iPad mini Buying at Verizon

[johnothy]

I wanted an iPad Mini on Verizon and the only place local that had them in stock was the Verizon store. I went there and just anticipated buying it and leaving. Well there was more to it. They asked if I wanted a month to month data plan and said it could go on my Verizon phone account. I was like ok... I get by fine with the $20 1GB plan on my iPad 2 so that's what I wanted. Well with a postpaid account on your phone account the minimum is $30 for 2GB so I had to go with that. I was reluctant but said ok only later to find out there was a $35 activation fee. This was ridiculous so when I got home I called Verizon and asked if I had to go with this postpaid plan because I bought the iPad at Verizon. They said no since I paid full price for the device. I ended up canceling the iPad line which would take off the $35 activation fee. However I couldn't activate the iPad with a prepaid plan without a new sim card. I had to go back to Verizon (dealt with someone else) and said I wanted a new SIM card. The girl working couldn't just give me one...she needed the iPad so I went and got it from the car. Then she didn't understand why I wanted the $20 prepaid plan since it has a minimal amount of data. I said its always been fine with my other iPad. So the she said she could activate it for me grrrrrrrr. I just wanted the new sim card so I could activate the data plan on my own. After attempting to activate it, then going in the back to try something, she the just handed it to me to do myself.

Has anyone else experienced this? I thought the whole ordeal was ridiculous after I just bought a $559 iPad! By the way FYI, Verizon charges a $70 restocking fee on tablet returns. I happen to read that on my receipt.

 

[Breaking Good]

Were you in a Corporate owned store or a franchisee? Most Verizon stores (like most AT&T stores) are franchises. They make almost no money on device sales. Most of their money comes from things like activation fees and accessory sales.

 

[simply stunning]

This sounds about rite. The problem is that they wanted to get you signed up for a data plan on the spot, and you didn't know your options. With the iPad it is so much easier to go with the pay month by month on the device. You can cancel it with a few finger taps, and it just charges your card. Verizon wanted you to think it was some big deal, and they where doing you a favor by "taking care of it for you".

This sounds about rite from past experiences of my own, and those of family and friends.

The best thing to do is to know what your getting into when walking into the store. Unfortunately you can't trust that they will tell you the whole story, or that the person you're talking to even knows the whole story.


Sorry to hear about your troubles, but at least you didn't just give up and let it be with the $30 plan.

 

[charlituna]

sounds about right. They get points, if not bonuses, for signing up accounts post paid plus they can get more money off of you. and yes it burns the sim when it's in that system.

she probably needed your ipad to verify that your MEID was out of the post paid system. This wasn't done right when i cancelled my post paid over the phone and it was a pain trying to get it fixed over the phone.

 

[baypharm]

Some Verizon stores offer enhanced customer service than others. Even among those with high customer service ratings, there are bad apples. All you can do is go into one and tell them what you want and nothing more. If they try to sell you something else then walk out. If you can't find a decent Verizon rep, then switch to AT&T.

Verizon corp employees work on commission - that explains why they want you to part with your money and give it to them. I went thru several Verizon retail stores before I found one with at least one rep who was a pleasure to deal with. Now I learned he quit to work for another company. I'm back to square one when I want to buy a new phone.

For the iPad, I found the best deal for me with AT&T. Buy the tablet from Apple and self-activate. Apple charges sales tax, as does Verizon, so there is no clarity to buying from Verizon or any of the cellular carriers for that matter.