Why is Verizon disuading me from buying elsewhere?

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pinoy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2010
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I want to upgrade my phone which is on a family plan with Verizon. I can get the same phone at Amazon for a huge discount compared to what Verizon is charging. Verizon told me they do not recommend getting it elsewhere but from them. They said they will not warranty the phone and will not provide customer service with the phone. I trembled in fear.

Am I really losing anything by getting the upgrade with Amazon?
 
Warranty through verizon is pretty nice, I had to warranty my galaxy nexus and they shipped me a refurb (looked brand new to me) overnight or 2 day, and I put mine in the box and had a prepaid label to send it back. Tech support for the phone isn't that big of a deal, nothing google can't solve. Do be aware though Verizon is able to work account magic when doing upgrades that other sellers can't. For example say you upgrade a line through a reseller sometimes there is a clause that if you change the data package or some other feature on the line with in 6 months of upgrading that they will charge the discount on the phone to bring it to the same price as verizon. I ran into this when I wanted to keep my $15 verizon data plan. I use my familys upgrades and swap the phone to mine line and drop the $30 data plan added to their lines. You can do this easy with verizon but with resellers sometimes you'll get charged the original discount for dropping the data plan or some other feature they sold you with the upgrade.

Basically just make sure you read the terms and conditions when you upgrade.
 
Amazon clearly states that if you cancel your plan early, not only will verizon charge you for the $350 cancellation fee but Amazon will charge you the full retai; price of the phone minus what you paid on the promotion already against the phone.
 
Wait, Verizon won't honor the warranty if you buy from a reseller? That's a scumbag move, even for them. Every other company honors it, no problem.
 
I bought at Amazon and they fully warranty my phone through Verizon. Used it on wife's broken Note 2 once already
 
munkle said:
Warranty through verizon is pretty nice, I had to warranty my galaxy nexus and they shipped me a refurb (looked brand new to me) overnight or 2 day, and I put mine in the box and had a prepaid label to send it back. Tech support for the phone isn't that big of a deal, nothing google can't solve. Do be aware though Verizon is able to work account magic when doing upgrades that other sellers can't. For example say you upgrade a line through a reseller sometimes there is a clause that if you change the data package or some other feature on the line with in 6 months of upgrading that they will charge the discount on the phone to bring it to the same price as verizon. I ran into this when I wanted to keep my $15 verizon data plan. I use my familys upgrades and swap the phone to mine line and drop the $30 data plan added to their lines. You can do this easy with verizon but with resellers sometimes you'll get charged the original discount for dropping the data plan or some other feature they sold you with the upgrade.

Basically just make sure you read the terms and conditions when you upgrade.
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Just FYI, you can transfer your upgrades to different lines yourself on Verizon's site. I just learned this actually, so I can get a new phone through a different retailer (cheaper) on a different line (that doesn't have unlimited data) so I didn't lose unlimited on my line.
 
Verizon reps (as well as most other reps) can be very sleezy, id becareful what you believe from them.
 
entropism said:
Wait, Verizon won't honor the warranty if you buy from a reseller? That's a scumbag move, even for them. Every other company honors it, no problem.
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HOw is it scumbag? Verizon doesn't make phones, they provide a service if you buy the phone through them they will provide quick warranty service through THEM not the manufacturer. This doesn't mean the manufacturers warranty is invalid and not honored in any way shape or form.

What youre complaining about is akin to being mad you bought something at walmart and can't get it replaced at target...
 
Any phone you buy regardless of where it comes from has a 1YR manufacturer warranty with it, which covers defects. Verizon will still assist you and provide warranty support if you upgrade from a 3rd party source still (Amazon, best buy, apple store, etc.). They replace devices with a certified like-new replacement where you ship the defective one back to them, these phones can either be factory refurbished, phones that were returned within 14 days from a previous owner... overstock phones, its random. Whatever source you purchased your phone from you can always seek support to them for warranty.. but if you upgraded your contract with Verizon, they will assist you as your carrier.
 
munkle said:
What youre complaining about is akin to being mad you bought something at walmart and can't get it replaced at target...
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This is about as off base as you could possibly get. Your argument might hold water if I purchased an unlocked phone, (in this case let's say a Nexus 4 directly from Google) and used it on AT&T. I'd be WAY out of line if I expected AT&T to help me with any issues the phone has, since it's not an AT&T branded device. In this case, my recourse if I had any issues would be to go through Google or LG.

HOWEVER, Verizon phones all come FROM Verizon, no matter where you get it from, be it Amazon, a small independant reseller, Target, Best Buy, etc. They're all made for Verizon, shipped from Verizon warehouses, to the stores, to be used ONLY with Verizon services.

If you were to buy a T-Mobile phone from any other source, T-Mobile will honor the warranty. Sprint is the same way. AT&T? Yep, you guessed it, they'll honor it too. And, apparently, so will Verizon from further posts made after my comment. Turns out it was just a shady salesman looking for commission, but if it was true? It would be a scumbag move.

If you want another analogy so you can calm your tits, if you buy a Comcast (Or whatever cable company you want) starter kit at Best Buy, and something goes wrong, do you take the modem to Best Buy, call your cable company, or ship it to Motorola? You call the cable company, of course. They provide the equipment, they honor the warranty.
 
A post paid contract plan with a discounted phone should be warrantied by the service provider. .

The catch with amazon etc is if you change your plan or addons within x months you have to pay them an ETF separate from verizons because they loose their commission.
 
So you guys are saying that the 13 Customer Rep I talk to are all lying? They all said the same thing: I can't bring the phone to a Verizon store. I have to bring the phone where I got it.

Is this a case of YMMV?
 
pinoy said:
So you guys are saying that the 13 Customer Rep I talk to are all lying? They all said the same thing: I can't bring the phone to a Verizon store. I have to bring the phone where I got it.

Is this a case of YMMV?
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Pretty much. You'd be surprised at how much mis-information Verizon reps put out. I spoke to several just in the past few days about tranferring my phone upgrade to a 2GB line so I don't lose my unlimited data and most of them said that I would lose my unlimited data plan if I did that because I'm re-newing the contract on my line. But I knew that wasn't the case because I've talked to several people on forums and comments sections that have done this recently without issue.

I would almost guarantee that regardless of where you bought the phone, if you took it into a Verizon store to RMA under warranty, they're not going to look up or see where you purchased the phone before they attempt to help you with it and will most likely swap it out without issue.
 
Ohhh... I've played this game with Verizon before.. the short of it is there is a years manufacture warranty. If they tell you to send the phone back to Samsung - for example - remind them about the warranty and they need to honor it. If they have no faith in their partners why should you? That said, I am talking about manufacture defects like radio and software issues that are known and have no timeline for being fixed. If all else fails contact their executive leadership - they will return your call. They will honor the warranty as long as it has never been activated on another account prior to yours. If the phone is bought new then you are safe. Played this game with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus - loved the phone but horrid known signal issues and muted calls randomly.
 
I have upgraded my phone twice through amazon wireless. The first phone I warrantied through verizon 4 times. The second phone I warrantied 1 time. I would have warrantied it another time but the manufacturers warranty ran out.
The manager at the store was a total pain in the ass and made me do a factory reset because the shitty speaker on my razr maxx blew out and the headphone jack broke internally. I asked her how a software reset would fix a physical problem and she shut her mouth.

On a side note they can see that you did not buy the phone from verizon but that is it. I warrantied both a samsung and motorola in the last 3 years.
 
T4rd said:
Pretty much. You'd be surprised at how much mis-information Verizon reps put out. I spoke to several just in the past few days about tranferring my phone upgrade to a 2GB line so I don't lose my unlimited data and most of them said that I would lose my unlimited data plan if I did that because I'm re-newing the contract on my line. But I knew that wasn't the case because I've talked to several people on forums and comments sections that have done this recently without issue.

I would almost guarantee that regardless of where you bought the phone, if you took it into a Verizon store to RMA under warranty, they're not going to look up or see where you purchased the phone before they attempt to help you with it and will most likely swap it out without issue.
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this, Verizon reps are super sleazy.
 
entropism said:
This is about as off base as you could possibly get. Your argument might hold water if I purchased an unlocked phone, (in this case let's say a Nexus 4 directly from Google) and used it on AT&T. I'd be WAY out of line if I expected AT&T to help me with any issues the phone has, since it's not an AT&T branded device. In this case, my recourse if I had any issues would be to go through Google or LG.

HOWEVER, Verizon phones all come FROM Verizon, no matter where you get it from, be it Amazon, a small independant reseller, Target, Best Buy, etc. They're all made for Verizon, shipped from Verizon warehouses, to the stores, to be used ONLY with Verizon services.

If you were to buy a T-Mobile phone from any other source, T-Mobile will honor the warranty. Sprint is the same way. AT&T? Yep, you guessed it, they'll honor it too. And, apparently, so will Verizon from further posts made after my comment. Turns out it was just a shady salesman looking for commission, but if it was true? It would be a scumbag move.

If you want another analogy so you can calm your tits, if you buy a Comcast (Or whatever cable company you want) starter kit at Best Buy, and something goes wrong, do you take the modem to Best Buy, call your cable company, or ship it to Motorola? You call the cable company, of course. They provide the equipment, they honor the warranty.
Click to expand...

Do you know what a reseller is? Look it up and look into how that works.

Your rant is a rant of ignorance.

I always buy straight from VZW for this very reason.
 
schizrade said:
Do you know what a reseller is? Look it up and look into how that works.

Your rant is a rant of ignorance.

I always buy straight from VZW for this very reason.
Click to expand...

Wonderful. Thank you for proving you have absolutely ZERO clue as to what you're talking about. I'll ignore your posts from now on. I'm glad I have no clue how the mobile industry operates, considering I've worked for a few carriers over the years.
 
I'd agree with Entro -- I bought my galaxy nexus and service through Amazon Wireless (verizon). I've never had any problems but if I did, I expect to be able to go into any verizon store and have them solve my problem. I'm paying them 100 dollars a month -- it's their name on the bill, and their name on the phone. Doesn't matter if it came in an Amazon box it's still a verizon product.

Honestly though - my contract is up in about 6 months, and while I love my 4G LTE, 20+Mbit down all over DFW... I'm sick of paying 100 a month for 450min/unlimited text/10GB of data. Really considering going to Tmobile after this, and by that time getting a Note3 or whatever the latest phone is.
 
I buy all of my phones through best buy since I usually get a better price through them. Anytime I have an issue with the phone I go to Verizon to take care of it. Not once did they ever tell me that they wouldn't help me out.
 
A Verizon rep told me I am bound by the 3rd party's six months contract. During the initial 6 months I have to deal with them for warranty.

The contract states I can't switch phones during the six months or I will pay a fee.
 
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