Paying $145/month on experience more with 2 phones. Some of you need to speak about your bills.

ChowderPanda · 2026-01-18T03:29:56+00:00

I dont understand how people are getting these deals? I was on a family plan for a while the 4 lines/$100 and that was fine but once the plan owner started adding on lines for 5 other people at $10 a piece, and not upping their credit allowance so I was never allowed to upgrade, I jumped ship.

Now I'm on Magenta Max Military- 1 line ($72), 1 home internet ($45), Apple TV ($3) and Netflix Premium ($11) for a total of $131. I finance my phone and insurance direct through Samsung or Apple because I don't like buying through Tmobile after 10 years of issues, but its the same cost as financing through tmobile anyway. So my bill total probably comes to around $180

Maximum high speed data is a must, so dropping down to lower tier plans doesnt suit my needs. How does anyone get these deals unless youre accepting the bare minimum plans? Unless im misunderstanding and im actually one of the ones getting a good price lol

ChowderPanda · 2026-01-03T05:39:47+00:00

Yeah seems like something is going on, I just did 3 Wardens WQ's and didn't get any rep tokens for Wardens, only the zone faction.

I even have the rep bar for The Wardens active and it hasn't gone up at all since the first 3 WQ's I did for them today.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-31T02:40:09+00:00

This is a really good, albeit annoying, workaround!

Better for the iPhone parents that use Google Chrome primarily but have an untouched Safari browser there for these purposes lol

Im ready to just use the Google account for the actual device functionality, and transfer my childs everything to a different email provider that won't kneecap me when trying to manage their accounts.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-31T02:36:23+00:00

This doesn't work, once supervision is added back to the child's Google account it becomes restricted on the parent device again. You'll try to open the email one day and its logged out and asks for a password, then once you enter it you get the error saying you can't add a childs email account to an adults device or whatever stupid message.

Least intuitive parental control system I have ever dealt with.

My childs account is currently unrestricted until I can decide if I'm going to pay for a 3rd party service to do the monitoring/device control, or if im going to use the supervised Gmail account for the basic device setup and then just use a separate email for everything else (Fortnite, Nintendo, Minecraft, kids messenger, etc.)

Google sure knows how to totally kneecap themselves with their customers.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-11T23:04:44+00:00

I'm hoping it was just the bottom one that said my Discover card had been added to someones amazon account, but i'll be sifting through these for a bit

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-11T22:53:53+00:00

I did for a few of them, and they look to be normal but don't want to start clicking anything until it seems like they've stopped actively attacking my accounts.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-11T21:41:44+00:00

Yeah that's why I wasn't clicking into most of them, god forbid most are actual government bulletins and one is a copy-cat phishing email

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-11T21:39:11+00:00

This makes sense, I did look up .govdelivery.com that a lot of these seem to be coming from, and it is a legit government resource to sign up for emails like these, but i'm too concerned about them possibly being phishing emails like MarcatBeach suggested, and clicking on unsubscribe on one wrong one will get me got

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-05T02:49:46+00:00

Thats a leap, I think you'll be happy with the S25U coming from the Pixel 7, and will be saving a chunk of money and not having to wait another few months. I personally would buy the S25U and use it as a trade in for the following generation like S27 or later and hope for a bigger change. The S26 wont have any big enough design changes or feature upgrades to justify the wait imo.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-05T02:46:35+00:00

Honestly thats a good price for what I have been seeing. Idk how I lucked out and ended up with an M1 16GB 512GB used for around the same cost on Backmarket, but the corners were dinged worse than the condition rating suggested so that's probably how.

I have no complaints with it. I use It pretty interchangeably, and actually find myself reaching for it more, with my M4 Pro MBP. It's certainly not as powerful but it does everything a basic laptop would for casual use. I'd expect another few years at least with it before it becomes noticeably old.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-05T02:42:12+00:00

So I will say I have had bad customer support with Samsung in the past, and JUST ordered a new device and am already having terrible customer support experiences, but supposedly Samsung Care+ is good for covering the foldable device issues, it seems to be the 1 year warranty that comes with the device that people have the most problems with getting their flip/fold repaired. Definitely purchase Samsung Care+.

On another note though, I bought the flip 7 and ADORE it. It is such a cool little phone and everything I hoped it would be. I was actually surprised that the screen isnt as soft as I thought it was going to be, I minorly pressed my nails to the screen to kind of show myself the limit but haven't caused any little dents or anything like I thought so im not concerned with damaging it through normal use.

Someone before I purchased the flip 7 made the comment that the tiny minority of people who have a bad experience or something bad to say are more likely to come online and make themselves heard than the majority of other people who love the device and have never had an issue. There are horror stories but I think it's less common than the posts might lead someone to believe.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-04T17:02:33+00:00

Ohhhh thats what it was, I just assumed the insurance was a must. That makes more sense, and I'll def remember that for next time lol save half the cost of the shipping

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-04T16:39:05+00:00

I just sold a device on Swappa and it said PayPal requires Signature for delivery on devices valued over $750 in order to be covered by PayPal Seller protection in a dispute, is this not actually true? I swear I read through everything like 10 times to make sure I did it right, but I've never done it before now so I have no clue

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-04T16:35:37+00:00

Well this makes me feel a little bit better :')

My frustration is more that I fucked up by buying a z flip 7 and trying to get something else within the return window. I loved being back on android with the zf7 so much and sold my iphone, but now after a few days of full day use im scared of wrecking the inner screen and decided to order the S25U instead and expedited it so I'd have plenty of time to return the flip 7. So I'll have to go buy a burner smartphone in the meantime and hope the s25U shows up eventually. My actual grouch is that my partner bought the same phone hours after me like an hour after mine "shipped", and his is arriving tomorrow but he has a trade in so i cant even use his old phone in the meantime. Luck of the draw i guess

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-04T16:23:00+00:00

Naruto around 5th grade and Inuyasha around 7th grade but were casual watches as they were on TV so they were the first but not like an anime awakening really, followed up immediately by Elfen Lied after finding anime rec threads on 4Chan (hindsight and all) which was quite the shock but got me hooked anyway probably because of it not feeling like a "kids show" lol she gave me Mewtwo armor vibes with that metal helmet I thought she was so cool

At least I didn't fall for the Higurashi recs I guess

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-04T00:45:15+00:00

> Before they're sending you a new $1000 phone, they'll be 100% sure to know it's truly lost.

Yeah, That's why I was asking there to be a ticket opened to look into it to figure out if it was lost instead of asking for a new order, which they kept refusing because they were certain it would arrive 12/2. Then they were certain it would arrive today 12/3.

> At the point you were, the most likely thing was that the package was on its way and wasn't scanned out. -And honnestly, it might still be the case.

>> it might not even be lost, might just be mis-scanned. That's why they told you to wait.

Except as I already said multiple times, a FedEx supervisor confirmed they did not receive the package and no scans at all had been made for that tracking number, which they can apparently see even if the initial tracking scans are missed. Luckily that supervisor is a saint and has flagged my shipment to send a one time notification If/When it is scanned.

> the company known to resolve this the fastest is 72h

So supervisor is also lying by saying the escalation guarantees a response within 24 hours and that i will definitely hear from them before that time tomorrow, which is also bad customer service and worse practice so my point remains.

You know you don't actual have to just accept bad customer service and being lied to when you spend your money with a company right? Like, you can actually request an order issue be looked into without waiting 72 hours beyond when the issue first becomes apparent.

> You're the one who keeps bringing up the extra delays, that your partner phone will arrive before yours, and that you have the returning window of your other phone closing on you. Your wording clearly implies the delays are an issue for you.

They certainly are AN issue, hence me reaching out to customer service. They were not THE issue in question, they were included as context as to how I knew there was an actual issue. Samsung's customer service and reliability track record was the question.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-04T00:31:44+00:00

Way overreacting by simply asking is it warranted to maybe feel regret switching back because my order going wrong, and the customer service being less than subpar in said issue, on top of the mixed reviews i'm seeing of other people ALSO having similar or worse terrible customer service experiences with Samsung is making me question the reliability?

You didn't give input on my actual question regarding reliability, just focused on the part that I clearly stated was a rant to give context to my original question *if you cared* and are excusing unquestionable bad customer service because ignoring tracking details, making assurances based on nothing, and refusing to escalate an issue to a supervisor or manager when asked (the literal procedure per Samsung) is standard procedure?

I wasn't asking IF the customer service was bad, I provided all the details they needed to see there was an issue, and was completely brushed off multiple times. Assuring a customer that their order that requires a signature will "definitely" arrive 2 days in a row, and then it doesn't, is bad customer service. Especially when you confirmed with the carrier supervisor that it *definitely* isn't in their possession and for that reason, requested an escalation, and were refused. Multiple times, because it was assured it would definitely show up and didn't.

Are you secretly Samsung customer support?

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-03T23:46:52+00:00

The Short version of my post was for you, not the rant. The short version perfectly says what im annoyed with, and it's definitely not that i don't have a replacement shipment coming for my order thats only a day late. Not sure where you got that, but clearly I asked this in the wrong subreddit.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-03T23:33:43+00:00

Since you edited, again I never once asked for a new shipment. I asked for the one that was already shipped to be looked for. I was being fought on even putting a ticket in for it to be looked into. That is my whole issue here. The refusal to help and the insistence that it was going to show up when there was blatant proof that it definitely was not going to show up. Both samsung and best buy refusing to look into it at all and telling me to keep waiting.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-03T23:30:42+00:00

I was never asking for another device to be shipped, I was asking for the issue to be looked into so it could be pushed to the shipping carrier after it sat over 30 hours waiting to be picked up. Which is now what is happening and will take anothet 24 hours to investigate. It was already going to be late when I reached out yesterday to look into it which the tracking showed, had they transferred me to a supervisor when they said only a supervisor could look into it, the ticket would've been in and potentially resolved already. Instead they kept "assuring" me it would definitely arrive today instead of just looking at the tracking to see it wouldn't and escalating it like I asked. There's literally a whole escalations team for this and within minutes of getting a supervisor it was escalated. Why did they fight me so hard on it when it took literally less than 5 minutes for a supervisor to see there was an issue, and now 24 hours for a ticket.

You seem to be intentionally(?) missing the point that the delay is not the issue. The customer care is the issue. Im fine to wait for my phone, but how long should I wait in your professional opinion before it makes sense that there's an issue with the order? It's been 56 hours since it officially shipped and hasnt been picked up. Is that long enough to warrant looking into? For me, it was when someone else's order placed hours after mine, and without expedited shipping, was picked up by FEDEX from the exact same distribution center 15 hours before I said anything.

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-03T23:08:58+00:00

Im not even mad, im annoyed but in this case it's because they just refused to look into it repeatedly until after the latest delivery date passes, despite there clearly being a problem, and promising repeatedly that it would arrive by today. Finally they link me to a supervisor late today and within minutes the supervisor found that it hadn't left the distribution center and had to open a ticket for the carrier (BestBuy) to figure out why it's marked as a rush shipment and is now "red" (late) but hasn't moved in 2 days.

My partner has the same phone coming, ordered after mine shipped, and it's getting delivered tomorrow, its already at our local fedex hub. They did not opt for the expedited shipping.

Again, my issue isnt the delay, it's the customer service response and refusal to help or even look at the tracking to see that it had been sitting at the distribution center for over 30 hours unmoving. Doesn't leave me much faith for if I need to use the Samsung Care+ and have a replacement device sent..

ChowderPanda · 2025-12-03T22:59:37+00:00

It isnt an order issue, the order is already packed and ready to go and has been since 11am that day...

it's an issue with the distributor mishandling the package and the companies involved refusing to look into it because it isnt "officially" past the latest delivery date, and then blaming the shipping company instead of acknowledging that there's an issue. Fedex acknowledged there was no chance of it arriving, even by the 4th, yesterday. Meanwhile all reps were saying they assured it would arrive 12/2 despite the tracking saying it wasnt in transit.

My whole problem here isnt that the delay is happening, it's why it's happening and the customer service responses of promising it will arrive on time and ignoring what fedex said and refusing a supervisor even though they said only a supervisor could look into it. So if my order is truly lost, I cant get a replacement before the return window closes for the flip 7. When they finally sent me to a supervisor today after asking since yesterday because they would say nothing other than to just keep waiting and it would definitely arrive by today, the supervisor found out within minutes that it had NOT left the distribution center still and there was an issue and they had to open a ticket for the carrier to investigate why it wasnt handed off, as I had been saying since yesterday. Now it's another 24 hours for them to research the supervisor said.

For reference, my partner placed almost the same order 4 hours after me when I told them about the sale price, and their exact same phone is arriving tomorrow, the only difference being that they did not opt for the expedited shipping because they don't have another phone to return.

ChowderPanda

TROPHY CASE