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Upgrade Fee

It is time for a Class Action Lawsuit against Verizon for the upgrade fee. Verizon currently charges $40 if you buy a new phone. I bought my phone at Walmart and it was set up in about 5 minutes. Verizon did nothing to set it up. The person at Walmart set it up. You can't even find a good reason for the fee on their website. It is an unethical way of making money. Charging people for a service that they are not getting. I didn't change plans, add a line, or even change my phone number. It is a completely shady and evil way to charge people for nothing. It's time to fight back. Verizon should be sued for this unethical practice.

Comments

Doggo

1) When you signed up for service, you signed away any right to a lawsuit.

2) *ALL* carriers charge an upgrade fee regardless if the phone was purchased from their store or a Walmart.

Don't want a fee? Pay full retail.

Robbquise

Pay full retail for what?

lg787

What I feel is more a grounds for a lawsuit are these so-called Authorized Retailers who charge you $55 for a "setup fee" even if you activate the phone at home and don't even disclose the fee up front. This is ON TOP OF the $40 activation fee. Stay away from small third party stores!

Verizon_Support

I am a consumer myself so I understand that you want to know what you pay for upfront, Lg787. I would love to help and see what happened. I have sent you a private message so I can assist. AmberF_VZW

Robbquise

What does the $40 upgrade fee pay for? What is the purpose of it?

Doggo

@Robbquise
wrote:
Pay full retail for what?

"Don't want a fee? Pay full retail."

It's pretty self-explanatory.

Buy phone full retail, don't pay an upgrade fee. Finance the phone and pay it.

Ann154

@Tigerstep
wrote:
@Robbquise
wrote:
Pay full retail for what?
"Don't want a fee? Pay full retail."
It's pretty self-explanatory.
Buy phone full retail, don't pay an upgrade fee. Finance the phone and pay it.

Customers are still charged for the upgrade fee if they purchase a new phone at the full retail price from Verizon Wireless. The only way to avoid the upgrade fee completely is to purchase the phone from the manufacturer directly.

Ann154

Verizon Wireless has had an upgrade fee since April 2012. The amount of the fee and when it is charged as changed since. Those changes and the reasons why as noted in the press releases from Verizon Wireless at the time of their announcement.

That said, you could have saved $20 on the upgrade fee if you had purchased the phone through the Verizon Wireless website. In store purchases are $40 per phone upgrade (DPP or full retail price).

Verizon_Support

Robbquise, we see you have had a few replies. Have all your questions been answered? DoloresK_VZW

Robbquise

Hi,

No they haven't. I was told that since I have been with Verizon for over ten years and have never missed a payment that I wouldn't have to pay this upgrade fee. Now that I bought the phone I am being told that I have to pay it. I have also not seen a good explination as to why the fee even exists.

Verizon_Support

That's an excellent question, Robbquise. The Verizon Wireless upgrade fee is a one-time charge when you upgrade your device. No matter what type of upgrade you choose, you also gain the benefits of Verizon 4G LTE network and express self-service options, including My Verizon and My Verizon Mobile. The upgrade fee is applied for the operational cost changes associated with upgrading and activating devices.

LauraF_VZW

Verizonsbtch

I paid full retail and am still being charged a $40 fee. I bought the phone from Apple; Verizon did nothing. I believe this is a fraudulent fee. All they keep telling me is “all carriers do it”. That’s like justifying crime by dying “all criminals commit crimes.”

MTRegularGuy

You pay an upgrade fee even if you pay full retail.

Wynn5665

I agree and would be very happy to participate in any way necessary. I just discovered today that I was charged $40 for setup and yet I was never given the opportunity to do it myself. The salesperson just did it and took forever and I mean forever at least over an hour! and today I just discovered that he must have made a mistake because ever since then which was about two weeks ago I have been unable to complete the setup process. I thought that was my fault, but haven't spoken to an operator at Verizon in order to complain about not being told there would be this $40 charge, I found out that the Verizon store sales people are not required to tell you that you'll be charged or to let you know that you can do it yourself. When you top that with the fact that I can't get the thing to finish setting up and then I keep stumbling into one issue after another - - which, by the way, I am making screenshots of each and every time- - I am just so tired and so furious about it. Then add to it the fact that you can't get anyone on the phone unless you're willing to wait for hours by your phone because they won't even schedule for you a call back time like other businesses are doing these days... I swear I want to strangle somebody at that company. So how do we begin this class action lawsuit?

Verizon_Support

Wynn5665,

I'm terribly sorry to hear you're struggling to get things set up correctly. We want everything to work awesome for you. Any costs should be explained up front as I know that is crucial as well. We don't normally charge a fee to help set up a phone though. There is an upgrade fee when upgrading, but that isn't directly for setting up the phone and is charged whether you choose to do this yourself or not. What part of the set up isn't working for you? What type of device do you have?

AndrewT_VZW

epjmolokai

I paid full retail through Apple. Verizon did nothing. Still charged $40 fee.

Ann154

Probably you were charged the $40 upgrade fee, because you upgraded through a third party retailer.

Doggo

You got charged because your account was accessed. Go unlocked to avoid upgrade fees.

CMeixsell

That is not true. I paid full retail for a phone at Best Buy and still got charged a $40 upgrade fee by Verizon.

JESFER57

I've have exact same problem except for I'm being charged $45!

Verizon_Support

As our valued customer, your account concerns are our concerns too. We’re here to assist you in any way we can. Since we will need account-specific details from you, we’re requesting your permission to gain access to your account. Please check your Inbox as we’ve sent a Private Message to you regarding on this topic:

http://spr.ly/6602Ggb8m

RobertC_VZW

gobledk

"No matter what type of upgrade you choose, you also gain the benefits of Verizon 4G LTE network and express self-service options, including My Verizon and My Verizon Mobile. The upgrade fee is applied for the operational cost changes associated with upgrading and activating devices."

These benefits are already included with a Verizon account, so acting like they're something new is misleading.

DaddyLeibniz

Robbquise,

I feel that you bring up a valid conversation that's attempted to be resolved in a private message fashion. There is a community contributor that's doing a great job of repeating the answer they best know/have been provided themselves, but I think the root of your explanation (and others) is correct:

* Upgrade Fee is not necessary in their business model. Verizon is an extremely successful company where, no doubt, this collection of this fee millions of times has contributed to their success over the years. None the less, technology has made quite the advances, incorporating more and more affordable solutions to societal needs. With this, the cost of these services continually rises yet the cost of providing the services does not rise at the same right. This markup can only be explained by a company putting itself and its investors prior to the customer.

My family has been a loyal customer of Verizons for 10+ years with a hefty plan over the years (to meet our needs). However, as of late, they've fallen below substandard service in their website functionality (often not working, buttons misplaced, and chat agents all but useless, in my experiences), phone service reps being 30+ minutes away at varying times of the day, and when you finally do get through, being less than helpful themselves.

Tonight, I made a phone upgrade. It took 2.5 hours because Google Chrome and MS Edge on a Win10 computer would not successfully complete a simple upgrade. A chat agent could not complete the upgrade. Mobile app Safari and My Verizon could not complete the upgrade. After waiting in a call queue for 40+ minutes, a rep who was just nice enough to pass a quality check assisted me, but did the bare minimum required for the call. No credits were offered or provided for the inconvenience of these multiple back-to-back poor interactions.. I am very disappointed with Verizon's quality of care for the customer and lack of corporate intervention to clearly and concisely answer this question in a timely manner.

Verizon_Support

We are sorry to hear of the frustrating experience you had with upgrading your phone online. We always want to make sure that upgrading is as easy as possible.

E143SLIME8

We have (had) a Gizmowatch2 with Verizon and still have the line with them. The watch was lost and now we have a younger grandchild that wants the watch. I went to purchase another to be added to the existing line/phone number and am being told that I have to AGAIN pay an "upgrade fee" just to complete this transaction. I told them I am NOT upgrading but simply replacing a lost watch to be placed onto the existing phone number. They will not budge on this fee even though we have 5 lines with them and have been with them for 30 years.

Completely dissatisfied with their customer support and am seriously thinking about bailing out.

Momma23dogs

@E143SLIME8
wrote:
We have (had) a Gizmowatch2 with Verizon and still have the line with them. The watch was lost and now we have a younger grandchild that wants the watch. I went to purchase another to be added to the existing line/phone number and am being told that I have to AGAIN pay an "upgrade fee" just to complete this transaction. I told them I am NOT upgrading but simply replacing a lost watch to be placed onto the existing phone number. They will not budge on this fee even though we have 5 lines with them and have been with them for 30 years.
Completely dissatisfied with their customer support and am seriously thinking about bailing out.

You can call it whatever you like but the fact is you are upgrading the line. Let’s get rid of the term ‘upgrade’. All it means is ‘you’re buying a new device from Verizon‘, so you incur the fee.
To avoid the fee, buy 3rd party and tell them your prepaid. You might even save a few bucks. Since you were purchasing a gizmo which I believe has an embedded Sim card you will have to have someone at Verizon activate the device for you. It’s sure to trigger the charge.
With the phones you buy yourself, it’s as simple as moving the Sim card from one device to another and there’s no fee involved.

I paid activation fees once when we joined the carrier. I have not paid an upgrade fee because I do not buy my devices through the carrier and I do not finance. I walk in to someplace like Best Buy and buy a compatible phone at full price. I will even tell them I’m a prepaid customer if I need to. I bought a new Note 10 plus for half price off swappa. And a Oneplus 7t direct when the price hit $499

paljray

What are the bonafide expenses Verizon Wireless (VZW) incurs when a new phone is purchased? How is the charge justified given the already high cost of replacing a phone? Why is the $20.00 charge increased to$40.00 if the new phone is not purchased directly from VZW? The reasons I have read as posted by VZW representatives are "corporate speak". Moreover, I don't care what I signed in a contract with VZW. I can still contact the State Attorney General and file a complaint.

Momma23dogs

@paljray
No carrier tries to justify the expense. But I have always assumed its the cost of setting up your “loan”, and in person, setting up your phone/activation. And a way to recoup the cost of financing at $0%
You can avoid the fee by purchasing outside the carrier at full price, rather than ‘upgrading’.
Ive been paying full price since 2013. I tell them Im prepaid, or buy unlocked.

Verizon_Support

We always want you to have excellent service. We'd like to review your account and see there's a way we can improve things for you. Also, let's talk more about the upgrade fee. Please send us a Private Note for assistance.

Susan2020

Very annoying how many many people visit this thread and DO NOT READ the previous replies to see what they may have done wrong to be charged. They just post the same thing "I bought full price phone and was charged upgrade" yada yada yada.

Did you buy a Verizon branded device?

Did you give your Verizon account information during purchase?

Did you opt to activate through your purchase?

Did you get a SIM card with your purchase?

If yes, THEN expect to be charged. READ.

michelleeccm

Its ridiculous. I already paid $150 in the store and have a $40 on my bill.

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