sorry for the ramble - I know many make installment payments on phones, and I usually do as well. But with a phone/product like this, I use either a Discover credit card or Amex. In my experience, when I pay with either of those, I never have to worry about a company not honoring warranty, or having to fight them to honor it. If I get any push back from company on first contact, I call discover, and they handle it from there. It doesn't happen often, but last one was 6 months ago. Received a brand new electronic device in the $450 range, and it wouldn't turn on. I talked to the company one time via email, and before granting me a return, they wanted me to take a video, showing the product not turning on. Maybe I'm out of the loop, but I had no idea why they wanted or needed that. Not to mention, their return policy doesn't mention having to shoot videos for returns - just silly. I called discover and told them I wasn't shooting videos. Discover refunded my money, and I never heard about it again. Merchant still hasn't contacted me to return item