Fortuitous that you bring up Newegg--I actually called them today, to check on their warranty policy. These are the things the rep told me. Yes, you are correct, 30 day money back--but w/a 15% restocking fee (unless defective, I imagine). And one-year replacement--but only if everything is intact--phone, packaging, etc. IOW, you
cannot cut out the IMEI panel to send in for your rebate, then if the phone breaks later, try to send it back to Newegg for replacement. They wil not take it if something as stupidly irrelevant as part of the box is missing. The rep said, you can either get your rebate and hope the phone doesn't break, or not get the rebate.
She then endured several minutes of me telling her how gymongously dumb that was, and how, by not saying this is their policy on their site, they might actually be liable for false advertising, and maybe in for a visit from the FTC.
After several minutes of me reaming her, she finally got around to mentioning that warranty work can be handled via phone and mail from ATT (but not at an ATT store). I laughed and said you would have saved yourself a lot of grief if you had told me that before I started griping at you. She gave me the direct warranty phone number--NOT the regular CS number--for ATT tech support. (That #, if you are interested, is (800)801-1101. I thanked her, and told her I was going to call that number to verify what she said.
The first tech I spoke to was pretty confused by my question--if I buy from Newegg, an authorized ATT dealer, will ATT replace the phone if it breaks during the warranty period?--and had to go ask a supervisor. When he came back, he said that yes, as an ATT customer, you can call warranty/tech support, and get an exchange via mail.
But he also said I could get lost, stolen and accidental damage insurance. A call to my local ATT store to ask the same thing--can I get insurance?--yielded an answer of "no". I did not mention where the phone might be purchased from, just could I get insurance on a Tilt.
So even tho the ATT warranty tech said they would indeed exchange the phone as long as I was an ATT customer (a comment I found confusing, since what else would I be?), I still have a niggling feeling that I might run into trouble if I did get the phone from Newegg, and tried to get warranty help from ATT.
The ATT warranty/tech guy also said his supervisor said that they would exchange a phone under warranty if bought from Amazon--a comment refuted by that Amazon customer review I cited in my previous post.
So this is sounding more and more like one of those typical cellphone CS/TS things: the answer changes, depending on who you talk to.
I
did read thru all the customer reviews at Newegg, as I did at Amazon, and did not come across any that said they couldn't get warranty service. But I also didn't see any posts that said anything about
needing warranty service in the first place. Since Newegg buyers tend to be more computer- and gadget-savvy, this may simply be a matter of being more experienced at dealing w/electronics issues.
I'm going to keep reading and researching, but if I don't come across anything terribly negative, will probably order one by week's end. And after I get it, visit the xda-dev forum to get a better ROM.
(30 days money back, 1 year replacement directly with Newegg.com).