Where is the cheapest place to buy an AT&T GS3?

[DallasFlier]

I bought two of them at Sam's Club on Black Friday for 98 cents each. Then called AT&T and got them to waive the activation fee. Wal-Mart is selling them for $139 but then you get a $100 gift card so the net cost should only be $39.

Did you wake up super early and wait in line outside, Dubg? Or were you able to just walk in?

I didn't want to deal with the trouble so I went to Best Buy at 7 AM and was able to easily get a Pebble Blue phone for $49.99 plus tax, etc.

I got there at 4am and waited for 3 hours. I was the first in line for a phone. There were about 4 people in front of me for TVs. By the time the store opened the line for phones was probably about 40 people. They were going to be waiting a while for all of the phones to get activated.

Sounds like our local Sam's Club handled it smarter. I got my S3 back when they were released, and wanted to get my wife one now. We arrived at our Sam's Club at 6AM for their 7AM opening (I was prepared to head to Walmart for their $129 and $100 gift card if that time didn't get me the Sam's 96 cent phone). We got in line, and about 6:30 an employee came out and went down the line asking what each customer was in line for and handing out "vouchers" which guaranteed you the item when the store opened at 7AM and you went inside. For one thing, that prevented the "mad dash" through the store trying to beat others to the particular department/item.

For those of us who were there for the S3, they gave us a voucher AND an appointment for a specific time to come back and purchase/activate the phone. Ours was actually the next day at 4PM. So we were able to leave the line without ever going in, and went and grabbed breakfast at a restaurant nearby! Returned the next day at the appointed time, and only had to wait about 5 minutes before a rep was working on getting my wife's new red S3 activated and setup!

 

[winmod21]

Sounds like our local Sam's Club handled it smarter. I got my S3 back when they were released, and wanted to get my wife one now. We arrived at our Sam's Club at 6AM for their 7AM opening (I was prepared to head to Walmart for their $129 and $100 gift card if that time didn't get me the Sam's 96 cent phone). We got in line, and about 6:30 an employee came out and went down the line asking what each customer was in line for and handing out "vouchers" which guaranteed you the item when the store opened at 7AM and you went inside. For one thing, that prevented the "mad dash" through the store trying to beat others to the particular department/item.

For those of us who were there for the S3, they gave us a voucher AND an appointment for a specific time to come back and purchase/activate the phone. Ours was actually the next day at 4PM. So we were able to leave the line without ever going in, and went and grabbed breakfast at a restaurant nearby! Returned the next day at the appointed time, and only had to wait about 5 minutes before a rep was working on getting my wife's new red S3 activated and setup!

Nice going there, DallasFlier. That was a Skookum deal. When I purchased mine on 12 Oct., I didn't even consider?or think for one second?that they'd possibly drop below $99. this year! Or by T-Day be going for .96 cents!
Way to go.

 

[RobbieL811]

Nice going there, DallasFlier. That was a Skookum deal. When I purchased mine on 12 Oct., I didn't even consider?or think for one second?that they'd possibly drop below $99. this year! Or by T-Day be going for .96 cents!
Way to go.

I'm in the same boat as you! I bought mine around the same time as you & thought the same thing. I was able to get on live chat & get AT&T to refund me $150. That was cool! Verizon wouldn't have EVER done that for me!!!

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[winmod21]

I'm in the same boat as you! I bought mine around the same time as you & thought the same thing. I was able to get on live chat & get AT&T to refund me $150. That was cool! Verizon wouldn't have EVER done that for me!!!

Really !? . . Wow! A $150. refund! That's fantastic!
Must've been before black friday, huh? Wonder what the chances of them doing that now would be? Hey! You must be good at this sortuv thing . . would you mind calling them for me too?

 

[RobbieL811]

Really !? . . Wow! A $150. refund! That's fantastic!
Must've been before black friday, huh? Wonder what the chances of them doing that now would be? Hey! You must be good at this sortuv thing . . would you mind calling them for me too?

Lol. Nah. I don't really feel like going through that again. I had to try online chat a few times to get a cool rep that would do it. Yes, I did do it before black Friday. Isn't Walmart still having a pretty good sale on them? Maybe you can use that as leverage! Good try though!

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[ladyff1481]

Bought mine at Walmart online on Black Friday. Phone was priced at $99 online with a $100 gift card. In the store it was $129 with gift card too but only carrier was Verizon. Trouble is they sold out online but didn't tell me until after I had paid for it. Now they can't even tell us when we're getting our phones. I am pretty mad because I am upgrading from Virgin Mobile and had to pay for December service. If I knew they were sold out I would have just gone to Sam's or Radio Shack.

 

[RobbieL811]

Bought mine at Walmart online on Black Friday. Phone was priced at $99 online with a $100 gift card. In the store it was $129 with gift card too but only carrier was Verizon. Trouble is they sold out online but didn't tell me until after I had paid for it. Now they can't even tell us when we're getting our phones. I am pretty mad because I am upgrading from Virgin Mobile and had to pay for December service. If I knew they were sold out I would have just gone to Sam's or Radio Shack.

Damn! That sucks!!! They didn't have a sold out thing beside the pay now button!?!?!? That's f'ed up man!!!

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[orimental]

Best Buy currently has it on their site for $99.99 + $100 Best Buy GC for upgrades.

 

[Peaches36]

$74.99 at Amazon

Sent from Miss Peaches GN2

 

[Mungus8888]

The cheapest I've seen is a govt freebie handout. Only downside is living on govt cheese and being a crackhead. Besides that it's a great deal.

 

[RobbieL811]

The cheapest I've seen is a govt freebie handout. Only downside is living on govt cheese and being a crackhead. Besides that it's a great deal.

That's crazy!!! Our government is so stupid! We are how many trillion dollars in debt & they're giving away GS3's!?!?!? God what idiots! Who the hell NEEDS a Galaxy S3!?!?!? I'm sure a lot of people WANT one!!! I wouldn't go that route just b/c every time I picked my phone up, I would be reminded of what a humongous piece of crap I was!!!

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[winmod21]

Lol. Nah. I don't really feel like going through that again. I had to try online chat a few times to get a cool rep that would do it. Yes, I did do it before black Friday. Isn't Walmart still having a pretty good sale on them? Maybe you can use that as leverage! Good try though!

Don't know about Walmart; don't shop there, well, that is, except at Sam's Club.
After posting above, I remember wondering if you received your 'live chat' $150. refund from AT&T? within 30 days of purchasing your phone from AT&T? as a price-match? Coz that sounds like an AT&T policy I might have heard about, or, did their price-matching policy also get knocked down to 14 days?

Anyhoo, I'm way past 30 days now (which is how long most stores offer price-matching); I paid $94. on 12 Oct. @ Radio Shack (who also has a 30-day pm policy), so that was pretty good and actually one of the best available prices back in early October. No worries.

 

[RobbieL811]

Don't know about Walmart; don't shop there, well, that is, except at Sam's Club.
After posting above, I remember wondering if you received your 'live chat' $150. refund from AT&T? within 30 days of purchasing your phone from AT&T? as a price-match? Coz that sounds like an AT&T policy I might have heard about, or, did their price-matching policy also get knocked down to 14 days?

Anyhoo, I'm way past 30 days now (which is how long most stores offer price-matching); I paid $94. on 12 Oct. @ Radio Shack (who also has a 30-day pm policy), so that was pretty good and actually one of the best available prices back in early October. No worries.

Yeah, you did get a good price. I was actually past 30 days. I bought mine on Oct 11th. I just got on AT&T live chat when I first heard about the Sam's Club deal and started asking for a credit to my account. I had to try 2 or 3 times but I finally got a cool rep that helped me out. At the time, I had owned my phone for close to 2 months. I think I got lucky getting that by looking at the thread over on XDA about pretty much this same topic. I didn't even know they had a deal like that at Radio Shack! It sounds like you got your phone around the same time that I did. I would have gone there if I had known that! I guess I kinda bought mine on impulse. I was on the way home one night & just decided to swing by Best Buy & see what they had & ended up leaving w/ an AT&T GS3. Lol.

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[winmod21]

Yeah, you did get a good price. I was actually past 30 days. I bought mine on Oct 11th. I just got on AT&T live chat when I first heard about the Sam's Club deal and started asking for a credit to my account. I had to try 2 or 3 times but I finally got a cool rep that helped me out. At the time, I had owned my phone for close to 2 months. I think I got lucky getting that by looking at the thread over on XDA about pretty much this same topic. I didn't even know they had a deal like that at Radio Shack! It sounds like you got your phone around the same time that I did. I would have gone there if I had known that! I guess I kinda bought mine on impulse. I was on the way home one night & just decided to swing by Best Buy & see what they had & ended up leaving w/ an AT&T GS3. Lol.

Well that's cool. Maybe I'll go ahead and still try what you were successful at?with the AT&T live chat rep.
I was talking to an AT&T customer service rep., yesterday, and asked her about the possibility of a 'credit' due to the GS3's recent plummeting sale prices, and she told me that as far as she knew...she, or any other AT&T rep.?would only be able to possible do a credit if?my GS3 had been purchased directly from AT&T and purchased within the last 30 days. But maybe she wasn't up with what's been goin' down over on the AT&T Live Chat, recently?! Perhaps I'll give it another shot.

At the time I purchased mine, 12 Oct., they were back up to $199. @ Radio Shack?after a previous weekend sale where they were temp. at $149.?but the RS manager agreed to price-match the advertised BestBuy sale coming-up that next weekend, where BB was advertising $99. for a 'Sunday Only, 14 Oct.' sale. And then the nice RS manager also threw-in an additional $5. off coupon, which is how she brought my cost down to $94.

 

[RobbieL811]

Well that's cool. Maybe I'll go ahead and still try what you were successful at?with the AT&T live chat rep.
I was talking to an AT&T customer service rep., yesterday, and asked her about the possibility of a 'credit' due to the GS3's recent plummeting sale prices, and she told me that as far as she knew...she, or any other AT&T rep.?would only be able to possible do a credit if?my GS3 had been purchased directly from AT&T and purchased within the last 30 days. But maybe she wasn't up with what's been goin' down over on the AT&T Live Chat, recently?! Perhaps I'll give it another shot.

At the time I purchased mine, 12 Oct., they were back up to $199. @ Radio Shack?after a previous weekend sale where they were temp. at $149.?but the RS manager agreed to price-match the advertised BestBuy sale coming-up that next weekend, where BB was advertising $99. for a 'Sunday Only, 14 Oct.' sale. And then the nice RS manager also threw-in an additional $5. off coupon, which is how she brought my cost down to $94.

Yeah. The online chat thing works...I did it. I did have to try a few times but like I said, I finally got a cool rep that did it for me. It was worth $150 to me to get on the online chat thing 5 times. If I remember correctly, that's about how many times I had to try. They'll do it. If you get a crappy rep that won't do it, just log out & try again an hour or so later. I heard of other people on XDA copying & pasting links to other deals & sending them to the chat reps that they were chatting w/. Hope it works. Get back on here & update me if it works out for you.

*EDIT* Also make sure to tell the agent that you don't necessarily want the cash back that you would be happy w/ a credit to your account. You may also wanna read this thread over at XDA about the same exact thing. It might give you an idea of how to talk to the rep.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1986884

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[RobbieL811]

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[NicoleW78]

Best Buy currently has it on their site for $99.99 + $100 Best Buy GC for upgrades.

Do you have a link? I'm looking and can't find the info on the gift certificate.

 

[Last-One-Left]

Hey guys, I'm not from the US but I'm using an unlocked AT&T s3, and I would like to have another for my girlfriend, any idea on where I can get another AT&T out of contract? Or maybe one of you guys have one to sell? Thanks.

 

[MangoPowah]

Hey guys, I'm not from the US but I'm using an unlocked AT&T s3, and I would like to have another for my girlfriend, any idea on where I can get another AT&T out of contract? Or maybe one of you guys have one to sell? Thanks.

I'd like to know as well.

Sent from the cockpit of Gurren Lagann

 

[zapfrog]

The cheapest I've seen is a govt freebie handout. Only downside is living on govt cheese and being a crackhead. Besides that it's a great deal.

Yet more politics entering the forums. Good grief if only people would do their research and realize that subsidizing phones for the poor was part of an FCC act from the eighties. For cell phones you can only get a voucher for one basic flip phone with basic service. I found the link for the requirements which I'll have to find again and post.

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