Verizon data plan cancellation experiences for BBY buyers - please share!

[joeski27]

It should be widely known at this point that for those who are forced to sign up for a data plan buying from BBY, if you cancel your VZ monthly plan within 3 days you should get your $35 activation waived and only be responsible for data used, on a prorated basis. But I'm sure many of us would like to hear others' experiences on this, so if you did buy from BBY today and immediately canceled your plan, please share your story here! Thanks!!

 

[dyezak]

This is no longer a requirement for the Xoom. Best Buy are just ******s -

Motorola Xoom now available for purchase straight from Verizon, no data activation required (updated) -- Engadget

 

[StreakTheQuad]

***MODS***

Please delete this thread, this is no longer a requirement for the Xoom. If the OP would reseach he would have seen this. Post/Thread has no purpose:

Motorola Xoom now available for purchase straight from Verizon, no data activation required (updated) -- Engadget

Please keep the thread. This still potentially applies to Best Buy purchases.

 

[Vehtemas]

Please keep the thread. This still potentially applies to Best Buy purchases.

To which Dyezak would have known if he had researched prior to posting 0.o

BBY forced the whole one month activation thing on the Galaxy Tab, they may do it for the Xoom. This thread does have merit.

 

[joeski27]

***MODS***

Please delete this thread, this is no longer a requirement for the Xoom. If the OP would reseach he would have seen this. Post/Thread has no purpose:

Motorola Xoom now available for purchase straight from Verizon, no data activation required (updated) -- Engadget

Thanks to all those who responded to point out that dyezak didn't read carefully enough to understand that this is for BBY buyers, who still have to sign up for the month-to-month.

 

[polo2883]

I can say BB is forcing the data. I was told they had to be the $35 data plan till I pushed and showed them the add. The he found the plan on the bottom of the page for the $20. The rep first stated he heard there would be penalties but then found out there isn't.

 

[RickInHouston]

I just got back from picking mine up from Best Buy.

I told him Verizon was not activating the device and would prefer not to. He said that was fine. I was able to bring it home without him opening the box.

Best Buy in the Galleria area (main Houston location). He got in 20. He's sold 10 of them already. Another guy was buying one just as I was leaving. He said all other Houston area Best Buys are already sold out because they didn't get as many in. They only got 2 to 5 units each.

That's it for now.

 

[dyezak]

joeski27 and Vehtemas:

Please see RickInHouston's post above for BB purchase without activation....... Not Required.

 

[Xbound]

I just wanted to second the fact that when I picked up my Xoom, I told the BB employee that I was not interested in activating the device as of yet.

They let me take it home, and I just skipped the verizon activation startup screen, and set up my wifi.

Since then it asked me if I wanted to to activate the 3g service upon reboot, and I have declined since.

I went into settings and under the mobile connection settings, I disabled the "mobile data" checkbox and have never been asked to activate again. Now it is a purely wifi device with the 3g/4g option.

 

[Ezra]

Picked mine up from Bestbuy this morning. They required me to activate with a data plan, it was clear they had no idea what they were doing. Left the store with my Xoom got to work and cancelled the service after only waiting about 2min on the phone. Asked the VZW rep and she said I would not be charged activation and only for data that I used which was none.

 

[melantus]

I bought mine with data from verizon, they waived the activation fee, and told me once I'm done with my data I should suspend my account and not cancel so that I'm not charged the activation fee ever should I want it again. You can suspend for max of 6 months at a time. Just a lil info for those who ever wanted use the 3G/4G service.

 

[joeski27]

joeski27 and Vehtemas:

Please see RickInHouston's post above for BB purchase without activation....... Not Required.

dyezak, please see Ezra's post above - activation WAS required. Looks like we have a mixed bag of experiences so far, and it seems to depend up on how well the BBY associates are sticking to Best Buy's advertised policy of requiring a month-to-month plan activation.

 

[joeski27]

I just wanted to second the fact that when I picked up my Xoom, I told the BB employee that I was not interested in activating the device as of yet.

They let me take it home, and I just skipped the verizon activation startup screen, and set up my wifi.

Since then it asked me if I wanted to to activate the 3g service upon reboot, and I have declined since.

I went into settings and under the mobile connection settings, I disabled the "mobile data" checkbox and have never been asked to activate again. Now it is a purely wifi device with the 3g/4g option.

Thanks for the great info!

 

[marctronixx]

i was not charged a activation fee at bby but was told it would show up on the next bill. perhaps ill give VZW a shout to see whats up...

 

[Caveman419]

Picked mine up from Bestbuy this morning. They required me to activate with a data plan, it was clear they had no idea what they were doing. Left the store with my Xoom got to work and cancelled the service after only waiting about 2min on the phone. Asked the VZW rep and she said I would not be charged activation and only for data that I used which was none.

What was the reason that you gave to cancel your service? I want to be sure what to ask for. Don't want them cancelling my other 4 lines.

 

[Droid Ninja]

I just called verizonwireless tech support. They said regardless if you buy with 2 year contract for 599 or off contract for 799, you are required to have a data plan.

 

[John566]

I bought mine at BB this morning and they required I sign up for service.

I'm typing this on my Xoom with the bluetooth keyboard and it works pretty well.

 

[Ezra]

@marctronixx from my understanding you don't pay the activation fee at Bestbuy but rather on your monthly plan that they set up for you. That is why I had to call and cancel my service.

@Caveman419 I just told the Verizon tech that I just purchased the Xoom but did not want 3G service until the 4G upgrade. I provided the number for the Xoom that was given to me at Bestbuy and they seemed to have no problem with that.

@Droid Ninja Doesn't that defeat the purpose of no contract? The fact that you can cancel any time. I would call again and try to speak to a different Verizon rep.

 

[SQurel23]

Had an interesting trip to Best Buy. They were selling them in the computer department and the kid that helped me seemed to have no clue what the Xoom was. He spent about 15 minutes in the back trying to find them. When he brought one and cash me out there was no mention of Verizon, activation, or a monthly data plan. I tried to do the buy back program but he said it wasn't free for tablets and that the free promotional period ended a week ago (ugh!). The total came up to $875 with the tax. YMMV

 

[Caveman419]

@marctronixx from my understanding you don't pay the activation fee at Bestbuy but rather on your monthly plan that they set up for you. That is why I had to call and cancel my service.

@Caveman419 I just told the Verizon tech that I just purchased the Xoom but did not want 3G service until the 4G upgrade. I provided the number for the Xoom that was given to me at Bestbuy and they seemed to have no problem with that.

@Droid Ninja Doesn't that defeat the purpose of no contract? The fact that you can cancel any time. I would call again and try to speak to a different Verizon rep.

Will try it as soon as I get home! Thank you.

 

[BoozeRob]

I just wanted to second the fact that when I picked up my Xoom, I told the BB employee that I was not interested in activating the device as of yet.

They let me take it home, and I just skipped the verizon activation startup screen, and set up my wifi.

Since then it asked me if I wanted to to activate the 3g service upon reboot, and I have declined since.

I went into settings and under the mobile connection settings, I disabled the "mobile data" checkbox and have never been asked to activate again. Now it is a purely wifi device with the 3g/4g option.

Best Buy volunteered to me that I didn't have to activate it, so I didn't. They also gave me the free buy back too!

 

[knappkd]

Bought mine this morning at best buy. Best buy forced me to buy the data plan and told me that if I canceled within a month that verizon would require me to return the device. I told them "whatever". I called verizon from BB parking lot and canceled service. My explanation was that I just didn't want the mobile broadband. The rep said he didn't understand why BB was doing this as it was causing them a lot of calls today. He canceled my plan and said I would not be charged based on their 100% satisfaction guarantee.

 

[Vehtemas]

Yeah, Best Buy is being a dumbass on this one aren't they?

 

[ren857]

I bought mine from Best Buy. The rep asked me if I wanted to activate service. I said no. And that was that.

 

[SamuriHL]

Apparently they were told that the 1 month thing was no longer required. I'm guessing not all the stores got that message, though. One thing I learned from my experience at VZW this morning was that let's say you want to do the month to month thing. There's 2 interesting pieces of info on this. First, you can change the plan any time you want, *BUT*, the 20 dollar 1 gig plan is promotional so if you change away from that to say, the 35 dollar 3 gig plan, you can never go back to the 20 dollar plan. The second interesting piece of info. Let's say you want to take a couple months off from having a data plan. DON'T cancel it! If you do, you'll have to pay the activation fee again. INSTEAD, I was told I could suspend the service for up to 3 months and would NOT get charged an activation fee if I resumed service. Anyway, I thought this info might be of value to some people.