Any VZW employees here? Question on upgrade

GatorsUF · #1 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 11:57 AM

I (as everyone) want to upgrade to the new Droid. I unfortunately just got a new phone, thru Alltel, back in July 09'. I am told that I am not eligible for an upgrade until July 11'.

I was curious if there are any loop holes on how I can upgrade early, without paying full retail. I am not talking fraud, but just some way I can do it legitimately...

psooky · #2 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatorsUF

I (as everyone) want to upgrade to the new Droid. I unfortunately just got a new phone, thru Alltel, back in July 09'. I am told that I am not eligible for an upgrade until July 11'.

I was curious if there are any loop holes on how I can upgrade early, without paying full retail. I am not talking fraud, but just some way I can do it legitimately...

I don't work for VZW any more but I used to til June. When I worked there, Alltel was still treated as a separate company and you had to do business with them (although you could port over with no ETF if you were in your last 6 months of contract).

Anyways, the only way to avoid paying full retail is add-a-line (which isn't really a deal, more like financing the phone), or new line/cancel/pay etf (which isn't much cheaper, and definitely isn't if they enact the $325 ETF on smartphones).

If you can get buddy-buddy with a manager at the store or sweet talk one on the phone, they have done 1-yr pricing on the phone (with a 1yr contract extension). Now I've never heard of them doing this within the first 6 months though, and it was a rare occasion when they did it at all.

None of these has any real meaning though if Alltel hasn't been assimilated completely, though.

newb101 · #3 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 10:00 PM

yea i work for vzw where do you live?

straylight · #4 (**permalink**) 11-10-2009, 01:03 PM

That is exactly what I did to get my new Droid, The VZ store actually adding a line was a viable option. Even though, it seemed a bit shady to me they had no compunctions doing this.

GatorsUF · #5 (**permalink**) 11-10-2009, 07:43 PM

I live in Sarasota, FL. I work in Ocala, FL...

stray: what did you do??

Ed Zachary · #6 (**permalink**) 11-15-2009, 09:10 PM

The keyboard on one of our TPs took a crap week a couple of weeks back. Like GatorsUF, we had renewed and upgraded to TPs in July (with Alltel).
FIrst call to tech support resulted in the judgement that, yes, the TP needs to be replaced. Got put through to warranty, who refused to talk.
Another call to tech support and another round of troubleshooting and, yes, the TP needs to be replaced. Got put through to warranty and was told that since VZW doesn't to TPs, the phone would be replaced with a TP2. Unfortunately, none in stock.
When TP2s showed in stock again, another call to tech support and another round of troubleshooting and, yes, the TP needs to be replaced with a TP2. And we're in luck. There are some in stock.
The replacement phone arrived on Friday. An Alltel TP, no back, no battery, the telltale sticker on the inside mangled (to void the 8 months remaining on the warranty, and the body dinged up like it had been skipped across a parking lot.
Another hour + on the phone telling VZW that a mangled, voided TP was not acceptable and was an insult, and a VZW TP was likewise not acceptable since it is, in effect, a downgrade.

The Droid Eris is scheduled to arrive Wednesday.

Guess that is the VZW business model: get the customer's money then do everything possible to keep from delivering.

Midnght_J · #7 (**permalink**) 12-14-2009, 06:23 PM

If you have a alltel phone on the vzw u can call and have them do a fru replacement. I had 2 6800 alltels that were having a few 1x and some signal issues from time to time and my wifes bb was acting up a lil as well. Called twice to have my problems documented. I called again with the same issues and i had the two 6800 replaced with tp2s and my wifes curve was replaced with the Tour. All for free and yes for free.... I am also out of contract with alltel so i am nolonger bound by that. So when the new passion or better is released i can sign new 2 year with VZW and get a break on the new phone whenever it comes out....

Ed Zachary · #8 (**permalink**) 12-15-2009, 10:00 AM

Guess you got lucky in the VZW crapshoot. With the 2-year deal, I mean.
Even though my stepson's was a warranty replacement, they recorded it as a customer-requested upgrade with a manager's override. This re-started his two-year subsidy.

bmar08 · #9 (**permalink**) 12-19-2009, 07:22 PM

you can do a one year early upgrade on your phone for an extra 20.00 over the price of the phone for contract as long as your line has a monthly service charge of 49.99 or more. basically as long as your line is the primary line if you have more than one line of service. It has to be paying this amount for the last 3 months. Otherwise there are tons of options with the change over to be able to get into a new Verizon phone. Its one of those things that you just gotta talk to the right customer service rep. alot of times the retail reps are turds unless you are buying accessories or adding lines. Hopefully this helps.. any other questions just ask./