Comments on: Wirefly — the good, the bad, and the ugly http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ News, Tips and Resources for Online Bargain Hunters Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:29:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Yan http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-36994 Yan Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:23:00 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-36994 Rob, I would think the carrier pays WireFly commission for each customer they bring to them Rob, I would think the carrier pays WireFly commission for each customer they bring to them

]]> By: Rob http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-36990 Rob Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:40:50 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-36990 I have a simple question about a deal my wife is looking at through WireFly.. if the phone is free (with rebates) and the service plans cost the same as the carrier how the heck does WireFly make money?? It is very suspicious not to know how a business makes money. I guess I can surmise that AT&T for example provides phone services at a reduced rate to WireFly so they make money there. Is it as simple as that? I have a simple question about a deal my wife is looking at through WireFly.. if the phone is free (with rebates) and the service plans cost the same as the carrier how the heck does WireFly make money?? It is very suspicious not to know how a business makes money.

I guess I can surmise that AT&T for example provides phone services at a reduced rate to WireFly so they make money there. Is it as simple as that?

]]> By: Big Boy http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-30824 Big Boy Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:24:10 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-30824 I went to a kiosk tonight in the mall that said Sprint/Nextel. I talked with the rep. for about 30 min.s and he never disclosed to me that he was working for a third party company called Wirefly. All of what I am hearing sounds suspicious. I was impressed about the price of the phones, but the one I liked has a mail in rebate. Every phone that I looked at had a mail in rebate. I went to a kiosk tonight in the mall that said Sprint/Nextel. I talked with the rep. for about 30 min.s and he never disclosed to me that he was working for a third party company called Wirefly. All of what I am hearing sounds suspicious. I was impressed about the price of the phones, but the one I liked has a mail in rebate. Every phone that I looked at had a mail in rebate.

]]> By: Michael http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-26092 Michael Sun, 01 Jul 2007 21:57:24 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-26092 Wirefly does offer several deals for phones that don't require a mail in rebate. That have several deals that offer instant discounts and customers pay nothing up front. Even better they have deals where customers actually make money. I recently reviewed there top deals and there were a few that customers that paid nothing up front to get the phone and they had $70 or $80 in mail-in rebates. It seems like some people have had a bad experience with them, but most have a great experience and get a really good deal on a phone. Wirefly does offer several deals for phones that don’t require a mail in rebate. That have several deals that offer instant discounts and customers pay nothing up front. Even better they have deals where customers actually make money. I recently reviewed there top deals and there were a few that customers that paid nothing up front to get the phone and they had $70 or $80 in mail-in rebates. It seems like some people have had a bad experience with them, but most have a great experience and get a really good deal on a phone.

]]> By: haha http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-22788 haha Wed, 30 May 2007 17:53:30 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-22788 They didn't end up coming after you for the $250 you owed them? It says very clearly in their terms of service that any changes you make to your service (including your phone number, duh) can result in their trying to collect back their original discount subsidy. This is discussed ad nauseum all over the internet. I LIke how people tend to cry "scam" whenever they don't like something or they didn't read the rules. But I guess the trick is simply to enlist the help of your credit card company. suckers. LOL They didn’t end up coming after you for the $250 you owed them? It says very clearly in their terms of service that any changes you make to your service (including your phone number, duh) can result in their trying to collect back their original discount subsidy. This is discussed ad nauseum all over the internet. I LIke how people tend to cry “scam” whenever they don’t like something or they didn’t read the rules. But I guess the trick is simply to enlist the help of your credit card company. suckers. LOL

]]> By: Franz http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-19223 Franz Sat, 28 Apr 2007 01:07:23 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-19223 I bought my Blackberry from them in '05. What a horrible company. The first sign I got that something was seriously wrong was that the area code of the phone number they assigned me wasn't even in my state! Tried calling them, couldn't get through. Called T-Mobile, who told me this place was a mess and offered to port my old number. A couple months later Wirefly called and had a fit, said they were charging me $250.00 and were very rude about it. I told them feel free, I'd be disputing it, they said they had a contract with me. So I filled out a form with my credit card company (which immediately suspends the charge), never heard another thing about it. Apparantly the $250 was some kind of scam. I'm surprised there hasn't been some kind of class action lawsuit against them, they are asking for it. I bought my Blackberry from them in ‘05. What a horrible company. The first sign I got that something was seriously wrong was that the area code of the phone number they assigned me wasn’t even in my state!

Tried calling them, couldn’t get through. Called T-Mobile, who told me this place was a mess and offered to port my old number. A couple months later Wirefly called and had a fit, said they were charging me $250.00 and were very rude about it. I told them feel free, I’d be disputing it, they said they had a contract with me.

So I filled out a form with my credit card company (which immediately suspends the charge), never heard another thing about it. Apparantly the $250 was some kind of scam.

I’m surprised there hasn’t been some kind of class action lawsuit against them, they are asking for it.

]]> By: Yan http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-18454 Yan Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:39:30 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-18454 <b>Inphonic Investor:</b> Thanks for your great insight. Bad reputation is very hard to fix. It is in human nature to open up more easily when you get burned by bad service than to advocate good service. I noticed exactly this pattern when <a href="http://probargainhunter.com/2007/02/26/rating-resellerratings/ rel="nofollow">I was reviewed ResellerRatings</a>. Companies who didn't solicit customer feedback via RR premium program tended to get very low rank since people would only go to RR to complain, but never to praise. Looking at the same RR ratings, Wirefly rank over the last 6 months is significantly higher than the overall lifetime rank (6.58 vs. 4.17). I hope this is not just a coincidence. Many readers of this blog are people who maintain deals/coupons sites and they might as well be hesitating about listing affiliate offers from Wirefly. It is in everyone's interest to see Wirefly customer support & rebate processing improve. It is a triple win for customers, affiliates and Wirefly employees & investors. Inphonic Investor:

Thanks for your great insight. Bad reputation is very hard to fix. It is in human nature to open up more easily when you get burned by bad service than to advocate good service. I noticed exactly this pattern when I was reviewed ResellerRatings. Companies who didn’t solicit customer feedback via RR premium program tended to get very low rank since people would only go to RR to complain, but never to praise.

Looking at the same RR ratings, Wirefly rank over the last 6 months is significantly higher than the overall lifetime rank (6.58 vs. 4.17). I hope this is not just a coincidence.

Many readers of this blog are people who maintain deals/coupons sites and they might as well be hesitating about listing affiliate offers from Wirefly. It is in everyone’s interest to see Wirefly customer support & rebate processing improve. It is a triple win for customers, affiliates and Wirefly employees & investors.

]]> By: Markdown Monkey http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-18326 Markdown Monkey Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:43:31 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-18326 Inphonic Investor - Great post. I have to agree with you that it appears Wirefly wants to get past the bad rebate reputation. Unfortunately, bad news travels faster and farther than good news. It may still take some time before that reputation changes. Regarding the “suspicious” comment. I assume you are referring to my post where I used the word "conspicuously." I was using that word to mean "obviously" or "noticeably," not "suspiciously." I am incredibly impressed with Wirefly's web interface and what must be going on "under the hood." Any online reseller would have to think long and hard about why they would want to build their own cell phone shopping cart when they could partner with Wirefly instead. Inphonic Investor - Great post.

I have to agree with you that it appears Wirefly wants to get past the bad rebate reputation. Unfortunately, bad news travels faster and farther than good news. It may still take some time before that reputation changes.

Regarding the “suspicious” comment. I assume you are referring to my post where I used the word “conspicuously.” I was using that word to mean “obviously” or “noticeably,” not “suspiciously.” I am incredibly impressed with Wirefly’s web interface and what must be going on “under the hood.” Any online reseller would have to think long and hard about why they would want to build their own cell phone shopping cart when they could partner with Wirefly instead.

]]> By: Inphonic Investor http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-18323 Inphonic Investor Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:07:06 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-18323 Yan, I own stock in this company which is why I subscribe to google alerts about them and saw this post today. This looks like a terrific blog and I agree your review is extremely fair. For what it's worth I thought I'd clear a few things up. First of all, the fact that the wireless sections of buy.com and radioshack.com look like the same company shouldn't be "suspicious." There's nothing hidden here. Wire Fly is owned by Inphonic, which basically owns the online cell phone category. Their main business is running everybody else's cell phone stores (they literally run thousands of them). So you're buying from them whether you order from bestbuy.com, radioshack.com, buy.com, overstock.com, motorola.com, samsung.com, blackberry.com, lg.com, or just about any other site that comes up when you search for cellphones on google. The reason everybody uses this company is because activating wireless phones is an extremely complicated business, and for better or worse they do it better than anybody. That's why I bought the stock. Nobody else does what they do (a good criterion for investing in any company, by the way). Speaking as a customer, I have ordered from them twice and had a great experience both times. But I have good credit. More than 50% of the orders they get are rejected by the carrier because of credit history or bad information in the application, and this company has to then try to get ahold of the customer to fix things so that the phone can be shipped, then they become a middleman, trying to work things out between the carrier and the customer. I would bet that the negative reviews are from people who fall into these categories. People don't understand this when they place an order and I'm sure that's why the reviews are so all over the place. As for rebates, they took a big hit in 2005 over their mismanagement of rebates. If you listen to their investor calls (again, they are a public company so all of this is public) they've discussed this extensively. As the story goes, they outsourced rebate processing to a third party that screwed things up and in switching vendors they created backlogs and lost rebates and couldn't quickly respond to inquiries from customers and all kinds of mess that led to them switching back to their previous vendor and it was basically mismanaged and a PR disaster that took a year to unwind. They got sued and ended up settling with the attorney general. But this was all for stuff that happened in 2005 and before. Listening to their investor calls, I for one believe with all the scrutiny placed on their rebates that they have to be squeaky clean now. Anyway, I read so much about this company and usually there's no forum for response, so I appreciate being able to share another point of view. Yan, I own stock in this company which is why I subscribe to google alerts about them and saw this post today. This looks like a terrific blog and I agree your review is extremely fair.

For what it’s worth I thought I’d clear a few things up. First of all, the fact that the wireless sections of buy.com and radioshack.com look like the same company shouldn’t be “suspicious.” There’s nothing hidden here. Wire Fly is owned by Inphonic, which basically owns the online cell phone category. Their main business is running everybody else’s cell phone stores (they literally run thousands of them). So you’re buying from them whether you order from bestbuy.com, radioshack.com, buy.com, overstock.com, motorola.com, samsung.com, blackberry.com, lg.com, or just about any other site that comes up when you search for cellphones on google.

The reason everybody uses this company is because activating wireless phones is an extremely complicated business, and for better or worse they do it better than anybody. That’s why I bought the stock. Nobody else does what they do (a good criterion for investing in any company, by the way).

Speaking as a customer, I have ordered from them twice and had a great experience both times. But I have good credit. More than 50% of the orders they get are rejected by the carrier because of credit history or bad information in the application, and this company has to then try to get ahold of the customer to fix things so that the phone can be shipped, then they become a middleman, trying to work things out between the carrier and the customer. I would bet that the negative reviews are from people who fall into these categories. People don’t understand this when they place an order and I’m sure that’s why the reviews are so all over the place.

As for rebates, they took a big hit in 2005 over their mismanagement of rebates. If you listen to their investor calls (again, they are a public company so all of this is public) they’ve discussed this extensively. As the story goes, they outsourced rebate processing to a third party that screwed things up and in switching vendors they created backlogs and lost rebates and couldn’t quickly respond to inquiries from customers and all kinds of mess that led to them switching back to their previous vendor and it was basically mismanaged and a PR disaster that took a year to unwind. They got sued and ended up settling with the attorney general. But this was all for stuff that happened in 2005 and before. Listening to their investor calls, I for one believe with all the scrutiny placed on their rebates that they have to be squeaky clean now.

Anyway, I read so much about this company and usually there’s no forum for response, so I appreciate being able to share another point of view.

]]> By: Yan http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-18247 Yan Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:47:29 +0000 http://probargainhunter.com/2007/04/25/wirefly-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comment-18247 The image there is a special for my Russian readers. ;-) I am going for a trip to Ukraine next June and it is all I can think of right now. :-) The image there is a special for my Russian readers. ;-)

I am going for a trip to Ukraine next June and it is all I can think of right now. :-)

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