Verizon ending 'New Every 2' upgrade program

[MacLeod]

This is kinda old news as it happened mid January but I just found out about it. I searched here and didnt see anything about it so sorry if this is a retread but yeah, theyre ending the "New Every 2" program and even the early upgrade program which let you upgrade at promotional prices (same price as new customers) after 13 months. Now its 20 months so instead of being eligible for an upgrade in March, I now have to wait til November.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20028438-233.html

I had no idea. I only found out when I went to Verizon's website looking thru phones thinking I would upgrade to an Incredible in March. Little did I know.....

 

[DirtyB]

I'm copying this from another thread. If you really want it explained to you why not contact VZW rather than read some misinformed article?

Considering any existing NE2 credits will be honored, and you'll still have people with NE2 credits as far off as March 15th, 2013 this doesn't make much sense. Even without the Ne2, your still getting the phone for $150-450 off the full retail pricing.

They're going to have more customized campaigns rather than, EVERYBODY gets a blanket $30 off. So if you've had alot of smartphones they'll give you incentives to upgrade to a new smartphone for $50 less than most people. Or 'if you have a BB and you want the new BB knock $50 off it.' Something along those lines.

VZW has people that have had the same phone for 6 years but they still are eligible for their $100 credit. That money is in a budget somewhere and must be allocated for that person, if they can free up that money they can apply it to someone who likes to upgrade their phone more often.

Cliffnotes: If you thought you were going to be eligible for an early upgrade in march chances are you still will be. However it will probably be the last annual upgrade for you. Remember you can always do a 1yr contract so then you can upgrade @ the 10 month point instead of 20 month point.

 

[MacLeod]

If you really want it explained to you why not contact VZW rather than read some misinformed article?

Well that article, along with ones from CNN and Wall Street Journal all seem to be saying the same thing....which is the same thing youre saying, the NE2 program is ending. Yes existing customers will be honored IF they were enrolled prior to Jan 16th. After that one though, no more.

Im sure theyll come up with some other form of upgrade plan cause it would be pretty stupid to make your existing customers pay full retail for a phone when they could go to AT&T or Sprint and get one for free when their contract is up or sooner if the early termination fee is not so bad.

Im not worried too much about NE2 cause I always upgraded at the one year mark or thereabouts but it does worry me a bit about the annual upgrade and for that I will be stopping by my Verizon dealer tomorrow while we're out running errands for some Q&A. If VZW is gonna start making you run out your 2 year contracts before you can get an upgrade, I may very well be looking to jump ship when mine runs out cause 1 year plans have paltry discounts. Yeah you can upgrade every 10 months but your paying $300 for a phone that you could get for $50 with a 2 year run.

 

[DirtyB]

Well that article, along with ones from CNN and Wall Street Journal all seem to be saying the same thing....which is the same thing youre saying, the NE2 program is ending. Yes existing customers will be honored IF they were enrolled prior to Jan 16th. After that one though, no more.

Im sure theyll come up with some other form of upgrade plan cause it would be pretty stupid to make your existing customers pay full retail for a phone when they could go to AT&T or Sprint and get one for free when their contract is up or sooner if the early termination fee is not so bad.

Im not worried too much about NE2 cause I always upgraded at the one year mark or thereabouts but it does worry me a bit about the annual upgrade and for that I will be stopping by my Verizon dealer tomorrow while we're out running errands for some Q&A. If VZW is gonna start making you run out your 2 year contracts before you can get an upgrade, I may very well be looking to jump ship when mine runs out cause 1 year plans have paltry discounts. Yeah you can upgrade every 10 months but your paying $300 for a phone that you could get for $50 with a 2 year run.

I still don't think you are understanding, this is why those articles did a terrible job at explaining this and I see alot of people confused. You would not have to pay full retail for a new phone...

You will still get a discount off a new phone! The NE2 is an ADDITIONAL CREDIT off of a new phone for waiting even longer to upgrade. Primary lines over $60 in the past got 2 year promotional pricing on a phone + an additional credit $30-100. For example.

New Customer:
Droid = $200

Customer with $50 NE2 upgrade credit (past 20 month in contract)
Droid - $150

Customer after Ne2 program expires (past 20 month in contract)
Droid- $200

The NE2 credit signifies the extra $30-$100 off, not the discounted pricing. In this case droids are like 550-600, so you still save like 400 by doing a contract. You will be eligible for discounted pricing @ the 20 month point. So the ONLY thing changing is the additional $30-100 credit and the annual upgrade. Believe it or not the Ne2 program was only around for like 4 years so people can live without it.

 

[SuperSubZero]

With NE2 they give you the $50 or whatever rebate as a debit card. The rest of the "new phone" thing doesn't change with the contract reset, they just don't give this debit card.

 

[MacLeod]

I still don't think you are understanding, this is why those articles did a terrible job at explaining this and I see alot of people confused. You would not have to pay full retail for a new phone...

You will still get a discount off a new phone! The NE2 is an ADDITIONAL CREDIT off of a new phone for waiting even longer to upgrade. Primary lines over $60 in the past got 2 year promotional pricing on a phone + an additional credit $30-100. For example.

New Customer:
Droid = $200

Customer with $50 NE2 upgrade credit (past 20 month in contract)
Droid - $150

Customer after Ne2 program expires (past 20 month in contract)
Droid- $200

The NE2 credit signifies the extra $30-$100 off, not the discounted pricing. In this case droids are like 550-600, so you still save like 400 by doing a contract. You will be eligible for discounted pricing @ the 20 month point. So the ONLY thing changing is the additional $30-100 credit and the annual upgrade. Believe it or not the Ne2 program was only around for like 4 years so people can live without it.

Dude I appreciate ya trying to straighten me out but I dont think we're not on the same page here. I totally get what the NE2 program was, an extra discount on top of the promotional price, and while the extra discount is going away, the promotional price is not after 20 months. And Im sure theyll come up with some other kind of upgrade discount to replace NE2 seeing as the wireless market is insanely competitive.

My main concern is with the annual upgrade that Ive done for years. After 1 year, I was always eligible for promotional prices on phones. This is the upgrade path I always chose. But as I first noticed yesterday, there is no mention of the annual upgrade anywhere on my My Verizon page and I cant find any mention of it on their website. I find some threads on their support forum but nothing recent. The few mentions Ive found of it in various articles says its been discontinued and the only discount youre eligible now is at 20 months.

I will contact VZW to get it from the horses mouth today and youre probably right that theyll honor my annual upgrade since I was set up for that before they changed things.

This thread wasnt meant as a rant really. Just more of an FYI.