Since these threads seem compete with 2.1 threads for the title of “most popular” lately, I’ve gotten worked up to the point of composing my thoughts on the matter. This was originally intended as a response to a thread that has now (rightly) been locked, but I spent a lot of time typing this, so, dammit, I am gonna post it. 
I won’t be offended at all if this is locked, deleted, or lost in the forum. All I care is that I got to say it – and it made me feel better to do so. 
Oh, and I'm not "holier than" anybody. I just have an opinion.
Let’s pretend for a moment that these threads are not spam - which they are, because they often have vague titles that give no hint as to what they’re about. In all fairness, even if I did click on a thread not knowing what to expect, reading it only took a few seconds out of my life, and that is totally forgivable.
Let’s pretend for a moment that these threads are not soliciting advice on how to break the law – which they are, whether you believe it or not. They are asking for help in committing fraud, which is defined as “deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.” (Dictionary.com). Again, to be fair, there is nothing that says I have to provide the advice that is asked for, and even if I did, telling someone how to break a law is not enough to make someone an accomplice.
What really gets me, and why I really despise these threads is this: The people who post them tend to treat the matter as a "victimless crime" when it isn't.
Verizon (like all carriers) has no profit margin on device sales, and HTC (like all manufacturers) doesn’t provide phones to cover insurance claims for free. This means phones cost money to replace, and since carriers and manufacturers are not charities (i.e. they are in business to make money), someone else is paying the cost of these phones. Would you like to guess who is covering this cost?
If you responded that you are covering the cost, you get partial credit. After all, you probably spent “a lot of money” when you bought your phone. You also signed up for the insurance, and pay a ridiculously large premium each month for a service that is there to replace your phone if it is damaged, lost, or stolen.
But here’s the deal. Cell phones (especially smart phones) are not cheap. Unless you paid retail for your phone, Verizon took a considerable loss when they sold you your phone. They had to. The competitive nature of the industry is such that carriers have to lure customers by practically giving sophisticated (i.e. expensive) devices away. My information is a little outdated, but last I heard it takes Verizon several months to recoup the loss they take when they sell a basic feature phone (while covering all of their other operating expenses) and actually start to make a profit from you as a customer. Swap that basic feature phone for a smart phone – especially one based on a technology that is so new there is a considerable amount of R&D expense included in the sticker price, and I’d hate to guess what the “break even” point is.
Don’t feel bad for Verizon though, they can, will, and do make money off of you. Part of what we pay each month for basic service (and our pricey data plan) goes to cover Verizon’s losses from device sales. Of course, those costs are spread out over Verizon’s entire customer base so we all pay something towards Verizon’s overall device expense.
I’d be willing to guess that the amount you paid for your Eris, plus the amount you pay each month for the insurance, plus the “hidden” amount of your service fee that goes to cover the cost of your device hasn’t fully paid for your original Eris yet – much less for a refurbished replacement on top of that. If not, guess whose overall service fees are impacted by your “innocent” little deception. Mine. My wife’s. My friends’. The helpful folks on this forum. Everyone else who has a Verizon phone. Overall costs for everyone go up when a vendor incurs an expense. It’s just simple economics.
Even if you have contributed enough to cover the costs of your phone and its replacement, every replaced phone contributes to the cost we all pay in premiums when we insure our phones.
“Oh, and another thing”. If everyone who didn’t like their phone decided to play the insurance game, Verizon would start losing money right and left and either stop offering insurance, or price it out of affordability. That means, for the dishonest few to benefit from this, the rest of us have to live with dings, dents, scratches, and phones that don’t work quite the way we want them to. I’m really not interested in having less so you can have more, thank you very much.
So yeah, threads like this do piss me off, because they flagrantly tease an activity that financially impacts me.
...And I'm done.
Short version for the "TLDR" crowd: Don't be a jackass.
I won’t be offended at all if this is locked, deleted, or lost in the forum. All I care is that I got to say it – and it made me feel better to do so. Oh, and I'm not "holier than" anybody. I just have an opinion.
Let’s pretend for a moment that these threads are not spam - which they are, because they often have vague titles that give no hint as to what they’re about. In all fairness, even if I did click on a thread not knowing what to expect, reading it only took a few seconds out of my life, and that is totally forgivable.
Let’s pretend for a moment that these threads are not soliciting advice on how to break the law – which they are, whether you believe it or not. They are asking for help in committing fraud, which is defined as “deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.” (Dictionary.com). Again, to be fair, there is nothing that says I have to provide the advice that is asked for, and even if I did, telling someone how to break a law is not enough to make someone an accomplice.
What really gets me, and why I really despise these threads is this: The people who post them tend to treat the matter as a "victimless crime" when it isn't.
Verizon (like all carriers) has no profit margin on device sales, and HTC (like all manufacturers) doesn’t provide phones to cover insurance claims for free. This means phones cost money to replace, and since carriers and manufacturers are not charities (i.e. they are in business to make money), someone else is paying the cost of these phones. Would you like to guess who is covering this cost?
If you responded that you are covering the cost, you get partial credit. After all, you probably spent “a lot of money” when you bought your phone. You also signed up for the insurance, and pay a ridiculously large premium each month for a service that is there to replace your phone if it is damaged, lost, or stolen.
But here’s the deal. Cell phones (especially smart phones) are not cheap. Unless you paid retail for your phone, Verizon took a considerable loss when they sold you your phone. They had to. The competitive nature of the industry is such that carriers have to lure customers by practically giving sophisticated (i.e. expensive) devices away. My information is a little outdated, but last I heard it takes Verizon several months to recoup the loss they take when they sell a basic feature phone (while covering all of their other operating expenses) and actually start to make a profit from you as a customer. Swap that basic feature phone for a smart phone – especially one based on a technology that is so new there is a considerable amount of R&D expense included in the sticker price, and I’d hate to guess what the “break even” point is.
Don’t feel bad for Verizon though, they can, will, and do make money off of you. Part of what we pay each month for basic service (and our pricey data plan) goes to cover Verizon’s losses from device sales. Of course, those costs are spread out over Verizon’s entire customer base so we all pay something towards Verizon’s overall device expense.
I’d be willing to guess that the amount you paid for your Eris, plus the amount you pay each month for the insurance, plus the “hidden” amount of your service fee that goes to cover the cost of your device hasn’t fully paid for your original Eris yet – much less for a refurbished replacement on top of that. If not, guess whose overall service fees are impacted by your “innocent” little deception. Mine. My wife’s. My friends’. The helpful folks on this forum. Everyone else who has a Verizon phone. Overall costs for everyone go up when a vendor incurs an expense. It’s just simple economics.
Even if you have contributed enough to cover the costs of your phone and its replacement, every replaced phone contributes to the cost we all pay in premiums when we insure our phones.
“Oh, and another thing”. If everyone who didn’t like their phone decided to play the insurance game, Verizon would start losing money right and left and either stop offering insurance, or price it out of affordability. That means, for the dishonest few to benefit from this, the rest of us have to live with dings, dents, scratches, and phones that don’t work quite the way we want them to. I’m really not interested in having less so you can have more, thank you very much.
So yeah, threads like this do piss me off, because they flagrantly tease an activity that financially impacts me.
...And I'm done.
Short version for the "TLDR" crowd: Don't be a jackass.
