After eight years of loyal service, our faithful but aging iPhone 8s were ready to ride off into the sunset, with cracked screens, failing charging ports, and all the other woes of cell phones way past their prime.
So off we trudged to the carrier’s brick-and-mortar store, hoping for a deal on new phones since we are long-term customers (close to 15 years!) Spoiler: no such luck. The sales guy explained that most of their phone buyers purchase from them because the carrier finances, and that we could probably buy phones cheaper elsewhere. Really!!!!!!
We got a new iPhone for The Mister because he had a 36-hour trek coming up in a couple days and needed something right away that wouldn’t die halfway through a GPS ping. I, however, turned to Amazon, the land of refurbished dreams.
Long story short: I snagged an Amazon certified refurbished phone for a third less than The Mister’s shiny new one. I braced for DIY activation chaos, but both phones handled it like pros. A few taps, a couple of prompts, and voilà! My new phone was up and running with all my old stuff, like nothing ever happened.
Lesson learned: next time, we’re not waiting eight years. Probably just seven and a half.
