I know some people here work for Verizon (hopefully sales), so maybe the power of ClutchFans can give me advice. I am on Verizon. My contract ended 1 year ago but I haven't been compelled to use my upgrade discount until now (on the Incredible). I'd like to buy the Incredible through Verizon, use my $50 discount, and there's a promo code floating around (DEALPRO) that gives me $15 more off. My wife is on ATT. She now realizes making phone calls whenever you want > roll over minutes. She would also like to get an Incredible. She can get an employee discount through her job on the monthly plan. It would be cheaper to get the Incredible through Amazon, which has it for $150, rather than Verizon itself. ($200) Finally, we'd like to get a family plan together. How's the best way to go about it? The problem is if she buys through Amazon, there's no option to add a current customer to the plan. They assume every line is a new customer. Can she order the phone through Amazon, get a single plan, I upgrade my phone and keep the single plan (this way we both get the phone at the cheapest price possible) and then immediately ask Verizon to put us together on a family plan? Can we do that after immediately signing 2 year single plan contracts? TIA. Rep for any advice possible.
It wouldn't hurt to call and ask Verizon, but I don't think you can merge two separate plans on a contract into a family plan. Is your upgrade price cheaper than the amazon price? If not, since she has the employee discount, it sounds like it would be better just to open a new account under her name (cancel yours, but be sure to get the number carried over first) and just buy the two phones on amazon on the same family plan. Then call Verizon and get the discount setup. If your upgrade is a better deal than amazon, stay on your plan and see if Verizon will price match Amazon. I got ATT to give me a $150 phone for free by price matching bestbuy.com last year.
If you are a member of CostCo or Sams Club, I believe they give you the mail-in rebate, in the store instantly. If that is the case with the phone you want (if they have it in stock) then I would go that route just based on not having to wait for the rebate or having the wait for the phone to arrive via web order. Just my dos yens.
We have used the Best Buy mobile phone stores for our most recent purchases (albeit, not Verizon). They get everything set up, they instantly give you the rebate and will even transfer information from old phone to new. I'd check with them before doing anything over the net or directly with Verizon.
yes, you can merge the 2 lines without any problems the only catch is that, with 2 single plans, you do get the New Every 2 Discount of $50+ for each line, when u merge 2 single plans together, on the 2 lines, whichever gets to be the secondary line, forfeits their new every 2 discount. Ex. you upgrade your single line plan, you get your $50 discount towards a new device 20 months in your contract your wife ports over her ATT line to Verizon as a single line, gets the $50 discount twoards a new device also after 20 months once your merge the 2 as a family plan, one of your lines becomes the main number on the line and keeps their New Every 2 to get a discount 20 months into the contract, while the other is the secondary, and the secondary number doesn't get the $50 discount after 20 months, but still qualifies for an upgrade after 20 months. btw, it doesn't matter if you merge the account immediately, or later, you still keep the same contract end date. hope this answers your question
Wow, this is pretty much settles it. Thank you very much. So it seems like the route I proposed seems like the best deal right? She gets her phone for $150, I get mine for $135, and we do the family plan right after. I figure in 2 years we may jump ship so the future $50 discount is not a main concern. Out of curiosity though, if we sign up for the family plan right now ($200 for each phone) would we both get $50 discounts in 20 months? Also, when I went into a Verizon store a few weeks ago, the sales rep made a very hard sell. He said he could price match anything we found online. Is that true? The guy was so pushy for us to sit down and start getting into details I didn't want to waste the time. I appreciate them doing their job, but there's a certain point where I get too skeptical and he triggered it. And are Verizon stores trying to stock a few Incredibles for walk-ins considering how back ordered the phones are right now? I don't mind going into the store and helping out the sales rep and local business, but I don't want to get the run-around and end up wasting time if it turns out he can't beat my plan.
If u sign straight up with us, it doesn't make a difference, only the main line gets the future discount. As far as stores matching prices, if the get supervisor approval, they would be able to, but its a rareity. The only difference between getting it at a store is having to deal with a mail in rebate, while if get it online, u get the rebate instantly.
One last question Dave. To clarify, when we combine into a family plan, do our individual 20 month commitment reset? For example, let's say I get an upgrade on 6/1. We do a family plan on 7/1. Does my 20 month period change to a start date of 7/1? And is there a requirement on who's the main account on the family plan?
Nope not at all, the contract never when merging 2 line together, u can even change your min plan and contract never changes. No requirement who the main number is going to be, depends on you because they are both single lines to one family plan, if it was a single line joining an existing family plan, that would be different.
btw, just wanted to add to my above post its still a 2 year agreement, I smentioned 20 months above, because you are ELIGIBLE for a device upgrade 20 months into the contract, which is 4 months before your contract is up. Its something they started recently because a bunch of people threaten to switch to other providers when their contract is up because we wouldn't allow upgrades before their contract date. So we basically allow upgrades 4 months before the contract is over as an incentive for you to stay, and of course sign another 2 year contract.
Screw Verizon. I've been having problems with my Blackberry and decided to bring it to one of their stores today to get looked at. I was informed that due to the sheer fact that my phone is out of warranty there's nothing they can do to help me. Sure, I could do it their way and "upgrade" with another two-year contract rather than just sticking with the phone I currently have. It doesn't matter to them that I bought the phone through Verizon and that I have a monthly service plan. Apparently, the idea of one of their on-site technicians taking five minutes to look at my phone and offer advice/suggestions for trouble-shooting was WAYYYY too much to ask for.
ONE last question...before I ask another one. If my wife gets an Incredible and a few months later realizes she doesn't want/need a smart phone, can she downgrade? Is she stuck with it and the data plan?
I believe she would have to pay full retail price for a new phone, which typically runs $200-$500, even for the plain phones with no bells and whistles. Unless that has changed since I was selling phones/plans several years ago, but typically they make you wait until the upgrade date (or they offer you an "early upgrade" but still charge you almost as much as retail price). Not sure, but anything other than the smart phones (Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Droid based phones) should not require data.
Thanks for the info. This week I bought my phone through Amazon for $135. We went into the store for my wife's phone. We didn't speak to the original manager, but we told our sales rep that he said he would price match and drop the activation fee, so she got her phone for $150 out the door. It occurred to me afterward that we could've tried Best Buy, who might price match and throw some extra stuff in. I can't complain, we didn't do too bad in the first place. We'll wait to get both our phones (which at this rate could be 3 weeks!) and then ask to start a family plan. As for non-data plan phones, there's plenty. If you're navigating through the website, pick 'feature phones'. That's basically every phone that's not a smart phone.
U have a 30 day worry free of gurantee, u can swap it out once, after 30 days, that's it, pretty much stuck with the phone, other options instead of paying full price is Ebay As far as phones that don't need data plans, just the featured phones on the website, the 3G multimedia phones have to at least have a $10 data plan
I can't comment any nice things about the store techs since I'm a over the phone tech, so. what issues are you having with your device? which blackberry do you have? I can take shot of it, shoot me an email if you want. btw, the one year warranty is standard throughout the wireless industry. If you have issues outside the one year warranty, then well, your kinda stuck, unless you buy the extended warranty for $2/month (which at $48 throughout the lifespan of the 2 year contract is worth it), or buy another phone on Ebay.
By the way I have the Incredible, and my wife has a Motorola Droid, and I have to say that I am just laughing at my friends who have Iphones (and no reception in Manhattan) right now. I know, I know, ATT is great in Houston, but here in the Great Satan, the Iphone is a glorified texting tool with apps. I freaking love the HTC Incredible. Make sure you download AppKiller first thing, it will save you so much battery life. Its a free app.
OT: A guy that works for T-Mobile told me yesterday they will be offering unlimited minutes, text and internet for $50.00 per line starting in July.
