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upgrade fee?!?

B

boatman

Android Enthusiast
OK. I thought I knew it all;-)

Went to pre order my S3, $199. As I get close to the end, it says, upgrade fee of $30? WTF?

I don't recall ever having to pay this before. Anyone shed light on this.

It also told me that my charge sim is not compatible, is this the issue?
 
boatman said:
OK. I thought I knew it all;-)

Went to pre order my S3, $199. As I get close to the end, it says, upgrade fee of $30? WTF?

I don't recall ever having to pay this before. Anyone shed light on this.

It also told me that my charge sim is not compatible, is this the issue?
Click to expand...

Verizon implemented a $30 upgrade fee a few weeks ago. You were right, you probably never paid it before.

Also your sim is a full size sim in your charge, while the S3 is a micro sim, so it is true its not compatible... But nothing to do with the fee.

Some people have had success getting the fee excused by calling customer service and complaining about it... You might try that.
 
Don't for get the great "upgrade discount" of $30 they offer. Though it use to be $50/100. So we've gone from getting $50 off a phone every two years to effectively nothing. :(
 
Yeah - Verizon management seems to have decided to skip simple increases in fees commensurable with an upgrade in services and gone straight to a "bend the customer over the chair and skip the KV so we can get as much as we can out of them as fast as we can" philosophy.

It's really sad that a company that used to be known for customer service for so long seems to have just completely ditched any pretense of trying to provide a better value for what you're paying for. I don't mind paying more for good service and I even understand the need for tiered data from a business and network standpoint. But the way they've structured the pricing on their new plans and this stupid upgrade fee on phones among other things just screams greed pure and simple.

I wonder how many customers they'll have to loose before they back off some of this?
 
I like to call it a Loyalty Fee. They want you to stay with them, but they want you to pay for that privilege! Just paid that for my S3 preorder too. Luckily, I had a prepaid debit reward card from work, so that covered more than half the total cost.
 
The $30.00 upgrade fee started April 22. It was all over the web, got my last upgrade in on the 21st.
Verizon has gotten very greedy lately, and the truth is AT&T seems to get the best phones first. When I'm forced to give up my unlimited data plan @ my next upgrade I may well be taking five lines to a new carrier.
 
It seems like AT&T is soon going to rival Big Red in network coverage as well. I've been with VZW for years, but the last 6 months has really soured me on them. I'm just glad I upgraded back in February befor all this nonsense started. That gives me plenty of time to shop for a new carrier before the contract ends.
 
" He went onto say that strong customer satisfaction for the Fios TV product means that the company can charge more for the service."

Verizon Says FiOS Rate Hikes Coming - High Satisfaction Rankings Mean Crappier Pricing? | DSLReports.com, ISP Information

These sort of comments boggle my mind. Your customer satisfaction is high so you want to start screwing them over?

I know the ISPs/phone companies/RIAA/MPAA are basically monopolies but it's like they think customers will never fight back.

They more they take away the more I realize I don't need it. I finally dropped comcast because of such terrible service and switched to FIOS. Once they go become really bad I'll drop down to DSL or, hopefully, some new competitor. My internet usage will of cycled from simple web browsing/email to streaming high def movies/online gaming back to simple web browsing/email.

My phone will be the same way. I finally jumped on the smart phone bandwagon two years ago and now I'm considering just going back to a dumb phone.
 
"Our customer ratings are too high, not enough people think badly of us, so we need to fix that by jacking up the price."

Isn't that basically what he said? :rolleyes:
 
Maybe some of you do not remember. It was a time before iPhones and Androids when we were all still thinking we were Captain Kirk with our flip phones and there was a carrier that came through the ranks known as Verizon. And when most people spoke of them it was because they began a trend of charging for everything. Oddly this still remains true today. If I didn't have to go into the middle of nowhere every night I wouldn't have Verizon.
 
This upgrade fee was implemented around April of this year. Verizon is actually the last of the big 4 to implement this fee IIRC.
 
TJGoSurf said:
Maybe some of you do not remember. It was a time before iPhones and Androids when we were all still thinking we were Captain Kirk with our flip phones and there was a carrier that came through the ranks known as Verizon. And when most people spoke of them it was because they began a trend of charging for everything. Oddly this still remains true today. If I didn't have to go into the middle of nowhere every night I wouldn't have Verizon.
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Not long ago I would have agreed with you. But AT&T has improved their coverage so dramatically in the last year around my area that they are a viable option. In fact, I work out in the boonies and depend on my phone also so if they didn't work for me, I would have dumped them before my first month was up. Verizon has a great network, but with all that they've done to take advantage of us customers lately and their lack of variety in phone choices since they cranked up their LTE network, I'm just tired of them. If you can get what you want/need without being taken advantage of, then it's time for folks to vote with their feet until they decide to become competitive again.
 
I bought two Droid 3's via the vendor Newegg has on their site last week. Said there was a $30 upgrade fee per line but I was never charged.

Plus both phones were free with the contract renewal whereas my wife (the primary) would've got a phone essentially free and mine would be something like $50 off.

In retrospect I should have bought another Thunderbolt but I'm liking the D3 too. I just wish it had more ROMs and was getting ICS.
 
WA_Bob said:
Not long ago I would have agreed with you. But AT&T has improved their coverage so dramatically in the last year around my area that they are a viable option. In fact, I work out in the boonies and depend on my phone also so if they didn't work for me, I would have dumped them before my first month was up. Verizon has a great network, but with all that they've done to take advantage of us customers lately and their lack of variety in phone choices since they cranked up their LTE network, I'm just tired of them. If you can get what you want/need without being taken advantage of, then it's time for folks to vote with their feet until they decide to become competitive again.
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Pretty sure ATT has no unlimited now. Isn't it like $30 for 3GB. And their 4G isn't as fast. Once it is, their $/GB will probably match vzw. Or am i missing something?
 
Mayhem said:
I bought two Droid 3's via the vendor Newegg has on their site last week. Said there was a $30 upgrade fee per line but I was never charged.

Plus both phones were free with the contract renewal whereas my wife (the primary) would've got a phone essentially free and mine would be something like $50 off.

In retrospect I should have bought another Thunderbolt but I'm liking the D3 too. I just wish it had more ROMs and was getting ICS.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure Newegg won't charge you the $30 because it's a Verizon fee, but it wll show up on your first Wireless phone bill.

Check your bill and let us know.
 
boatman said:
Pretty sure ATT has no unlimited now. Isn't it like $30 for 3GB. And their 4G isn't as fast. Once it is, their $/GB will probably match vzw. Or am i missing something?
Click to expand...

No unlimited, but $30 for 3GB is no more than I use and it's a better value than Verizon's min price for their low end 2GB "bucket". As for the 4G LTE, it's just as fast - I've used both in the Houston, TX area. The biggest difference is in the area covered, but by the end of this year I believe you'll get almost as good coverage on AT&T now that they're putting serious effort into expanding it. As for 3G, it's all about the same.
 
dirkbonn said:
Pretty sure Newegg won't charge you the $30 because it's a Verizon fee, but it wll show up on your first Wireless phone bill.

Check your bill and let us know.
Click to expand...

Hm. Just logged in and it shows my next bill as $7.45. My cycle ends Friday.

Maybe it'll show on the bill after that one.

Yes, the decimal is in the right place. :)
 
qetuop said:
Don't for get the great "upgrade discount" of $30 they offer. Though it use to be $50/100. So we've gone from getting $50 off a phone every two years to effectively nothing. :(
Click to expand...

My account shows an additional $100 on an upgrade for one of my lines.
 
the upgrade fee is a joke but more so i was annoyed that the $30 charge was charged to my credit card and not my bill being i consider it something that should go to your bill instead.
 
Verizon's new shell game. There not happy chiseling us out of our new every two $50 or $100 off. Were now introducing the great "upgrade discount" of $30.

In effect where not paying $30 upgrade fee it's actually costing $80 to $130 golly gee what a great deal. May I have another. Sure how about some overpriced accessories. Were dedicated to selling accessories that will work with your phone and your phone only. This way when you upgrade your phone again we can sell you all new stuff. We at vz like to think were doing our part creating more job's by filling the landfills quicker.

Those of you that are upgrading now please call vz and tell them to take that $30 upgrade fee out of my new every 2 $100 you stole from me. I called and got them to take off the $30 upgrade fee. The csr confided in me there authorized to remove the fee from one phone so if your upgrading more then one just push a little harder.
 
I called Verizon to order my Galaxy S III and complained about the upgrade fee in the process. The guy stuck to his guns and told me that he could not wave the fee. As I was saying goodbye, he told me to hold on a minute. After a minute or two on hold, he came back and offered me a 1 month credit on the cost of my calling plan. So in the end, I'm paying the $30 upgrade fee, but getting a credit of $39.99
 
Mayhem said:
Hm. Just logged in and it shows my next bill as $7.45. My cycle ends Friday.

Maybe it'll show on the bill after that one.

Yes, the decimal is in the right place. :)
Click to expand...

Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Maybe you "dodged the bullit" on this one. :)
 
This upgrade fee was the deciding factor in me not using mine. $60 just cost verizon a contracted two years of monthly payments from me.
 
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