Some corporate stores operate kiosks. There is one in my local mall (and there main stor'e is across the parking lot from the mall, which I'd also accept as "at the mall"). And here's a good way of telling the OP was at an actual corporate store. They looked at his phone...3rd party reseller wouldn't do that. They aren't "trained" (ok, I'd argue that the instore corporate guys aren't really trained either) and don't get any money from Verizon or HTC to provide service, so they don't provide any service.
I did say that it was a slim chance. The main reason that there are so few corporate kiosks is because Verizon usually has a corporate store in close proximity to malls. As far as authorized retailers "looking" at your phone, yes, some will. As an authorized retailer, they set their own policies regarding what type of support services they provide. Also, different authorized retailers provide varying levels of training to their employees. Now, while most stop at just sales, some will do simple services.
There is no way they will do that. Best Buy doesn't provide service in house. And if you walk in with story a store about Verizon offering a free battery, they'll want proof (which you don't have). It will seem VERY obvious that you're making things up, since if Verizon WAS offering a free battery you'd just get it from them. And they don't care that your phone is rooted because they don't provide warranty service.
As far as honoring the Verizon sale, he said "
discount", not "
free". I may have used the wrong word. Best Buy will sometimes "
match" offers from other companies. At no point did I say that they will take your word for it. I apologize for thinking that most people already know that any company who offers price matching will require proof. I thought that was pretty common knowledge.
As far as in house service goes, Best Buy does offer some. If you have their insurance policy and your phone cannot be repaired, they do not give you a refurbished phone (one of extremely few things that are better in their insurance). Instead you get a new one out of the box(Obviously, this depends on why your phone needed to be repaired). Also, please note that I did not say that Best Buy will root your phone. I said that
a few of the employees that I know will. These guys are friends of mine and take their laptops with them to work (The mall can be pretty slow at times). Obviously, Best Buy employees doing this is extremely rare. So much so, that my friends may even be the only ones who do this. Who knows for sure?
And even though Best Buy employees don't earn a direct commission, they still get pressured to up sell. Employees who do a good job pushing their horrible protection plan (read up on that elsewhere) and accessories get more hours, rewards, etc. Employees that don't get their hours cut. Granted, it's still far better than any other electronics store (and you can use that to try and get deals on phones if you offer to buy accessories as well).
Yes, this is true. At least we agree that it is still far better than going to a commissioned store.
