crappy experience at the VZW store

alquix

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I was looking at the HTC Thunderbolt in my Shopping cart...
199.99, 2 year contract... should I buy it? Then it hit me, "If I go to the Verizon store, I can have it today!"
I drove down to the store, and they told me 249.99.
I figured it was just a base price, so I mentioned my corporate discount.
"Oh nope, we don't have discounts on this phone."
"Well would you be able to pricematch any of the several retailers who are giving it for 179.99 or 199.99?"
"no, sorry, we don't do pricematches"
"Well what about my corporate discount? Would that give me an additional credit on the device?"
"Let's see, give me your phone number and your password"
"My password? I'm not telling you that!"
"Oh, I mean your 4-digit PIN number"
I gave her the info, and she said "Nope, it's 249.99 and a 20.00 upgrade fee."
"Well is there anyone I can talk to who would be able to help me?"
"No, sorry"

Needless to say I didn't buy it. I seriously felt like i was talking to an uneducated brick wall.

Suddenly I don't feel like purchasing a VZW phone or even renewing my contract! What would you all do in my situation?
 
I also stopped by the Verizon store today. They told me $249.99 plus a $20 fee also. They did say no waiting, I could walk out with the phone today. I passed for now.

I did find out the Amazon $179.99 offer now has an 8-9 day waiting period.
 
Apparently you've never dealt with a corporate store. No they don't price match competitors, no they don't price match online pricing from VZW online prices (instant rebates vs. mail in rebates included). No, they won't reduce the price of your phone if your corporate discount is for ACCESSORIES.
 
Every Verizon Wireless Store I've been to has asked me for my password, right in the front of others, so imo makes it kinda pointless and weird but whatever. lol. I'll probably never see those people next to me ever again.

The $20 early upgrade is standard. Nothing new there.

Yeah they're not going to price match.

Seems pretty standard to me. :p I know I paid more getting it in the store but I wanted it in person now. :)
 
What is the $20 upgrade fee? Never heard of that

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I would call customer service and explain the situation. I called customer service and they put a note on my account that I was able to upgrade early (almost 3 months early). I walked into VZW, they said its $249. I said ok, she rang it up and said oh, it looks like you get a corp discount on the device, so it will be $199 + tax. My total came to 214 and change, no $20 upgrade fee or anything. My brother tried to do the same, they gave him a hassle about the early upgrade he asked them to kindly call customer service. They did so and CS said give the man his phone, also a corp discount. He walked out with one for $214 also.

VZW stores are stocked full of morons who are paid on commission, the more you spend the more they make. They have no incentive to get you a good deal. CS on the other hand is paid hourly, and will usually bend over backwards to get you the best deal possible in your situation. Just trust me on this, call CS (*611 from your vzw phone).
 
What is the $20 upgrade fee? Never heard of that

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After 1 year? of your contract, you can early upgrade for a $20 fee instead of waiting the full 2 years for your contract to end before buying a new phone. I got my upgrade button to light up after one year.
 
thanks for the responses. It kinda steams me that verizon can put their name on a website, a phone number, and a storefront only to provide significantly more expensive and worse customer service in person. I might call them tomorrow if I've cooled down enough, but Reno (where I'm from) doesn't have LTE and won't be seeing it for a while, so I have no commitment to this company. they priced themselves right out of an impulse buy and contract extension at the store
 
The $20 means that you are only eligible for the early upgrade. If you were up for your full upgrade, you wouldn't have that.

And most corporate stores are like that. They see so many people a day that they don't care.

Try a Premium Retailer. They will generally drop the 20 in a heartbeat and while they may not price match the phone, you can more easily get them to drop accessories cost to match what you would have saved off the phone.

At least, that's how my company does things. But then, we have to work hard for every customer.


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thanks for the responses. It kinda steams me that verizon can put their name on a website, a phone number, and a storefront only to provide significantly more expensive and worse customer service in person. I might call them tomorrow if I've cooled down enough, but Reno (where I'm from) doesn't have LTE and won't be seeing it for a while, so I have no commitment to this company. they priced themselves right out of an impulse buy and contract extension at the store

Many times if you explain to customer service that you wanted to buy this phone and received terrible service and tell them you have no commitment to stay with them they will offer you the early upgrade/corp discount/ and a free month of service. Might make it worth your time.
 
Many times if you explain to customer service that you wanted to buy this phone and received terrible service and tell them you have no commitment to stay with them they will offer you the early upgrade/corp discount/ and a free month of service. Might make it worth your time.

True that, there are several people I know that do this all the time everywhere. I don't have the personality type to do this but those that do probably save a fortune. lol.
 
i'm going to call verizon tomorrow morning and tell them I am seriously considering switching to sprint because of how high the price of the thunderbolt is plus they are offering me money to switch. Hopefully it gets something. I would hate to switch to sprint because their service stinks but for $80 I can have the plan I have now that costs me $110 a month with verizon.
 
Honestly I don't see why anyone feels the need to run out and get this phone that is so huge its like one step away from getting an iPad, and the design is so similar to the iPhone 3g, what's the big deal about the phone, its nothing special, ppl just want ti cuz its new and has a retarded kick stand. I will stick to my practical Droid 2 anyday. Touch screen only phones are a pain in the ass too. But, about dealing with verizon, yes, they are an extreme pain in the ass, but so are all carriers, at&t was terrible too

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What is the $20 upgrade fee? Never heard of that

Sent from my SCH-I500 using DroidForums App

After 1 year? of your contract, you can early upgrade for a $20 fee instead of waiting the full 2 years for your contract to end before buying a new phone. I got my upgrade button to light up after one year.

Hmm. I've never gotten charged $20 to do an annual upgrade. I usually go to a local place which is just an "authorized retailer" though. They are cheaper and I never run into these extra fees that the corporate stores seem to charge.

Can't wait to pick up my thunderbolt tomorrow!!

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That's not bad at all... I went to Verizon with my brother and his wife to get the Thunderbolt. My brother is literally 4 days before his New Every 2 and the sales rep that helped him looked at his account on their gangster tablet and said he could only get the Thunderbolt if he bought it at full retail. I almost wanted to butt in and try to figure out what was wrong but I waited. So then another sales rep asked for me and what I needed. I said "Thunderbolt". He looked up my account and I was sort of looking at the screen and saw it said "Eligible for One-Year Upgrade: N" and was quite confused. He looked at the date I started the account and noticed I was well past one year. He came back and said I was eligible now. I told him that my brother was literally 4 days from his New Every 2 and was told he couldn't upgrade and was wondering what was going on

There was another lady who said she was 1 day before her NE2 and bought it full retail. Why she wouldn't try to figure out why she counted get the discount I don't know...

Pretty sad if you ask me. I wonder how many sales they lost due to that problem.

The sales rep also told me it had 32 GB on-board memory. I, being the nice person I am, pulled him aside and corrected him.

During the sale, he got an upgrade on the device. Probably to fix the problem lol. I wanted to burst out laughing but I contained it and left with my new Thunderbolt in hand.

Oh, almost forgot to mention that they didn't have any invisibleshield for the Thunderbolt. They have them for a ton of other phones but don't get any for the Tbolt on launch day?

That was pretty much my morning... :D
 
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