Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
pzjagd1
Contributor - Level 3

BTW, I'm leaving next month because of the change in international plans they recently imposed. If enough of us do, maybe they will rethink that change. And if not; oh well.

Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
mama23dogs
Legend

DUCATI8511 wrote:

Not a very good argument...verizon makes no more money off of new customers than off me. If both are offered same discount on the same phone, where is additional revenue. I have been verizon wireless since they started service in Boston area. Service was always better than competition....not anymore. It makes no sense to lose 1 customer to gain another if both paying same for phone and monthly access charges. I receive a good discount for the major carriers, never made sense to change before. Being able to utilize a wider variety of phones might make sense now....

    The point is to steal customers from another network.  Which also forces them onto current plans.  My plan is ridiculously inexpensive.  If I give up my old plan to Get free phones, I don’t save a dime because of the increased service cost. 

     Also a give away to get a new customer is a write off.  A sale to existing customers is not.

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Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
DUCATI8511
Enthusiast - Level 2

Understand they always want new business.  Get 1 new customer, lose 1 old customer is zero gain. I work for a huge company....we mostly still try to existing customers happy. I will probably leave for T Mobile since their network is good here. Verizon WAS the only game in town, they may need better customer retention in the near future.

Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
DUCATI8511
Enthusiast - Level 2

I guess I need my daughter with the MBA explain how gaining a new customer paying $60 month for 1 phone, is better, business wise, than retaining old customer paying $60 month for 1 phone.

Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
Obsidian2222
Enthusiast - Level 2

Exactly. The other thing people completely miss is that in previous plans, before the bring your own phone idea spread, everything was all integrated into 1 charge. Originally you had your plan, plus the simple charge of $5 for each additional line added. When smart phones hit  they took a huge advantage of this. They separated the lines from the plan. Now showing the line access fee of $40 per smart phone and $20? for non. They did this to combat people adding a line to get an additional upgrade for only $5 a month. Then the byop idea hit and they separated it out even more, supposedly so people could bring their phone and not pay the $40 subsidized phone line fee. All of this happened and the plans stayed at the same price, unless you hit 2 years and were off contract (you then had to call in and tell them so they would reduce that line access fee to $20). This meant that they were charging us 20 a month times 24 (so $480 for the "free" phone every 2 years).

After you take that all in, that means our plans (back then) supposedly had an extra $240 per phone/per year added in. But somehow my account with 4 phones (all paid off) costs the same now as it did then. So they could eat $2,000 every 2 years for me then, but now they can't do anything? That's before you get to the unlimited plans and each phone line costs $40 - $80 (regardless of the type of phone, or data that will be used).

It comes down to this. The data I use now is no different than then. The phones cost more, but they had changed the "free" to $100 - $300 fees (once they became more expensive). Even with the higher cost phones, in which those fees could have just gone to 400, 500 etc, it doesn't make sense because now we get nothing. We pay the same (or more) and have to pay full price for all our phones. So $480 per two years = $0 now with no additional benefit.

Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
Obsidian2222
Enthusiast - Level 2

Oh and beyond that these new unlimited plans charge the same price for a flip phone (when added to a family plan) as a smart phone. VZW has raked us over the coals during this time. People that sit here and try to defend them are simply blind or don't realize how much they're being played. I don't mind paying for my phones at all. But listening to people act like loyalty should somehow equate to nothing (actually less than nothing since cost stayed the same (or has risen) while also losing free/subsidized phones) is ridiculous.

Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
boringusername
Master - Level 1

Obsidian2222 wrote:

Oh and beyond that these new unlimited plans charge the same price for a flip phone (when added to a family plan) as a smart phone. VZW has raked us over the coals during this time. People that sit here and try to defend them are simply blind or don't realize how much they're being played. I don't mind paying for my phones at all. But listening to people act like loyalty should somehow equate to nothing (actually less than nothing since cost stayed the same (or has risen) while also losing free/subsidized phones) is ridiculous.

you are free to leave for another carrier at any time if you are dissatisfied with Verizon. And no loyalty should mean a thing. Loyalty means you stay when you could have gotten the same service cheaper or better service for the same price. Does that sound like smart thing to do? And that should be rewarded? I've been going to McDonald's since the 1970's where's my free stuff and/or discounts?

Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
mama23dogs
Legend

DUCATI8511 wrote:

I guess I need my daughter with the MBA explain how gaining a new customer paying $60 month for 1 phone, is better, business wise, than retaining old customer paying $60 month for 1 phone.

More than 98% of Verizon’s customers stay and they don’t need to fight to keep them.  The only benefit to them is to add new business, which is where phone ‘deals’ come in. 

Read post 4. 

Where Do you get a new customer and old customer paying the same?    I’m paying an average of $33 per line for 5 lines, with discount On my old plan with large data bucket.  To get a comparable amount of data as a new customer, I would have to take the $50 per line unlimited data option.  (Which would be more like $55 with taxes). 

My bill before the BYOD era was $360 a month for 5 devices and much less data.  My bill now is $168. 

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Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
boringusername
Master - Level 1

A lot of these same people that are against deals for news customers only will switch carrier and as a new customer happily take deals that are for new customers only. Suddenly their distain for new customer deals go away. What's the word I'm looking for? hypocrisy. If one is truly against new customer deals they would refuse them should they become a customers themselves.

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Re: Why aren't deals applicable for existing customers?
rcschnoor
Legend

DUCATI8511 wrote:

Not a very good argument...verizon makes no more money off of new customers than off me. If both are offered same discount on the same phone, where is additional revenue.

The "additional" revenue comes from the "new" customer going from paying Verizon $0/month to $2x/month, an INCREASE in revenue of $2x/month. If Verizon were to give you a "free" phone, their revenue would go from $x/month to $x/month, NO increase in revenue. Since the VAST majority of Verizon customers do not need an enticement to stay with a service with which they are happy, they see no benefit in offering a perk for which they will receive NO additional revenue. Verizon used to give reduced price phone when you signed a 2 yr service contract. Since they no longer have 2 yr service contracts, there is no incentive to Verizon to offer you a reduced price phone.

For the FEW people who actually leave for another carrier and will be in the exact same predicament they are in now when they go to purchase their NEXT phone, they are just as likely to switch back to Verizon as they are to stay with the new provider since they would not be able to get ANOTHER free phone at that time.

The benefit of giving NEW customers a free phone is that for 100 NEW customers getting free phones, they will receive $200x(BOGO means 2 lines of new revenue) of new revenue. With their practice of not giving 100 existing customers free phones, they MAY see a drop in revenue from $100x of existing revenue down to $99x of continuing revenue, so instead of receiving $5000/month of revenue from those 100 customers they MAY only see $4950/month if 1 disgruntled customer leaves while saving $80,000 in the cost of 100 new phones. If the average customer pays on average $50/line that would be $10000/month(200 x $50/month) of NEW revenue vs a $50 drop in revenue if they don't provide those free phones to existing customers who are NOT willing to open a new line of service. It is not hard to see which of the 2 options is better for the bottom line at Verizon.

Verizon does not even receive the same benefit by offering this to existing customers as they do by offering it to new customers. With BOGO offers, existing customers would only be providing 100 new lines of service for every 100 free phones given out. With new customers, Verizon would be getting 200 new lines of service for every 100 free phone given out. Double the benefit to Verizon for new customers vs existing customers.

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