iPhone 12 Pro Verizon Upgrade Bait and Switch

[trans-olsx]

The upgrade offer is only for certain plans designed to line Verizon pockets by forcing me to pay more monthly. In this way they make all of their money back within months more than they gave me as a discount on the phone. New plans don't mean better deals but throttled unlimited plans on spotty unreliable 5G marketing using terms like "Black Friday" "Cyber Monday" etc. Scam. Their greed leads to customers leaving to sign up with other carriers. Rinse & Repeat.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I refuse to do anything through the carriers unless I absolutely have to. I will not buy a phone through them. Been buying from Apple since the 6+.

 

[chscag]

Same here. I buy the unlocked no SIM version from Apple. The last time I purchased a phone thru my carrier I wound up paying more for it and it took 2 years to pay off even with bill credit.

 

[C DM]

Special offers have often required particular plans or new lines or something else of that nature for quite a while with many carriers unfortunately.

 

[Apple_Robert]

All of the carriers operate in the same type manner, OP.

Verizon is one of the most expensive carriers. I was with them 2 years before I got tired of the nominal customer service and overpriced service. They appear to be getting worse each year.

 

[trans-olsx]

Might just buy used since Apple doesn’t have any deals worth it.
Any recommendations on buying used online ?

 

[IphoneX9753]

Might just buy used since Apple doesn’t have any deals worth it.
Any recommendations on buying used online ?

Swappa is a great place. I have sold several phones in mint condition. Bought one in mint condition and bought two SS Apple watches on there in mint condition. Saved me a ton. One of the phones was a Silver X 256gb. Bought and then 16 months later sold on Swappa. Total cost of using the phone for 16 months $85.

 

[naturalstar]

Verizon got a lot of people with their trade-in credit deal to apply to the 12 Pro. People upgraded their perfectly fine plans to 5G when they didn't need to. Their 5G isn't all that great even in the cities that supposedly have it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I have never been able to apply my device dollars towards anything either. Something with their system and my account. SMH.

Same here. I buy the unlocked no SIM version from Apple. The last time I purchased a phone thru my carrier I wound up paying more for it and it took 2 years to pay off even with bill credit.

Yep. They make sure that no matter what, you're either going to have to pay for the phone over 2 years or pay it off in full early. They know most people can't do that, especially if there are multiple phones on an account.

The "credits" are what get me. Spread out over 24 months is an absolute joke. You lose the remaining credits if you pay off early too. It makes it like a contract without it being explicitly a contract.

I got off the train to nowhere and I'm going SIM free from now on.

 

[yticolev]

Quite reluctantly, paid full price for a mini. On an older family 4 member plan from Verizon, the $5 a month required plan upgrade (for plan feature parity only) would have cost us $480 over two years, obliterating any discount, not to mention the added ongoing cost.

 

[jaybar]

Same here. I buy the unlocked no SIM version from Apple. The last time I purchased a phone thru my carrier I wound up paying more for it and it took 2 years to pay off even with bill credit.

Sometime it is not that simple. We ordered phones from Apple. B/C of conflicts between Apple and Verizon in their respective databases, the phones could not be activated. We returned them to Apple. We then purchased from Verizon. There were still issues b/c of the conflicting databases, but a high level tech was able to work around it. I would prefer to have purchased from Apple. Also we plan to keep the phones for at least two years, so the Verizon interest free two year payment made sense.

 

[teeshot44]

Do not buy from a carrier. All of the carrier plans are designed in some way or the other to keep you with the carrier for a certain length of time.

 

[Otflyer]

I purchased a sim free iPhone 12 Pro from Apple. I installed the sim from my iPhone 11 Pro into it and everything worked perfectly.

 

[C DM]

Do not buy from a carrier. All of the carrier plans are designed in some way or the other to keep you with the carrier for a certain length of time.

While that is often true, if you are going to end up staying with the carrier for that period of time anyway then the extra savings can certainly be a good thing to have.

 

[trans-olsx]

They also charge sales tax on Full Retail Price even though credits are applied before final total. Surprised they’re not being investigated by the IRS for consumer fraud.

 

[C DM]

They also charge sales tax on Full Retail Price even though credits are applied before final total. Surprised they’re not being investigated by the IRS for consumer fraud.

As I recall that is something that depends on the state and how taxes and promotional offers are handled.

 

[honestone33]

As I recall that is something that depends on the state and how taxes and promotional offers are handled.

Exactly! Here in the state of Washington, a similar thing happens, ie, sales tax (about 10%) is charged on the full retail price, and then credits are applied. A similar thing happens with rebates when one buys an automobile. The sales tax is applied first to the final, negotiated amount, and then the rebate is applied. The only time the opposite thing happens is when one trades in a vehicle for a newer one. The trade-in value is first subtracted to the pre-tax amount. Not sure how it woks with phones.

 

[winterhobbes]

While that is often true, if you are going to end up staying with the carrier for that period of time anyway then the extra savings can certainly be a good thing to have.

It just depends on the plan. Many of these new $700+ trade in credit (key word: credit, not cash) plans require people to move to different plans. ATT's $700 sounds like a great deal for an iPhone X, then you realize it's only with unlimited plans, which bumps my bill up $30/mo, plus I am locked into 30 months of payments to receive the $700 credit, and if I pay the phone off early I forfeit the remaining credit.

There are definitely some people who will benefit from these deals, those who already had the "right" plan and keep their phones for a long time, etc. ATT and other carriers rely on people not reading the details and/or being bad at math.

 

[Ram65]

The upgrade offer is only for certain plans designed to line Verizon pockets by forcing me to pay more monthly. In this way they make all of their money back within months more than they gave me as a discount on the phone. New plans don't mean better deals but throttled unlimited plans on spotty unreliable 5G marketing using terms like "Black Friday" "Cyber Monday" etc. Scam. Their greed leads to customers leaving to sign up with other carriers. Rinse & Repeat.

But think of the quality network Verizon is offering you at a decent price

 

[chscag]

But think of the quality network Verizon is offering you at a decent price

That's debatable. Depends on where you are as to how well their network is working. The same can be said about every carrier.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I had 2 relatives, earlier this year, walk into a Verizon store with the promise of BOGO. Six hours later... they walked out with .... 1 full priced 11 Pro Max and another 11 Pro Max with 25% off - over the course of 2 years --- on paper. The store then had to have the phones shipped to the store where, once it arrived days later, 2 hours of additional setup to get everything working right.

The word I got from them was - it was a horrible experience.

My wife and I - our last experience with Verizon (Pre 6+ days) - we had a rep get verbally angry with us and slam down a tablet and walk away because we weren't willing to buy their protection plan - rep called us stupid. Last day we ever set foot in a Verizon store.

 

[C DM]

I had 2 relatives, earlier this year, walk into a Verizon store with the promise of BOGO. Six hours later... they walked out with .... 1 full priced 11 Pro Max and another 11 Pro Max with 25% off - over the course of 2 years --- on paper. The store then had to have the phones shipped to the store where, once it arrived days later, 2 hours of additional setup to get everything working right.

The word I got from them was - it was a horrible experience.

My wife and I - our last experience with Verizon (Pre 6+ days) - we had a rep get verbally angry with us and slam down a tablet and walk away because we weren't willing to buy their protection plan - rep called us stupid. Last day we ever set foot in a Verizon store.

Experiences can definitely vary, especially between actual corporate stores and those that are just authorized resellers. Haven't upgraded in a store in a few years, but numerous upgrade experiences prior to that that were done in corporate stores were overall good experiences (although part of it likely had to do with some research beforehand to actually know the details of different offers and options, sometimes knowing somewhat more offhand than some of the representatives).

 

[naturalstar]

Hahaha, I don’t deal with authorized dealers. I won’t get into all of the “wonderful” experiences I’ve had with Verizon corporate employees, both on the phone and in-store. You can look at my post history around each launch period for the iPhone and the AW4 for “wonderful” experiences. Those are just the ones documented here.

Before anyone asks. They have the best coverage for my needs which is why I remain. Over the years, I have kept my contact with them at a minimum only experiencing their incompetence, greed, and ancient operation systems during iPhone launches. Having moved to Apple for ordering and going SIM-free this year has helped to further minimize the need for contact.