[FlamesPuck12]

I'm currently locked in a 3 year contract with Bell and its only been a year since I signed the contract, so I have no hardware upgrade credits available, which means if I want to change my crappy phone to a Blackberry Storm, it'll cost me around $700 to buy a new one.

I talked to the Wireless Kiosk staff at Costco about alternatives, and she told me that she has a friend who works for Bell, who recently went to a training session and won a free, brand new Blackberry Storm, and since he already had one, he would like to sell it for $300. Apparently, phone hasn't even been used, and plastic wrapping is still on the cover, she said it was taken out of the box just once to be charged but nothing after that, it hasn't been activated, the sim card hasn't been used, and so on.

Right now I'm skeptical about buying a $700 phone for $300, especially if he E-bay it, he would probably get more than $300.

My biggest concern is that it might be a stolen unit, but she told me that there is a barcode on the box that will not let her activate the phone on the bell network if it is reported as a stolen unit. Another concern is that it might be a defected unit, but she told me there was 1 year manufacture warranty.

So question to all those who knows alot about these stuff, what are your recommendation? Should I avoid private deals altogether, or are there certain things I should inspect before I take the deal?

Thanks in advance!