Anyone else fed up with the false advertising on phone upgrade prices?

[dglatour]

I'm a long time Verizon customer (8+ years). I'm looking at upgrading my phone after 2 years and in big bold red letters the...

advertised price is: $99

*with 2 year renewal.

Great right?

In the small print to the right they tell you that the price includes a mail in "rebate" of $50, which means you get a prepaid visa card back after 6 weeks. For the finance savvy folks out there, it's essentially an interest free loan to Verizon worth about $5 in profit to them. (Plus there's the handful of folk who loose the rebate card or forget to use it before the 1 year expiry date = Pure profit for Verizon.) Kinda shifty but, OK, fine.

Next I see in very small print ($30 device upgrade fee.). The explanation says "Fee when purchasing a new device and extending contract term"There is no way to avoid this charge, so why don't they list it in the actual price? Very shifty. The price should actually say $130. (not including the 50 bucks you loan to Verizon for 6 weeks. Next page they tack on a "Line Access fee" for $10 - um don't I already have line access with my current phone?

Price in cart is now 179.99 ( 99 + 30 "fee" + 10 "line access" + 50 "rebate" )

Fine, you bite the bullet and add it to your cart. A few pages later, they tell add on more "taxes and fees" for another $55.50 Which means the...

actual price is $235.49

BOO! Verizon; I call shenanigans: This is very deceptive advertising. Maybe this is a good time to look at other carriers. (Credo?)

[ynggrsshppr91]

Tax and fees? If you do not like those I suggest you write a letter to your senator.

Have fun with your new carrier and see you back in 2 weeks.

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

dglatour,

We would be sad to see you leave the Verizon Wireless family. We love your loyalty and hope to have you stay with us. The upgrade fee is a one time fee that is for $30.00. One thing that you can do to help offset that upgrade fee is to trade in your current device. Check out the trade in value of your device here: http://bit.ly/GGnDDC Another way to avoid any kind of upgrade fee is to take part in our new program called the Edge. You can find out the full details of the Edge program here: http://vz.to/1hoKiX1 If you are already on a family share plan you are paying for the line access charge. This would not be something additional to what you are already paying.

Please keep us posted if you have any further questions or concerns.

KevinR_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[Skybrij17]

Totally Agreed!   
After 5 years, my husband’s phone battery was not charging.  We figured it was a good time to upgrade and went into a Verizon store and they were too busy to see us.  Called and waited and waited.  Told to chat.  Spent about 4 hours chatting trying to upgrade our phones.   Painstakingly frustrating and slow experience.  There was an upgrade offer once we got the new phones we could exchange the old phones.  This upgrade took weeks of frustrating chats to get updates on the delivery timelines for the 2 new phones which came about a month or so later.  Once we set up the new phones and tried to trade in the old phones at a store, we were told my husbands was not acceptable because the battery does not work.  We feel deceived and misled.  Our bill is now more than double and while we like our new iPhone 13s it has left us with a really bad experience. 

[KH-OrnEsh]

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