Best Buy Black Friday Phones

[threecrazykids]

I've never bought a phone from Best Buy - let alone on stinkin' Black Friday (well Thursday if you want to get technical).

I am interested in the Samsung Galaxy S5 which is one of their doorbusters for $1.00 on BF.

I am wondering if for those I actually have to go INTO the store and have it activated that day or if I can order the phones online for $1.00 (with the 2 year activation) but go in after we receive the phones and have them activated.

Does anyone know how that works? If it's a requirement to do the activation right at the time of purchase I think I'll be sending my husband to fight the crowds while I shop at home online in my jammies.

I've always bought from the Verizon store so I have no idea how it works when getting the phone through Best Buy. I'm sure someone here has done it - just wondering if there is any way possible to get the phone online but activate it after the craziness dies down.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

We actually did this online 2 yrs ago and got the Galaxy 3 for 3 of us. I plan on doing it again for 3 of us for the s5 online. We get to order early due to high volume purchases-puts you in dif catagories for their "rewards" so if you are eligible for that you can usually get them without a problem. We also do the pay 1x for the full warranty from best buy. We find it to be much better than the carriers warranty.

They were sent via 2 day I think but they were for Christmas so we did not activate them until then. We never had to go to the store, just called our carrier then. Very easy.

That is the one of my main things we were looking for.

 

[IamJBo]

Shouldn't have a problem activating it online but with it being a doorbuster deal availability may only be limited to instore.

I think thats how most of the doorbusters are treated vs the items "on sale"

 

[threecrazykids]

We actually did this online 2 yrs ago and got the Galaxy 3 for 3 of us. I plan on doing it again for 3 of us for the s5 online. We get to order early due to high volume purchases-puts you in dif catagories for their "rewards" so if you are eligible for that you can usually get them without a problem. We also do the pay 1x for the full warranty from best buy. We find it to be much better than the carriers warranty.

They were sent via 2 day I think but they were for Christmas so we did not activate them until then. We never had to go to the store, just called our carrier then. Very easy.

That is the one of my main things we were looking for.

So if the phones are $1.00, then I just buy the phones online (it doesn't indicate in-store only on the adscan for BF that I've seen) and they only charge me $2.00 and I can go in a few days after black friday to activate once they've shipped to me? I just want to make sure I understand this correctly.

 

[SharonZ]

Are you getting new phones contracts, or upgrading existing phones? Also, I think you need to get the Galaxy S5 that's designated for your particular phone carrier.

 

[KelnRon]

We did this last year. I went to Best Buy and got 3 S4's. I swear they had the sale the day before BF. I cant remember exactly. Either way it was an easy, painless process.

 

[threecrazykids]

Are you getting new phones contracts, or upgrading existing phones? Also, I think you need to get the Galaxy S5 that's designated for your particular phone carrier.

We currently have 2 Motorola Droids - and my son's phone (not sure what model, I believe Motorola) - all serviced through VZ.

We are planning to upgrade all 3 current phones, and get 2 new phones for our 13 and 15 year olds...totaling $5.00 for the phones.

If anything in the BF plan goes wonky, we would just give our 2 current phones to the 2 kids who don't have phones and only upgrade the 2 of ours. Our oldest son who already is on the plan doesn't NEED a phone - we just figured we might as well upgrade his as well as we're all due to upgrade our current contract.

I have a feeling my DH will be spending quite some time in Best Buy on Thanksgiving evening to get it done - but he's bound and determined to get the S5 phones while we can for $1.00.

Also - it wouldn't break my heart at all to switch carriers if they had a better deal - as long as the coverage is good.

I hate shopping for phones almost as much as insurance or a car.

 

[Aryn]

The $1 iphone 5s is with a trade in of an older iphone . The small print says" with 2 year activation and use of trade-in gift card. It looks like you can trade in any year iphone and get at least a $100 gift card.


This deal is for the iphones only, there are other deals out there, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew you had to trade in a phone to get the new one.

 

[threecrazykids]

The $1 iphone 5s is with a trade in of an older iphone . The small print says" with 2 year activation and use of trade-in gift card. It looks like you can trade in any year iphone and get at least a $100 gift card.


This deal is for the iphones only, there are other deals out there, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew you had to trade in a phone to get the new one.

Good catch for those who are Iphone users.

I am looking to get the Galaxy S5 promo.

 

[4HOLIDAYS]

I don't see anywhere that it says you need to trade in an old phone for a Galaxy. I see that only with the iphone deals.

We have done this 2 yrs ago and 4 yrs ago with no trade ins. You don't need to go back to activate it either, just call from home.

 

[threecrazykids]

Ok, well I guess I can just wait and see if it will allow me to do it all entirely online. I would LOVE for that to be the case - I had just noticed on the BF ad that it didn't have the disclaimer of "in store only" as some of the other BF items did and was hoping I could do it online.
I sure hope so!

 

[motherof2boys]

I've never bought a phone from Best Buy - let alone on stinkin' Black Friday (well Thursday if you want to get technical).

I am interested in the Samsung Galaxy S5 which is one of their doorbusters for $1.00 on BF.

I am wondering if for those I actually have to go INTO the store and have it activated that day or if I can order the phones online for $1.00 (with the 2 year activation) but go in after we receive the phones and have them activated.

Does anyone know how that works? If it's a requirement to do the activation right at the time of purchase I think I'll be sending my husband to fight the crowds while I shop at home online in my jammies.

I've always bought from the Verizon store so I have no idea how it works when getting the phone through Best Buy. I'm sure someone here has done it - just wondering if there is any way possible to get the phone online but activate it after the craziness dies down.

I have no answers to your questions but I suggest you do your homework on the Samsung Gallaxy 5 before upgrading. I have one & I hate it! Long story short my son broke his phone so I gave him my 3 & got the 5 in August. Like I said I hate it! My main complaints are
It's too big to fit in any of my purses or wristlets.
The camera is horrible! It's very slow to focus. I was told the only way to "speed" up the focus is to shut off all setting including the flash.
The charger plug is weird, not the standard USB. I had to buy a new car charger, & extra for travel.

Anyway not to discourage you, it's a great deal as long as you know what you're getting. I'm hoping the camera bug is fixed soon. I already bought a new purse, wristlit, & charger so I really want to love my new phone.

 

[threecrazykids]

I have no answers to your questions but I suggest you do your homework on the Samsung Gallaxy 5 before upgrading. I have one & I hate it! Long story short my son broke his phone so I gave him my 3 & got the 5 in August. Like I said I hate it! My main complaints are
It's too big to fit in any of my purses or wristlets.
The camera is horrible! It's very slow to focus. I was told the only way to "speed" up the focus is to shut off all setting including the flash.
The charger plug is weird, not the standard USB. I had to buy a new car charger, & extra for travel.

Anyway not to discourage you, it's a great deal as long as you know what you're getting. I'm hoping the camera bug is fixed soon. I already bought a new purse, wristlit, & charger so I really want to love my new phone.

Well crap - the whole reason my husband wants this phone is because it's been touted as having the best camera. He (for work) has to take and send lots of pictures of products to send to customers and had read this camera is suppose to be really good.

And I didn't realize it didn't have a standard USB port either.

Great - well, I'll let him know these things - thanks so much for sharing!

 

[reneaterry]

I have an s5. I think the camera takes great pictures. Much better than the droid maxx hd I had before. It does come with a different USB but it also will charge using the USB from my old phone with no problems and just as quickly. I love my s5. Yes it's big but not as big as several phones out there.

 

[threecrazykids]

Cripes - so I called Best Buy to ask if the phones are ONLY in store (as they require activation for the $1.00) and she says "hmmmm...well, now that's a good question!"

I said "on the ad itself it has a little @Best Buy only by the Galaxy S5 so I wondered if that meant you had to be IN the store to get the deal and activate".

She replies "wow, now you've taken that differently than I would have - my understanding is that the Electric Blue color is only available at Best Buy but all of the Galaxy S5 phones will be $1.00 that day."

I said "well, that still really doesn't answer my question..."

She says "I would try online the day before Thanksgiving because that is the day most of the sales will actually go live and you can see then if you're able to purchase it prior to Black Friday store hours and go from there".

Ok...thanks?