When you purchase a Verizon phone from Best Buy or some other big-box store, it's pretty clear that that you're dealing with an authorized retailer What may not be so obvious is when the storefront proclaims "Verizon" in big letters. Somewhere, however, there is smaller type denoting the store is a Verizon-approved retailer. Like the fine print in the pic below.
The sales staff at Authorized Retailers is trained by Verizon and occasionally retrained when needed. The store has to met certain terms, but those can vary from location to location. One of them: the return policy. Verizon's corporate stores have a standard 30-day guarantee return that offers a new phone or money back. The return policies of authorized retailers may differ. You may get a better price at an Authorized Retailer than the fixed prices at a corporate store, though. But, if you ever have a problem in the future, a corporate store, is better equipped to handle problems then a reseller is. Corporate stores have better access to different tools and a direct preferred line to tech support, too.
There are 3 types of Verizon stores:
1.
Corporate Store
2.
Premium Retailer
3.
Authorized Seller/Dealer
Corporate Stores are Verizon owned and operated. They have fixed pricing, flexibility with all levels of customer service (to a degree) to help manage your account returns and exchanges from online, in-store, and over the phone. These seem to be fairly consistent experiences in all locations. The sales people are usually uniformly nice, but they can be a bit pushy now and then. Again, the prices are higher than other places, and the lines tend to be longer (because more people want to stick with the corporate stores, especially for brand newly released flagship phones, since the corporate people will know more of the pros and cons of them). I prefer the Corporate Stores, because when they ring it up, change anything, whatever, there's no middleman to screw things up. Their fancy schmancy iPad thingy is directly linked to Verizon itself. With my grandfathered unlimited plan, I wanted to take
no chances when I got a new phone.
Premium Retailers make up the majority of Verizon's stores. They have specific guidelines they must follow to deliver the Verizon experience they way Verizon wants it. They're like the McDonalds of Verizon. The plans are exactly the same and they have the same Verizon training made available to them (not all use it). They tend to be smaller and more personable. When it comes to pricing they tend to be in the same price point as a Corporate store, but depending on the market might be up or down. Ask if they price match and show them the website, some will some won't. They are setup to honor all Verizon mail rebate and bill credit promotions and most do participate. Some will even give you the markdown in-store or fill out the rebate for you. Your accessories are always the same or less then the corporate store and they tend to have more flexible bundle deals. Some will offer additional services: cell phone repair, alternate insurances, or refurbished phones upon request. Do yourself a favor and check their Yelp and/or Google reviews before you go, If you see a particular person mentioned as great ask for them & vise versa. The Verizon Premium Retailer in my home town, everyone in there is nice, but they are really pretty clueless on the nuts and bolts details of anything. Mostly college kids, I guess. I prefer the corporate store 45 minutes away in Paducah if there's a problem.
Authorized Sellers/Resellers/Dealers. These are your big-box stores & small independent sellers (like, We-Be-Cellphones-R-Us or something). The big-box stores offer their own pricing on devices and accessories. They usually price match. They use their own training on sales people with input from the carriers. They run their own promotions and are considered independent. They have limits on what they can offer plan wise and usually don't offer Verizon insurance (but a few do). The small independent stores are really all over the map because its up to each store. They have much less oversight and have little affiliation with Verizon corporate. I tend to stay away from these due to the lack of consistency unless you find a really knowledgeable sales person or an amazing deal (like the one you got). My own personal opinion is, they're good if you know exactly what you want. For me, they're good in a pinch for a Verizon branded vehicle charger. That's about it. YMMV.
To find a store near you, go to
Verizon's Store Locator and type in a Zip Code. You have the option to NOT include Authorized Retailers in the search results, if you like. If you choose to include the Authorized Retailers, the pushpins on the map in
RED are Corporate Stores, and the
light blue ones are Authorized Retailers.
My current phone, the LG 20, I got that at a Corporate Store in Louisville. The phone before that, the HTC One M8, I got at a Corporate Store in Laredo. Ordered one online direct from Verizon. The Droid before that, Corporate Store in Pittsburgh. The two phones before that, as luck would have it, both from the Corporate Store in Davenport, IA. You have to go back all the way to the phone before those two that I got at the Authorized Retailer at home.
