By Yesterday, we learned Best Buy would be allowing customers to pre-order the much anticipated HTC EVO 4G that’s on its way to cellular stores on June 4th. As we imagined – and expected – RadioShack sparked their pre-order program up today, as well, but they’re offering a little spin that you won’t get at Best Buy, for the time being.
If you pre-order through the ‘Shack (as they now so affectionately refer to themselves as), you can get a $20 credit toward accessories on the day of your purchase. In order to pre-order, you’ll need to purchase a $50 gift card and then use it toward the final price of an on-contract EVO – $199.99 for RadioShack with no dastard rebate to mail in.
A rather odd system of doing things, but I won’t question their methods: a $20 credit to a docking station for the EVO 4G sounds pretty tempting assuming they’re available at launch. Go ahead and stop into your local RadioShack store today if you’d rather take them up on what they’ll be offering.
[Thanks, Matthew!]
That’s actually exactly how Best Buy Mobile does it too. I just bought the Incredible and they had the same $50 gift card system for pre-orders. Also, the manager game me a coupon for 25% off any accessories to match the corporate discount I would normally get at a Verizon store, which I thought was a nice touch.
@Jared Ah, that’s odd, when my sister pre-ordered her Hero there, she didn’t have to go through a gift card. Times change, I guess.
They make you buy the gift card so you cant change your mind and get your money back. Once you buy the gift card the only way you get your money back is thru another gift card or store credit. never cash back
I pre-ordered through Best Buy and didn’t get the gift card, just a receipt. You know when I got my Moto Droid through pre-order they did give me a card… Hope it wasn’t a mistake by them in which they expect me to have a card they never gave me when I pick up the phone.
I preordered at best buy yesterday and received a gift card. Is it normal to pay sales tax on a gift card?
Im thinking they will apply the gift card to the price before taxing again, so they will tax 149 and it will be like you paid tax on 199. because I too paid 54.xx for a 50.00 card… never paid tax on a gift card before though.
yes please sop by radioshack and by a few of these. i need to move a few in order to afford mine! :P
I was wondering the same thing about the tax on the gift card…doesn’t make sense. When I go to use it i’m gonna pay tax on the merchandise and pay tax again since i’m only getting $50 credit on the gift card instead of $54
I’ve been hearing some Best Buys do the gift card thing, some don’t, it’s probably base on region/location.
They shouldn’t take on gift cards, at least not normally. But if they are ringing it up as a partial payment of the phone, then perhaps tax applies.
This is awesome. I just called Radio Shack near me, and all I have to do is put $50 down and pay the remaining balance the day i pick up. Sweet. And he made sure to emphasize the $20 in free merch. Radio Shack, my hero…
Does Radio Shack do the instant rebate thing like Best Buy?
Re: Sales tax issue:
This might vary from state-to-state, but normally you cannot tax intangible property, which is what a gift card is.
Here in Florida:
“Rule 12A-1.89, Florida Administrative Code, provides that
the sales of a gift certificate is not subject to sales tax.
Rather, when the owner of a gift certificate redeems it for
taxable personal property or a part thereof, the transaction is
taxable as a sale. ”
So if you were charged sales tax on the gift card.. hold your receipt for when you buy the phone. Inform them when you purchase the phone that you already paid sales tax on $50.00 part of the item. It’s probably a register programming error that charged you in the first place.
Yes, Radio Shack is offering the “instant” rebate too….no waiting for a mail-in rebate from Sprint. Total price will be $199.99 (+tax). Check for “activation fee” which will probably show up on your first bill. I’m sooooo hype for this phone!
$50 deposit….then remaining balance on the day you pick your EVO up. Plus the free $20 toward accessories.
Start dumping your old phones on Ebay. This phone is worth the buy. Run your a$$ to Radio Shack and pre-order this Biotch!
I preordered my Evo yeaterday as well and they tried to add tax to it.I said something about it and they fixed it to represent the $50 gift card. One of them did say that the gift card would be worth the 54.35 or something when i came back in but I had them adjust it back. better 4 dollars richer than sorry : )
Pre-ordered the telephone today at Radio Shack. Looking forward to rocking this ish on June 4th.
I saw the HD2 today in the store again. It just seemed too big. I’m still buying the EVO but still. i’m worried about handling it comfortably.
@ Josh,im actually a sales manager at a sony style store and it is illegal to charge sales tax on a gift card in the state of new jersey,i would speak to a manager at the store or check your state laws because that doesnt sound right.
I went to Radio Shack yesterday afternoon to get the “EVO” on pre-sale. It seemed to easy….got a giftcard to use once the phone arrives to puchase an accessory. The $50 deposite goes towards my phone purchase price of $199 and I was in and out in no time, SCARY! I’m going to light up the darkness! HTC “EVO” IS now…
Something about Sense UI just doesn’t grab me… played with the Incredible and I was a little underwhelmed, other than the phone seeming to be a bit more snappy than my N1 for some reason.
The shack will never get my business again, don’t care how much cheaper there phone’s are. Bought one phone there and the store manager opened 4 more lines under my name without me knowing, check them out on ripoffreport.com if don’t believe me.
RadioShack has stopped pre-orders because they have sold all of the phones in their warehouse. Each store should still have a couple phones available for non-pre-order customers but they will be hard to get. If you really want the phone I would say go to your local sprint store which in my case took the companies advice and is opening an hour earlier to deal with the anticipated crowd.
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