Waive upgrade fee

[MREVJR]

I am looking to buy a new Samsung Galaxy S10 plus at BestBuy.  The phone will  be activated upon purhcase.  They tell me Verizon will charge me a $40 upgrade fee.  I have been a Verizon customer for over 10 years.  Does anyone know if Verizon would waive the upgrade fee if I request it? Of course the request would come after the fact that is after I had already bought the phone.  Any suggestions or words of advice will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

[SENO12]

Just need clarification on this upgrade fee please?  As I understand it, if you go into the store for your upgrade and receive the full in store experience including assistance getting everything transferred to your new phone that charge is $40.  If you purchase online and set it up yourself, that is a $20 charge?

[vzw_customer_support]

I'm sorry for any confusion about the $40 one-time charge for upgrades, SENO12. Allow me to clarify this one-time charge for you. An upgrade fee is applicable to all upgrades (see details on number 2 at https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/upgrade-device-faqs/). The $40 upgrade fee can be reduced by 50% if you process your upgrade online or with the My Verizon App.

We make every effort to be transparent with all the charges associated with upgrades, and this is why we have this information readily available on the public website at the above link.

Are there any other Verizon Wireless questions that we can answer for you today?

AntonioC_VZW

[mb229]

This post makes no sense. The FAQ page reads:

The upgrade fee is $20 when upgrading through the My Verizon app or My Verizon online ($40 when activating in a store or by phone).

Yet when I go to my account online to upgrade, the fee is $40. It states:

"Order online and get $20 off your $40 upgrade fee."

It's an outright lie and a bad business practice. Transparency for what you charge doesn't mean anything if the price changes at the last minute. I'm seriously considering taking my money elsewhere.

It's not about $20, it's about the bait and switch garbage.

[vzw_customer_support]

We are concerned to hear that you are being charged a $40.00 Upgrade Fee especially considering that you are doing this online. We will be glad to look into the issue to help you figure this out. Is there any way that you can send us a screenshot of where you are seeing this information? Have you tried to refresh your browser to see if the issue continues? DavidR_VZW

[Sohker46103]

I upgraded three phones in a family plan July 2020.  When my bill came there were three charges added $91.82 and two of $95.91.  I on line chatted with a Verizon rep who told me this was device upgrade fees.  Are the fees I was charged correct I brought the three new phones at a brick and mortar Verizon store.

[vzw_customer_support]

These charges would be correct. The upgrade fees do occur when you place an upgrade on your Verizon account and this include third part retailers like Go Wireless, Diamond Wireless,Walmart and more.

[Shetektn]

Don't charge a fee for something the customer does on their own. If the customer is valuable, then not charging to upgrade every two or more years would be appropriate. I have had multiple lines with Verizon for more than 15 years and the only customers that get shown appreciation for their business are new customers. I am paying full price for my phone and will do the upgrade at home, on my time, with my internet connection. You nor your representatives will do a single thing on your end. I shouldn't have to purchase an unlocked phone either. IMHO

[vzw_customer_support]

KerryC_VZW Hello, we understand wanting to be able to take advantage of a great deal. Please send us a Private Note if you would like us to go over your options with you.

[rcschnoor]

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@Shetektn wrote:

I shouldn't have to purchase an unlocked phone either. IMHO

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No you shouldn't have to purchase an unlocked phone. You DO, however, have to abide by the policies in place from a provider YOU choose to make a purchase.

I choose to purchase unlocked devices and not pay an upgrade fee. You apparently choose to purchase your device from Verizon and pay an upgrade fee. I choose to not have an upgrade fee. You choose not to have an unlocked device. Possibly in your life at some point you learned there are trade-offs for every decision you choose to make. This is just another one of those trade-offs. IMHO.

[penmaker]

It's how they make 30 billion a year....just another money grab by a huge corporation. 

[aarow]

Verizon demonstrates it does not care about its customers. What is upgrade fee for anyways? What service are we paying for? To do right by your customers that should be eliminated. If I had another choice I would definitely leave Verizon. I’ve been a Verizon customer for 20 years and the customer service has continued to go down

[vzw_customer_support]

aarow, saving money is important, so we want to ensure you are getting the best value for your device purchases. Upgrade fees allow us to provide you with the best customer experience and value, including the best 4G LTE and 5G networks and more sophisticated devices with more capabilities. We recommend trading in an old device that you may have on the following web page https://www.verizon.com/od/trade-in/#/ to help with the cost. 

[TampaMichael]

The upgrade fee is absolutely is erroneous is some situations. A fee indicates a service is being performed. If I purchase a phone at Best Buy and pay full price, then take the phone home and remove the SIM card from my old phone and place it in my new phone - Verizon did absolutely nothing. You can't charge a fee for nothing in return. It's that simple.

If you go to Best Buy's website, they sell unlocked phones. However, they don't sell the 'latest' phones unlocked - even if you pay full price in lieu of a payment plan. I'll assume this is a racket for the carriers to collect upgrade fees. In my opinion, Best Buy helps to facilitate these erroneous fees.

Best option is to purchase the phone directly from the manufacturer if you are willing to pay full price and swap the SIM cards yourself. At least this SHOULD save you $20 - $40. If they are still somehow charging you this fee when swapping one unlocked phone for another, then maybe it's time to find a new carrier. 

Personally, I refuse to be locked into to any carrier any more. If you can't afford full price, there are other options for payment plans (I.e. Apple Card). The statement about 'upgrade fees allow us to provide you with the best customer experience and value' is another way of saying - paying us more money for no additional service helps our margin. This is not the justification a customer wants (or deserves) to hear.

[KH-OrnEsh]

Due to the age of this thread, it will be locked in order to keep discussions current. If you have the same or a similar question/issue we invite you to start a new thread on the topic.

[jay75009]

Yeah its pretty disgusting. 

I owned my previous phone outright. Unlocked, didn't even come from Verizon. I decided I wanted a new phone 1 fudging month into my contract from a "bring your own phone". 

Walked in and bought a 11 Pro MAX outright for cash at $1356.00. The guy in the store did literally NOTHING other than bring the box out, scan it and take my money. 

Now I have a $40 fee? For what? I didn't even get a new simcard. heck I put the simcard in my self in my car lol Charge me $1356 for a brand new phone, the same month I already paid an activation fee, and then Charge me $40 for literally nothing lol 

oh...they'll be waiving it lol Or ill be returning the phone and going to another company. Seeing as I own the phones outright, can't really charge me a disconnect fee 😄  Reward customers who spend thousands by charging them mystery fees lol 

[rcschnoor]

You should have purchased the device from Apple and gotten the unlocked version of the device. Then you would not have had an upgrade fee.

Why people insist on doing this I certainly don't know, but if you choose to purchase a device from Verizon you will be paying an upgrade fee. If you purchase online without human interaction, it is only $20. If you purchase in a store from a person, it will be $40.

The easiest way to not pay the upgrade fee is to purchase an "unlocked" version of the device directly from the manufacturer or from a 3rd party retailer which offers "unlocked" devices.

Keep in mind when/if you switch providers that the phone you purchased from Verizon is locked to Verizon for 60 days before they will unlock it in order to work on other providers.

https://www.verizon.com/about/consumer-safety/device-unlocking-policy

[TonyinOhio]

Nothing but a money grab for V.

Been with them for 27 years.  5 lines and iPads.  Ave bill is $200 a month so that totals $60,000+ over the life.  Add in the device purchases and we've spent over $70,000.

Their response ... "everyone does it."

Yea ... thats customer service for ya.  

[STICKYBIKER]

So I just added a new line to my plan.  The sales guy told me to wait 14 days and then call into customer service and ask to have the $40 activation fee waived.  He literally told me, "don't worry, once they see you've been with us for 23 years they won't even argue about it".  

Well they certainly argued and refused.  I even gave the woman the name of the rep who told me that and his location.  I was again told "no-sorry.  You weren't told this'". Yea, I made this up and put it on my calendar to call because I made this all up in my head.  Then I was asked some condescending questions like "Is this your first time?"  Uh- in 23 years?  no.

Very disappointing.  I've got 3 wireless lines and a jet pack on my plan (was going to upgrade it all to unlimited data in the fall too) but now I'm now looking into other carriers and considering cancelling the whole smash.

[vzw_customer_support]

I'm sorry for this experience, STICKYBIKER. We appreciate your feedback, and we will use it to improve our processes moving forward. I apologize if you were provided any misinformation. The last thing we want is to lose you as a customer. The upgrade fee is $40 when you upgrade at the store. You can save $20 if you upgrade your device online. You can find more details on the upgrade fee using this link. https://www.verizon.com/support/upgrade-device-faqs/#:~:text=You're%20charged%20an%20upgrade,a%20sto...

We recommend using our Verizon Up program. It's a great way to earn device dollars that can be used towards your next upgrade and cover the upgrade fees. Here's more information on our Verizon Up program: m.vzw.com/m/UpSocial

GersonG_VZW

[Tigerstep]

@STICKYBIKER 

Store reps are liars and honestly every time they try to pawn fees off on CS, it should be taken from their commission.

Just an FYI, a rep can't even credit as little as a dollar now without approval because of the millions of invalid credits given out. 

Either pay $40 for working with a rep, $20 for uprading yourself online or buy an unlocked phone.

[TJ___]

No. The upgrade fee is strictly a way for Verizon to make you pay more. Upgrading a phone costs Verizon nothing at all. Do we pay an upgrade for a car, refrigerator etc...? No. Verizon does not care about customer loyalty. Many years go they did care. Unfortunately, the CEO wants his multi-million dollar bonus.