The Truth on Verizons early upgrade

[dj560]

Like most people waiting months to get a Droid Bionic, I had one in my hands at a Verizon kiosk at Costco A couple hours ago. Paid for but not processed. During processing, their computer showed I was not eligible. I've been on the unlimited data plan for 22 months and I might add that the My verizon moble app states I am eligible for an upgrade.
Upon calling Verizon, their representative told me that "EARLY upgrades were only available at Verizon Stores and she would be happy to send me one or I could go to a Verizon Store. Of course, she would not give me an equivalent Costco deal. (280$ for the phone and 160$ of free accessories) Their strategy is obvious, however, a few dollars they would make on the phone are definitely off set by the 115.00 I pay them every month. (2760.00$ over 2 years) Does everyone realize that when you trade in your phone to them for a gift card. You are stuck with a data plan and no phone if your new phone is returned for any reason? Your call Verizon!!

 

[sx4dude2013]

Like most people waiting months to get a Droid Bionic, I had one in my hands at a Verizon kiosk at Costco A couple hours ago. Paid for but not processed. During processing, their computer showed I was not eligible. I've been on the unlimited data plan for 22 months and I might add that the My verizon moble app states I am eligible for an upgrade.
Upon calling Verizon, their representative told me that "EARLY upgrades were only available at Verizon Stores and she would be happy to send me one or I could go to a Verizon Store. Of course, she would not give me an equivalent Costco deal. (280$ for the phone and 160$ of free accessories) Their strategy is obvious, however, a few dollars they would make on the phone are definitely off set by the 115.00 I pay them every month. (2760.00$ over 2 years) Does everyone realize that when you trade in your phone to them for a gift card. You are stuck with a data plan and no phone if your new phone is returned for any reason? Your call Verizon!!

Verizon gave you an early upgrade as a courtsey, they dont HAVE to do that. I dont see where you have a problem. Sorry that Costco didnt extend that courtsey to you as well....

 

[kingnut]

Verizon gave you an early upgrade as a courtsey, they dont HAVE to do that. I dont see where you have a problem. Sorry that Costco didnt extend that courtsey to you as well....

verizon doesnt do anything out of courtesy. they do it all out of money and greed. they ended the $50 a year credit towards our next phones because it was giving away free money. they raised all the prices on new 4G phones, not because they cost more, but because everyone wants a 4G device. they charge $1 more for insurance for 4G phones, simply because its 4G. $1 per millions of people is millions a month for them.

 

[dragma]

So you know what the answer is, don't deal with Verizon.

Simple as that.

 

[kingnut]

lesser of four evils

 

[dirkbonn]

verizon doesnt do anything out of courtesy. they do it all out of money and greed. they ended the $50 a year credit towards our next phones because it was giving away free money. they raised all the prices on new 4G phones, not because they cost more, but because everyone wants a 4G device. they charge $1 more for insurance for 4G phones, simply because its 4G. $1 per millions of people is millions a month for them.

When did making a profit become such a bad thing. You guys who think Verizon does everything out of GREED, why don't you tell your boss he doesn't have to pay you this week because you don't want to be greedy?
( see when the shoe is on the other foot, the same rules don't apply, do they?)

 

[kingnut]

When did making a profit become such a bad thing. You guys who think Verizon does everything out of GREED, why don't you tell your boss he doesn't have to pay you this week because you don't want to be greedy?
( see when the shoe is on the other foot, the same rules don't apply, do they?)

unless your verizon corporate, your taking this way to personal. verizon is a greedy company. they posted huge profit margins with customer benefits in place. then they take them away because they say its hurting profits.

coming from alltel who was bought out by verizon. smaller companies most of the times have alot more perks. verizon is taking perks away and raising phone prices for no reason but more money. and yes businesses are supposed to make money. lots of it to be successful.

but its people like you that roll over for big business and then everyone ends up paying more in the long run. take a step back and look at people who complain about alot of pricing hikes and perks being cut. they save everyone money because companies dont want the bad PR.

i have been pretty happy with verizon. but im not gonna act like paying more for a phone or losing free upgrade money makes me happy.

 

[sean76]

unless your verizon corporate, your taking this way to personal. verizon is a greedy company. they posted huge profit margins with customer benefits in place. then they take them away because they say its hurting profits.

coming from alltel who was bought out by verizon. smaller companies most of the times have alot more perks. verizon is taking perks away and raising phone prices for no reason but more money. and yes businesses are supposed to make money. lots of it to be successful.

but its people like you that roll over for big business and then everyone ends up paying more in the long run. take a step back and look at people who complain about alot of pricing hikes and perks being cut. they save everyone money because companies dont want the bad PR.

i have been pretty happy with verizon. but im not gonna act like paying more for a phone or losing free upgrade money makes me happy.

For the most part, VZW does bend on some things! But if u have one eye closed, and dont read the fine print, Verizon will crush you on bills and fine print. Yes they are a greed driven company, what company in 2011 isn't? But it all comes down to who your dealing with on any given day that'll either get you what you want and need, or do neither of the two, which is what happened with the OP.

 

[messenger13]

New every TWO. Wait the whole 24 months and go to Costco ... what's the problem? I'll tell you what the real problem is. The OP doesn't have the patience required to save what he wants to save. This thread is about patience, or the lack thereof ... not about greed. Both companies (VzW and Costco) have clearly defined their positions.

 

[twistedlim]

Well put, if you want to dance put a dime in the jukebox.

 

[sean76]

Well put, if you want to dance put a dime in the jukebox.

Dime? Where's that jukebox? About a $1 these days...lol

 

[shadrap]

Greed?you must have voted for Obama and will again. Go get one of those free phones I hear the Government is handing out.

On a serious note.

If Verizon is not for you, you have numerous other carriers and plans to choose from.

 

[sx4dude2013]

Seems like you cant "afford" what you want.
You dont HAVE to get a Bionic.....

 

[chrisv79]

verizon doesnt do anything out of courtesy. they do it all out of money and greed. they ended the $50 a year credit towards our next phones because it was giving away free money. they raised all the prices on new 4G phones, not because they cost more, but because everyone wants a 4G device. they charge $1 more for insurance for 4G phones, simply because its 4G. $1 per millions of people is millions a month for them.

I don't buy insurance from Verizon. Squaretrade is the way to go. I have used them before and they are great! I found a coupon code online and got a 2 year warranty for my phone for $95 and they cover accidental damage and liquid damage with only a $50 deductible. And when you have a claim, if it can't be fixed, they just send you a check for the retail price of the phone, no refurbs. The only catch is they don't cover loss or theft. But I feel the chances are greater that I will drop my phone and damage it or I might get water in my phone before I have it stolen or lose it, so I think it is a fair tradeoff.

 

[dirkbonn]

Greed : : a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed

It is almost impossible to be greedy when you're in a competitive business such as Verizon is. There's T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T. You can't just raise your prices for no reason, because your competition will get many or most of your customers.

I had a business for over 25 years. Let's say for example that by eating beans and balony sandwiches, living in a 2 bedroom apartment instead of buying a 3 bedroom house, I could make a profit. I made this profit by selling my product for $100 to 10 people. Now I found that by raising my price to $120 I only lost 1 customer and with the extra profit I could take my wife out for a lobster dinner once a month. Was I being greedy by raising my price to $120? Next, I found that by increasing the quality of my product and and being better than all my competition, I could get the customer back that I lost when raising my price and gain 2 new customers from my competition. Now, I'm the best and largest in my type of business, and I want to buy a house and put my daughter in a private school. So I raise my prices to $140 so I can buy those things. Again, am I being greedy because I want to buy nice things for my family. I don't think so. I want to make as much profit as I can so I can buy lots of nice things for me and my family. Now if I was greedy, I could raise my prices to $250, but the free market, (read competition) would not allow me to do that. The free market keeps prices competitive. That why monopolys, like the electric companies have to have their prices regulated otherwise they could raise their prices as high as they wanted because there is no competitive electric company where you can go get your electicity.

All you people that are buying your wireless sevices from Verizon must think you're getting the most "bang for your buck" or you would not be here. Now some of you might be saying, "Well, as soon as my contract is up, I'm going to Sprint or AT&T" There you go, the free market working as it should. If Verizon finds they have lost to many customers they may lower thier prices. If nobody leaves because they did away with NE2 and made data connections mandatory with smartphones, maybe they won't lower prices.

It may just be that Verizon raised thier prices so that they could continue to upgrade thier infrastructure and continue to have the largest and most reliable and fastest wireless network, and not just because they're greedy.

I'm pretty sure that most of the people who think Verizon is just being greedy when they raise prices, have never run a business and had to make a profit. I can guarrantee that the wireless business is very competitive. Those of you that have owned and operated a business know that making a profit is not easy. You have to be working at it every day or the competition will have you for breakfast. You'll be selling your business or filing for bankrupcy before you can spin around and say "Jack Robinson" (Some of you will be able to guess my age range based on that last sentence)

I don't work for Verizon and never have. My business had absolutely nothing to do with the wireless business.

Ok, my typing fingers are getting tired. I don't think I've ever typed a post this long...

 

[sx4dude2013]

In my experience, verizon had the best coverage and customer service. Thats why i choose to stay with them, sure they are also the most expensive, but its a price you pay to have good service/expanding lte networks.

 

[schimm]

New every TWO. Wait the whole 24 months and go to Costco ... what's the problem? I'll tell you what the real problem is. The OP doesn't have the patience required to save what he wants to save. This thread is about patience, or the lack thereof ... not about greed. Both companies (VzW and Costco) have clearly defined their positions.

Neither company clearly defined their positions. The run up to the introduction of this phone was $299 or there abouts with a new contract. Disclaimers about eligibility entirely absent.

 

[lewwill]

I wanted to upgrade to the Bionic. I was not eligible until March of 2012 and called VZ customer service, cited my longevity with VZ and multiple devices. They were very helpful and let me upgrade early without penalty but at the full $299 price for new 2 year contract. I don't have a problem with that, they didn't have to do anything. They gave me several discounts on accessories.

 

[bigbabys]

OP is just whining. An early upgrade is a luxury. Why should the price of your phone be 50% cheaper than retail just because you want it to?

4G phones are more expensive because unlike other carriers, Verizon rolled out an entirely new network technology (4G LTE) and didn't just extend it's current technology to be "faster". This costs money to do, and those costs are reflected to you, the customer.

The Bionic is almost as fast as my $400 laptop. You have (or had) an opportunity to pay $300 for it. Who cares if you can't get the accesories? I wish you could, I'm not saying it doesn't suck you can't get it. But you can't, and that is not Verizon's fault. This thread is like your parents buying you a brand new 2011 Honda Civic and you taking it to a Porche dealership and demanding they swap it out for you. When they don't, it's obvious that your parents are at fault right?

Don't want to pay more for 4G, easy solution, get a nice dual-core 3G phone like the Droid 3.

 

[Member138406]

I got a 20 month early upgrade once after talking to ONE person. It really seems like a very "how do I feel today" kinda policy they have.

 

[bigbabys]

I got a 20 month early upgrade once after talking to ONE person. It really seems like a very "how do I feel today" kinda policy they have.

Corporate wireless stores have a very very big window of play. I got my OG droid when I had about 8 months left till I was eligible. Of course I was upgrading from a dumb phone so that means adding data, and added visual voicemail for 1 month. But it was totally worth it

Inconsistency is to be expected in a heavy sales environment. The rep wants to close the sale, and will do what is necessary to close. I'm under the impression that at ANY time a sales rep CAN with manager approval give you a phone at new contract pricing. I work at an authorized re-seller so I can't confirm that. Of course, can and will are very different. For example, I went swimming with my phone before I was eligible and they wouldn't give me any kind of discount on a phone. No matter how much I begged. They know you can't cancel because of your contract so they have alot of tools at their disposal to close a sale but you don't have many chips to play with. It's dangerous ground.

 

[vandyman]

Dime? Where's that jukebox? About a $1 these days...lol

A $1.00.
Damn greedy Jukebox companys.

 

[angldvl81]

In my experience, verizon had the best coverage and customer service. Thats why i choose to stay with them, sure they are also the most expensive, but its a price you pay to have good service/expanding lte networks.

I agree. Though my bill is cheaper than it was on sprint. Granted I don't have completely unlimited texting, but everyone I text is Verizon so I don't mind the limit I have for nonverizon. I haven't had to deal with customer service yet so I have no comment on that.

Another poster was correct in saying vzw isn't raising prices to be greedy. It's being done to maintain and upgrade the current network. 4g can't be cheap otherwise everyone everywhere would have it. And from what I gather, it's growing rapidly.

 

[Jman42028]

a rollout of an LTE network to cover 200 million american's by years end is not cheap in the slightest, fyi.

Also, fyi, VZW does NOT set the price or "raise the price" on the phones, that is set by the manufacturers. Take a look at apple, wonder why its the same price everywhere? cuz apple won't let you change it.

VZW has leeway on some devices with the prices, however, its a loss if they drop any off to be honest. You only get that bionic at $299 cuz you sign a 2 year contract. The full unsubsidized price on that phone is upwards of $600, you think vzw made that price? no, motorolla did.

And costco, much like online retailers make you sign an extra six month contract, which is how they get their phones cheaper than corp stores and indirect agents. If you make any changes to the account in that time frame, including even adding a texting plan or removing one, you WILL be charged full price for the phone. And by full price I mean full RETAIL price.

But really, complaining that an indirect location such as costco couldn't upgrade you 8 months early or whatever doesn't make much sense does it?

It doesn't to me. Just because you want something doesn't mean you will automatically get it.