Verizon to do away with upgrades

ASUADPi · #1 01-14-2011, 10:06 PM

Verizon officials have confirmed what SmartMoney was told by Verizon sales reps at a number of stores around the country: The company is ending its popular "New Every Two" program, which offers Verizon subscribers a credit of $30 to $100 toward a new phone every two years. As of Jan. 16, the company will stop offering the credit to new customers and won't re-enroll current customers in the program after their next New Every Two upgrade. The cell carrier is also putting the brakes on its permissive early upgrade policy, store representatives confirmed.

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...odbye-upgrades

Quite honestly this annoys the crap out of me. My contract expires in September and I was looking forward to using my upgrade amount to get a new phone.

Also have to love that later on in the article Verizon's "reasoning" is that people will "spend" the money for the phone. I'm sorry, I have no desire to spend $300 bucks on a phone. I'm not made of money, I don't have a money tree growing in my apartment.

I've been with Verizon for 6 years now. What a great way to say that I'm a valued customer, taking away my upgrade. Awesome.

I think I might be looking into another company come September, that is if other companies don't start shafting their customers as well.

Kappamd · #2 01-14-2011, 10:37 PM

I am SO pissed right now.

Drolefille · #3 01-14-2011, 10:38 PM

Verizon is bringing its policy more in line with other carriers. Their New every 2 was WAY more permissive than AT&Ts which was closer to 18-20 months from the 13 months that I think Verizon started from. They've now switched/reverted to a similar time-frame. Additionally AT&T lets you get a phone at the "with a contract price" if you can renew but no extra upgrade credit.

So in reality, Verizon is ending a program that made them 'better' than other carriers, but is not currently 'worse' than other carriers in these regards. As someone who switched from AT&T to Verizon recently, this is not enough to make me upset about it.

ASUADPi · #4 01-14-2011, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kappamd

I am SO pissed right now.

Right there with you.

Kappamd · #5 01-14-2011, 10:44 PM

Ok, I'm still upset, but less so as this article says those under contract will get one more upgrade when their contract ends. A grandfathering of sorts.

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/t...1294961486075/

LucyKKG · #6 01-14-2011, 11:09 PM

My bf works for Verizon, so I'll definitely grill him about this next time I see him.

I was supposed to be eligible for an upgrade in September (or earlier, possibly). Maybe I still am, according to Kappamd?

victoriana · #7 01-14-2011, 11:12 PM

Kinda off topic, but I'm gonna throw this out there. I have Sprint, and I get $150 towards an upgrade every year. Sure, most of the non-smartphones aren't as good as other networks but they have some cool smartphones. I have the Evo and I love it! Their plans are priced much, much cheaper than any other phone company (I did the research). I wouldn't switch off of Sprint, even to get an iPhone or something like that because I get a phone upgrade every year. It's worth it to me, at least. I'd definitely recommend looking into it if you're switching off Verizon because of the issue.

Drolefille · #8 01-14-2011, 11:43 PM

^^ is that $150 off of the "new contract" price? or $150 off the sticker price?

victoriana · #9 01-15-2011, 12:41 AM

I guess it would be off the sticker price. For Example: The Evo is $450, but with all the discounts applied it's $200. It would be the same if you were opening up a new contract or upgrading. That's the most expensive phone though. Most of the cheaper ones you can get for free, or very cheap.

Drolefille · #10 01-15-2011, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by victoriana

I guess it would be off the sticker price. For Example: The Evo is $450, but with all the discounts applied it's $200. It would be the same if you were opening up a new contract or upgrading. That's the most expensive phone though. Most of the cheaper ones you can get for free, or very cheap.

Gotcha, and that's basically what you get with AT&T and what you get with Verizon AFTER the change. Basically they were saying that with the current deal people would be able to get an iPhone for $99. With the new deal current subscribers who re-contract and new subscribers who contract will both get the same price for $199. I don't know any other carrier that would offer the $99 deal (or equivalent for any other expensive phone).

Hence why I'm not that upset about it. No one else actually offers a better deal anyway and current subscribers will still get the benefit for the rest of their current contract (upon renewal it's a new contract and thus they don't have to offer you an out to your contract without an ETF for being adversely financially impacted.)

Splash · #11 01-15-2011, 01:27 AM

I wonder if this is somehow connected to the iPhone?

aephi alum · #12 01-15-2011, 02:08 AM

That's unfortunate.

I have Verizon, and I'm not under contract, but I have no plans to change carriers - Verizon's coverage is just too good. Last spring, I was at a wedding (which was pretty much a full-weekend retreat) in some godforsaken corner of Connecticut, and only the Verizon customers could get a signal. My husband (who uses a T-Mobile phone his company pays for) kept stealing my cell phone.

I don't care that my phone is old. Who needs an iPhone? If I want to listen to music, I have an iPod (two, actually).

nittanygirl · #13 01-15-2011, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splash

I wonder if this is somehow connected to the iPhone?

I think it is. Even when I "upgrade" (I think in March but I'm really confused with Verizon right now) that I will probably just get a Droid phone

ASUADPi · #14 01-15-2011, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splash

I wonder if this is somehow connected to the iPhone?

That's what is sounded like in the article. I guess because AT&T customers are willing to pay the sometimes ridiculous prices for apple products (and some of the prices are ridiculous, at least to me), that when the Iphone comes to Verizon, Verizon customers will do the same.

My upgrade is in September, I was planning to use my upgrade to get the Iphone, that ain't gonna happen now, unless what Kappamd says is true. Might be giving Verizon customer service a call for clarification today.

IrishLake · #15 01-15-2011, 10:06 AM

I just used my verizon upgrade 2 months agp. thank goodness!