Can I test out phones before I buy them?

My 2 yr contract ends next friday and I was wondering if verizon is able to let me test out a phone that I may be considering on getting for a few days and if I dont like it, I can bring it back...... is this possible? I am thinking about getting the KRAZR but I have heard many good and bad things about it. I sort've wanted to try it out myself before I buy it.

I know that after either 14 or 30 days, you can exchange it. I'm not sure how long the buyer's remorse window for verizon is..

I am going to verizon tommorow to see if the LG chocolate is what i really want. im not sure but my contract may be over by tommorow...... im still not quite sure yet. do you know if i have to pay for that exchange thing, because cant i get the chocolate for 30 days, and then swap it for a Krzr for 30 days, then get the Samsung A990 for another 30 days and so on..........?

It depends on the Verizon store you go to. If you go to a corporate store, they may let you do that with one phone. I'm not crazy about those stores, I had to take a number and wait in line for close to an hour just to return a car charger for my phone. Your best bet is to try and find an independent agent that deals Verizon, they may be more willing to do something like that.

Either way, and I can't stress this enough, MAKE SURE that you find out not only how long you have to try out the phone, but more importantly, how many minutes they will allot you on the phone you're trying out. Most, probably all, places only give you a certain limit besides the 14 or 30 days. Usually it's a certain amount of minutes, a decent amount, to make some calls, etc., to see how the phone and service work for you. The reason they do this is because after a certain amount of minutes, if they have to sell the phone to someone else, it won't be considered a new phone if there are alot of minutes 'racked up' on it.

If you're trying to compare phones, here are some good sites to check out, : Phone Scoop, Cell Phone Reviews and News - Welcome to Mobiledia and CNET - Technology product reviews, price comparisons, tech video, and more. They have user reviews and staff reviews which are both helpful and also comparison charts where you can check the phones you like and look at them altogether with all the features listed. They also have rating systems on individual features and the phones overall.

This might help some of your decision making and take alot of the guess work out of it so when you do go into the store, you'll be very well informed and the salesman will not try and pull one over on you.

Good luck!

I would actually go to a corporate location if you're planning on testing a phone out. There is a 14 day period where you can take the phone back and exchange it for a new one, but there is only one exchange allowed. So if you don't like your second phone, you're pretty much stuck with it. I wouldn't go to an independent dealer if you want to do a trial run on a phone. My store sucks for that kind of thing. We have a 3 day period and won't take the phone back if there is more than 45 minutes of call time on it. Those are the restrictions that Verizon puts on us. My job would seriously be 20 times easier if I could get away with half of what corporate employees are entitled to...

I guess it all depends on the person and the place. I lucked out and found someone that owned their own store and we became friends and I could pretty much try out all the phones. Let me word that a little differently, I got to 'play' with all the phones, like you can at corporate stores too. Only thing at corporate stores, there are a million people there and most times it's mayhem.

I agree with alot of what Spum has said here, and I still think as much research as you can do before you get any phone would definitely be helpful. Also, if you're not in a huge rush, keep your eye out for friends, people, etc., who have any of the models you're interested in, and see what they have to say about it.

All the bells and whistles are nice, but you should still concentrate on the two most important things, phone calls and reception in different areas you travel in.

It amazes me when people go on and on about the camera quality on a cell phone. When's the last time you saw someone looking at a digital camera and heard them say, 'hey, how's the reception on this one? Do you drop alot of calls on it?'