As I detailed in a previous post, “The Death of the Celero 5G”, my dad was due to replace his current phone soon because of its numerous (and dangerous) issues. Well, the stars finally aligned for us to make that purchase. We have a couple of extra dollars to spend, and he has reached his last straw with the Celero 5G. Oh, happy day!
While I was way more than ready to shop for the new phone, I should’ve known by now that the process wasn’t going to go smoothly. It never does. I was bound to hit a snag somewhere along the way. This time was no different.
Picking A Phone
I decided to pick our new phone from whatever Best Buy or Walmart had in stock. That’s how we’ve gotten our last few phones. It’s safer for us to order the device online and pick it up from the store than to have it delivered to the house and chance that one of our neighbors will steal it off the doorstep again. Live and learn!
The name of the game was to find the cheapest phone available on Boost Mobile’s network with the best possible specs. I tried Best Buy first. They have a direct connection with ZIP, the service that allows you to split the cost into four payments, during checkout. If I went with Walmart, I would have to do a bunch of extra steps to use ZIP or just pay in full upfront. I didn’t feel like messing with all of that.
Best Buy’s selection was pretty limited. The most inexpensive phones were the Dish Summit 5G ($39.99), the Samsung Galaxy A16 ($49.99), and the Moto G 5G ($59.99). All of them were nice phones with decent specs. My dad would have been happy with any one of them. His needs aren’t high, mostly just talking and light internet browsing.
As impressive as the Moto G 5G looked—and I’m a tad biased here because I’m currently using a Motorola phone—I chose the Summit 5G simply because it was the cheapest.
Not Getting the Phone
Purchasing the phone is about the time when I started running into problems.
I had a hard time logging into our ZIP account during checkout. I couldn’t remember the details because it’s been, like, three years since I last used it. I couldn’t log in through Best Buy, so I went directly to ZIP’s site, hoping that my password manager would fill in the details for me. That didn’t work. I had set up 2-Factor Authentication on the account, and the verification code would be sent to my dad’s phoneโฆwhich was at work with him. I called my dad for the code, but he couldn’t stop working at that time. I had to wait until he came home later that night to complete those steps.
Then I ran into more problems. As it turned out, Best Buy only had one Summit 5G left and it was only available at a store that’s a bit far from us. I know exactly where the store is. We technically could have driven there to pick up the phone ourselves, but we didn’t want to waste the gas if we didn’t have to. Instead, I chose an alternative delivery location, a nearby Walgreens store. I placed the order on a Monday and was assured that it would be ready for pick up the next day.
Spoiler alert: it did not arrive on Tuesday. I got an email from Best Buy informing me that the delivery was delayed for reasons unknown, though I did get a FedEx tracking number for the package. Now, tell me why I saw that the phone was coming from a completely different place than where I ordered it from? That city was a whole lot farther away that the faraway Best Buy location it supposedly had been at. Would we actually have been able to go to that store to get it, or was it at a warehouse the whole time?
I tried to follow the package’s delivery progress through the FedEx tracker page, only to be repeatedly told that it was “Out For Delivery” and expected to be delivered today. “Today” turned out to be Friday, four days after I’d placed the order. That morning, the FedEx site said that the phone had been delivered to Walgreens the night before. I hadn’t received the promised email from Best Buy about that, though. It wasn’t until my dad came back from Walgreens, package in hand, that the email came through. Go figure!
I was so excited to unbox the phone. It came in a big, plain, brown box, three times the size of the usual phone box. I assumed that the size was used to accommodate the protective wrapping and everything. Nothing suspicious there. When I cut open the tape, however, I was shocked! Not only was there no phone in it, but there was a big white surge protector inside that had someone else’s name and address on it! What the hell?!
Getting Our Ducks In A Row
Obviously, the mix-up meant that we were not happy campers. But we wondered what would happen next. Would we ever get the phone we ordered? Did the person who ordered the surge protector accidentally get our phone like we got their thing? Would they return the phone if they did get it? What about the ZIP payment we had already made?
Most importantly, what was the best move to make next if we couldn’t get the phone? Here were our ideas and the outcomes:
- Pick a different phone – Neither phone was available nearby either
- Check Walmart – Limited supply, would have to pay the $35 upfront
- Switch carriers – Too expensive upfront
- Visit a Boost Mobile store – Doubted they had any cheap phones there
- Use Boost Mobile’s website – Would raise our monthly bill, chance of porch thieves
We went round and round about it until we realized that we were totally jumping the gun. First things first: I went into the Best Buy app to start the return process. It said to either 1) return the item to a store (using a barcode they provided) or 2) mail it back to them (using a shipping label they provided). We went with Option 1. I also went to the ZIP website and cleared up the fact that our first payment would be returned if we had to cancel the order at Best Buy. Everything was all set there.
We would wait to make any further decisions until we found out how Best Buy would handle things. That would have to wait until the next day (Saturday), however, because my dad had to go to work.
Finally Getting the Phone
That Saturday morning, my dad went to Best Buy with the package. According to him, they had no problems straightening things out. They told him that the phone would be ready for pickup from the same Walgreens location as before that Wednesday.
Once again, we went through the waiting game. The estimated delivery time jumped from Wednesday to Tuesday to Monday. Tuesday ended up being the actual delivery date. We received the confirmation email that afternoon, and my dad picked it up when he got off of work that evening.
The phone came in another oversized box. I was nervous. I was having deja vu flashbacks of the first go-round. Relief washed over me when I cut the packaging tape and saw that trademark orange Boost Mobile color peeping out of the layers of bubblewrap inside the box. Yes! The phone had finally arrived.
To Be Continuedโฆ
From there, everything was smooth sailing. I unboxed the phone and set it up rather easily. Getting to the point was a nightmare, but it was worth it. My dad (and I) like the Summit 5G so far. Stay tuned for my full review!