[washley1]

quote:Originally posted by exav8tr

Jim, when I approach a kiosk that says AT&T, I assume that is an AT&T kiosk and fully expect AT&T to stand behind their product. Are you saying I could buy a bunch of Phones and set up my own AT&T kiosk and sell them. I did not know this was the case. How would one know for sure we were dealing directly with AT&T, or any other service provider, for that matter. What about a store front that says Verizon, do I need to determine that is actually Verizon before I buy something and expect Verizon to stand behind it?

Sounds like consumers are being duped.......(OR I'M JUST BEHIND THE TIMES)

I guess I always thought that these kiosks were owned by the service provider, my bad I guess.

Phil, you are exactly right. You COULD buy a bunch of phones, sign an agreement with ATT or whoever, and sell away. We went to a new ATT store last summer to look at phones that were featured on their web site. There were some big difs in what hey had and what was on the site and we made some notes, promising to return after we had looked around. After hitting Best Buy and a couple of others, we stopped in at an ATT store in another part of town. Low and behold, they had everything we had been looking for, including the almost free phone we were interested in in the first place. Turns out they are an official ATT owned or franchised dealer, and the other "new" stroe was just a dealer with only ATT over his door. Nothing else with the true name of his business. So how do we tell from now on who is who? When you walk in, don't be afraid to ask!