Should I buy refurbished electronics?

[raintyger]

I am the last person on earth without a mobile phone. It's getting more difficult to operate without, though, because everyone, including merchants, assume you have one and build their services around that assumption. So I'm thinking of getting a low usage phone from a company that only bills you for what you use.

Although I'm not chatty, I do think a smartphone would be helpful--Mapquest, look up store hours, keep notes, etc. The wireless provider I'm looking at sells refurbished smartphones. Does anyone have experience with buying refurbished electronics? Should I do it?

 

[catlover19]

If you don't want it to use a lot, I'd go for it. The one thing is, if you are planning on putting it on prepaid (or pay as you go, whatever it is called there) then I would put a prepaid plan on it if your company offers such a thing. I'm not sure how it works there, but here if you use data without a data package, it is very expensive. I pay $20.75 a month and get call display, voicemail, unlimited texting and 100mb of data. Last month, I went over my data slightly within the last 2 days of my plan and it cost me $2. I hardly even did anything with it for it costing $2. 

 

[nurseangel]

Most refurbished products offer the same warranty as new.  If they are willing to do that, I would definitely go for it.  I know my mixer is a refurbished item, but it's the best mixer I've ever owned.  So far, so good.

catlover19, your new avatar is cute beyond words.