Here's my two cents on the whole Newegg phone sales:
We bought my girlfriend her Droid X on the 17th (Saturday) on Newegg.com for $179.99 shipped with a new Verizon contract (she was upgrading from her first gen iPhone on AT&T). The actual buying process was great. The website was easy to configure the plan/services.
On Monday 19th, we had the tracking number and the phone was delivered on Wednesday 21st in the morning. So far so good.
First thing my gf noticed was that the shipping box was pretty beat up and the actual Droid X's box was floating around in the bigger box without padding and was also beat up. She was pissed. The phone, however, was in good condition with no apparent damage or anything.
We then tried to activate the phone using the included printout with the instructions. It had her current AT&T number listed (the one to be ported over to VZW) and a temporary number (to be used for activation).
We booted up the phone and tried the activation. The automated system could not recognize either numbers. Tried multiple times and we were eventually connected to a live Verizon rep. He informed us that their system didn't show either number as valid and that it was due to the seller not having sent the customer information to Verizon yet.
We were a bit annoyed since we figured that should have been done once we purchased the phone and credit check was approved or at least during the package's transit time to us. So we called Newegg and they told us they don't handle the phone sales. It is handled by another company called Simplexity (IMHO from their name, their motto should be Making easy things complicated). I was a bit shocked at first since Newegg's site makes it look like it's all handled by them, but alas, I should have read the fine print disclaimer on their phone section.
So I call Simplexity (on Thursday 22nd) to ask them to send our customer info to Verizon since we are anxious to activate the phone. The lady on the phone tells me it will take up to 24 hours as they have to escalate the issue to their activation team. I get her name and hang up. I keep trying the activation every few hours to no avail. 24 hours later (on the dot), I call them back and ask what's going on. It is now Friday morning (the 23rd). I get another customer service rep and I get the same spiel about the 24 hours activation wait that will now start from this second call. I'm starting to get aggravated as the week-end looms and I know that if shit isn't done before the weekend then I'll have to wait until Monday. So I decide to give it a few more hours and keep trying the activation every hour. Around 3 or 4 pm that Friday, I decide to contact them again to get stuff going. I am now less patient and tell them that if the activation isn't done by the end of business on Friday, we will cancel the entire contract and return the phone for a full refund. This time I am told they will do everything they can to have it working ASAP and they've escalated the issue to a superior, blah blah blah.
Finally, late on Friday evening, my gf calls me from her land line to tell me that her iPhone just now started saying No Service. I boot up the Droid X and try the activation and now, at 8:00pm on Friday 23rd, the phone finally activates and we are good to go.
The whole experience kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't really have an issue with Newegg (I've spent close to $10K with them over the years and will continue to do so). Newegg was one of the few reputable sites to have the Droid X in stock when VZW was sold out. But I do have a problem with third-party sellers. It only adds more issues and it's hard finding out who to talk to to get shit resolved.
That's my Newegg/Simplexity story. Hope the read wasn't too long but I wanted to make sure this was said and available to anybody considering using Simplexity.
