VZW Rep/General Account Questions only.

[xjman349]

When i switched my plan to a family plan they said one of the benefits is my main line would be able to upgrade every year instead of every 2 years is this true?

Yep this is 100% true. You will qualify for an annual upgrade. There may be an annual upgrade fee when you do upgrade of $20.

[jon341427]

A quick question. Does anyone know if a mobil web site can charge your phone and bill with out you authorizing it? Cause I have been to a few sites that say access site for however much money. I never click anything but could they charge me?

Yeah, check your bill for "premium text message" charges.

My dad took an IQ test on some website more than a year ago (no idea when, could've been long before that but I can only see the last year's worth of bills) and some company has been charging him $20 a month worth of premium text messages.

they can only start charging you if you txt message them from your phone. not from visiting a website. but there are definitely shady companies out there so never put your phone number into any online game/voting/free ringtone/certain facebook things to be safe.

okay. also another question. i will be buying the phone off the internet through walmart. i will have to use another number to use the new every 2 but if i am thinking correct it wont be activated when i get it so i will have to take it to verizon to have them activate it and change around my plan?

ne2's dont work at walmarts, bestbuys, costcos, etc.

I need some advice as to when would be the best time to change my plan and upgrade my phone to avoid prorated charges.

My current plan is the old Nationwide Basic Family share 3000 minutes. I no longer need this many minutes so I want to switch to the Nationwide Family Share Talk & Text w/2000 minutes. My billing cycle ends on 3/6 and the new one begins on 3/7.

In addition to the plan change I am also eligible for a phone upgrade on 3/9 which I will use to get the Droid. My question is when should I change my plan to avoid any prorated charges? And will changing my plan before 3/9 effect my NE2 discount?

Sweet, all awesome questions dude.
General rule of thumb is, it is always the least confusing to make any changes to start at the beginning of your next bill cycle, or "future date".
If I we're in your shoes, what I would do is call up and ask for my upgrade date to be changed, just have them knock it back a few days (they can do up to a month). Then once that has been done, go into the store, purchase your phone and at the same time make a "future dated order" for your plan to change on the 7th (wich you can do over the phone, or when you are in the store).
Just keep in mind, they won't be able to future date that order until you have that phone active unless you are switching from anothoer smart phone, because of the feature differances and the pricing changes that need to occur (see earlier post about pricing for smart, and semi smart phones).

I know that is all probable kind of confusing, so if you need clarification, just let me know.

Its been a little while since I posted my initial question but I wanted to say that I took your advice tylonal and everything worked out great. I called CS and had them upgrade my phone to the droid a few days before I was eligible and I successfully future dated my new plan.

Now I have a question regarding the BOGO offer on the droid. I have the family share plan and my brother's line is eligible for an upgrade as of today (3/9). Originally my line wasn't eligible for an upgrade until today (3/9) but I upgraded a few days early as I said. Is there any way I can still take advantage of the BOGO given the circumstances? I called Verizon CS and the lady told me I might be able to pick up the free droid if I went into the store. Any thoughts?

if the lines are on the same account, and you upgraded your original phone through a corporate channel, then yes you can still do a bogo on your brothers line. to clarify, the original phone, and new phone must both be purchased through a corporate channel. not best buy, not walmart, not amazon, etc.

[jon341427]

When i switched my plan to a family plan they said one of the benefits is my main line would be able to upgrade every year instead of every 2 years is this true?

Yep this is 100% true. You will qualify for an annual upgrade. There may be an annual upgrade fee when you do upgrade of $20.

this is true, but make sure you register for myverizon online. one of the perks of myverizon used to be an annual upgrade on the primary. i am not sure if this is still the case, but to be sure you're eligible you should sign up.

[jon341427]

I have a question, a few pages back you were explaining about employee discounts and how verizon periodically reviews the accounts and back charges for the discounts when the employee no longer works for the specific company. My question is, what about employees that retire, are they backcharged? My dad worked for a company for over 30 years who offered him a substantial discount on his verizon plan. He retired but the discount is not specifically listed in his benefits. Should they be worried about possibly being backcharged or what?

Hmm, well the potential is always there but I honestly don't know how this would be treated. Sorry.

Good question, and here's some new info for you folks, straight from our fraud devision. With all of the accounts that they have been finding that are no longer eligable for the employee discount, they have simply been shutting it down and in some cases, backdating the charges. Now, the new info is: they will no longer be backdating charges (unless you are an extreme case and have been abusing your discount substancially). All that will hapen is in your next bill, at the bottom of all the pages, where all of the legal stuff is, willbe a new little box that says somthing to the affect of
"We have noticed a discrepincy in your billing, this discrepency will be taken care of in your next billing cycle, if you have any questions, etcetcetc"

So...no, in my opinion, and from what I have recently leared from my coleagues in fraud, no, your dad is safe, even if vzw finds out, all they will (more than likly) do is cut off the discount.

verizon has never backdated charges for employee discounts. but because of all the mistakes/fraud, verizon made it so the retail channel can not apply employee discounts anymore. it started with the northeast area last year, and recently spread to the rest of the US about a month ago. only way to sign up for an emp discount now is through verizonwireless.com/discounts

[jon341427]

hey all, just a few days ago i had noticed that the "tech" colum that viperboy had posted was getting alot of questions just...in general, not about tech. so im a verizon customer service rep, and im opening up this thread for any general account questions.
If your question is about the data package required for phones, please read Misconceptions On Unlimited Data before posting here.
also, i know there are at LEAST 3 or 4 other reps on here, and i would greatly appreciate any assistance on this thread that you would care to render.

Tylonal.

Quick question, is google talk the same as blackberry IM. Is it free internationally?

if you are in the US, you can google talk anybody in the world for no extra charge. google talk, like BBM, uses the internet to send messages. if you leave the US, then you will be roaming so you will recieve roaming internet charges when using google talk, just like you would BBM.

[jon341427]

jon341427

I disagree with you on the early upgrade policy. I'm going to double check tomorrow.

fair enough, let me know what you come up with.

Yep. I'm a MWCC Rep. Call Center all the way

OK, so...

For an Early Upgrade the Customer has to be on a PP of $49.99 or higher for 3+ months prior to the upgrade date which would be @ the 1 year mark+

I was thinking of the NE2 amounts which is $34.99 or higher PP = NE2 of $30
and $50 for a NE2 amount with a PP of $79.99 or higher.

This info is correct. 100%

thanks for the clarification! we both had it a little bit wrong. i do know of customers who have had a PP of 50 or higher for over 3 month and it didnt make them eligible for an EU. the one customer i remember was in collection status so maybe thats the reason why.

[rEgonicS]

I would like to buy a Droid but currently Verizon is only selling two for $200. So I went over to amazon wireless and checked if I could purchase one there. After selecting the option of "Upgrade + Part of a family plan" The price came out to be $75 which is great. Unfortunately, my current phone is eligible for an upgrade early in May, how would this work out? Can I get a new 2-year contract without finishing my old one?

[Chupp75]

okay so guys im going to be purchasing the droid through walmart. is walmart an authorized dealer so it would be acknowledged at a verizon tech center if i needed a warranty replacement or anything along those lines?

[Chupp75]

also is the wirefly or whatever it is a authorized dealer as well?

[MuzzleBuster]

okay so guys im going to be purchasing the droid through walmart. is walmart an authorized dealer so it would be acknowledged at a verizon tech center if i needed a warranty replacement or anything along those lines?

Verizon told me that if you get the phone somewhere other than Verizon, you will have to take\send the phone back to where you got it from if there is a problem. Verizon would only supply service (data, talk, etc).

Also, some places (ie: letstalk, wirefly, cellstores) will charge you a hefty fee if you're late on a service contract payment (to Verizon) during the first 6 months and there's other conditions that can result in big fees. Not saying the ones I listed will all do that but they do have some interesting fine print.

Shipping & Returns

30 Days Satisfaction Guarantee

If you are not satisfied with any of the products you received, and wish to exchange one for another, you must notify Customer Service within 30 days after you receive your shipment (or before using 60 minutes of talk time, whichever is reached first). You must contact any service provider(s) directly to cancel service(s). Usage and other fees may be charged by the service provider. After 30 days, please return the product directly to the manufacturer. Returns to the manufacturer are subject to review and must fall within the warranty limitations of the manufacturer. Please click here to view the contact information.

I got my Droid from Verizon for $100 (2 for price of 1 with family plan). I paid the "extra" rather than going to an authorized retailer. I also wanted Verizon's insurance, some of the other places offer a "cell phone club membership" (anything but the word "insurance") or some other crap that just seemed funny... with more fine print.

My new phone was defective and goofed up after a few days, well past 60 minutes of talk time.

I walked into the Verizon store and they gave me a brand new one. I wouldn't have been very happy if I would have had to ship the thing back and wait a few days to get another.

If you do get it from a retailer, just remember that the only thing you can do at Verizon is change and cancel your plan.

Read as much of the fine print as you can from the retailers.
I paid a little more than the retailers just to get Verizon's in-store support for the next two years and avoid some of the silly stuff.