Verizon $30 upgrade fee

As a loyal Verizon customer, I am very upset with this $30 upgrade fee. Verizon should be happy that I am extending my contract with them by upgrading my phone. I feel like this fee is some sort of punishment for extending my contract with Verizon. This fee should not exist. The right thing for Verizon to do would be to offer some sort of incentive for upgrading instead of punishing my wallet even further. This upgrade fee is ridiculous. It doesn't even make sense. The description of the fee is the "Fee when purchasing a new device and extending contract term". So what Verizon is saying to me is we're going to make the CUSTOMER pay to extend their contract. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't Verizon at least make the slightest effort to keep my business? With all of the ridiculous fees that Verizon makes us pay, this has to be the most bizarre one!

Customers need to call Verizon and tell them how much this fee upsets you!

Verizon, reconsider this ridiculous upgrade fee!

- Unvalued customer

Accepted answers

rcschnoor

Verizon did not hide the upgrade fee, Best Buy did. I upgraded at Best Buy last December and they DID inform me of the upgrade fee which would be added to my next Verizon bill. The upgrade fee is listed next to all display phones at Verizon stores. I don't remember if the same is true at Best Buy. It seems as if the Best Buy employees you encountered need a bit more training.

All comments

flutterfly8497

Customers have called to complain, and they have also been complaining on these forums, since the upgrade fee took effect in April 2012. You do get a huge discount on your phone, typically from 60-100%, when you sign a new contract and purchase a new phone. This is old news...and, not that it makes it suck less, but every major wireless carrier (and probably most of the small ones, aside from prepaid) charges it. Costs go up in every market, from rent to groceries to cell phones. You don't have to pay it; forgo the contract, pay full retail dor your phone, and you won't pay the upgrade fee. You will, however, pay a LOT more for the phone. In the end, it's your call.

rcschnoor

You are correct, that $400+ discount off the price of the phone just isn't incentive enough.

Bones2844

Verizon is offering and upgrade fee of only $30. Sprint along with At&t offer a $36 upgrade fee, and T-Mobile does not have an upgrade fee, yet they do not offer discounts on devices (i was with them for 8 years). yet i do have a solution to this problem. no one ever said that anyone HAS to upgrade there device, that's a choice. if you feel so strongly that you were robbed out of $30 well then don't upgrade. i understand that ascendents do happen and phones break, that is why we have the option to insure our phones. you can get away with basic phone and paying just for minuets, never upgrading and having a land line. now we are today slaves to technology and everyone wants to have the newest phones, yet complain when we have to pay a small fee as opposed to buying the phone at retail cost. bottom line you don't want to pay, don't upgrade.

MusicManD

I have no problem with Verizon charging more to upgrade their phones, I really don't. I appreciate that getting my Nokia 5185 back in 2001 for free is vastly different than getting my HTC One for $30, so I don't disagree with the fee. I just prefer to choose to pay for thing rather than getting charged extra after the fact without my consent. In other words, tell me my One would be $60 and my wife's iPhone would be $230. That wouldn't have bothered me in the least (particularly since we were putting the purchase on a Best Buy credit card and don't see the purchase directly anyway). I was honestly ready to shell out a hundred bucks for my HTC, and was pleased to see the Black Friday price.

What I don't appreciate, however, is when my family budgets for cell phone bills and suddenly that cell phone bill is $60 higher with no notice. It's Christmas, and $60 buys quite a few presents (or at least a tank of gas to go see family). I don't care if it is in the fine print; if it's only in the fine print, it's intentionally buried. Don't get me wrong- I wouldnt' have left VZW over $60 bucks (and still won't), but I wonder about any fees tacked on AFTER we've signed onto a new two year contract. After all, if they'll do THAT, what else will they do? Heck, imagine if they just increased every customer 1 dollar a month and siphoned it into a private account? Most of us would never notice it.

So here's the solution- put that fee out there up front. Let the marketing do this for you- tout the fact that, "Sure, AT&T may have slightly lower prices, but they'll also stick you with hidden upgrade fees. We will never do that!" It would let you tout both customer loyalty and the loyalty you put to your customers.

Ann154

MusicManD wrote:
I have no problem with Verizon charging more to upgrade their phones, I really don't. I appreciate that getting my Nokia 5185 back in 2001 for free is vastly different than getting my HTC One for $30, so I don't disagree with the fee. I just prefer to choose to pay for thing rather than getting charged extra after the fact without my consent. In other words, tell me my One would be $60 and my wife's iPhone would be $230. That wouldn't have bothered me in the least (particularly since we were putting the purchase on a Best Buy credit card and don't see the purchase directly anyway). I was honestly ready to shell out a hundred bucks for my HTC, and was pleased to see the Black Friday price.
What I don't appreciate, however, is when my family budgets for cell phone bills and suddenly that cell phone bill is $60 higher with no notice. It's Christmas, and $60 buys quite a few presents (or at least a tank of gas to go see family). I don't care if it is in the fine print; if it's only in the fine print, it's intentionally buried. Don't get me wrong- I wouldnt' have left VZW over $60 bucks (and still won't), but I wonder about any fees tacked on AFTER we've signed onto a new two year contract. After all, if they'll do THAT, what else will they do? Heck, imagine if they just increased every customer 1 dollar a month and siphoned it into a private account? Most of us would never notice it.
So here's the solution- put that fee out there up front. Let the marketing do this for you- tout the fact that, "Sure, AT&T may have slightly lower prices, but they'll also stick you with hidden upgrade fees. We will never do that!" It would let you tout both customer loyalty and the loyalty you put to your customers.

You chose to upgrade at a third party retailer aka Best Buy. That's why the upgrade fee was added to your bill. If you had upgraded at a corporate store, the upgrade fee would have been paid in the store transaction.

rcschnoor

unknown

Best Buy trains it's employees to sell $80 HDMI cables to customers buying new TVs. It doesn't shock me they "forget" to inform people about upgrade fees.