Verizon Wireless certainly isn't planning a romantic weekend with its customers this Valentine's Day, as it's completely nixing its
Test Drive program and slashing benefits on its New Every Two initiative. Or, it will if documents rounded up by
Boy Genius Report prove accurate. Currently, prospective subscribers who'd like to test out Verizon's network for a month without worrying over usage fees can do so; after February 15th, they can kiss that option goodbye, as anyone who signs up and ports out within a month will have to pay for their wireless access and usage charges during that window. On the same day, a few changes in the NE2 program will also go into effect, and while we'll point you to the read link for all the details, here's the skinny: the discounts you once got are being lessened. Awesome.
posted Feb 2nd 2009 9:42AM
Yes that's great logic Verizon. NE2 is great for retaining customers so let's make it less effective =/
WHY??? verizon really likes to take as much as they can from us. the company more ways every day to nickel and dime us. freaking company. i wish at&t had better coverage where i lived.
Hmm, all this about the same time the Alltell takeover?
This is only going to get worse, as there is less and less competition in wireless.
Who cares?
Verizon is still going to add 1.5 mil a quarter and keep their churn under 2%. This isn't news. They're simply going to make money off of people who pay a premium for their network anyways. If people care about best value, Sprint would have more customers.
Bloody rape, I tells ya.
At least they aren't charging you an ETF if you cancel within 30 days.
Wait... am I misreading that? (I don't have an inner working knowledge of Verizon as I refuse to give one penny to a company that rips you off, treats customers poorly, doesn't even have 24-hour tech support so your up a creek if it's 1am and you can't use your phone, and has inferior coverage in my area anyway)
Is that saying that a fully qualified customer now will only get 30/50 off a new handset, or 30/50 more than the price a new customer would pay?
verizon has 24 hour tech support and has for AT LEAST the last 3 years... To answer your question they now get 30 and 50 additional off the 2 year discounted price (price new customers get phones for on a 2 yr contract) and no longer an extra 50 and 100.
to me I think its a bad decision since Verizon is notorious for being expensive.. They are taking away one of the main perks for staying with the company.
It's $30/$50 more of a discount than a new customer gets, that is, they pay $30/$50 less. Nothing to lose one's head about.
Then the so-called 24-hour tech support must be only for certain people.
My girlfriend has Verizon (She's still under a company plan with her parents' company) and in October she lost her phone while we were on vacation. Ok, no big deal, there were other older phones that the company still had that people had used previously, so they called up, switched the ESN, and she used the other phone. Then fast forward about a month and the hotel we were staying at found the phone and mailed it back. So, she called up to get that switched (circa 11pm Eastern Time) and was greeting with a recording that Technical Support was closed and to call back during normal business hours.
So much for 24 hour technical support for EVERYBODY. I wonder how you get on the special list, since apparently a company plan with about 40 lines of service (including data lines) totaling several thousand dollars monthly isn't "good enough" to be able to get through to tech support at late hours.
One of the reasons that they are looking to switch to T-Mobile
Business account support is not 24x7. Verizon Tech support is 24x7. Depending on the number she called she did not get routed correctly. Tech support takes calls from business accoutns when Business accounts is closed. That issue should be reported, but more than likely she either called a local rep and not the proper number, or the call was routed incorrectly.
This is very shocking that Verizon would do this. Dating a supervisor at the local call center profits did not show that they had been affected by the weakening economy. In fact an early last week post in Engadget said Verizon grew in profits 15% i think. So why is there a need to slash customer discounts? Hope everyone reads their contracts.
I'm sure profits probably went up because of the data plan with the storm.
but the real questions are: how many people are calling to cancel service because they are at/near the end of the contract? or how many people are calling in to lower their plan or remove features? or call in to dispute some minor charge? ... all because people are trying to save money in any way possible.
a lot of people are keeping their service despite this shitty economy, me included. only because it'll cost me more to have a landline and a cell. I'll pay the premium for being constantly connected with my cell. hell, nobody ever called me at my old home # anyway since my cell is a REALLY easy number to remember.
I'm due up real soon with Verizon, so the incentive to stay is way less, their phones are blah with the exception of the touch pro. I've had Verizon for over 10 years, I think its time to jump carriers.
I left Verizon for AT&T and have never looked back. I already have like, 2000 rollover minutes on AT&T's cheapest voice plan, giving me virtually unlimited minutes for $40 a month. On Verizon, I would get hit with a $100 bill at least once a year when I had a heavy usage month; with AT&T, no more.
I also like being able to have a conversation while looking up information on the internet at the same time. "Where do you want to go for lunch? Let's see, here are some places nearby, ok meet you there!" Versus, "where do you want to go for lunch? Hold on, let me hang up on you and then connect to the internet and I'll call you back. Ok, there's this place and this place. Do they take credit cards? Hold on, let me hang up on you again."
Does this give VZW custormers a reason to get out of existing contracts?
No one else offers test drive. Test drive was above and beyond what all other carriers offered. Terminating it puts VZW on par with the rest of the industry. Some carriers don't even give a 30 day Worry free guarantee (which is still staying). Compare the numbers of $30 and $50 to the other carriers as well. That is on top of the all ready slashed prices for 1yr/2yr contracts. Verizon Wireless' policies are on par or better than the rest of the industrie's major players. Haters just hating...
Actually most carriers offer this. I know Sprint Does, so does ATT and TMobile
its better than them cutting back on jobs :)
2 questions.
1) What is an NPS score?
2) It says "enrolled in ne2 before 2/14/09" or whatrever, does that mean if i upgraded, used my ne2 and signed a new 2 year contract in 11/08, that i "enrolled" before 2/09 and therefore would get $100 on my next device in 2 years and then the cheaper amount the next time?
Yes right? otherwise they would have to let me out of my contract for changing it in the middle righjt?
- NPS is a type of score that determines whether or not a customer would recommend the company.
- if you bought a phone before 02/14/09, then you would be enrolled in the original program - the $50/100 would still be intact. New customers, or those who upgrade after 02/14/09, would be enrolled in the new program - $30/50.
I don't know how truthful this posting is, but my jaw dropped when I read it. forget test drive, that's just a way for people to leach the company when they probably had no intention of staying anyway... but this NE2 change is fkin stupid.
And @ everybody who keeps griping that VZW is SOOOOO expensive - the pricing is almost 100% on par with EVERY OTHER MAJOR CARRIER. the only differences are in the perks and service (which is still the most important factor) that you get.
- if you need rollover minutes, then you're on the wrong plan. rollover minutes, IMHO, were designed for people who usually don't use much, but then don't monitor their heavy usage months and want to be protected. it's a good idea, but you can't blame VZW for expecting their customers to be held responsible for their usage just as a customer expects VZW to be held responsible for service. check you minutes, and call in to change your plan by the end of your billing period. part of the worry free deal is that you can change your plan without a contract- been that way since about October 2007.
- TMo has the MyFavs, but at the expense of losing mobile to mobile calling. As a matter of fact, NONE of their individual plans (except the unlimited of course) have a mobile to mobile allowance - it all comes out of the regular usage minutes. And some of their plans don't even have a Night&Weekend allowance.
- Sprint has nothing to offer to keep up. The "Simply Everything" plan is great for people who actually GET service.
no, because it's not changing anything to an existing account. what you have is what you have until YOU change it. then the new terms take effect.
it still wouldn't surprise me if people called in about it though. I don't even want to think about how many people called in to cancel when there was a $.15 (yes, 15 CENTS) tax increase or whatever it was, not to mention when the text costs changed in March 08. There is/was a clause about "undue financial hardship" that allows you to cancel w/o ETF if there is a change to pricing during your contract term. Text is one thing, because you can just not use that... but the tax thing I'm sure was a big call driver. Fkin people trying to get anything they can. I bet that on just about any given day you can find a penny on the ground. Average 30 days in a month, 30 pennies... there's 2 months of that tax increase right there!
*oh, and before people start jumping about VZW nickel n' diming, I'm sure the tax increase was not something they had control over*
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stupid reply button didn't work. that comment was directed at ARVID.