I sold my iPhone 3g (8g) for $300.
One day in March I was trying to download some pictures from my iPhone to my computer. My iPhone was jailbroken allowing me to customize nearly everything about the way it looked and its functionality. This breaks my warranty. This also causes the phone to run slower and makes it hard to upgrade the O.S. of the phone.
Every time Apple releases an upgrade to the iPhone O.S., the people (hackers) that create the jailbreak software need to figure out an exploit in the new software code to allow the jailbreak software to work.
Difficulty in exercising personalization = Strike One for Apple
This means the people with a jailbroken phone have two options:
1. Upgrade their iPhone’s O.S. right away and lose the jailbreak on their phone until the hackers release an update for the jailbreaking programs.
Or
2. Wait to upgrade their phone when the jailbreak software writers have already released new software updates.
If the iPhone owner chooses option one, they are rewarded with a phone that looks like everyone else’s and works perfectly with the iTunes software.
If the iPhone owner chooses option two, they are rewarded with a unique phone that doesn’t work very well at all with the iTunes software. Why? Because it seems as though every time Apple releases an update for the iPhone O.S., they also release an update to the iTunes software. If the user wants to upgrade the iPhone O.S., they must also update iTunes.
Forcing seemingly unnecessary upgrades = Strike Two for Apple
Herein lays the tragedy for our hero.
I was growing tired of the cat and mouse game that was going on between the hackers and the hacked. I didn’t like waiting for updates from both parties. Also, in a moment of “duh”, I did something stupid. I updated iTunes for no reason. This caused the first problem. If one updates iTunes whilst having an old version of the O.S. on one’s iPhone, as we have said before, one’s phone doesn’t work well with one’s computer.
I couldn’t open the folders on my phone in order to pull the pictures off (my original task) because my computer was no longer recognizing my iPhone; now I needed to perform the O.S. upgrade on my iPhone since I stupidly performed the upgrade on iTunes.
Also, my phone would restart itself every two minutes if I connected it to my computer. This part is key to our story. If I wanted to upgrade my iPhone O.S., the phone’s contents would be “backed up” and I wouldn’t lose any pictures, text messages that had been saved, contact information, etc…
The back-up operation takes longer than two minutes.
With my phone restarting itself every two minutes, I wasn’t able to back up anything from my phone.
I lost everything.
Strike Three for my love affair with my iPhone.
My phone bill was $100 a month. This is too high. I was on the cheapest Talk plan AT&T offered, because I don’t talk on the phone. I text. I e-mail. I “surf” the internet. I was paying for unlimited texts and I had to pay for the “iPhone data plan”.
With what was essentially a “brand new” phone, I began to perform a cost-benefit analysis on this $100 a month. I only had 7 months left in my contract and it costs me $100 a month…$700 left to pay AT&T before I could get a new contract and a new phone.
OR
I could break contract! This option had always been very appealing to me considering it would only cost $200 to break my contract, so I thought.
Actually, I learned the Early Termination Fee (ETF) was only $175.
Then I learned I would save even more money because any one who signed their cell-phone contract after March 2008 was protected under a new law that pro-rates one’s ETF according to how long one is under contract: $5 less a month for every month one is under contract.
For me this means my $175 should be down to $90
(17 months X $5 = $85, $175- $85 = $90)
$90 to break contract with AT&T isn’t so bad. Now, to find a new phone company and a new phone.
I had heard about a company called Credo. Their service runs on Sprint’s network and a portion of your monthly bill gets donated to some Non-profit groups:
Civil Rights
Economic & Social Justice
Environment
Peace & International Freedom
Voting Rights & Civic Participation
This seems like an awesome idea and I would have loved to be a part of that, but the phones they offered didn’t appeal to me. I also checked out Metro PCS and T-Mobile to see what kind of phones they offered. To aide in my decision I looked at phone reviews on PhoneScoop’s website.
Metro PCS has decently priced plans and some neat phones but their coverage is way below average.
T-Mobile has good phones, good prices, and good coverage. I went with them.
Bonus!: They have plans that are not contractual! No contract! Awesome!
If you buy your phone outright, T-Mobile will let you pay monthly for your service and you aren’t bound to a contract. If you already have a phone that uses a SIM card, you don’t even have to buy a phone from them. Sweet! T-Mobile uses the same size SIM card that AT&T uses, which means if I wanted to still use my iPhone on T-Mobile’s network, no problem!
I got a Sony Ericsson Equinox in blue
for $159.99+tax and my monthly phone bill will be $39.99
This includes:
500 minutes of talk time
Unlimited Texting
This is a phenomenal deal compared to AT&T, where my monthly bill included 450 minutes for $39.99 + $20 for unlimited texting.
T-Mobile = more minutes and (basically) FREE Unlimited Texting
Now that I have my new phone and service, what to do with the iPhone? On Credo’s website they have a link to a site called Flipswap. Flipswap buys your old cell-phone from you. They are going to pay me $308 and change for my phone! I’m sending it in A.S.A.P.!
I am happy with my new phone and service, happy that I am no longer held captive with AT&T and their ludicrous prices, and happy not to have a contract. $300 doesn’t make me too sad either…
Fast forward to 5 months later and I finally got a check from Flipswap, after much persistence and complaining.
I was supposed to have received my check from them within 2-3 weeks of their receiving my phone, but they gave me the run around. I had to call them on multiple occasions to try and get some answers as to the whereabouts of either my phone or my money.
Flipswap has a webpage which has a page to help one keep track of one’s account. The webpage is supposed to be updated when the company receives your phone, checks your phone, and sends out your payment. My account was never updated. I called the company to ask about whether or not they received my phone. They said they had and they were checking it out, to see if it was damaged. I asked why the webpage didn’t reflect this development and was told it would probably soon be updated. A few weeks later when the site hadn’t been updated, I called again and was informed my phone had been checked and payment had been sent. The webpage didn’t reflect any of this, and I was told it would probably be updated soon.
When I didn’t receive a payment after three months of waiting, I went back and checked the webpage to see if there had been an update to the status of my account. There had been an update, except it was pertaining to the wrong item. The value of my phone had been $300, yet the update webpage stated the value at $0. I called Flipswap to ask about this new information. I was informed my phone had been received in a non-working order. I told them that fact was improbable because I had sent the phone to them in working order. It was a phone it perfect working order, I was selling it because I didn’t want it anymore. They assured me I was incorrect and that my phone actually didn’t work and it was worth $0. They had a problem accessing my specific account to relay this information because it had been such a long time since I had sent them my phone, they had already re-used my account number for a different customer. This new customer had a different make of phone, so initially I was told my phone was a brand it absolutely was not. This did wonders for my confidence in the people I was dealing with. A few more calls over the next few weeks, speaking with the same gentleman resolved little else. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told there wasn’t one available at the moment. The supervisor would be informed of my query and would review my account, calling me later that day. The supervisor never called me. I called back a few days later, inquiring about the supervisor, and was told he was rather busy but they had solved my problem anyway, so we needn’t involve ourselves with him in any case. The company had found my phone and they were checking it again, in their warehouse in Florida. The people I had been talking to were in Los Angeles, and since I was calling on Friday at noon, it would seem as though the people working in the Florida warehouse had already called it a day, being that it was 3p.m. (so why not?), and we would have to wait until next week, probably Monday, to have them check the phone and provide any answer to this mystery. Monday rolls around and I call back, only to be informed they had yet to check my phone. I waited another week and called back. This call was met with a minor victory; they had found my phone to be in perfect working order and had already sent a check, which I should be expecting in the next week, week and a half. About a month later, I finally received my check, and it was written for the correct amount.
In the end I did get paid a handsome sum for an outdated phone, but would I ever use this company again? Not on your life. Would I recommend this company to others? No way. Would I take it a step further and discourage others from using the service. You’d better believe it!
Would you like to do business with a company that has you sign a contract before you send in your property, stating that if your property is deemed to be in non-working order, the price they previously quoted you would be null and void AND you wouldn’t receive your property back? That should have been a huge red flag. They quote me a nice price for my phone, I send it in, they change their price, and then they keep my phone. Would a company actually be so dastardly? Yes. They did just that. The only difference is they changed their minds and sent me the original amount they had said they would, but only because I had been so persistent.
Never again shall I deal with Flipswap and neither should you!
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