Verizon WWYD

[bicker]

If you can't get it in writing then assume it won't be true.

 

[Shutterbug]

Which is the exact opposite of what the Verizon people told me after going in the other day

According to this website:
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/24/more-on-verizons-tiered-data-plans-and-how-long-you-get-to-stay-unlimited/

The Q&A sent to Verizon employees says that feature phones will not be grandfathered in.

http://www.droid-life.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/verizon-upgrade-policy.jpg

So I am going to hold out for the Iphone 5.
Thing is do I gamble away $30/ month putting unlimited on my feature phone now hoping that they may change their minds between now and the release of the Iphone 5?
There is no certain date for the release of the Iphone 5. It may be later than Septemeber I would hate to end up throwing away $60-$90 or more just to find out when I get the Iphone that I end up having a tiered plan anway

 

[Mikelly1221]

I'm curious what people expect Verizon to do. Verizon's goal (as far as I can tell) is to limit data usage, or at least if someone goes over the limit to make some $$$. Now, I'm guessing they can't change existing contracts by law which is why people will be grandfathered in.

So what motivation does Verizon have to suggest current customers upgrade to the unlimited plan before 7/7?

For what it's worth, when I added unlimited data to DW's feature phone on Sunday, the store rep said they don't KNOW if that will be grandfathered in if she upgrades to a smart phone.

I went to 2 different stores and got 2 different answers. To me that is not good customer service. It seems like there is a lot of confusion and questions that we are all getting different answers for. I am not faulting them on their new policy but I am faulting them on their unclear communication.

 

[bicker]

Personally, I wish service providers of all sorts would provide greater levels of consistency, and I'd be willing to pay the extra amount it could cost to ensure that. I fear that I'm in the minority though. Most folks I know don't really focus on details like consistency and are driven more by the lowest cost.

 

[IDoDis]

I went to 2 different stores and got 2 different answers. To me that is not good customer service. It seems like there is a lot of confusion and questions that we are all getting different answers for. I am not faulting them on their new policy but I am faulting them on their unclear communication.

Verizon does this on purpose. They only release so much information and basically leave their employees in the dark on the fine details because they don't want people to scurry to save a few bucks before they make a changeover. A Verizon employee told me this (and apologized for not having as much info as I myself was armed with).

Info has been leaked on the internet so now "most" of the employees know that the data plan on a feature "dumb" phone WILL NOT transfer over later to a smart phone. The customer WILL BE moved to a tiered data plan. That seems to be pretty clear now -- although there still seem to be employees who don't know this.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

Back from Verizon. Feature phones will not be grandfathered in if you upgrade to a smart phone. I ended up adding a ghost line and getting a Vortex. Phone was free with 50.00 rebate. Ghost line for me will be until Jan 2012 so all this ended up costing me about 60.00.

What is a ghost line?

I was wondering the same thing?

 

[jiminyC_fan]

A ghost line is when they add another line for the length of your present agreement for 9.99 per month. You can then drop that line. They put the smart phone on your existing number and the ghost line has your old phone. That is how I got the phone for free or in my case the ghost line for 6 mos adding to total cost of 60.00.

I, too, got a lot of conflicting inf on the feature phone by 5 people. Even last night this guy told me it would be grandfathered in. I kept talking about what I learned here so he placed a phone call and found out he was wrong.

 

[golfgal]

Ok, just back from Verizon and now they are saying feature phones will not be grandfathered so I got DD an Iphone . Merry Christmas honey. She is out of town so she doesn't know which phone I got her yet.

 

[Shutterbug]

Well I am going to wait for the Iphone 5, its rumored to have the new A5 processor that is also in the Ipad 2.

I guess I will just have to watch my data usage when I get it.

 

[IDoDis]

A ghost line is when they add another line for the length of your present agreement for 9.99 per month. You can then drop that line. They put the smart phone on your existing number and the ghost line has your old phone. That is how I got the phone for free or in my case the ghost line for 6 mos adding to total cost of 60.00.

I, too, got a lot of conflicting inf on the feature phone by 5 people. Even last night this guy told me it would be grandfathered in. I kept talking about what I learned here so he placed a phone call and found out he was wrong.

I don't understand the ghost line scenario though. You added an extra line to get the free phone and you attached the phone to ring on your line. I get that. But I don't get the 6 months stuff. So you don't have a 2 year contract on that extra line? How did you get the rebate with only a 6 month commitment? When we added an extra line for DS's phone, we had to sign a 2 year commitment, even though the first contract was going to expire in 8 months. Now we have two contracts floating around, but all of the phones are on the same line. Without a contract, the prices of even the cheap phones were outrageous -- unless you bought your phone somewhere else (like Amazon). Then I understand.

The smartphone I ordered from Amazon on July 3rd with one day shipping (that I paid extra for) won't be here until tomorrow 7/7! It should have shipped out on July 5th (given the 4th was a holiday). Yesterday I kept checking the UPS tracking number that was listed, but nothing was coming up. I was hoping it was just a glitch in the system and that the phone would arrive today as it was supposed to.

Well, Amazon messed up my plan! They didn't ship the phone until 12:00pm TODAY, and the delivery date on the tracking says the end of the day on 7/7. A day late and a dollar short! I'm so mad at Amazon! The shipping label was created on 7/4, so why in the heck do they offer 1 day shipping and say I'll get it on 7/6, but they then sat on the package for an extra day before mailing it and didn't mail it until 7/6? Argggh!

So now I'll have to send the phone back and we'll just wait for the iPhone 5 to come out in the fall and we'll go back to plan B and get this for DD for Christmas. I could get her the iPhone 4 now, but I'd feel like crap in a few weeks when the price drops to $50 (or free) with a 2 year agreement and the phone has a slower processor and a worse camera. So I guess we'll wait.

 

[clutter]

Well, once again you all cost me money!!!

My ATT contract is up 8/8. I finally looked up how much to break it, and it didn't look bad, so I called. $65. So we're going to Verizon tonight to make the switch. Chances are we won't be using enough data to worry, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. With a 14 year old, who knows what the next 2 years will bring??

(Made my dd's day, though! I'd threatened to change plans while she was away at camp, lol.)

 

[jiminyC_fan]

IDoDis, nope, I did sign a new contract but because my other line was up in Jan 2012 he said I can drop the new line. Good grief, at least I hope he knows what he's talking about. I kept asking that over and over.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

IDoDis, nope, I did sign a new contract but because my other line was up in Jan 2012 he said I can drop the new line. Good grief, at least I hope he knows what he's talking about. I kept asking that over and over.

AFAIK the contract is tied to the phone # so if you drop the new # you wil get the ETF you would have to drop the old # in Jan. If the phone # doesn't matter to you then you're good.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I understand what you are saying but that's not how he explained it but for the life of me I can't tell you exactly what will be done.

 

[sam_gordon]

I could get her the iPhone 4 now, but I'd feel like crap in a few weeks when the price drops to $50 (or free) with a 2 year agreement and the phone has a slower processor and a worse camera. So I guess we'll wait.

I don't think the Iphone 4 will go to $50, at least not for a number of years. It might go down to $150 (instead of the $199 it is now) until they're out of stock, but they're not going to make it cheap. Even on ebay, a Iphone 3G is still going for $300+. A first gen is still $100. It will take a while before the 4 dips that low.

 

[MickeyManiac]

IDoDis, nope, I did sign a new contract but because my other line was up in Jan 2012 he said I can drop the new line. Good grief, at least I hope he knows what he's talking about. I kept asking that over and over.

I just returned from the Verizon store and this was offered to me. But they said I could add the "ghost line" for $10/month to get DS a smart phone now but we have to cancel his old line (and number) in April when his contract is up because the new line will have a 2 year contract on it.

I knew DS would not be happy with switching his number that he's had for 5 years.

 

[golfgal]

I just returned from the Verizon store and this was offered to me. But they said I could add the "ghost line" for $10/month to get DS a smart phone now but we have to cancel his old line (and number) in April when his contract is up because the new line will have a 2 year contract on it.

I knew DS would not be happy with switching his number that he's had for 5 years.

You should be able to move his current number over to that other line-people do this all the time with swapping upgrades, etc.

 

[jbcheerchick93]

I just had to do all of this last night! Since my upgrade wasnt until Jan. and I wanted the new phone when i got the unlimited plan, we cancelled my current line and opened a new line so that I was still able to get the discount on the phone. The price you see on the wall at the store is only the price if you start a NEW 2 yr contract. By doing that, you have to cancel your number, and get a new one. So now I have a new number.

 

[IDoDis]

I don't think the Iphone 4 will go to $50, at least not for a number of years. It might go down to $150 (instead of the $199 it is now) until they're out of stock, but they're not going to make it cheap. Even on ebay, a Iphone 3G is still going for $300+. A first gen is still $100. It will take a while before the 4 dips that low.

When the iPad2 came out, Verizon dropped the price of the original iPad by $200.00 to get rid of them. We bought two of them. The iPhone 5 is going to be so much better, that people won't want to pay $199 for an iPhone 4 if the iPhone 5 is only going to be a little more than that. There would have to be a BIG difference in price for me to get an iPhone 4 when the 5 comes out.

 

[Mikelly1221]

Verizon does this on purpose. They only release so much information and basically leave their employees in the dark on the fine details because they don't want people to scurry to save a few bucks before they make a changeover. A Verizon employee told me this (and apologized for not having as much info as I myself was armed with).

Info has been leaked on the internet so now "most" of the employees know that the data plan on a feature "dumb" phone WILL NOT transfer over later to a smart phone. The customer WILL BE moved to a tiered data plan. That seems to be pretty clear now -- although there still seem to be employees who don't know this.

It doesn't surprise me that it's happening on purpose. And since I don't think there's any real customer loyalty in the cell phone world, the goodwill they lose in doing it doesn't matter.

Well, since DH was eligible to upgrade and I wasn't, I talked him into going in and re-upping for 2 years to get a smart phone and get grandfathered in. I'll keep my feature phone, which I like fine, and eventually I'll probably downgrade my data usage to $10.00 per 75 MB. That's all I need and I only went to unlimited to be grandfathered in. Since that's not happening (well it is but just until I go to a smartphone), there's no need for it. All good.