I prefer to buy my devices in store. When I bought my LG Viper back in 2012 from Amazon Wireless, somehow they screwed something up and the activation was botched. It took a few hours and got resolved by Sprint Tech Support over the phone. All my other phones were bought in store, and Phone Connect & my iPad were the only other Sprint devices I bought online.
Of course, on the flip side, we helped my friends brother upgrade his iPhone 4S to a 6 Plus at the end of November in store, and we are still suffering from that, so I can partially see where you are coming from.