Best Buy lets you upgrwade your phone EARLY?

Raziel_pm

Last night I walked into BB to ask to see a live "Epic 4G" instead of the little toy-display unit, as my Premier upgrade drops in 18 days(and I'm eager to retire my Pre).

Anyway, the BB rep cracks open a brand new Epic(their demo unit was charging) and while I'm checking it out he tells me that if I wanted to I would be able to upgrade my phone early. When I asked how, he tells me that all I need to do is "bring in my phone 14 days BEFORE my upgrade date and just tell them 'it isn't working properly'. We'll take care of you right there and upgrade you early.".

When I asked him, "Well what if my phone is obviously not broken?", he tells me "They can't tell...just say it isn't working right and we'll take it."

Has anyone else ever done this before at Best Buy, or do we have any BB employees who can verify this? If true, I'll be upgrading this Thursday ^_^

That_Guy

All of the major providers allow you an early upgrade. In a 24 month contract, you can usually get your upgrade at the 18 month point. Verizon is offering a deal where anyone with a non-3g smartphone who wants to get a 3g smartphone can upgrade at any point in their contract.

Raziel_pm

Oh I know that providers do that sort of thing. I'm a Sprint 'Premier" customer, meaning I can upgrade every year(w/2-year contract...but they don't 'stack', so you're ALWAYS on a 2-year). My year is up on Oct. 1st, but I'm antsy waiting just 18 more days, and was wondering if what the BB guy was saying is legit.

LA:

I've heard of people being able to get Sprint to move their upgrade eligibility up if they are within 14 days of the upgrade date. I would try dealing with Sprint directly (by calling account services) sometime within that 14-day window and have them change the date on your account and then just go into Best Buy and upgrade like normal.