Originally Posted by
unlockthatphonecom it's messy, stressful, & most the time it's worth the 5-20 to get it from a seller

but I always always tell ppl on forums to try their carrier first.
Good advise but I always boil it down to how much is your time worth. When you factor in the sitting on hold, the discussion, bargaining, pleading with customer support while you try and get them to hand it over to you, in the end a lot of times, you end up happier going to a seller. Though I do know there are those lucky ones that get a good customer support agent that gets them through the process quickly, I just haven't heard many of those stories.
I'd much rather be out enjoying my summer than dealing with that.