No more NE2 and Annual upgrades

[danmil05]

If you do an early upgrade, you have to sign a two year agreement. They don't offer the option to a do a one year contract on an annual upgrade. So at some point, we will have to hang onto one phone for 20 months or buy elsewhere to tide over.

Can someone confirm if this is true? I REALLY hope it's not. My annual upgrade is on the 23rd and i wanted to switch to a one year contract.

 

[Sailingmaster]

If you do an early upgrade, you have to sign a two year agreement. They don't offer the option to a do a one year contract on an annual upgrade. So at some point, we will have to hang onto one phone for 20 months or buy elsewhere to tide over.

There are still one-year contracts.

 

[octoberdana]

Yes there are still one year contracts but you can't get one using an early upgrade. You must sign a two year contract for an annual early upgrade. So if you are on a two year contract and upgrade one year into it you would have to sign a two year agreement to upgrade early. If you want to upgrade at 20 months you can switch to a one year contract.

 

[Sailingmaster]

Yes there are still one year contracts but you can't get one using an early upgrade. You must sign a two year contract for an annual early upgrade. So if you are on a two year contract and upgrade one year into it you would have to sign a two year agreement to upgrade early. If you want to upgrade at 20 months you can switch to a one year contract.

Hmmm. Well, yes. The EU code does put a two year contract on the line, but that doesn't mean you can't debit the two-year/one-year contract price difference and manually adjust the contract date to reflect a one-year contract.

Personally, I see the upgrade policy change as not being that big of a deal. If you're a technophile and need the latest/greatest anyway, go with a one-year contract. For 70.00 you upgrade at 10 months instead of 20. I'm okay with that.

 

[danmil05]

Hmmm. Well, yes. The EU code does put a two year contract on the line, but that doesn't mean you can't debit the two-year/one-year contract price difference and manually adjust the contract date to reflect a one-year contract.

Personally, I see the upgrade policy change as not being that big of a deal. If you're a technophile and need the latest/greatest anyway, go with a one-year contract. For 70.00 you upgrade at 10 months instead of 20. I'm okay with that.

Can you explain that first paragraph more simply? I didn't quite understand it. Like I said before i wanted to get a one year contract to advoid the the new policy. I am one of thoes who does not really want the newest phone, but a different one. I have the Droid Eris and was planning to get the droid incredible on a 1 year contract, after that get any of the new LTE phones.

 

[Sailingmaster]

Can you explain that first paragraph more simply? I didn't quite understand it. Like I said before i wanted to get a one year contract to advoid the the new policy. I am one of thoes who does not really want the newest phone, but a different one. I have the Droid Eris and was planning to get the droid incredible on a 1 year contract, after that get any of the new LTE phones.

That's basically what a customer care rep and their sup needs to do for you to get a one-year contract on a phone purchased with an Early Upgrade. You purchase the phone using the Early Upgrade. The rep then adds a manual equipment charge (read: debit) for the difference between one-year and two-year contract pricing to your line, and then gets a supervisor to manually change the contract date to reflect the one-year contract status. To make this easier on you and customer care, order the phone and then call customer care after you receive the phone and they can make those changes.

And, yes I've seen that done at my call center.

 

[danmil05]

That's basically what a customer care rep and their sup needs to do for you to get a one-year contract on a phone purchased with an Early Upgrade. You purchase the phone using the Early Upgrade. The rep then adds a manual equipment charge (read: debit) for the difference between one-year and two-year contract pricing to your line, and then gets a supervisor to manually change the contract date to reflect the one-year contract status. To make this easier on you and customer care, order the phone and then call customer care after you receive the phone and they can make those changes.

And, yes I've seen that done at my call center.

So let me get this straight. In my case i can use my Early Upgrade to get a droid incredible on a two year contract. Then call verizon wireless to charge me the difference between a 1 yr. contract and a 2 yr. contract (which is $70) and they will change my contract date to one year sooner. If i got this correct, are you 100% sure they will do that if i ask?

 

[Sailingmaster]

So let me get this straight. In my case i can use my Early Upgrade to get a droid incredible on a two year contract. Then call verizon wireless to charge me the difference between a 1 yr. contract and a 2 yr. contract (which is $70) and they will change my contract date to one year sooner. If i got this correct, are you 100% sure they will do that if i ask?

Unless you get a rep who has decided to be difficult (or dense as granite), it shouldn't be a problem. Just tell the rep you wanted a one-year contract instead of a two-year and that you're willing to pay the price difference. Hardest part should be the wait to get a supervisor to change the contract date.

 

[wxman2003]

They have to do this to cover all the returns of the IPhones, after all of the AT&T customers who jumped ship for Verizon realize the problems they had were the fault of the phone itself, and not the carrier. There are going to be a lot of whining Verizon users soon, and Verizon will quickly fall to the bottom in customer satisfaction, while AT&T moves up as they add more android phones.

 

[BiscoJosh]

Couldnt I do this if I wanted to simply extend the time of my upgrade. On Jan 15th, the day before this takes effect, use my upgrade to get an incredible. If a new phone I want comes out b/w Jan 16 and Feb 16 (or whatever 30 days exactly is), I return the incredible under the 30 day return policy, and just get that new phone. Technically, I would still have an early upgrade under the old policy since my contract technically only goes into effect prior to Jan 16th.

Thoughts?

 

[danmil05]

Couldnt I do this if I wanted to simply extend the time of my upgrade. On Jan 15th, the day before this takes effect, use my upgrade to get an incredible. If a new phone I want comes out b/w Jan 16 and Feb 16 (or whatever 30 days exactly is), I return the incredible under the 30 day return policy, and just get that new phone. Technically, I would still have an early upgrade under the old policy since my contract technically only goes into effect prior to Jan 16th.

Thoughts?

Just to let you know, the amount of days to return a phone has been reduced from 30 to 14 days.

 

[najaboy]

Just to let you know, the amount of days to return a phone has been reduced from 30 to 14 days.

That has no bearing on phones purchased prior to 1/16. The 30 day WFG period still applies.

 

[0837s]

So Verizon took away the annual upgrade, in addition to the NE2 credit. I wonder what is going to happen 1 year from now, when a new iFruit phone is launched on the Verizon network?? Is there going to be a revolt from all of the "newly acquired" iPhone users that bought their phones in February or March of 2011, because they cannot upgrade their device to the newest iPhone that will be launching???

I'd be willing to bet that we see some sort of "special upgrade" policy next year, which will allow iPhone users to upgrade to the newest iPhone when it comes out, like AT&T did- if you were eligible for an upgrade anytime that year, you were allowed to upgrade into the latest iPhone when it released. Verizon wouldn't want to upset it's latest bunch of iPhone users... lol

Also with that being said, I wonder if the 1 year contract will go by the wayside, or, if the iPhone will be required to be put on a 2 year contract only?

I'll be watching from the sideline with a Droid Bionic, which will be on a 1 year contract.

 

[Medion]

So Verizon took away the annual upgrade, in addition to the NE2 credit. I wonder what is going to happen 1 year from now, when a new iFruit phone is launched on the Verizon network?? Is there going to be a revolt from all of the "newly acquired" iPhone users that bought their phones in February or March of 2011, because they cannot upgrade their device to the newest iPhone that will be launching???

They can still upgrade their phone at the end of their contract like they could on AT&T. We just no longer get the special NE2 discount that Verizon offered over their competitors. Their upgrade policy is now the same as any other carrier.

 

[Mr. Incredible]

So, annual upgrades go away, and phones + 2 yr. contract just got 30-100 dollars more expensive.

Thanks iphone.

 

[0837s]

They can still upgrade their phone at the end of their contract like they could on AT&T. We just no longer get the special NE2 discount that Verizon offered over their competitors. Their upgrade policy is now the same as any other carrier.

Correct, but correct me if i'm wrong- didn't AT&T basically give all iPhone customers an "annual upgrade" to be able to get into iPhone 4? If thats the case, Verizon will have some upset customers when they are all stuck on 2 year contracts and can't upgrade to iPhone 5 as soon as it is released.

Is Verizon going to let people put the iPhone on a 1 year contract, for a higher device purchase price, or is it exclusively a 2 year contract device?

I really hope that they don't take away the 1 year contract that they currently offer...

 

[Medion]

Correct, but correct me if i'm wrong- didn't AT&T basically give all iPhone customers an "annual upgrade" to be able to get into iPhone 4? If thats the case, Verizon will have some upset customers when they are all stuck on 2 year contracts and can't upgrade to iPhone 5 as soon as it is released.

AT&T did allow some exceptions to their renewal policy for the iPhone 4, but it wasn't as drastic as 12 months. I think it was up to 6 months early, but I could be mistaken.