True Confessions - Lessons of a cell phone purchase!

I have a confession to make...'Tho I'm the queen of shop local, I purchased a Verizon Droid phone for a holiday gift online - Ouch - instead of at our local friendly Verizon store in Mountain Brook Plaza.  I've purchased all our previous phones there, but because it's the holiday season, I justified my online purchase because I thought:

1.  It appeared to be cheaper - wrong!
2.  I thought it would save me time - wrong!
3.  I thought I was tech savvy enough to program it myself - wrong!
4.  I wanted to avoid the crowds in the very popular store  - wrong!
5.  I thought just this once, an online purchase might be justified - wrong!

The phone did initially appear to be cheaper because rather than mailing in for the rebate, the rebate was deducted from the price.  Add to that the shipping, and the amount that I had to pay for programming and transferring data (that would have been free if I had purchased it at the store) and the phone purchased online was ultimately more expensive.

Although I carefully followed the enclosed instructions to program the phone, turns out the mail rep inadvertently included on the documentation the wrong calling plan which was incompatible with the new phone (something I never would have known) so it could not access the internet.  My very patient local rep spent nearly a half an hour on the phone working this out for me - something he would have caught, had I purchased the phone in our local store.  I watched as other reps listened to their customers and provided several phone options and price ranges for them based on their cellular requirements, and was reminded that this kind of personal service is worth a lot!  I also saw a few neighbors I hadn't seen in a while, so the time passed quickly...

The phone I purchased was supposed to arrive internet-ready out-of-the box once activated, but with this phone, it took several phone calls, the removal of the battery, and reactivation by my local Verizon store rep.  This is something they routinely do for their customers to make sure everything is working properly before completing the purchase.

So please, do as I say, and not as I did - Ouch - buy local this holiday season!  Learn from my mistakes...The service, the time saved, the tax dollars you will provide your community, and the relationships that you will establish with your local vendors are well worth it!  Happy Holidays!