Zoom Wireless

I’m not actually surprised this location didn’t have any reviews before now — it’s a little out of the way, it’s only advertised as a Verizon Wireless retailer by other Verizon locations, and then only when you need to do something shifty about your phone’s warranty. I wouldn’t have even known about this place had I not gotten a full-​scale, year-​long runaround from Verizon stores all across Boston.
While I’m making this sound like someone selling old Razrs and unlocked refurbished iPhones out of a cardboard box on a random street corner, know this: Zoom Wireless will cut right through the bullshit and get you hooked up proper.
Backstory: Over the course of about a year, I owned ten Blackberry Curves, all on Verizon plans. Each one would last about a month, experience the same type of keyboard/​trackball failure that the Verizon Store techs couldn’t explain, rendering each one the technological equivalent of a blinking potato. Each time, the folks at the Verizon store would offer a replacement under warranty, and since I was hopelessly hooked on the Crackberry, I’d take it. Around the tenth time, though, I decided enough was enough, and since the Tour had just come out, I walked in and asked about an upgrade. In very hush-​hush tones, they recommended I visit Zoom, since there was nothing they could do for me in that regard.
Once I had tackled the ride to Cleveland Circle, I walked into Zoom and explained my predicament to the two guys working there. They were utterly flabbergasted that I had had such awful luck with these phones, and even more floored at the fact that Verizon wouldn’t upgrade anything for me. After taking my info, one employee got on the phone with Verizon HQ and explained my situation. After they put him on hold to check some files, he said to me, «Listen, you’ve been through too much for me to stand by and watch you have to pay anything for this upgrade,» and then coached me through how I should phrase my predicament in order to get the Verizon folks to waive all the charges. Sure enough, I got on the phone with Verizon, and following the Zoom employee’s instructions, got away with only having to pay the delivery cost for a new Tour.
Overall, was it shady as hell? Sure. Did I initially walk away from this business encounter wondering if I’d violated any laws? Of course. But what counts is the folks at Zoom helped me defeat a telecommunications bureaucracy, and now I’ve got a phone with which I’m still satisfied and for which I didn’t have to pay any more than postage.
So, screw dealing directly with Verizon. When the going gets tough, the tough ought to get going to Cleveland Circle.