Why Verizon Edge is a rip off!

[shaff1101]

Had the verizon edge for about 1 1/2 years paying over 20 dollars a month. 

Had to replace my phone with Asurian and it cost me 100 dollars after a

year paying 11 dollars a month total of 200 dollars to get phone replaced

with a refurbished phone not a new one.  6 months later somehow my phone lcd went out

took it into verizon after a year and a half to replace it and they told me it was 188 dollars to buy out my edge plan.

Now I am up to paying 25 dollars for 18 months= 450 bucks plus 188 to buy out total of 638 dollars.

plus 11 dollars a month for 18 months insurance 198$

Grand total of 836 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!

FEELING TOTALY RIPPED OFF

[Weth]

What happened that you needed the first insurance replacement. That cost would have been the same whether you were on contract or Edge

In your calculations, you are also not taking into account that your monthly access fee was being reduced by $15 or $25 for being on Edge giving the net cost of the first phone either $5 per month or a -$5 per month!.

Now you replaced your phone 18 months for $188.

And you are paying $25, but with the $15 or $25 discount you are paying only net $10 or $0. That brings your next 18 months to $188 plus $180 or $368.

You must remember that the access fee with a contract is $40 a month. You do end up paying the same and usually more with the contract since the $15 or $25 more per month adds up very quickly. You pay full price for the phone one way or the other.

As far as insurance. It is debatable if phone insurance is ever a good idea and to self insure when possible. However, certainly it makes now sense to continue insurance once you determine if the phone is damaged, broken, or lost you would want a new phone rather than a replacement.

[rcschnoor]

shaff1101 wrote:

Had the verizon edge for about 1 1/2 years paying over 20 dollars a month.

Had to replace my phone with Asurian and it cost me 100 dollars after a

year paying 11 dollars a month total of 200 dollars to get phone replaced

with a refurbished phone not a new one.  6 months later somehow my phone lcd went out

took it into verizon after a year and a half to replace it and they told me it was 188 dollars to buy out my edge plan.

Now I am up to paying 25 dollars for 18 months= 450 bucks plus 188 to buy out total of 638 dollars.

plus 11 dollars a month for 18 months insurance 198$

Grand total of 836 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!

FEELING TOTALY RIPPED OFF

Edge has a cost. Insurance has a completely separate cost.

From your story, your numbers seem a bit fishy. You say you have been on Edge for 1.5 years paying over $20/month, yet you still owe $188 on your Edge contract. With 6 months left, that means you are paying ~$31/month. This means a $750 phone.

Had you not had insurance, you would have had to pay THAT amount to have a replacement instead of the $100 insurance deductible. You would have had to pay THAT amount to have it replaced a second time, too. That would mean after the 1st replacement your Grand Total would have been $1500, which is $664 MORE than with your insurance. Seems like the insurance saved you a bit of money.

Personally, I don't ever get the insurance but that is a personal decision you make for yourself. In over 20 years of using cell phones, I have only had to replace a phone one time and was able to do so simply by re-activating an old phone I had used previously. That comes to ~$2600 in saved insurance payments. With 4 lines, 3 of which have NEVER had to have a replacement, would bring it to over $10K. I can get quite a few phone replacements with that kind of cash.