Refurb. replacements the norm?

[Lex]

I was about to go for a PPC phone with my cell telco but discovered after I pay $400 and take the device insurance, I may still have to accept a refurb. down the road if the original fails. So I pay $400 and someday get a unit that was at the bottom of someone's golf bag but the insides are blessed as reliable. A friend said Verizon has the same policy. You may not get a new unit as a replacement. Is this the norm and do you all go along with it? I'm not paying all that money unless I get my unit back. I think I'll keep my own PDA and use a separate cellphone.

[Darius Wey]

To my understanding, a lot of companies use both refurbished units and new units as replacements. Dell definitely does. A couple of the smaller Pocket PC Phone Edition manufacturers do as well.

The idea is that a refurbished unit is just an old unit with new parts. From the outside, you usually can't tell the difference between that and a brand new unit. And the bottom line: it works just fine.