Why is Verizons upgrade policy so not awesome?!?!

[Mr. Anderson]

I came from Sprint to Verizon in Feb and bought the Original droid for 199. Its now almost Sept and I want the droid x BADLY, just not bad enough to pay 500. I even offered to extend my contract and was still denied to get the X at a discounted price. They said I wont be eligible for an upgrade until Oct 2011. Why the hell would they deny and extention of a contract?! Its just like guaranteed cash in their pocket. With sprint I would just go in and update my contract and walk out with the latest phone. Im just so frustrated as to how they just dont care and want someone to stick with the same smart phone for over a year without any type of upgrade. Now my only option is to go through craigslist and hope someone wants to trade plus cash or just have the oldest droid phone until 2011. **** Verizon...

 

[Member138406]

Ya.. this is you being unreasonable IMO. You realize a contract extension means shit if they keep allowing you to upgrade every half a year?

In fact I think Verizon has one of the better upgrade policies.. they let you upgrade every year on the main line at the 2 year pricing. And as far as I have experienced Verizon has really gone above and beyond to help me in any way possible. They have moved contract dates up reasonable amounts of time, they have extended my "first 30 day" period, replaced phones for hardware issues well into the contract agreements. Seriously tho its a business what do you expect of them?

 

[bugeyeblue]

You signed a contract. That's how it is. I was in the same boat, but bought an x on craigslist. Its the only way to keep up with new phones unless you pay full retail or have more than 1 line of service.

 

[infil]

I've had a fair share of problems w/ verizon over the last year and a half that has seen me go through over 20 devices, and 5 different models, starting with the garbage heap of a storm 1.

Their upgrade policy I find to be fair, however their customer support of devices that do have issues, and their process for resolving those issues is insane.

I wish I could have stayed w/ my eris or the d1, just to save the amount of time I had to spend on the phone lol.

Eris was great till eclair, the dialer lag made it unuseable, and the battery overheat warning i was getting was a nice touch lol.

d1 was great except for the unlock button jamming and wiping out my battery in a matter of 2-3 hours.

d2 was sent out as they had no more d1's in stock new and i'm at the point where lnr's are not something I will accept hehe.

 

[ashykat]

I think most companies would not give you an early upgrade after just 6 months of service, it's something we all have to think about when we sign a contract. You always have the 1 year contract option, sure it's a little more up front but you can at least be sure you can upgrade more often.

 

[NYCHitman1]

Yeahhh, that's the nature of the beast though. We signed these contracts knowing that we only get upgrades at whatever time slot the company has set. The loop hole is to go out and buy your phone elsewhere (ie; Craigslist or eBay) just like many people have done.

(I just bought a brand new EVO off eBay yesterday for $405 local pickup which isn't bad at all considering how much it would have cost me to buy it retail and how much it goes for on avg which is around $450-500)

 

[Connectz]

Add a second line and modify the first one to the absolute cheapest plan possible. Some carriers offer a $10 per month emergency phone plan that doesn't allow outgoing calls.

Alternatively, you can add another line, suspend the first one so you don't incur the bill, and try to find someone to give your contract to before 60 days.

There are plenty of ways around this but you'll probably have to end up paying a little more than expected but definitely less than $500 plus tax.

 

[tsanuri]

I came from Sprint to Verizon in Feb and bought the Original droid for 199. Its now almost Sept and I want the droid x BADLY, just not bad enough to pay 500. I even offered to extend my contract and was still denied to get the X at a discounted price. They said I wont be eligible for an upgrade until Oct 2011. Why the hell would they deny and extention of a contract?! Its just like guaranteed cash in their pocket. With sprint I would just go in and update my contract and walk out with the latest phone. Im just so frustrated as to how they just dont care and want someone to stick with the same smart phone for over a year without any type of upgrade. Now my only option is to go through craigslist and hope someone wants to trade plus cash or just have the oldest droid phone until 2011. **** Verizon...

And even with Sprint doing that they have been hemorrhaging customers at alarming rates over the past 3 years. This last quarter was the first gain.

And as has been said it is really you being unreasonable. They gave you a discounted phone 6 months ago and you want another one. All told you have paid $180 in data fees with your $199. So if that would be less than $400 on the phone you got was almost $600.

Then there is the point that if you are the main line you can upgrade at 1 year. Which tells me that is the breakeven point for them on the subsidy.

Just because you want to do something does not mean a company has to bend over backwards to help you. You signed a contract and that is a binding thing. If you did not like the terms then do not sign it.

 

[Vmanisme]

Verizon has let me upgrade 3-6 months before my official upgrade but they add that time to your new contract that you sign and in the end you wait over 2 years for the next upgrade =/.

 

[kyler13]

It's unreasonable to expect a new phone after 6 months. You say "F- Verizon" but when you do this to Sprint, you're actually F-ing them. They take a loss on such a practice, and for a company that's hurting financially, it's not smart for them to be practicing this upgrade policy. I suppose it's a ploy to retain customers. If you like your seat better on the sinking ship, so be it.

I have two suggestions for you or anyone signing up with Verizon. The first has already been mentioned. If you want to save with 2-year pricing and you're on a single plan or the primary on a family plan, go for it. Annual upgrade will allow you to get a new phone on 2-year pricing after 12 months, provided you reset your two year contract on that date. The second is to go with a one year plan which gets you a new phone every 10 months on renewal.

Personally, I would just stick with one year plans on a new sign-up which makes the most sense as it gives you the fastest turn around on new technology. The NE2 credit just isn't what it used to be, and I heard it may get phased out altogether. One year pricing is generally only $70 more than two year pricing, and if you think about it, dropping $270 isn't that bad if it enables you to get a new phone for the same price instead of $600 a mere 10 months later.

I'm grandfathered on a two year plan, myself, because I had a longstanding NE2 credit that made it worthwhile to re-up for two years. I'm also the primary on my family plan and I will be utilizing my annual upgrade. My wife's line will be a one year contract from now on.

 

[Vmanisme]

if you have a fmaily line and you have a good-standing account verizon will give you a free upgrade every year on the main line, they started doing that to us after 3 years of having a perfect record, just go to the store and ask if ur eligible for early upgrade

 

[bcltoys]

? If you buy at full price does that reset your contract date.

 

[Vmanisme]

? If you buy at full price does that reset your contract date.

No it does not, your contract keeps going because you sign a contract to stay with the company not to get a discounted phone, giving you a discount on the phone is just something they chose to do to get you to sign the contact, after your contract ends and you buy a phone for full price then you dont have to sign a new one.

 

[hrbib21]

Sounds like yet another member of society who expects things for free after signing a contract. Sad.

You agreed to the terms so anything Verizon does for you above and beyond is gravy and solely at their discretion.

BTW, only those with a poor vocabulary use such vulgar language, regardless of whether you make it child friendly or not.

 

[substring]

As far as I know, you don't have to wait till the end of the 2 year contract to sign another 2 year contract to take advantage of the discount.... been there done that.

But of course, if you are switching carrier every 6 months, nobody is going to cut you any slack.

 

[cc4525]

I have to say that Verizon is pretty much the same as most carriers when it comes to upgrades..I was with t mobile a few years back and they offered an upgrade every year..with a 1 yr extension..That was nice..but..new phones didnt come out every 5 seconds back then...I do think its unfair that Verizon puts out ads for a super awesome phone and makes us wait months before it is on shelves..then once it is..we all jump to own it...but a few months later an even better one comes out...and we r all screwed for 2 years...they no longer target our business..they already have us..their target is new users...so I feel that they should offer an upgrade every yr...but still keep their 2 ye contract in place...

 

[infil]

That's kind of a contradiction, two year contract with annual upgrades...
insofar as new devices coming out faster and faster, same thing with computers, I still don't find it necessary to replace my computer annually..., or my car etc.

 

[npro1464]

Consider yourself lucky that you are stuck with a Droid and not a crap phone. I have the env touch until next July. However, I am on a family plan, and I was hoping I would be able to trade the primary account holder's phone (my dad, who isn't ever going to care about getting a new phone) for a new one. Does anyone think this would fly with Verizon?

 

[infil]

Yeah, they can do that.he upgrades and the phone is activated on your line.

 

[nkk]

That's kind of a contradiction, two year contract with annual upgrades...
insofar as new devices coming out faster and faster, same thing with computers, I still don't find it necessary to replace my computer annually..., or my car etc.

Not really. Your upgrade is for a phone, whereas the contract is to pay them for a service rendered for no less than 2 years, not to use any particular model of phone.

-Nkk