Let me share my story. Me and my fiance started with verizon 2 years ago with the Oringinal Droid..literally the first day it came out I signed with verizon and got both phones! 
I never signed up for the total equipment replacement and instead went the cheap way and got the extended warranty for $1.99 extra a month for each phone.. not bad for a certified like new phone replacement (like new), as long as i didnt crack the screen, I can replace my phone anytime. Well, we started having problems with our oringinal droids, i would call and they would ship us Certified like new (CLN) phones. After my 4th replacement, i complained and said "every droid you send me quits on me by the second month!" So they upgraded me to a droid 2! Without using my upgrade! And how could they? Since i wasnt even close time wise to qualify for one?!! So i was like "hmmm? let me try getting my fiance a droid 2 as well. So i called complaining that her original droid was acting up and Bam!! They upgraded hers as well for free! So im like "hmmm im liking this! " Soooo... there i am having the blast of my life with my new droid 2 and then my camera craps out on me! I call, go through the same process ,get my replacement and back to normal, then my fiances droid 2 speaker breaks on her and same process later, got her another replacement with extended warranty program.
Well droid 3 comes out and during that period of time and to my luck my droid 2 craps out on me again! :-/ .. I called, go through the process and this time they said "you have an early upgrade, why dont you use it to get a new phone?" I said "No thank you, im waiting for a newer phone to come out and plus i dont have the money for it$$$" . They tried and tried to convince me by putting the charge on my next phone bill but i said No. So they were about to send me my replacement when i hear the verizon employee say "oh oh, looks like we are out of CLN Droid 2 so looks like we have to give you a droid 3" ..yea!! :-D... when i recieved my phone through mail i thought it was going to be a CLN droid 3 and nope! Brand NEW!!. So i got a brand new phone without using any of my upgrades ;-)..
Luckily my droid 3 has not crapped out on me and its been working like a beauty for almost a year! My next move is to get a 4g LTE phone with my upgrades but im gonna try as hard as I can for them to waive their "new" upgrade fee and also will try to make them pay as much as they can for both of my phones (this is me testing verizon's customers service and generosity to the max!) Hey!! you cant blame me for trying.. Ive been loyal to them, never had a late payment and paying a good chunk of money for two smartphones with dataplans! Lets get some customer apreciation benefits out of this one, right?!! ;-)
Moral of my story, 1) Dont get the expensive Total Equipment Coverage plan because you will have to pay $99 deductible out of your pocket plus tax!. Instead get the affordable $1.99 extended warranty plan but take care of your new phone by buying a screen protector and a hard case so you wont crack the screen when you accidently drop it.
2) when you call verizon customer service, be nice and polite to them, you well get really far with them by being nice and if you ask them politely for another phone without using your upgrade, guess what? You most likely might just get one ;-).
3) if your going to use your upgrade I would recommend to go to a verizon store, check out their phones but dont buy it there! Instead call verizon and purchase it with customer service. Why?? Because you will get much more discounts with them then with a verizon sales person. Verizon sales people wont give you extra discounts because they want that commision money!!
Good luck and hope this helps anyone!
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
I never signed up for the total equipment replacement and instead went the cheap way and got the extended warranty for $1.99 extra a month for each phone.. not bad for a certified like new phone replacement (like new), as long as i didnt crack the screen, I can replace my phone anytime. Well, we started having problems with our oringinal droids, i would call and they would ship us Certified like new (CLN) phones. After my 4th replacement, i complained and said "every droid you send me quits on me by the second month!" So they upgraded me to a droid 2! Without using my upgrade! And how could they? Since i wasnt even close time wise to qualify for one?!! So i was like "hmmm? let me try getting my fiance a droid 2 as well. So i called complaining that her original droid was acting up and Bam!! They upgraded hers as well for free! So im like "hmmm im liking this! " Soooo... there i am having the blast of my life with my new droid 2 and then my camera craps out on me! I call, go through the same process ,get my replacement and back to normal, then my fiances droid 2 speaker breaks on her and same process later, got her another replacement with extended warranty program.Well droid 3 comes out and during that period of time and to my luck my droid 2 craps out on me again! :-/ .. I called, go through the process and this time they said "you have an early upgrade, why dont you use it to get a new phone?" I said "No thank you, im waiting for a newer phone to come out and plus i dont have the money for it$$$" . They tried and tried to convince me by putting the charge on my next phone bill but i said No. So they were about to send me my replacement when i hear the verizon employee say "oh oh, looks like we are out of CLN Droid 2 so looks like we have to give you a droid 3" ..yea!! :-D... when i recieved my phone through mail i thought it was going to be a CLN droid 3 and nope! Brand NEW!!. So i got a brand new phone without using any of my upgrades ;-)..
Luckily my droid 3 has not crapped out on me and its been working like a beauty for almost a year! My next move is to get a 4g LTE phone with my upgrades but im gonna try as hard as I can for them to waive their "new" upgrade fee and also will try to make them pay as much as they can for both of my phones (this is me testing verizon's customers service and generosity to the max!) Hey!! you cant blame me for trying.. Ive been loyal to them, never had a late payment and paying a good chunk of money for two smartphones with dataplans! Lets get some customer apreciation benefits out of this one, right?!! ;-)
Moral of my story, 1) Dont get the expensive Total Equipment Coverage plan because you will have to pay $99 deductible out of your pocket plus tax!. Instead get the affordable $1.99 extended warranty plan but take care of your new phone by buying a screen protector and a hard case so you wont crack the screen when you accidently drop it.
2) when you call verizon customer service, be nice and polite to them, you well get really far with them by being nice and if you ask them politely for another phone without using your upgrade, guess what? You most likely might just get one ;-).
3) if your going to use your upgrade I would recommend to go to a verizon store, check out their phones but dont buy it there! Instead call verizon and purchase it with customer service. Why?? Because you will get much more discounts with them then with a verizon sales person. Verizon sales people wont give you extra discounts because they want that commision money!!
Good luck and hope this helps anyone!
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
I really would like a phone that works.