Verizon wireless phone question

[scootertrash]

Does anyone happen to know...

My daughter lost her cell phone while out tromping through the back woods. We've looked for weeks hoping to find it with no luck. It was turned off, so we couldn't even try calling it in hopes of hearing it ring.

It was Samsung Reality. About 6 months into a 2 year contract. Had the extended warranty, but that's not going to cover a lost phone.

If we buy the same model used phone (on ebay, craigslist, etc) will Verizon activate it, or do we have to buy a replacement phone through Verizon.
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?

[khuygie88]

Verizon will activate it, it does not have to be the same model, however your warranty is wasted now no matter what.

[Twheat18]

If you buy a used one you can absolutely do an ESN(electronic serial #) change which will remove the lost phone and replace it with the new phone. You can do that yourself online. Good bye extended warranty though if its a monthly fee call and have it cancelled.

[scootertrash]

Thanks for the info !

[rice_rocket]

Wait a minute.. why won't the extended warranty work?

Back in the day the charge was another $50 and then they'll replace it? I lost mine about 7 years ago... but then decided that since I took such good care of the phone, it would be more worth it to go out and buy myself another phone if I ever lost it... (I think it was $5 a month for this). Now a days the phones cost a lot more though.

And to chime in again, yes you can activate darn well any verizon phone and do it yourself online. Some stores will actually charge you a $20 fee to activate it and/or get contacts.

If your daughter used the backup assistant, you can snag all the phone numbers/contacts back onto the phone. I keep almost all my old phones in case of this happening to myself, my wife, or sister-in-law.

To date, only once a phone broke so we just activated it. My brother forgot his phone while on vacation, so we activated one of mine.. and two of my cousins had theirs stolen at the bar.. so that's where most of my phones went

[obsolete]

Depends if it's insurance or a warranty. If it's the insurance you pay for monthly they should replace it.

[gregp]

The cell phone use/issues from my two teenage girls was the sole source of most of my gray hair.... Verizon was actually very helpful in resolving most of them - at a cost.

[kato617]

I was going to say. Talk to verizon and they may be able to do something for you. Most ins will cover lost phones. Maybe a cost involved, but the should replace it.

The cell phone use/issues from my two teenage girls was the sole source of most of my gray hair.... Verizon was actually very helpful in resolving most of them - at a cost.

[burtonboarder23]

i lost my phone snowboarding one year, there was no way i was going to find it so i just went to Verizon and told them it was stolen, they replaced the phone at a discounted cost but anything off is better then nothing

[RyanNicholson]

Like everyone said, you can activate any verizon phone on your account but that extended warranty was only on the phone that was lost.

Get the Asurion insurance, its saved my ass enough times to make it worth the couple bucks a month.

[scootertrash]

I had the extended warranty but not the insurance. The last few phones she has had were damaged (she dropped in the bath tub, dropped in the lake, etc) but this is the first phone she has outright lost.
I did learn the trick of putting a wet phone in a bowl of dry rice (covered) overnight to dry it out. Works well.
Live and learn
Good advice from everyone. I appreciate it.