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doctor thodt posted:edit: nevermind, I'm bad at math My guess is you were counting out 90 days from the bionic release... which I did as well but didn't know if Sept 8 was included as one of those days. I think depending on how Costco counts (and assuming the Dec 8 rumor is right) bionic owners might be screwed? I'm also bad at math someone help me with this.
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Nov 19, 2011 16:27
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Haha, that's exactly what I was doing. But even if you don't count Sept. 8, Dec. 8 is still 91 days after the Bionic release, which means we're screwed regardless.
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Nov 19, 2011 17:46
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Also, we don't know if Costco is getting them at launch. Honestly, I don't care anymore. It looks like the specs of the galaxy nexus were updated to reflect 16gb of internal storage. I'm also creeping back to my position of not buying a Samsung phone. I think it's going to be Razr for me.
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Nov 19, 2011 18:07
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Endor posted:When you say "keep the service", does that also include the data plan? Because we really will only need one line with an active Data plan, and my Thunderbolt line has the grandfathered-in Unlimited data which I really don't want to lose. The real process 1) go into VZW 2) tell them you want to do an alternate upgrade 3) find phone 4) receive new phone 5) now you can find a 'dumbphone' for your wife at your leisure.
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Nov 19, 2011 19:01
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SeaborneClink posted:Don't be coy about it, just go to a Verizon corporate store or Best Buy, and tell the duder "Hey I want to do an alternate upgrade." It's perfectly acceptable within their terms of service and isn't a lovely thing to do at all. He will have to keep the extra data plan to keep the subsidized phone, though. You don't get a subsidized smartphone without a data plan, and you can't just cancel the data plan and keep the subsidized phone price. Edit: In the original guy's plan, the flaw is in the step "keep data plan temporarily."
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Nov 19, 2011 19:05
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Ciabatta posted:He will have to keep the extra data plan to keep the subsidized phone, though. You don't get a subsidized smartphone without a data plan, and you can't just cancel the data plan and keep the subsidized phone price. "Alternate upgrade". If you have a family plan, Verizon lets you use line A's upgrade to get a phone and immediately activate it on line B. You can even do it on their website without going to a store. In doing this, Line A's contract is extended by two years, but line B's contract (and subsidized phone elegibility date) isn't affected.
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Nov 19, 2011 19:26
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Alternate upgrade is how my cousin was able to get a new phone out of the system when he jumped into the pool with his droid pro. He's the account holder and has his parents on a family plan with him. All he did was add an additional line and immediately do an alternate upgrade of that line on to his. So, he's stuck paying an extra $9.99 a month for a line no one uses, but he can now get an upgrade every year if he wants.
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Nov 19, 2011 19:38
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:But Seaborn is right. He doesn't have to sign up for the data plan at all. Ah, I didn't realize this was possible. The two lines do have to be on a shared family plan, though, right? People can't just pass their upgrades off to other random people? In any case, that is good news, and way more flexible than I thought they were.
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Nov 19, 2011 21:20
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^^ Yes, the lines have to be on the same account/plan. Anyone with a family plan notice the change they included in the last bill, about changing the way charges are listed for the primary line? Looks like they're breaking out an "account charge". For instance, a basic family plan currently is $60 for the first line, and $9.99 for the secondary line. Now it's changing to a %50 account charge, and $$9.99 for each line. Wonder what the point of that is? They say employer discounts will still be "the same amount".
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Nov 19, 2011 21:22
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bull3964 posted:Alternate upgrade is how my cousin was able to get a new phone out of the system when he jumped into the pool with his droid pro. So he's paying an extra $120 for a phone. That's not always the best deal.
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Nov 19, 2011 22:31
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WeaselWeaz posted:So he's paying an extra $120 for a phone. That's not always the best deal. $240 extra per contract length + $150 subsidized price is a hell of a lot better than $550 full retail price for the phone.
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Nov 19, 2011 22:43
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:"Alternate upgrade". If you have a family plan, Verizon lets you use line A's upgrade to get a phone and immediately activate it on line B. You can even do it on their website without going to a store. You guys rock. Thanks!
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Nov 19, 2011 23:04
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My contract with Verizon expires 11/22/11, and I'm planning on switching to Sprint to get on my friend's family plan. When can I proceed with ordering a phone from Amazon and transfer the number without it causing a problem with my Verizon contract? I assume it's best to wait until the 23rd, but won't I then be billed for another cycle of Verizon service?
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Nov 19, 2011 23:31
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bull3964 posted:Honestly, I don't care anymore. It looks like the specs of the galaxy nexus were updated to reflect 16gb of internal storage. I'm also creeping back to my position of not buying a Samsung phone. I think it's going to be Razr for me. The 16gb isn't a deal breaker for me as I really don't use that much. Typically the largest things on my SD card are ROM's, Nandroid backups, and Titanium Backup files. But I'm also starting to lean towards the Razr now. Slowly but surely. MY ABACUS! posted:My contract with Verizon expires 11/22/11, and I'm planning on switching to Sprint to get on my friend's family plan. When can I proceed with ordering a phone from Amazon and transfer the number without it causing a problem with my Verizon contract? I assume it's best to wait until the 23rd, but won't I then be billed for another cycle of Verizon service? Wouldn't they prorate it so you'd only be paying for 1 day if you wait till the 23rd?
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Nov 19, 2011 23:35
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JayKay posted:Wouldn't they prorate it so you'd only be paying for 1 day if you wait till the 23rd? That's what I'm wondering. I'd cancel it on the day the contract expires if possible. My phone has been broken for weeks, and I just want to get a new phone ASAP.
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Nov 19, 2011 23:37
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JayKay posted:Wouldn't they prorate it so you'd only be paying for 1 day if you wait till the 23rd? No, the terms of service say you pay in advance and they don't prorate ("Cancellations will become effective on the last day of that month's billing cycle"). If you cancel on the first day of a billing cycle you sink a month's worth of service charges. The only prorating they do is if you cancel during the initial buyers remorse period. Can't you order the Sprint phone a few days early and then just have Sprint port the Verizon number onto it the day your contract expires? kitten smoothie fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Nov 19, 2011 |
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Nov 19, 2011 23:40
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kitten smoothie posted:No, the terms of service say you pay in advance and they don't prorate ("Cancellations will become effective on the last day of that month's billing cycle"). If you cancel on the first day of a billing cycle you sink a month's worth of service charges. The only prorating they do is if you cancel during the initial buyers remorse period. Is that how it works? You have to cancel on the actual expiration date to avoid an ETF and another month's fee?
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Nov 19, 2011 23:46
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bull3964 posted:Also, we don't know if Costco is getting them at launch. For what it's worth, P3Droid is saying Verizon's Nexus will only be available as 32gb. No idea where he gets that (his Nexus is 16gb, although he says it is an earlier model), but he insisted this was the case on twitter. Edit: Err, tweeted by someone named PydePiper and retweeted by P3. So who the hell knows. Ciabatta fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Nov 20, 2011 |
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Nov 20, 2011 00:18
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MY ABACUS! posted:Is that how it works? You have to cancel on the actual expiration date to avoid an ETF and another month's fee? Verizon Wireless will bill you until the end of your current bill cycle when disconnecting / stopping service unless one of these 3 things happen:
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Nov 20, 2011 04:15
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kitten smoothie posted:No, the terms of service say you pay in advance and they don't prorate ("Cancellations will become effective on the last day of that month's billing cycle"). If you cancel on the first day of a billing cycle you sink a month's worth of service charges. The only prorating they do is if you cancel during the initial buyers remorse period. FYI this would work on sprint. If you have any questions on it feel free to PM me, but in a nutshell you can activate early and port on top of the temporary number at anytime.
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Nov 20, 2011 05:23
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Okay. To confirm, if I go to Sprint and port my number on the day my Verizon contract expires, I won't be charged an ETF, and my Verizon billing will be canceled in time? It's important that I port the number directly from Verizon because I want to qualify for the $125 service credit offer.
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Nov 20, 2011 06:34
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I really want a Galaxy Nexus, but I really need a new phone now. What exactly are the options for getting a new phone and then trading it in for another in a certain time frame? And can I do this at a completely different store in a different city? Would I even be able to trade up to a Nexus if it is online only? I'm going to be in Houston next week and want a new phone, so I'd get a Razr, would I be able to bring that in and get a new phone in San Antonio? I wish they would stop pushing this back, as I want that phone, but my og Droid is at the point where I want to smash it with rocks.
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Nov 20, 2011 06:47
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I feel for you man, I'm in the same position. My original storm locks up randomly, cant download apps anymore and dies at half battery power. Ugh just end the torture 
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Nov 20, 2011 06:54
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I see that Verizon has much better pre-paid options for tablet data plans now then when I last checked (Feb 2011). If I bought a Xoom in February through Motorola, not Verizon, which I never activated, could I now buy the pre-paid data plans a la cart without paying the activation fees each time? Or are those limited to certain devices?
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Nov 20, 2011 07:10
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Cojawfee posted:I really want a Galaxy Nexus, but I really need a new phone now. What exactly are the options for getting a new phone and then trading it in for another in a certain time frame? And can I do this at a completely different store in a different city? Would I even be able to trade up to a Nexus if it is online only? I'm going to be in Houston next week and want a new phone, so I'd get a Razr, would I be able to bring that in and get a new phone in San Antonio? My advice, for what it's worth, if you have an unlimited data plan (Smartphone Web $29.99) stick it out as long as you can, if you don't just borrow a phone from someone that has one or pick up a cheap one on Craigslist and use it until you get the phone you actually want.
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Nov 20, 2011 07:10
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The Blarghonauts posted:An easy way around this if you don't want to pay till the end and port out is to suspend the line without billing before porting the line out. A suspend will not interfere with a port out request where a disconnect request will. If you don't want to pay the $15 suspend fee, process it through your My Verizon account instead of talking to customer service. You know this reminds me of another question I had. I called in to temporarily suspend my LTE hotspot line this summer because I wasn't going to be using it. The person who took my call told me I could suspend without billing and pay 15 bucks, or I could suspend with billing and they'd continue charging me but the device won't work. In what instance would you ever want to suspend with billing? It seems illogical to continue paying for absolutely nothing. Is there some reason why they even offer this as an option, other than that someone might be dumb enough to choose it?
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Nov 20, 2011 08:26
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My family of three people haven't upgraded our phones in many years - we're all using dumbphones or feature phones and we figure it's time for an upgrade! Judging by the last few pages of this thread, since we've waited this long it makes sense to hold out another month and wait for the Nexus? If I go iPhone over Nexus, besides the obvious Android vs. iOS the main thing I'd be missing is LTE, right? I'm not even sure I want data speeds that fast when facing a 4GB/month cap.
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Nov 20, 2011 10:04
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kitten smoothie posted:In what instance would you ever want to suspend with billing? It seems illogical to continue paying for absolutely nothing. Is there some reason why they even offer this as an option, other than that someone might be dumb enough to choose it?
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Nov 20, 2011 12:27
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And so the Costco drama begins. I was doing some shopping there today, so I stopped at the kiosk just to mention that I was unhappy with my Bionic and ask how their exchange policy worked. The rep told me that between the 14-90 day window, they would only accept a phone that was broken or defective, and only exchange it for the same model. I explained to him that the store's exchange policy said otherwise, but he disagreed, even after I pulled up the language of their guarantee on my phone. He then produced a paper with Costco's phone exchange policy on it, as if to prove himself right....until I actually read it out loud to him and affirmed that it allowed me to return my phone. Eventually he called over a manager, who told me the same thing - their policy is to only accept defective phones, and only exchange them for the same model....even though these stipulations aren't mentioned anywhere in any of their policies. She said that if I wanted to try to do something about it, I'd have to call Verizon, which I'm pretty sure is also wrong. So I called Costco's member services, but they don't have anyone in on Sunday, so I guess I'll have to try again tomorrow and see what happens 
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Nov 20, 2011 19:27
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Who would've thought a store would resist a bunch of people basically loving them over on phones just to keep the best gadgetry in their pockets? 
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Nov 20, 2011 19:33
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doctor thodt posted:And so the Costco drama begins. She then said "the problem is people keep coming in with this three-month-old phone" (pointing to the display Bionic) "and want to replace it with this brand new phone" (pointing to the Razr) and the exchange policy really isn't for a free upgrade. So, apparently it's actually a problem? Costco is definitely eating the exchange costs, and at least unofficially they're trying to discourage the freebie upgrade but I think that's a bit disingenuous of them. It's total bullshit to buy a Razr today with the intention of exchanging it for a GNex in a month or two. However it's not bullshit to buy a Razr today, only to discover that it's a poo poo phone and it's driving you insane, and end up wanting to exchange it for a GNex because it's a phone that loving works. I imagine folks who got screwed in the G2x debacle would've taken the Costco-option out of it was available to them at the time. Which makes me a bit curious. Honestly, most phone problems are software based (see LG, Samsung) and so all hardware is equally defective. A model-for-model exchange is ultimately useless, it just makes the customer go away for a while. With things like broken GPS, broken cellular radios, major-loving-software problems, the Costco exchange policy should address that kind of stuff, but I don't know if they intend it to or not. Perhaps the real problem is that, moreso than other electronics, smartphones obsolesce really-loving-fast, and so folks will take advantage of the "free upgrade", and they're also really-loving-lovely too, so many folks will exchange and play the cell-phone-roulette game just to get a device that works. Edit: JP Money posted:Who would've thought a store would resist a bunch of people basically loving them over on phones just to keep the best gadgetry in their pockets? 1. Because it runs counter to their own (perhaps poorly-though out) written return policy. 2. Because Costco is particularly well known for its crazy-liberal return policies. People do occasionally return three-month-old 50" televisions no questions asked. So this reversal is particularly notable. ExcessBLarg! fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Nov 20, 2011 |
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Nov 20, 2011 19:40
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JP Money posted:Who would've thought a store would resist a bunch of people basically loving them over on phones just to keep the best gadgetry in their pockets? How is following the store's own policy, as written, "loving them over"?
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Nov 20, 2011 20:16
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doctor thodt posted:And so the Costco drama begins. I was in the store to replace my legitimately defective Bionic yesterday and was told the same thing when I asked about getting a RAZR instead, but I didn't push the point as I wasn't really set on getting a RAZR instead. I did, however, manage to get the $100 instant rebate during the replacement since Costco actually performs a return/refund and you have to buy a new device after. I think the rebate is good for another few days, so if you bought it at launch and it is having any problems at all, now is a good time to replace it and try to get some money back.
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Nov 20, 2011 20:50
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Sounds like Costco is ratcheting up its exchange policy with phones. Can't say I blame them but it does dilute a key benefit of buying from them...
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Nov 20, 2011 20:59
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Maybe I'll just keep my bionic for now if it's going to be a hassle to try to trade it in. If the ICS update sucks or gets delayed continually, I'll just sell it off and buy a Galaxy Nexus. I love the Razr hardware, but I'm also glad to have an extra and extended battery for my Bionic.
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Nov 20, 2011 21:19
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Kyrosiris posted:How is following the store's own policy, as written, "loving them over"? If the guy had a legitimate problem with it i.e. hardware or software failure - fine. Using it as a 90 day "buffer" towards a new phone is a little bit childish - poor policy wording or not.
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Nov 20, 2011 23:37
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I bought the Bionic with the intention of keeping it.
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Nov 20, 2011 23:40
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doctor thodt posted:I'm content with my phone, but if something with identical specs and a better screen comes out within the 3 month exchange window, I'll return it without a moment's hesitation. I don't care either way - if you get a new phone out of it then congrats. All my position is is that it's a bit dick-ish to buy a phone knowing you're going to return it at the sight of something better.
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Nov 20, 2011 23:48
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I don't understand - you think that finding the screen problematic is an illegitimate reason to be dissatisfied with one's phone?
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Nov 20, 2011 23:50
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Nah man, you're good. I'm not gonna get into an argument on return policy in a thread that has nothing to do with costco. If you're unhappy, return it.
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Nov 21, 2011 00:09
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