Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Is Leasing a Smartphone Better Than Buying One? (cnbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The biggest benefit with a lease program is you have the option of upgrading to a newer phone model, usually after just a year. You don't get that option when you buy. But with a lease program, although it may be cheaper, you have to return the phone at the end of the agreement or when you upgrade -- meaning you can't pass it off to your child or sell it. So rather than leasing, buying may be a better option. But a New York Times column makes case for why leasing is the right way to go about it. I wanted to check with Slashdot readers, what do you prefer and why?
...because phones, like cars, come out with new models every year. It really depends on the person, and how in tune with the cutting edge of technology one is.
At this point, it is too little, too late. Phones are not changing frequently enough to really need to upgrade all that often anymore. Being on the Galaxy S5 right now and looking at the S8, there is only marginal increases over the past three years. Sure, it has a little more processing power, a little more RAM, and a little more storage, but that isn't all that needed.
If you don't care about your money it is great.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Lease or buy? Are we serious with this shit?
When a phone gets so fucking expensive I have to debate whether to lease or buy it, it's time to buy a cheaper phone.
Sadly, many people feel otherwise, and will sacrifice a lot in order to maintain the "celebrity" status of owning fashionable hardware.
My phone is 4-5 years old and still works great. I'm paying less than if I had a new phone (with a balance on it) considering the same plan for both. How is constantly paying for the phone better than not constantly paying for the phone? Phones today don't change enough to warrant the getting of the next model, unless you like throwing away your money or want to be seen with the latest technology. In that case you are materialistic and that's that.
Tired of my customary (Score:1)
I always buy outright. Never borrow money or rent. With leasing, someone is providing you with a service over and above the simple purchasing of a thing, and you'll pay for that service. Save money by buying.
If you can't afford a $1000 phone outright, you can't afford a $1000 phone, period. No matter how you finance/lease it.
Sane personal/family financial planning should allow you to save in order to be able to afford that phone, or simply choose a less expensive phone to begin with.
No, because if ANYTHING happens to the phone during that year, you're totally at the lessor's mercy. They can charge you the full original MSRP (and probably a penalty on top) if the phone gets lost/stolen/broken during the year, or if you return it in less than shrinkwrap-pristine condition (their official definitions of "normal wear & tear" almost certainly deviates from YOUR understanding of what it means). And if you DO need to buy a replacement at some point during the year, there's usually a clause requiring that you purchase that replacement FROM THEM, at WHATEVER PRICE THEY DICTATE... if you bought an identical replacement from Amazon or Newegg, they'd be entitled to refuse it (since the phone's serial number wouldn't match the serial number of the one they sent you), charge you some inflated shipping & handling fee to send the refused phone back to you, AND charge you their official inflated replacement price (plus some penalty) anyway. The fact that they're probably going to turn around and sell the returned phones to someone like Asurion for $10/pound as scrap doesn't matter... there's almost certainly a mandatory arbitration clause, and you'd spend 100 times the phone's purchase price on a lawyer attempting to PROVE it to the arbiter.
With consumer-item leases, the deck is totally and hopelessly 100% stacked against you. Sure, you might get lucky... but if you lose the dice roll, you're going to be in a world of pain by the time they're finished throwing arbitrary penalties at you. Especially if there's no language allowing you to purchase the item at the end of the lease.
If you truly intend to keep the phone for a year, buy it outright, then sell it yourself using swappa.com, craigslist, or ebay after buying your new one. At least then, you'll be able to fix it if it breaks, and buy replacements from whomever gives you the best deal, instead of being totally at the lessor's mercy.
Just to give you a small idea of how evil some companies can be, after Hurricane Wilma, I got a letter that was sent to me by mistake by Enterprise Rent-a-Car (I'd rented a car from them a few weeks earlier, and their loss department fucked up and sent the letter to me by mistake) demanding the immediate payment of almost $7,000 for damage to a rental car caused by flooding (Wilma caused extensive flooding in Miami). Anyway, they admitted it was sent to me by mistake, but what I'll never forget was the first paragraph of the letter, which basically said, "the Loss Damage Waiver doesn't include coverage from flooding", then conceded in the next sentence that the language in the brochure might have been "confusing" since it implied "total coverage" (you know, the usual excuse of corporate America... "total" on the marketing materials means "total coverage for what we decide it covers, subject to any exclusions incorporated by reference into the fine print of Article VIII, section c(iii), page 84, on file with the state Department of Commerce). A few months later, I remember seeing a story on the evening news about thousands of complaints filed by consumers against rental car companies who tried doing that exact thing. From what I recall, the state eventually ruled against most of the rental car companies, but the only penalty was that they had to eat the loss and refund any amount already paid. In other words, it was a totally safe gamble for them... "heads they would have won, tails they merely broke even".
"The biggest benefit with a lease program is you have the option of upgrading to a newer phone model, usually after just a year. You don't get that option when you buy. "
Sure you are, you just sell the old one on ebay and buy another one, but you actually have to _buy_ it, not use the ripoff 'buying' that the providers use.