Norm Hill
Simpsonville,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, April 11, 2012
Consumers don't understand why they can't change to a different model phone if the new phone is defective or they just don't like the phone they just purchased. First, the price of the phone is highly subsidized by the carrier and as such, it's money out of their pocket. They recoup it by providing the monthly bill or early termination fee if you cancel. If the phone is defective, it is repaired, not replaced by the manufacturer and becomes the replacement phone or insurance phone. Even if it's perfectly fine and you cancel service during the Worry Free Guarantee, the perfectly good phone can't be sold as new. It again becomes a replacement or insurance phone so the carrier is out the cost of that phone. Personally, when I was in the biz, I advocated.."You want a new phone, here's HTC's phone number." and get carriers out of retail. If you had to pay $600 bucks for an IPhone, maybe you'd see where the carriers are coming from.