Rant about NOTE II: What's up with the new upgrade fee by VZW & extra Taxes

[SHIVA77]

Guys, pls excuse the rant. Yesterday when I upgraded to Note II, didn't look at bill at the counter until I got home. The agent charged the phone to my account so it wasn't like a normal transaction.

Here what I see on the bill: $30 upgrade fee, and a separate New York City and State sales tax. Yikes!!!!

Called VZW, and they confirmed that as of May of this year when you upgrade your phone, even with new two year contract and being eligible to upgrade they still hit you with 30 bucks.

They used to give us discount for upgrading and now they are charging us a fee?

Remember the $100 off the two year contract price?

Then they charge me two separate sales tax, one for the city and the other for the state. VZW confirmed that it was normal.

And on top of it, no matter how hard I tried and who I spoke with at VZW I couldn't get my unlimited data extended. Now I'm on 4 gig.

Are we suckers? Have we become so addicted to our gadgets that we just pay these extra fees without even thinking?

What do you guys think? Do other carriers charge upgrade fee?

 

[blackjaguar25]

Yes, most charge upgrade fees. This is nothing new.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[DroidXcon]

Lol yes we are def suckers!

 

[DaRkL3AD3R]

Do they charge upgrade fees if you purchase the phone for full retail? Because THAT would be bogus.

I do also feel that the upgrade fee in and of itself is a knee-jerk reaction to some shareholder demanding the stocks go up.

 

[anon(522296)]

VZW was the last carrier to not charge the 30 bucks, they just started that recently. Unfortunately NYC has a tax set aside just for them, and NY state. One of the great advantages of living in such a great city!!

 

[gafly]

Do they charge upgrade fees if you purchase the phone for full retail? Because THAT would be bogus.

I do also feel that the upgrade fee in and of itself is a knee-jerk reaction to some shareholder demanding the stocks go up.

They do not charge upgrade fees at full retail.

 

[mrxblue]

We have it worse in California and Nevada.

In addition to paying an upgrade fee of $30, residents in CA and NV have to pay sales tax for the full retail price of the phone instead of the discount price. In other words, we have to pay tax for $699 instead of $299.

That's what Verizon explained to me. There may be a few other states that do it this way too.

Sent from Samsung galaxy note 2 (Verizon)

 

[wyndslash]

Kind of tempting to get it cheaper on the international market now

Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[byrds8]

Yes we are definitely all suckers. Too bad we dont pay the low low prices like they do over seas. Their bills every month are lower than ours. Heck even their internet is cheaper and they get more bandwidth than we do. Its pretty sad my phone bill a month is almost what I pay for my car. Its my fourth highest bill behind rent, groceries and the car.

 

[cj100570]

Guys, pls excuse the rant. Yesterday when I upgraded to Note II, didn't look at bill at the counter until I got home. The agent charged the phone to my account so it wasn't like a normal transaction.

Here what I see on the bill: $30 upgrade fee, and a separate New York City and State sales tax. Yikes!!!!

Called VZW, and they confirmed that as of May of this year when you upgrade your phone, even with new two year contract and being eligible to upgrade they still hit you with 30 bucks.

They used to give us discount for upgrading and now they are charging us a fee?

Remember the $100 off the two year contract price?

Then they charge me two separate sales tax, one for the city and the other for the state. VZW confirmed that it was normal.

And on top of it, no matter how hard I tried and who I spoke with at VZW I couldn't get my unlimited data extended. Now I'm on 4 gig.

Are we suckers? Have we become so addicted to our gadgets that we just pay these extra fees without even thinking?

What do you guys think? Do other carriers charge upgrade fee?

You live in NY and have never noticed that there are 2 taxes paid on every purchase? You need to pay more attention to your bills kind sir.

 

[Nibs]

Seems like no one cares. Everywhere you go there's tons of people with smartphones and they're all most likely paying the same prices. They cannot wait for their next upgrade to get the latest and greatest.

The carriers are smart.

 

[SHIVA77]

You live in NY and have never noticed that there are 2 taxes paid on every purchase? You need to pay more attention to your bills kind sir.

I have not seen two tier sales tax on a receipt before, except for car rental and such. it's always just the 8.875% rate, categorized as 'sales tax.'