Why does Verizon charge 100.00 over the cost of an iphone if you buy from Verizon?

[Trillium6]

I am shopping around for a new cell phone service and wanted to buy two new iphone 14 pro maxs for a prepaid plans for 15gb for a paper billing set up. I plan to pay cash at the store and called ahead to find out how much cash I needed. I was quoted 3,022.00!

Turns out they want 1199.00 for each phone which was what Apple charges.

Then they want another 100.00 for each phone and was told that is what you charge to buy an Apple phone from Verizon directly.

Also I have to pay 35.00 for each phone for activation fees to move one account over with two phone lines.

Then we have to pay for one month's service for the prepaid 15gb plan with paper billing for 45.00 each.

I really feel I am already paying thru the nose compared to my Xfinity plan of 1gb shared for all of 16.86 including tax  monthly.

I like the fact I don't have to put my S.S. number at risk with buying phones up front where as Xfinity uses our S.S. numbers to login to our accounts from their stores and will not remove it either even if you don't buy on time with them! You have to go to their keyboard in the store where people are standing around and you have to punch in your S.S. number for the rep to get into your account. Our account was messed up when they set it up so now the stores cannot access it and we had to try many ways to get it to work but it didn't. 

I also like the fact I don't have to use a debit or credit card to pay my phone bills since we were part of the enormous Equifax breach where Chinese government hackers hacked over 60% of all American's credit files and that data will be sold on the dark web. You can't get another  S.S. number if you have been hacked either. We do not use credit cards since we have to leave our credit file frozen also done with Equifax games too. Debit card numbers are stolen from breeches all the time with so many retailers, healthcare, state government agencies and federal agencies. Even Amazon gets hacked! Also we don't have to use debit cards for all of our other utility bills or anywhere else because they still take checks or cash. Being able to have one bill from Verizon sure beats the half baked paper billing for internet and then using debit card for Xfinity cell bill. Xfinity could cut costs by just combining in one bill but there must be a tax reasons for all of this. I do think they like access to credit files with S. S. numbers and may sell the data since I have a frozen credit file and I am not buying any equipment on time with them. Also they love to say how this is how they can identify you. I am ex commercial banker and they are very careful about identity and if someone came up to me and only used a spoken S.S. number for identification that would be considered a joke. Using someone's driver's license or other credible ID is the accepted norm in financial circles. The crazy lies these telecom companies  make their agents say is really used for hiding the real reasons. 

I do worry about all the posts here about Verizon and extra charges that pop up and no explanations. Seem like a pattern and overly convenient that no one at Verizon can find a digital trail to all these excessive charges.

I did speak with a store manager who has been there for about 5 yrs  so the info I am getting should be reliable. I do think that perhaps Verizon looks the other way and lets the salesperson make 100.00 per phone is what it seems like but he said that it is just what Verizon charges for buying new phones from them. But I have yet to read anything about this pricey 100.00 per phone charge on this Verizon site. If anyone knows where this is on this site please do provide a link.

I also can not figure out if the prepaid 15gb prepaid plan will also qualify for the loyalty program either. It feels a bit like a nut shell game with trying to ferret out the "Details" with telecom. I am getting sticker shock in the upteenth degree with considering Verizon and may just stick with the devil I know than the devil that has a whole different bunch of undisclosed "Details".

I also couldn't get a straight answer on if Verizon has implemented the supercookies again on the phones that are hidden away.

Verizon provides more options that are better for senior citizens or those who have been hacked but at much higher price point which seems rather predatory on seniors. They seem to nickel and on the back end. It is too bad they don't offer support for seniors. It was really hard to get to a human being on the phone and then end up in some other country where the call quality suffers. The noise from call centers makes it impossible to understand, the agent speaks in accent and english is not great and very hard to get understood by them not to mention they don't know much nor can they do much on their end. Ironic a phone company has bad call quality.

I am almost to the point of calling Century Link and having the land line put back in. Buying a phone at a retail store and only turning it on when we go out for emergency purposes. I am reaching my threshold for telecom baloney with all this and after seeing how telecom back in 2017 had the feds change the rules in their favor once again which puts more of a burden on consumers, ( Verizon is the biggest player with cell service) their hands are likely dirty with pushing that thru. We also may just unplug completely when my husband finally retires in 2 yrs since we lived over half of our life without digital addictions and know you can operate just fine without the tracking devices.

I do think the cards are stacked against consumers here with telecom and the companies  just keep coming up with the newest way to peel your fingers from your money beyond what is needed. They wear you down so you will just give in to their demands really with third world support.  I don't have to spend any time with dealing with our other utilities but dealing with telecom is a black hole for you time and money and they have had decades to stream line this but their strategy is to wear you out and to limit your options. We spend more in the U.S. for internet and nothing has really changed and I do feel like there is price fixing with all this in some respects. Don't count on the feds to do much now or in the future as past history has shown us.

Lets see if Verizon will post this and actually address all the pain points I and others have. We also do not need to go on private messages either since I don't have an account yet and lets be transparent with consumers on what to expect from Verizon.