I asked for the upgrade fee of $40 on each of my two lines be credited back, since I paid cash via the Google Store, have been a customer since 2006, and I'm low-maintenance with all e-billing and documentation. Thet said no, offered $20, and stayed with that after escalating the session, and stayed with it when I told them I am going to take $126/mo., including fees, to another carrier, because I can. They said they wouldn't do it, and $20 was final. Now, here I am, and I want $120 credited to my account before I drive over to T-Mobile. Anyone from sales, customer service, or retention can call me today. Tomorrow it will be a credit for $160. If no one calls to confirm before 12:00 PM, I will drive to a T-Mobile corporate store and give them my business. It's so easy to reward your customers, prove to me, and your shareholders with the credit.
Phone purchases at the full retail price or on device payments with an upgrade to an existing service at a VZW store will be charged for the $40 upgrade fee. It is standard policy and has been for a couple of years now.
You could have avoided the upgrade fee if you had purchased the Pixel phones from the Google store online as the unlocked model that doesn't come with a SIM card.
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
I bought them from the Google Store. It was so low-maintenance, it's offensive.
@jeffwinn1970 wrote:I bought them from the Google Store. It was so low-maintenance, it's offensive.
Yes, we read that. What @Ann154 was pointing out was that if you had purchased the "unlocked" version of the device instead of the "Verizon" version of the device, you would not have been charged an upgrade fee. I also purchase my Pixel phones from the Google store except I get the "unlocked" version to avoid the upgrade fee. The "unlocked" version works perfectly on Verizon, you just don't have to pay the upgrade fee. Just take the SIM card out of your old phone and place it in your new Pixel in order to activate it.
Then you purchased the models with Verizon Wireless service. They followed policy. If you had purchased the unlocked SIM free models you wouldn't have been charged for the upgrade fee.
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
I have not stated the automatic charge is out of the scope of the binding agreement between us. It may have been an assumption that I held from the old days, that unlocked phones required a lot of effort like tweaking email and voicemail feeds. Mea culpa. I don't use any Verizon customizations. I just didn't know. What I'm saying here, is that I paid $1000 per phone, because I didn't like the burden that early upgrades cause just to save some money. I'm telling you, I just wanted the fees credited, because I hadn't added to the cost of operations like running a store, or really anything. This has been so frustrating because it was just a token gesture they could have given. I still have my expectations, and I will leave, but please note that I'm not asking for anything more than a courtesy. It's so small, but when do you consider the value added aspect of paying for personal consideration to be too much to ask?
Normally, phones purchased online only have an upgrade fee of $20/line. Not sure if this is different when ordering from a 3rd party. You are normally only charged a $40 upgrade fee if you make the purchase in a physical store or speak with someone over the phone. That is the benefit you receive for not "adding to the cost of operations like running a store, or really anything."
This isn't me trying to rub someone's nose in it, so please don't try to do the same to me. I just want the consideration that companies offer to loyal customers, out of courtesy. Like when you order the wrong coffee at Starbucks, admit your mistake, ask if they can remake it, and they do, then sometimes they offer you the drink they made for you, so you don't feel so bad, and because the damage is already done. How do you think I'm looking at this?
@jeffwinn1970 wrote:How do you think I'm looking at this?
I am certainly not trying to rub your nose in it.
To me, it sounds as if you want Verizon to do away with upgrade fees all together. I would too, but that is not going to happen as long as ALL of the major providers have an upgrade fee. It is a source of revenue when companies are constantly trying to cut costs. While you may not THINK that is how you are looking at it, that is basically what you are asking. Why should Verizon waive the fee for you and not the next person who purchases a phone? Verizon DOES offer a lower upgrade fee if you purchase from them online without personal interaction with a salesperson. Some people choose to purchase their phone from other outlets and I am unsure what sort of upgrade fees you are charged when doing so.
The vast majority of phone purchases at Verizon are from people just like you who have been with Verizon for years. Verizon has ~150 million customers. The churn rate in any given year is about 1% or about 1.5 million customers. The average customer replaces their phone every 2-3 years, so that makes about 50-75 million phones purchased every year for use on Verizon with only ~1.5 million of those being new customers. If Verizon were to start waiving upgrade fees for customers who had been with them for however many years, they might as well just drop upgrade fees altogether, but that would be a loss of revenue to Verizon of 1 billion to 3 billion dollars ANNUALLY. Of course it is just me thinking here, but I don't think there is ANY chance of that happening.
On the contrary, there are ways around these upgrade fees. In the past, you used to not be charged an upgrade fee if you paid for your device in full at the point of purchase. That is no longer the case. Currently, the only way around it is to purchase an unlocked version of the phone from a 3rd party to Verizon such as the phone manufacturer or a retailer such as Best Buy who sells unlocked devices.
Regardless, if it means so much to you and you choose to change providers, you will be doing so every time you purchase a phone unless you purchase an unlocked version because ALL major providers charge an upgrade fee. Additionally, your coverage area MAY change drastically from carrier to carrier, which is something I don't care to worry about after being with all of the major providers at some point in the past.
Anyway, good luck with the new provider if that is the route you choose to take.
Don't dismiss my request with "good luck" with them. If I had gone into the store set up a trade-in on both devices, and paid in zero-interest installments over twenty-four months, I would have gotten $300 off each device, spread out in equal amounts over that period. I knew that going in, and decided if I wanted a Pixel 5 or 6, before two years was up that would be a pain in the process. I Just wanted $80 credit one time, in lieu of the $600 doled out with financing. In a year, I wouldn't have seen the remainder of the $600 credit at all, if I paid off the principal. I've really turned the gears on this one, and made the choice to pay a premium now rather than have a headache later. Now do you see the amount of labor going into this simple 'hook-up'? You tip good waiters, you tip bartenders, all kinds of people who go just a little bit further when you know they made a conscious decision to make you feel appreciated. How's that random barber you get at Supercuts? Do you ask for the same barber if they do a consistently good job, and not take care of the extra effort they put in, and are loyal to them, because you really could go to another business. You spend more because you like what you get. It's what you do, reciprocally. They do have the option of offering a retention credit. I worked at Verizon in Rancho Cordova, and at the business unit near there they had retention specialists, full-time. Other carriers offer incentives of $250, and even Verizon runs National campaigns doing exactly that if you bring your own device from another carrier. I brought my own device, didn't ask for the credit for BYOD they give in those cases, and I just wanted to avoid the headache of early upgrading, and wanted a tiny, token, and easily granted credit. I didn't start off with any of this self-righteous nonsense, it just sent the wrong message that they didn't and wouldn't do what they already have built into their authority to avoid this exact situation. It's called a diminished return approach, and they teach it at Wharton.
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