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DROID Bionic And Accessory Bundle Costco Discussion Thread (Including Q&A from YankeeDudeL)

I went to costco today and walked by the cell kiosk - I said to the guy:

"Bionic Thursday, right?"

He said:
"Yep, get here early!"

WOOOT guess I'm gonna be late for work! sshhh don't tell my boss!
 
My interest is solely on the policy regarding refunds. If what you say is true regarding the 14 day policy, I can't find support for the policy anyplace on the Costco website.


What I do find is the following



The above statement pretty clearly states that that the refund period is 90 days for cellular phones.


Yes, the 90 days is for refunds.... not exchange for a different phone. But you say, "OK, give me the refund and I just go back and buy a different phone"... Nope, won't work. If you remember after the 14 day period, your upgrade with discounted price goes away. So, you can get a refund, but now your phone purchase will be at the full retail price.

This is correct. The refund policy will be in your customer letter which you will receive with your printed contract. You will leave with a copy of everything you go home with.

Looks like I'll have to clarify this further in a separate comment.

I'm assuming you guys use eRoes too... Most resellers do. So what is a 1-year upgrade as opposed to a 2 year? My account shows eligible for equipment upgrade in eRoes, I'm assuming that means I'm safe to get my phone at costco?

Correct, we use eROES ;). This is Verizon's system, same one Verizon and all third party venders use. A 1 year upgrade is one generally afforded to the main account holder in which they qualify for an upgrade after 13 months. This also counts as an "early" upgrade which requires a $35 fee. They've since done away with these, but there's still some lingering out there. The fee is why I don't think we can do it.

We can see that it's an early upgrade or NE2, but we can only perform the qualified 20 month upgrade. I believe that's due to the early upgrade fee and the credit offered with NE2.

Can Costco carry over my company 20% discount?

Your bill and company discount will not be affected. You just don't get a discount on phone or accessories with us. Of course, we give you the accessories, anyway. :)

Another thing I don't **THINK** they can do, is put the price of the phone on your phone bill. Yankee, please let me know if this is not the case, as I would jump on this deal if this where possible. However, I do not think it is, and as such I will be purchasing at a VZW store instead (and shell out for the extras unfortunately)...

Affirmative. Costco purchases their inventory from Verizon, therefore there's no bill to place it on. When you pay Costco they are recouping the cost of purchasing that phone.

Is the docking station inlcuded in the bundle a WebTop adapter?

I wish I knew. As far as the details on the bundle, I know about as much as everyone here (until I see them for myself). They haven't come in yet. When I know, you'se will know.

Are you sure about the NE2? My friend upgraded by NE2 at our local Costco and he got he same price as the NE2 with the $100 discount on his Charge.

I wonder how long the lines will be?

And last Charge or Bionic? Oh maybe wont thread. :eek:

Positive. He was either misinformed or the information was translated differently. See, VZW generally offers either a $30 or $50 credit toward your new phone with the NE2 upgrade. We're going to beat those prices every day on smartphones. Case in point, the Charge costs $300 at VZW. It costs $200 at Costco. I can only assume that's what happened.

Costco wireless rep by me confirmed a "pallet" of the phones coming and an "unusually good" bundle with the phone :)

For the record, I did post the same thing somewhere on this forum. But I'll reiterate. :p

This is what we were told as well. I was told on Friday that we'd be receiving a "pallet" any day now, as per an email we received. When the Costco GM and another employee came to our kiosk in passing, my KM mentioned to him about it. He turned to his employee telling him, "That's that email we got about the pallet, make sure xyz area is ready for it."

That's significant because phones generally come in a box. One box. We get probably less than 10 at a time. The fact that it's a pallet all but confirms the accessory bundle.
 
That's significant because phones generally come in a box. One box. We get probably less than 10 at a time. The fact that it's a pallet all but confirms the accessory bundle.

freddie.png
 
I went into the Santa Cruz location and while they didn't know exactly what day the Bionics will get in, the guy let me hold the dummy model they put out at their kiosks. Granted it was only a dummy unit, but it felt nice, light and thin and the buttons were easy to press. Can't wait to check out the live unit
 
I went into the Santa Cruz location and while they didn't know exactly what day the Bionics will get in, the guy let me hold the dummy model they put out at their kiosks. Granted it was only a dummy unit, but it felt nice, light and thin and the buttons were easy to press. Can't wait to check out the live unit

Buttons? They're capacative, no?
 
@yankee

from everything i've read so far it seems that there likely will be less than 10 units per store, is that accurate? if so how early would you recommend to be at the store based on previous experiences.
 
That's significant because phones generally come in a box. One box. We get probably less than 10 at a time. The fact that it's a pallet all but confirms the accessory bundle.

Well thats good news if you ask me :) Im excited to get it confirmed as I am planning on running down to Costco on Wednesday to get me a membership ;)
 
I went to costco today and walked by the cell kiosk - I said to the guy:

"Bionic Thursday, right?"

He said:
"Yep, get here early!"

WOOOT guess I'm gonna be late for work! sshhh don't tell my boss!

Cool thing about working in IT. I can tell my boss that I HAVE to take Thursday off to get my new Bionic. He will totally understand. :D
 
@yankee

from everything i've read so far it seems that there likely will be less than 10 units per store, is that accurate? if so how early would you recommend to be at the store based on previous experiences.

Generally speaking, that's about the number we usually get in per phone. However, since we've been told we're getting a pallet, I'd imagine a larger number. They def plan on making a huge push on this device. Still, every location is diff. Some get more units of certain phones than others, based on previous selling history.

They've made big pushes on phones before. My KM told me that they did something similar when the BB Storm came out. They got a grand total of 3 units in. Sold out immediately. That was a couple years ago, and the company was much smaller then. I'm sure by now they've learned from that mistake, but you never know. The moment I'm able to purchase it, I have every intention on.
 
Generally speaking, that's about the number we usually get in per phone. However, since we've been told we're getting a pallet, I'd imagine a larger number. They def plan on making a huge push on this device. Still, every location is diff. Some get more units of certain phones than others, based on previous selling history.

They've made big pushes on phones before. My KM told me that they did something similar when the BB Storm came out. They got a grand total of 3 units in. Sold out immediately. That was a couple years ago, and the company was much smaller then. I'm sure by now they've learned from that mistake, but you never know. The moment I'm able to purchase it, I have every intention on.

Im planning on being @ the Door @ 10am ... if for whatever reason there is people in front of me and it sells out ... ima need your # so you can hold one for me, im coming to MB LOL.
 
Hmmm. Would we be able to call the store we're interested in and pre-order / set aside the phone we want? I'm heading to the closest store near me (85 miles) but it's South of Atlanta, and while the area has been booming for the last 10 years, it might still be considered a smaller store, so....
 
Yankee, is it safe to assume I can pick any Costco (with a cell phone kiosk) in my area to go to on Thursday? I know for a fact that sometimes different stores have products that other stores don't have. Not sure if this is the case with cell phones.
 
Does anyone know the average amount of time it takes for Costco to get another shipment of phones if the first runs out? The reason I ask is that my parents are members, I'm not, and I'd like them to pick up the phone/bundle for me. However, learning from our friend YankeeD Costco has to activate the phone as soon as they buy it and the next time I see them is Sept 24. I can't be without a phone until then even if it is for the Bionic. Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.
 
Does anyone know the average amount of time it takes for Costco to get another shipment of phones if the first runs out? The reason I ask is that my parents are members, I'm not, and I'd like them to pick up the phone/bundle for me. However, learning from our friend YankeeD Costco has to activate the phone as soon as they buy it and the next time I see them is Sept 24. I can't be without a phone until then even if it is for the Bionic. Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.
No problem. As soon as they leave Costco have them notify you via landline that they have the Bionic and you dial *228 and reactivate your phone and use it until you see them again. Hope I made sense.
 
No problem. As soon as they leave Costco have them notify you via landline that they have the Bionic and you dial *228 and reactivate your phone and use it until you see them again. Hope I made sense.

Awesome. I figured I'd have to do something along those lines. Thought I'd have to go into a store to do it. Appreciate the quick reply and great info.
 
No problem. As soon as they leave Costco have them notify you via landline that they have the Bionic and you dial *228 and reactivate your phone and use it until you see them again. Hope I made sense.

Awesome. I figured I'd have to do something along those lines. Thought I'd have to go into a store to do it. Appreciate the quick reply and great info.

From Yankee's own mouth:

Whenever the phone is bought is when it has to be activated. This is because we change the device in the system.
 
From Yankee's own mouth:
What I suguested was AFTER his parents activated the phone (Bionic) at Costco he could call and reactivate his old phone. (the one he was using prior to his parents activating the Bionic at pur hase) Ive done this so Iknow its possible.
 
What I suguested was AFTER his parents activated the phone (Bionic) at Costco he could call and reactivate his old phone. (the one he was using prior to his parents activating the Bionic at pur hase) Ive done this so Iknow its possible.

That....


Is ingenious.
 
I thought the price of the bundle was $299

To be honest, I don't know what it's going to cost. I do know that it's currently in the system as $300 (ok, $299.98, but I always make my numbers clean). This is without an applicable IRC (Instant Rebate Code), which is always applied. It very well might be $250. However, there's a chance that there isn't a rebate and that the accessories are a bonus. To be honest, I really don't know.

Yankee, is it safe to assume I can pick any Costco (with a cell phone kiosk) in my area to go to on Thursday? I know for a fact that sometimes different stores have products that other stores don't have. Not sure if this is the case with cell phones.

I would say yes, but I can't guarantee it. Sometimes diff kiosks get diff phones at diff times. We got a D3 dummy unit the day of the preorder. We had to sell out of the D2 before we could get an order of D3's in, which happened about a week later. Took two weeks after that to get them in.

Does anyone know the average amount of time it takes for Costco to get another shipment of phones if the first runs out? The reason I ask is that my parents are members, I'm not, and I'd like them to pick up the phone/bundle for me. However, learning from our friend YankeeD Costco has to activate the phone as soon as they buy it and the next time I see them is Sept 24. I can't be without a phone until then even if it is for the Bionic. Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.

We get new inventory in every Wednesday. It would greatly depend on how quickly we sold out, or got low enough to have more ordered. I'd fathom two weeks. I'll finish the question below.

What I suguested was AFTER his parents activated the phone (Bionic) at Costco he could call and reactivate his old phone. (the one he was using prior to his parents activating the Bionic at pur hase) Ive done this so Iknow its possible.

Yup, sure can do. Might have to activate it from a diff phone. Might could do it from *228 by pressing option 3, and typing in the number manually. Or you could call 611.
 
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