Have to give back my Droid?

[helter]

So I get my first Verizon bill since buying the Droid and the statement was kinda of high so I called for an explanation.

Long story short, it appears the person at the Verizon store screwed up and I was not eligible for an upgrade because I went from a family plan to a single plan with the new Droid. They are now charging me for the Droid plus the old phone and extra $60.00 a month or I can pay a termination fee. My 2 year contract expires in February.

I'm really annoyed because their was no confusion about this at the store the employee simply didn't know what they were doing.

Any suggestions or experiences?

 

[jaysonstaurt]

I'd call customer service. I've had pretty good luck with them taking care of situations that were done by a rep in the store.

 

[thelion]

Call their executive lines. Tell them about your experience. See what they can do.

 

[helter]

I'd call customer service. I've had pretty good luck with them taking care of situations that were done by a rep in the store.

Well I did speak to customer service at the 800 number and they basically told me to return the Droid and reactivate the old phone.

 

[LordKastle]

Keep calling them back. You were under the impression that everything went smoothe and it was their fault. It is too late. They can't charge you after the fact... you went in to a new contract and the deal is sealed.

You call them and say that if you wanted to opt-out of a contract you would have to pay a termination fee...but yet they can just alter it without your knowledge? NOPE ILLEGAL. You guys settled on a new deal and a new contract...FINAL. What they are doing is illegal. I would threaten them with a lawsuit if I were you..even though its a bluff.

Think about about the emotional damages that would be done...it was supposed to be a "gift" getting the phone...and all of a sudden they change your contract without your consent and try to over-charge you?

I don't think so. Do not give up. DO NOT GIVE UP. PERIOD. THEY ARE AT FAULT. KEEP CALLING AND TELL THEM YOU WILL REFUSE TO PAY THE BILL.

They will not be able to file a lawsuit because you and them BOTH consented to a new contract. Since they will not be able to, they will simply allow you to keep the phone and contact. You think they really care about a few extra dollars? They are trying to see if you give in. DO NOT.

The only thing that should occur is that you get billed for your normal monthly bill (Normal bill + Data package). Nothing extra. No phone surcharge extras. You walked in to that store and BOUGHT the phone..FINAL.

 

[gdoane]

I'm confused by the OP. A family plan that only had one phone on it? HUH??!!??

My parents tried to get me to go in on a family plan with Verizon but I wouldn't because I liked my Alltel (now Verizon) and I'm a bit of a power user on the smartphone while they wouldn't even buy free text messaging.

Their family plan has five phones on it and I'm glad I'm not on it because it's a constant source of friction about who used too many minutes and who has to pay how much while I really don't care because I'm on my own and I split no bills with nobody.

Since Alltel merged with Verizon the mobile to mobile minutes are free now which takes away their only argument for adding me to the family plan, as long as I remember to use the Droid to call them instead of the landline. They went mobile-only (cheapskates) and I'll never do that because I like having a phone in every room of the house. I like the Droid but I'm not buying seven of them.

So how was just one phone on a family plan? That makes no sense to me.

 

[thelion]

I think the other phone was probably removed or that phone's contract expired and he did not renew and simply downgraded to a single person plan. I plan on doing the same thing April 1 when my second phone on my plan is out of contract. I am sick of paying for minutes I don't need or use.

As for having a phone in every room - did it never occur to you simply to put your phone in your pocket? I have never had my own landline and I never will. No need. My Droid goes with me everywhere.

 

[helter]

I'm confused by the OP. A family plan that only had one phone on it? HUH??!!??

So how was just one phone on a family plan? That makes no sense to me.

I had a second phone that was never used. I got a second phone free which was suppose to be for a friend but they ended up never using it. No calls ever.

That's why I signed up for a new single plan instead of another family plan. Evidently you are not eligible to upgrade to a new phone before the 2 years are up if you are switching plans, only if you stay with the same plan which the sales person at the store didn't know about. Confusing, because they were the ones who brought it up. I went in there to buy a new car charger for the old phone and they told me I was eligible to upgrade.

 

[gdoane]

I think the other phone was probably removed or that phone's contract expired and he did not renew and simply downgraded to a single person plan. I plan on doing the same thing April 1 when my second phone on my plan is out of contract. I am sick of paying for minutes I don't need or use.

I don't actually talk on the phone much, as I have another cell phone paid for by my employer (a Motorola i730 flip-phone, a total joke next to a Droid) that keeps my work minutes and my personal minutes seperated. What I use is the data and I use the heck out of that. I do job walks for changes and installations and I take many, many pictures and e-mail them to myself, my boss and my coworkers. I eat bandwidth, not minutes.

Thinking back on what happened to me with the Alltel-Verizon merger, I wonder if he got caught in the timing of that.

You see, my Motorola Q (piece of crap, I'm never buying a butt-dialing candy bar phone again) was out of contract last month in October, but Alltel's practice was to allow a full upgrade and renewal two months early so while I was with Alltel, I could have gotten a new contract and phone last August. Alltel allowed early bird upgrades.

As for having a phone in every room - did it never occur to you simply to put your phone in your pocket? I have never had my own landline and I never will. No need. My Droid goes with me everywhere.

There are several reasons why I won't depend on a cell phone for sole communications.

1. Dead battery means offline. Nobody can get ahold of you and until you try to get ahold of somebody yourself, you don't even know you're out of touch.

2. Phone numbers are a status symbol. I have two cell phone numbers (personal and work), a work desk number, a home phone number and a pager number. A guy with five working phone numbers looks mighty important.

3. Bigger can be better. My landline phones are markedly bigger than the Droid. I've seen Tic-Tacs come in boxes bigger than the Droid and while that's great for portability, it's not so good for creature comfort in long conversations. My home handsets contour to the face and the hand, with good ergonomic design. The droid compromises ergonomics for portability, and for good reason... it's a mobile phone, not a home phone.

4. Single point of failure. Face it, we've all seen electronics fail, computers crash, things just break. I'm an electronics communications technician by trade so I see it more than most people, but I don't think you could show me one person in America who hasn't seen something electronic fail on them. The only way to get reliability is through redundancy. Failure is a fact of life and planning for it is smarter than hoping it doesn't happen.

5. Readiness. If the Droid is in my pocket when it could be getting ready on its charger while I'm at home, then it's really in the wrong place. When I leave the house, I want a fully charged and ready to go phone, not one showing a battery half dead heading out the door.

I have a landline for redundancy, ergonomics, convenience, status and emergencies. If I'm at home and I call 911, it ain't going to be on the mobile phone. I build 911 dispatch centers, I know how they work and the landline is far and away the better option if it's available. I've seen E-911 work from the dispatch end and it's pretty good but it's not as fast and never will be.

 

[gdoane]

I'm confused by the OP. A family plan that only had one phone on it? HUH??!!??

So how was just one phone on a family plan? That makes no sense to me.

I had a second phone that was never used. I got a second phone free which was suppose to be for a friend but they ended up never using it. No calls ever.

That's why I signed up for a new single plan instead of another family plan. Evidently you are not eligible to upgrade to a new phone before the 2 years are up if you are switching plans, only if you stay with the same plan which the sales person at the store didn't know about. Confusing, because they were the ones who brought it up. I went in there to buy a new car charger for the old phone and they told me I was eligible to upgrade.

They went after me for an early upgrade too but there really weren't any phones they had that I wanted. I might have gone with the Blackberry Storm but it didn't really wow me and I didn't think that phone and I would get along very well.

I went past the full two years waiting for the Droid and the rep told me that I had to upgrade to a smartphone plan, and I was like "WTH???" as I had a full-blown Motorola Q right there with unlimited everything a Q can do. He did a double-take on my plan and said "Oh, Yeah."

You gotta watch those guys. Especially after a major change like the Verizon-Alltel merger because everybody is confused at the moment.

 

[thelion]

2. Phone numbers are a status symbol. I have two cell phone numbers (personal and work), a work desk number, a home phone number and a pager number. A guy with five working phone numbers looks mighty important.

You are kidding, aren't you? A status symbol? My father, grandfather, fiance, best friend and roommate are all very important people (all except the roommates are VPs and Execs). They each have one phone number - their cell phone. Reach them there or not at all.

As for battery life, come on. Charge it over night and keep a spare.

People that pay for home phones and cell phones are just suckers in my opinion.

 

[gdoane]

2. Phone numbers are a status symbol. I have two cell phone numbers (personal and work), a work desk number, a home phone number and a pager number. A guy with five working phone numbers looks mighty important.

You are kidding, aren't you? A status symbol? My father, grandfather, fiance, best friend and roommate are all very important people (all except the roommates are VPs and Execs). They each have one phone number - their cell phone. Reach them there or not at all.

That's really not an option I'd consider. I have to be able to be reached, 24/7/365 and the way to do that is to make sure the people who need me have alternatives.

As for battery life, come on. Charge it over night and keep a spare.

Keep a spare... where? In my pocket? In my socks? Carrying a spare battery only works if you keep it with you. You don't want to keep it in your pocket. I knew a guy who did that and his keys got hot enough to make him do the Profanity Dance trying to get them out of his tender area.

People that pay for home phones and cell phones are just suckers in my opinion.

People who don't are just cheap in my opinion.

Why would somebody with the kind of cash to get a totally State-Of-The-Art luxury phone give a rat's rear end about saving money by cutting a landline out of the home? The Droid is a rich man's phone. It's not a bargain basement item. Sheesh, the misers should be running around with $20 Tracfones, not $200 Droids.

 

[skiahh]

Think about about the emotional damages that would be done...it was supposed to be a "gift" getting the phone...and all of a sudden they change your contract without your consent and try to over-charge you?

Really? Emotional damages over a phone?? It's a farcking phone for crying ot loud!! Get real.

Now... the OP does have a leg to stand on; the store told him he was eligible and proceeded to set him up, so Verizon needs to honor what their agent set up.

1. Dead battery means offline. Nobody can get ahold of you and until you try to get ahold of somebody yourself, you don't even know you're out of touch.

2. Phone numbers are a status symbol. I have two cell phone numbers (personal and work), a work desk number, a home phone number and a pager number. A guy with five working phone numbers looks mighty important.

3. Bigger can be better. My landline phones are markedly bigger than the Droid. I've seen Tic-Tacs come in boxes bigger than the Droid and while that's great for portability, it's not so good for creature comfort in long conversations. My home handsets contour to the face and the hand, with good ergonomic design. The droid compromises ergonomics for portability, and for good reason... it's a mobile phone, not a home phone.

4. Single point of failure. Face it, we've all seen electronics fail, computers crash, things just break. I'm an electronics communications technician by trade so I see it more than most people, but I don't think you could show me one person in America who hasn't seen something electronic fail on them. The only way to get reliability is through redundancy. Failure is a fact of life and planning for it is smarter than hoping it doesn't happen.

5. Readiness. If the Droid is in my pocket when it could be getting ready on its charger while I'm at home, then it's really in the wrong place. When I leave the house, I want a fully charged and ready to go phone, not one showing a battery half dead heading out the door.

I have a landline for redundancy, ergonomics, convenience, status and emergencies. If I'm at home and I call 911, it ain't going to be on the mobile phone. I build 911 dispatch centers, I know how they work and the landline is far and away the better option if it's available. I've seen E-911 work from the dispatch end and it's pretty good but it's not as fast and never will be.

That's really not an option I'd consider. I have to be able to be reached, 24/7/365 and the way to do that is to make sure the people who need me have alternatives.

People who don't are just cheap in my opinion.

Why would somebody with the kind of cash to get a totally State-Of-The-Art luxury phone give a rat's rear end about saving money by cutting a landline out of the home? The Droid is a rich man's phone. It's not a bargain basement item. Sheesh, the misers should be running around with $20 Tracfones, not $200 Droids.

Wow!! How in the world does your ego and inflated sense of importance fit into your house with all 5 of your phone numbers, land line and whatever other devices you MUST have to be reached 24/7/365??

More phone numbers = higher status? Please... In fact, just the opposite is true. If you have to have all those numbers to improve your importance, then you really don't have all that much. In reality, it's the opposite that's true. The more important you are, the fewer phones you really need; if you're that important, those that need to get a hold of you will figure out a way to reach you through your one number.

 

[gdoane]

Wow!! How in the world does your ego and inflated sense of importance fit into your house with all 5 of your phone numbers, land line and whatever other devices you MUST have to be reached 24/7/365??

It's a big house. And thinking about it, I actually have seven phone numbers. The more phone numbers you have, the cooler you are. I am obviously cool.

More phone numbers = higher status? Please... In fact, just the opposite is true.

Really? Have you seen the White House phone directory to reach the President of the USA? Do you think it only has one phone number? It has a switchboard and its own operator.

If you have to have all those numbers to improve your importance, then you really don't have all that much. In reality, it's the opposite that's true.

Which reality would that be? The reality where you can't seperate you personal and professional life because you've only got one phone number?

On the Droid add contacts, it has a menu for phone numbers on a new contact. If you have any friends you've probably seen it, but I'll recap the list for you.

1. Home
2. Mobile
3. Work
4. Work Fax
5. Home Fax
6. Pager
7. Other
8. Custom

The Droid has provisions for a lot more than one phone number per contact, because contacts often have more than one phone number. They wouldn't have 8 options unless there were at least 8 possibilities.

The more important you are, the fewer phones you really need; if you're that important, those that need to get a hold of you will figure out a way to reach you through your one number.

Really? How are they going to do that? Light up the Bat Signal? Send out the National Guard? If one phone number doesn't work the only option left is to simply give up.

 

[Prodigy4]

ok so back to the actual TOPIC, Helter, were you eligible for the new every two thing? cuz that's what i'm eligible for and the people at best buy said i can get a droid with that and change my plan.