The power of options
January 21st, 2008 by Grant in: Frugal Living, TechnologyLast week I dropped by the Verizon Wireless store to snoop around a bit. My 2-year agreement was up, and my existing cell phone had taken a beating. In fact, the outer LCD display was cracked and non-functional from the time I put the phone in my pocket and then smashed my keys (in the same pocket) into the phone. Now I had options. Lots of options, and that is a good thing from a consumers standpoint.
At any rate, I had also been looking at my monthly cell usage. Between my wife and I, we rarely were using more than 200 anytime minutes per month, yet our plan allowed us 700 anytime minutes, and in return we paid about $85 per month after taxes and fees.
You get what you pay for, but don’t pay for something you don’t get.
As frequent readers of the Corner Office Blog know, I absolutely hate paying for something I don’t use. The way I saw it, I was paying for 500 minutes per month that I wasn’t using.
An online inquiry through the Verizon website returned an answer I really didn’t appreciate: “… sorry sir, you’re on the lowest cost family plan we offer.”
It is rarely fruitful to eArgue, and making a deal face to face is much more productive. So in addition to looking for a new phone, I was also looking for a new plan, and if that didn’t work out, a new cell provider.
Being polite will get you further…
I walked into the store, and the sharp dressed sales rep stepped right up to the plate. “What can I help you with today…” I’m looking for a new phone, and a new plan, and I explained why.
Naturally the sales rep tried to sell me a new phone first. Smart on his part: Get the customer to fall in love with something tangible, then talk money.
So I found a phone I liked, but was still willing to walk away from the whole deal if we couldn’t somehow my monthly costs.
After pounding through the computer for a few minutes, I got the same response as I did from the rep online; I’ve already got the lowest cost plan they offer. I was getting a bit aggravated, but I kept my cool and told him that I might have to go home and research the competition.
Sensing I was the type to walk right across the street to AT&T, he went and asked his boss if there was “Something we could do”. It turns out, there is a little-known plan hidden deep down in the computer for cases just like this. It’s called the Nationwide Loyalty Family Share plan, coming in at 550 minutes per month, and for $10 cheaper than the previous plan.
Interesting how they throw a loyalty plan at you to keep your business, isn’t it?
Sign me up.
It’s a step in the right direction. Instead of wanting “more for less”, I wanted “less for less”. While the 550 minutes per month is still overkill, the $10 reduction in monthly cost ($120 per year) helps.
So, if you’re looking to reduce your monthly cell phone bill, this might be a step in the right direction, if you’re a Verizon customer that is.
To be clear, if my wife and I were using the 700 minutes per month, I wouldn’t feel right about arguing for a lower cost plan that would still cover my usage. But if you’re not even coming close to maxing out your wireless plan, at least find out what your options are to pay for something more appropriate.
Tags: cell phone | National Loyalty Family Share | Verizon Wireless
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February 8th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I had a similar experience. The short of it is that our youngest daughter was married about six weeks ago, and we had a couple of bumps in trying to have her released from our 700-minute Verizon Wireless plan and put on her new husband’s plan. No big deal and Verizon customer reps were very helpful. While getting the final tweaking done, I asked the rep on the phone if there was any less expensive plan. My wife and I simply don’t need 700 minutes. He told me about the National Loyalty plan that Verizon offers to keep folks after their contract has ended, but my contract had almost a year to go. He said he appreciated how we were handling the problems with getting our plan situated and he offered to change us to the National Loyalty plan, which would not extend the time of our contractual agreement. $10 less for 150 minutes fewer, but we don’t need the minutes anyway. I said, “Thanks. Let’s do it.” And he did.
Curious, I searched Verizon’s site but could not find this plan. I did a Google search and this blog alone came up. Pretty incredible.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
[…] sign of how a free market will drive down prices. I started to see a glimpse of this when Verizon offered me a lower rate on an unpublicized plan that more closely matches my usage. They didn’t want me to leave the store and head off to a […]
June 6th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
May 23, 2008, I received a call from Verizon asking if I wanted an upgrade of my cell phone. I replied that I didn’t as I was leaving Verizon in September, 2008 when my contract expires, because I rarely use my cell phone. The voice on the telephone said that there was a plan that is 50 minutes and $20 per month; would I like to have that plan. I said “yes” only to find in a week that my plan had not changed and Verizon had me down for two more years at $44 a month. I called Verizon and they said that there is a mistake and that they would correct it.
I checked yesterday, June 5 and they had not changed my plan; I was still on the $44 per month plan. The woman on the phone said that she would correct it. I asked for an email cocumenting the change; she refused and said that she could not send any documentation to that effect.
I am not sure how it stands now as they have lied to me so much, so I willl honor the contract that I signed which expires in September, 2008 if I don’t receive any documentation stating the verbal agreement which we had.