I go out of my way to help small businesses by making referrals to friends and acquaintances. For…read morethat reason, I waited to see if first if other critical reviews would emerge subsequent to my own experience. Since they have, I feel compelled to comment.
I had been referred to Bigfoot for a repair - not a purchase - by an AT&T rep in Alameda who called Chris before sending me to Oakland to get a SIM card for a cellphone I already had on hand, indicating if he did not have one, he would simply give me a "free" phone.
He didn't have one, but at mo point mentioned a free phone, and instead, brought out a very small cellphone, suitable for a child's hand -- used and the only thing they had available.
Any good businessman would have sent me elsewhere, e.g., to Target or Walgreen, which I have since learned sell new and very cheap, minimalist phones. Instead, I was shown how one could turn off the extras - i.e., texting, internet - and told it would cost $50 - cash only - which is all I had. Since they were close to closing, I thought, "What harm could there be in trying it out?" and asked what the return policy was. At that point a red flag should have gone up since it was emphasized repeatedly that there would be no problem "as long as it was not damaged and had no scratches."
Instead of perceiving that as a warning ("buyer beware" ...of possible scam), the repetition simply made me, already an extremely cautious and conscientious person, extra careful in handling the phone. When I took the phone over to my mother the next day, I sat down next to her while she dialed a phone number. If anyone is gentle, it is my mother, who barely had 5 minutes with the phone. It took just two attempts for it to be apparent that this phone was not suitable, so I immediately put it back into its protective packaging and drove back to East Oakland.
The reception was hardly warm, and after a very long time spent examining the phone behind the counter away from view, Chris reemerged and asserted that the phone had been damaged beyond repair - "worthless," he said since he would not be able to get any parts for it. I had by then such a strong sense of shady, duplicitous dealings that I was prepared to stay there all day, if necessary, until it was resolved. I settled for him keeping $10 since I always try to give the other person the benefit of a doubt. But the manner in which I had been treated as a customer was just the opposite.
The business is clearly not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, which requires that a business be free of "unsatisfactory" ratings, "advertise honestly" (an issue mentioned by other reviewers), live up to a standard of "transparency" which includes mentioning "all policies, guarantees and procedures that bear on a customer's decision to buy." I was given no history, no information, no original packaging, and no instructions with the phone. The company was also out of business I later learned. Had I known that, I would never have purchased the phone in the first place.
In short, I deem it unethical to charge so much for a phone and to not inform the customer that the company manufacturing it is no longer in the business of making smartphones. This is surely something a customer should know, especially for a phone that is allegedly so easy to break and for which parts are unavailable.
