun 23, 2011)

PhantomGamers said:


> is that the part that set you off? not the 12 megapixel camera?


didnt set me off? just clearing up the trolling and keeping info straight.


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## PhantomGamers (Sep 27, 2011)

BMc08GT said:


> didnt set me off? just clearing up the trolling and keeping info straight.


set you off as in, that was what you picked out to realize it was BS.
who's trolling? him or best buy?

I honestly believe best buy told him that, and I do not believe they were trolling him, I think they were just ignorant as to which device he was inquiring about.


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## acras (Jan 10, 2012)

BMc08GT said:


> set you off as in, that was what you picked out to realize it was BS.
> who's trolling? him or best buy?
> 
> I honestly believe best buy told him that, and I do not believe they were trolling him, I think they were just ignorant as to which device he was inquiring about.


Hell , Best Buy is likely to tell you it's being delayed because sammy is putting the new Sharp 90" backlit LCD display in it , and whirlpool is putting a front load washing machine on the back .
I went to the store that spurred this topic again yesterday ,hoping they might have a live s3 on one of the other carriers I could check out . A different "mobile specialist" told me the phone wasn't scheduled to be released for 3 weeks , and that Verizon wasn't getting it at all . I just laughed and walked away


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## p-slim (Jan 2, 2012)

When I pre ordered at best buy the phone came out to $749, that's $150 more. Since you buy the phone from best buy mobile and not best buy the rules are different and they wouldn't price match. I know they usually do but I didn't feel like going thru the hassle. I canceled my pre order with bb and ordered from vzw online

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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