Well, the title pretty much sums it up. The sequence of events:
(1) after dark last night I noticed that I could not find my phone
(2) Called phone approx. 14 times listening intently for any ring tones coming from strange closets or piles of laundry etc.
(3) Decided phone was lost, probably falling out of my pocket while walking the dog, went to online account and suspended service to the phone in case someone else found it.
(4) Arrived at the Verizon store as soon as the doors opened this morning, picked out new phone, had to extend the service contract in order to take advantage of the “free phone” upgrade which is actually in the form of a rebate, so I had to pay out of pocket $50 for the phone and $19.00 for the case the saleswoman insisted I needed. Saleswoman swore to me that they do not make cases/covers for this phone in pink so I had to settle for an ugly color I do not like. Had new phone programmed for my number etc. (Important to me because all the schools and doctors have my cell as an emergency contact.)
(5) Came home, charged phone, downloaded a bajilion new ring tones (mostly made by me cutting down mp3s) and went through every source to get my contact numbers back in order and on my new phone. During the course of doing this, I found a pink cover and a car charger for the phone online for $8 and $6 respectively.
(7) Took dog for walkies after dinner (and after dark). We take a different route in the evenings than we do in the mornings. Approx. one block from home, in a field he likes to cut through I hear the distinct sound of a phone beeping low battery. It is my phone. It is damp from being outside for at least 24 hours, but still works (but now of course has no service) and it is currently charging while I decide how to proceed now.
Is there any chance at all that Verizon will let me return the new phone, cancel the renewal of the contract and reactivate my old phone?
The possible drawback is that there would be a $35 restocking fee for a returned phone and no rebate of $50, plus the case and charger I already ordered that I would be unable to use costing $17 so I could be out $102 and an additional $19 if they did not let me return the case they sold me, so maybe as much as $121. But would not be locked into a two year contract with Verizon.
Without the contract (the first had expired and we were going month-to-month on a family plan) chances are good that we would continue to use Verizon for the next 2 years anyway because it is the only provider that has coverage in the rural county where my husband works, but there is always the chance that he could change jobs or the company he works for could lose the contract or who knows what else…I just hate the thought of being stuck in the contract that I may not want or need for the full service period.
So I don’t know what to do now. Should I go back to Verizon and ask or should I just suck it up and rest assured in the fact that I can use the old phone as a back up if anything happens to the new one or the others on the plan (although I am the only one who’d want a pink phone anyway)? I just wish we hadn’t been so impulsive about it.
If it were me, I’d just eat it and keep the new phone. Do you like the new phone better, ugly color notwithstanding? Also, don’t ever buy accessories for phones at the phone store, buy them online(I realize it’s too late for the case, but in case you wanted to buy other accessories for it instead).
I had a similar case as you. I had a phone that went through the washer and dryer. I tried all the tricks to get it to work again, finally bit the bullet and bought a new phone. A week later I tried the old phone, it was working just fine. Grrrr… I decided “bah screw it I’ll keep it as is”
I lost my phone once, too. Replaced it by finding the same one on eBay and then just had to get a new SIM card. About 8 months later I found the original stuck between the back of the sofa and the seat - not just between cushions but where the back support and the seat are wedged together. Have no idea how it got wedged in there, but proceeded to take out the SIM and sell that one on eBay. That was probably 7 years ago.
I back up all my contacts to my computer - see if your new phone can do that, I think most can nowadays. Saves a lot of trouble if you lose the phone again, and is a cinch to just download to the next phone that way.
I’d just keep the new phone if I were in the same situation as you.
A GREAT accessory website is www.DayDeal.com I love that place!
Yeah, after whining about it to anyone who would listen to me last night that’s what I have decided I will do too.
The color is an issue for me because I want everything I own to be pink and have managed that for several years, now I have this blue phone that doesn’t feel like “mine” ya know? 
But the first accessory I found for it was a pink case so that problem will be rectified within however long standard ground shipping takes. 
The real problem I had with was the Verizon rep who didn’t say, “We don’t carry covers in pink” but instead said, “No, they don’t make covers in pink. You won’t find that anywhere.” I hate being lied to and I hate that I was gullible enough to believe her! She also tried to sell me a car charger (which I need) for $30 when I knew full well what they run for online and indeed found the same one for $6 online. She wasn’t too pleased when I told her that I would be buying that elsewhere- maybe that’s why she lied about the case? Do Verizon salespeople work on commission?
My contacts weren’t too bad because there were only maybe 6 of them (besides my children) and of those, 4 of them were also in my husband’s phone. The last two belong to a friend of my daughter (hers and her father’s) and she came over last night and was able to give me those numbers. I am not a cell phone person. It gets used heavily for calling/receiving calls from my husband and children and that’s pretty much it. I have around 700 minutes a month, free mobile-to-mobile, free nights and weekends, and most months I don’t use any of the “peak” minutes at all. Which is another thing that makes me feel bad about it- I am already paying for something I don’t really use and now I am locked in to paying for it for another 2 years whether I want to or not.
The one possibly good thing that came out of this is that my new phone has a slide out keyboard. I don’t text much, and my cell plan didn’t include texting at all so I paid 20 cents each for texts. When I needed or wanted to, I texted from my computer (and if you use an email address instead of phone number when the recipients hit reply on their phone it will go to your email instead) but couldn’t convince some people not to text me (other than in reply to mine) so texts were running up my bill a little bit. Since we had to renew the contract anyway, we also added the (minimum) texting to my phone for a few dollars a month so that I won’t be upset when someone starts texting me willy-nilly and won’t have to run to my computer to respond (without running up a bill) and it won’t take me 20 minutes to compose a short text like it did with the numerical key pad.
Finally, what I used to make my self feel a bit better about it…the phone that I replaced is a Razr. A pretty pink one with a pink cover (and a brand new pink cover waiting for me to use it when this one starts to look dingy). I love my Razr, but they don’t make them any more so I knew it would never be replaced exactly. And I have had this one for 3 years, so it is probably time to replace it anyway. It still works well, but I am telling myself that it is probably on its last legs and would have died soon anyway. Right? And this way I can keep it as a back up if anything happens to the new one since I declined Verizon’s insurance and replacement plans.
MitzeKatze, your last post was so cute, it reminded me of my sister.
Basically what I have found to be a good plan, is to buy the minimum amount of stuff in the phone store that you can get away with. Now you have a backup phone, in pink!