Smartphone Purchase Shops

Anyone done the Smartphone purchase shops for DSG? You have to buy a phone and a plan, then return the phone and plan within 7 days. Anyone have any issues returning the phone or cancelling the plan?

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There should be no issues with returning the phone and cancelling the plan. The real issue with these shops is that if you are getting a phone you are probably contracting for 2 years of service and there will be a credit check to make sure your credit is acceptable. This is a hard hit on your credit score so you need to decide whether that is worth it to you. You get I believe it is 5 hits in 12 months before your score begins to suffer. Getting a loan, a credit card, cell phone service or changing your insurance are items that are likely to generate hits. I was told the other day that even the contracts for cable TV, DirectTV or DishTV will generate a hit because they too are 2 year contracts. So choose wisely where you will 'spend' your hits.

Ahh, good point. I think I will pass on it then. Besides, I'm not sure if $50 is even worth the hassle of talking with a cell phone salesperson, and then dealing with the hassle of returning. If that's not a tip off that I'm a shopper, then I don't know what is!

The other day I signed up for AT & T home high speed internet. There is no plan or contract. There is no reason for credit to even play a role in it. I purchased the gateway router up front and if I don't make a payment, then I don't get internet. YET, they still checked my credit (without telling me up front of course).

And in the life of a normal person going about their daily business, a credit check is not a big deal. But certainly if I anticipated needing to get a new job (many companies insist on credit checks), a new apartment or house, a new car, a new insurance company, a home improvement loan, I would be guarding my 'hits' like a lioness.

I didn't think your credit could be checked without your SS#. I won't do any shop if it requires revealing my SS#.

I'm pretty sure the client requires you to go through a credit check. I declined the shop for this reason.

cvb42jeb Wrote:
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> I didn't think your credit could be checked
> without your SS#. I won't do any shop if it
> requires revealing my SS#.

I don't believe that they do a hard credit check, meaning that they actually pull out the report. They do a soft credit check and see where your score stands. It does not show up on your credit report. I just signed a two-year with time warner and they did not ask me for any identifying information.

I know they do some sort of credit check because the deposit they require depends on the person's score. This person had to have a credit check done: [community.sprint.com] Sprint ran his credit report THREE times.

We were told by GfK that only a soft inquiry would be made on our credit for their mortgage shop, but they later told us some might see a hard inquiry was made.

The same thing could happen here. We worked too hard to get our score where it is; I'm not going to risk that for a shop.

AnonymousGirl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't believe that they do a hard credit check,
> meaning that they actually pull out the report.
> They do a soft credit check and see where your
> score stands. It does not show up on your credit
> report. I just signed a two-year with time warner
> and they did not ask me for any identifying
> information.

When I actually got my cell phone I had a temporary block on my credit that I had put in place after a raid on my mailbox. In order to get the phone I had to run home and call from the home phone to authorize the cell company access to my credit.

Slightly off topic, but there are pre paid no contract smartphones...

True, but not for these shops.

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