Early upgrade if you've paid more than 50% of your phone

I'm eligible for the early upgrade offered to people who have paid off 50% of their phone. Once your phone is 50% paid off, you can upgrade it by sending it back and getting a new phone with a new contract. However, I've paid off 58% of my phone (14/24 payments). I asked a rep if payments over 50% are credited back and was told no. So Verizon not only gets your old phone and can resell it, they keep any money you've paid over the 50%. That's a terrible offer. Unless you trade in right at the 50% mark, you lose a lot of money. Did the rep give me bad information or is Verizon truly this greedy?

Accepted answers

Verizon_Support

@pfc9769 ,

It's great to know that you have a qualifying device payment that lets you upgrade much earlier. Please check out this link for the information about that program: https://www.verizon.com/support/annual-upgrade-program-for-iphone-faqs/ . When you choose to upgrade is entirely up to you, so if you kept your phone longer, such as if you wanted to use it as a trade-in for a promotion, then completing the full device payment would be best. If you'd rather upgrade as soon as you reach the 50% mark, then that would maximize the remaining balance that gets credited after the phone has been turned in and received in good working/cosmetic condition, as seen in #4 in the previous link. You can always choose to keep the phone as well, but that's always been an option available to you from the very beginning.

All comments

Verizon_Support

@pfc9769 ,

pfc9769

This kind of canned answer that dismisses my concern is exactly the problem. Framing it as, "lucky you, you qualify for an upgrade!" is insulting and ridiculous. I'd rather you take the problem seriously and address it by passing my feedback up the chain to the people who make the decisions about stuff like this. Trading in my phone for an early upgrade so I lose device payments made after 50% and then have to pay another 2 years towards another phone is hardly a deal. If you truly want to reward loyal customers, you should do it by not stealing money.

Doggo

Greedy? Why should Verizon pay you for a phone you're paying off?

You signed an agreement to pay your phone off over 24 months, interest free. Upgrading after the first year is an iPhone privilege, not a right. Verizon isn't going to have someone look through millions of accounts to remind you that you had the phone for a year, that's on you to keep track off.

Your "lot of money" isn't even true. Majority of the time the phone is worth less than the cost of the remaining balance even if you had it a little ovet a year.