Making sure of getting a "new" phone

What your talkin about only happens @shady authorized dealers. So buy from online, a corporate store or a local authorized dealer with a good rep.

Best bet is online or a corporate store

The only time you get a refurbished phone is through an insurance claim or if you bring in your phone with a software problem within the 1st 30 days I believe or even after if they see fit.

 

Well an easy way to figure out if it's refurbished or not is to look at the lifetime calls(if that's what it's called).

 

lifetime calls can easily be reset

 

Can you tell me how? And when I got my replacement phone it still had them

 

Reinstall the firmware in your case (LG Esteem) through LGNSPT or something like that. I believe a simple factory reset would also do it. I also believe there's a secret menu for calls & data sent & data received where you can clear it

 

Also OP I think the law says that if it's refurbished & you ask they have to tell you the truth. Correct me if I'm wrong anybody.

 

There's a hidden menu in most phones that will show the refurbish date if its been refurbished

 

buy online directly from MetroPCS. that is how you can be absolutely certain you phone is new.

and you wont have to pay $15 to some shady store salesman to activate and mess around your new phone before you even get a chance to touch the new toy you pay for.

When you buy online, you will get to open the new sealed box and touch you new toy before anyone else (i.e., store person) gets to do so. You want to be first person to unbox and touch your new purchase, don't you?

 

I also recommend Wirefly.
I can say that they are a good source for phones since that's where I bought mines from :3

 

Where do you think the $15 goes ? That shady reps pockets? Are you that jaded towards the brick & mortar stores that you fail to see that the $15 goes towards the stores bottom line. Keep in mind that the margins on prepaid phone sales are very little. the amount compensated for customer retention is even lower. If you need to place blame on anyone, place blame on the company itself for having such a flawed compensation structure.

Banks assign fees for everything now. Are they shady for such practices? No. Greedy yes. Shady no.

 

You mean pay the activation fee & have him activate it & make sure everything is working?

 

Always bought mine from a corporate store and they opened the sealed box right on the counter. I've never seen any reports of Metro (or any other carriers for that matter) passing off refurbished phones as new. If it happens it would be the isolated action of an independent store.