HTC Evo 4G Best Buy Pre Sales Started TODAY!!!

[Brainerd]

Pre-ordered this morning. The Best Buy Mobile in my area has Sprint phones, but because of and agreement with Verizon, they only stock Verizon and T-Moblie phones. They drop-ship Sprint and AT&T. So, I probably wouldn't get the EVO until Monday or Tuesday. Not. I drove to a regular Best Buy in the area the stocks the Sprint phones and pre-ordered there.

Odd thing with the gift card. They gave me the $50 card, but I was also charged tax. Huh? For a gift card? They said that the tax can also be applied to my purchase. I'm expecting a hassle over that $5 bucks (10% tax in CA. do not live here if you don't need to. )

Oh yeah. No lines. I was the only person at both stores.

 

[cold war kid]

Don't worry too much about it... If you miss the "deadline" to pre-order, just hop in line at your local Sprint store at 6am on June 4th. There's nothin like a good camp out. (I wouldn't expect you'd have to get there much earlier than that, which I guess doesn't make it much of a camp out)

I had the same concern because I won't be able to make it to my local Best Buy to pre-order for about another week, so I went ahead and called and they told me that there is no deadline. They will be taking pre-orders right up to the launch of the phone! I'm not sure if that goes for all locations, but I don't see why it wouldn't. I am so freakin' excited for this phone!!

 

[wirelessness#AC]

Do you have to go into the store or can you call them over the phone and pre-order?

 

[cold war kid]

Do you have to go into the store or can you call them over the phone and pre-order?

you have to put down a $50 deposit so you have to do it in-store.

 

[wirelessness#AC]

Do you have to go into the store or can you call them over the phone and pre-order?

you have to put down a $50 deposit so you have to do it in-store.

Argh. I'm moving 400 miles away next week and can't get to the local store to order. If anyone is able to order over the phone please report back. I'm gonna call and try anyway....

 

[glamisfanatic]

My fear is that there will be a lot of misinformation simply because the $10 extra charge without 4G makes no sense, so a lot of Sprint reps will assume that must be wrong and only for 4G. But then the charge will show up on people's bills.

BTW, Jason taylor is a spokesperson for Sprint-Nextel and could not be more clear:

This will happen for sure

 

[URPREY]

Odd thing with the gift card. They gave me the $50 card, but I was also charged tax. Huh? For a gift card? They said that the tax can also be applied to my purchase. I'm expecting a hassle over that $5 bucks

Same here. I've never paid tax on a preorder before, but whatever. I'm sure it will work out.

 

[SFWD1934]

Did mine today too in California. It was $54.63. Yea they gave me that gift card when I go back I use that towards the handset. Looking forward to the 4th of June.

Jason

 

[SFWD1934]

See that's anywhere that open/handle the handsets. So because of this with the Pre, and all my Blackberries I always tell them to leave them closed and I will open and deal with it later. Hell all I had to do was turn the Pre on, and it finished self provisioning itself. That way I don't have to worry about someone dropping my phone or putting it on the counter and scratching the back of it.

Jason

 

[Brainerd]

I just checked my gift card balance online and it was only for $50. So, make sure you keep your receipt, and bring it in on the 4th, to prove that you paid an extra $4.88 (L.A. County sales tax sucks.)

 

[tojoe616]

Umm misleading title aside I don't see any reason you should not buy your phone from Best Buy. They can take care of you just as well if not better depending on the store you go to. As far as messing up the phone part you might need to elaborate on what you mean by that. The big bonus to you is that you will not have to deal with a mail in rebate on any phones you purchase there. If you don't want them to handle your phone that is fine just ask them to not open it up. Mostly they setup the phones for customers that are newer to the smartphones and to check that it has activated properly, could save you a trip back in if something didn't go through properly.

Just my two cents, and partially biased since I work at a Best buy but if you have any more questions just ask.

 

[emeraldayotte]

Ummm....I've NEVER heard of this. I got my Palm Pre from BB and had absolutely no issues with it. BB will provide you a sealed phone and if it isnt you can ask for another since you're paying for it.

 

[Sincere_2010]

Umm misleading title aside I don't see any reason you should not buy your phone from Best Buy.

My sentiments exactly. I am not sure where you got your information, but Best Buy is the best place to get your phone. They have an instant rebate instead of a mail-in. And they don't open all of the phones before they sell them too you??! But if for some reason if you are not happy with your phone trade it out for another.

 

[Rizop]

Umm misleading title aside I don't see any reason you should not buy your phone from Best Buy. They can take care of you just as well if not better depending on the store you go to. As far as messing up the phone part you might need to elaborate on what you mean by that. The big bonus to you is that you will not have to deal with a mail in rebate on any phones you purchase there. If you don't want them to handle your phone that is fine just ask them to not open it up. Mostly they setup the phones for customers that are newer to the smartphones and to check that it has activated properly, could save you a trip back in if something didn't go through properly.

Just my two cents, and partially biased since I work at a Best buy but if you have any more questions just ask.

Since you work at best buy,

do you know a good place where i can buy the evo off contract. Best buy seems to be a little more expensive when you buy a phone if youre not elibgible for an upgrade

 

[Brainerd]

According to California's Board of Equalization (the tax people) gift cards should not be taxed because no merchandise has been exchanged. Check out page 28 on this link.

I'm going to do the survey on my receipt and complain to Best Buy.

 

[x4sper]

frist preorder for my bestbuy. Hell yeah!

 

[tojoe616]

Yeah if you are buying off contract you may find better rates at a sprints corporate store. I am not 100% on this but the reason for the higher prices at Best Buy Mobile may be the fact that we have to purchase the phones from sprint to sell in our stores and then we receive a credit from sprint on the phones put on contract. This is why rebate pricing is inline if not better than the sprint stores. But when we sell it on no contract we are selling it at the retail price that makes us money based on what sprint sold us the phones for. So all in all we are a business and we need to make money on our sales. The rebates are backed by sprint so we still make a profit. The no contracts are not so we have to sell at a higher price to make a profit.

Mail in rebates are taken care of on the back end thats why you can get a contract price instantly.

Does this clear anything up?

 

[hockey4life0099]

do you guys think amazon will have preorders?

 

[bagger]

Question for the Best Buy guy!

So you're saying that if I go in to buy an EVO, I won't have to wait for the 100 mail in rebate???? I'm a Premier customer and have been eligible for my 1 year new phone deal since January. Also, would I be getting hit for an activation fee?

If this mail in rebate is knocked off by going through BB, I will take a ride down the street and put money down for a pre-order right now!

 

[tojoe616]

Question for the Best Buy guy!

So you're saying that if I go in to buy an EVO, I won't have to wait for the 100 mail in rebate???? I'm a Premier customer and have been eligible for my 1 year new phone deal since January. Also, would I be getting hit for an activation fee?

If this mail in rebate is knocked off by going through BB, I will take a ride down the street and put money down for a pre-order right now!

Yeah all rebates at best buy are instant. We do not deal with mail in rebates, its one of our brand promises to the customer.

Yeah there will be an activation fee of 18 dollars form Sprint for the upgrade. This is from Sprint not Best Buy so there is a chance that you could call Sprint and ask them to waive it. Its just automatic at activation in the system.