$35 Restocking fee?

[newcollector]

A forum member said his new 9810 had hardware issues (what he described were definitely hardware...rebooting intermittently and other issues) but CS said it would still cost him $35. The issues were verified at the store. The reason given was there had been so many BB's returned and this restocking fee is a new policy.

Is this true? No matter that the phone is bad or that it is the first 30 days of ownership that a restock fee is levied?

[sedalia066]

According to the sales rep when I bought my 9810 recently the $35 is policy. She made that sound as though any return would be charged. No issues for me so not testing the charge.

Not a surprise if that is the case. A$$ is all about making money in every way possible. They take little responsibility for failed phones these days or so it seems.

[rrrebo]

The fee is to make up for the fact that once a product is returned, it cannot be sold as new again. Whether there is anything wrong with it or not, it's now considered "refurbished" by law. Even devices that are returned simply because the buyer wanted something else, but had no problems with it at all, must by law be marked "refurbished". Refurb devices will be used to honor exchanges or be sold at a discount.

[Mister Xiado]

DOA phones = no restocking fee. Call customer service and ask for the policies on returning equipment within the buyer's remorse period if the phone is determined to be defective (DOA).

Alas, I cannot cite article numbers or titles.

[newcollector]

After talking to a CSR for ATT, the response was this: phones that are discovered to be defective during the the warranty period, then no restocking fee.

[thedirty]

The reason for the restocking fee is due to the high number of returns. And the reason for the returns is because blackberrys, especially the torch, are the number one phones sold for frad cases. basically, someone will go to a store, open up an account with the maximum number of lines their credit will allow (5 is max) and get the phones. they then port out the lines, sell off the phones and cancel the contract within the allowed trial days. its a quick buck but a lot of them freak out when the store activates the phones and registers to the network. They then return the phones and cancel the contract because once the phone has been registered to the network att is aware that the phone is active and will ask for the phone back if the contract is cancled. I see it on a daily basis at work and always activate the phones before ringing them out. Its pretty funny actually

[Mister Xiado]

Thanks, TD, and keep up the great work.

But it IS funny, asking someone to file a police report when they say that their five new iPhones were stolen from their car, and they absolutely refuse to report the loss of over $3500 in phones to any legal authority.

Also the ever funny "Mister Nguyen, I found your phone! It's in your RIGHT HAND." *click*