really confused as to why VZW keeps giving me $100 or $300 AFTER I bought/activated new phones

[badkitties]

In the last few months, I've bought a few new smartphones from Verizon. All were new lines added to my existing account and all were paid for with new Device Payment Plans. All lines also received $300 trade-in credits already for trading in working cheap under $10 Verizon prepad phones.

A few days after I received and activated the new smartphone, I would get an email from Verizon. (see picture at the bottom) It either offered me at $100 or $300 to trade in any working smartphone in good condition. I confirmed with Verizon that there were no strings attached. No need to buy another new smartphone. No extension to my existing lines. Like I said, no strings attached. It's as if Verizon was offering free money. The emails came with promo codes that turned my $0 value smartphones into $100 or $300 Verizon gift cards.

I always used my work email address, personal PO Box address and my Google Voice phone number to submit the trade-in. (none of the information is linked to my existing VZW account) I did this because I didn't want to get account credits.

After I received the trade-in box and ship the smartphone back to Verizon, I always receive a $100 or $300 e-gift card code in the email. The phones that I submitted were either the $7 Verizon prepaid LG Optimus Exceed 2 or some other super-cheap Verizon prepaid smartphone under $10.(whatever I could get my hands on at the time) So far, I've gotten two $100 gift cards and one $300 gift card. (all e-gift cards, which I have spent to buy accessories from Verizon corporate store or pay my bill)

I just activated another LG G4 about 10 days ago. Today, another one of these "strange" trade-in email arrived. (screenshot of today's email is at the bottom of this post)

I don't know why I'm complaining about free money, but it just seems very odd to me that Verizon would offer free money like this. Am I missing something here? Have anyone else received these offers?

 

[Mooncatt]

Re: really confused as to why VZW keeps giving me $100 or $300 trade-in offers AFTER I bought new ph

Wow. I haven't seen anything like this. Lucky you.

 

[badkitties]

Re: really confused as to why VZW keeps giving me $100 or $300 trade-in offers AFTER I bought new ph

Wow. I haven't seen anything like this. Lucky you.

I don't feel "lucky" at all... maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I have this feeling
that I'm being set up for something down the road. (almost like a mouse who
has been trapped inside a metal cage... unaware of what's going to happen
next, but still enjoying that free cheese)

Verizon has absolutely no financial incentive to offer $300 for my $7 LG
Exceed 2. Definitely not after I have already bought and activated the G4 and
Note 5s....

 

[ShaggyKids]

Re: really confused as to why VZW keeps giving me $100 or $300 trade-in offers AFTER I bought new ph

Wow, I agree it's strange and being suspicious by nature I would also wonder what the heck was going on. Like am I gonna get a bill to pay for all the free money?

 

[Climb14er]

Re: really confused as to why VZW keeps giving me $100 or $300 trade-in offers AFTER I bought new ph

I don't feel "lucky" at all... maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I have this feeling
that I'm being set up for something down the road. (almost like a mouse who
has been trapped inside a metal cage... unaware of what's going to happen
next, but still enjoying that free cheese)

Verizon has absolutely no financial incentive to offer $300 for my $7 LG
Exceed 2. Definitely not after I have already bought and activated the G4 and
Note 5s....

Could very well be that you're being set up by Verizon trackers of your posts on the forum who have read about all of your wheeling and dealing of new phones from Best Buy.

One hopes that this is not the case but if I were you, I would fly a little more under the radar regarding your dealings and with Verizon.

 

[badkitties]

Re: really confused as to why VZW keeps giving me $100 or $300 trade-in offers AFTER I bought new ph

Could very well be that you're being set up by Verizon trackers of your posts on the forum who have read about all of your wheeling and dealing of new phones from Best Buy.

One hopes that this is not the case but if I were you, I would fly a little more under the radar regarding your dealings and with Verizon.

Even Verizon reps couldn't tell me where these offers were coming from....
Oh well... guess I'll just have to wait and see.

The manager at the local Verizon corporate store said it might be caused
by the fact that some of my new phones had device payment plans billed
at the account level(i.e. tied to the entire acct, not just any particular line),
while some were billed at line level(i.e. tied to the line)

 

[cjp39]

I just got that on Dec. 1st but goes to a internal server error page. I will try it later though. Which phone got you the $300?

 

[badkitties]

I just got that on Dec. 1st but goes to a internal server error page. I will try it later though. Which phone got you the $300?

Ok... cool.. so I'm not the only one who's been getting this thing.

I trade in a cheap prepaid Verizon smartphone that cost less than $10 when I bought it a few months ago. (never opened, until I was submitting it on Verizon's trade-in website, in order to get the IMEI #) With the promo code, it was appraised at $300.

 

[cjp39]

I just submitted with a old S2 they said $300 appraisal.

 

[badkitties]

I just submitted with a old S2 they said $300 appraisal.

how much is the trade-in value for the S2? (without the $300 promo code)

I once tried to submit mint condition Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon's trade-in website and it gave me a value of $7. I ended up keeping it. That was several months ago. The same phone was recently trade to Verizon for $300 thanks to the trade-in promo.

 

[cjp39]

Without the code, $10.
My guess is this is some kind of error. There is some mix up between the codes for a straight trade in and adding a line. It said a small donation will be given to Hope whatever and then a bill credit. How much of the $300 do they give to charity?

 

[badkitties]

How much of the $300 do they give to charity?

I'll bet you that it's not 99%.

 

[cjp39]

My Galaxy S is on deck for the next email. Lol.

 

[badkitties]

My Galaxy S is on deck for the next email. Lol.

I have a Verizon Samsung Fascinate, which is a variant of the original Galaxy S.
(at least that's what I was told)

It's still in mint condition(as are all of my old smartphones). After 5 years, it still
works fine and the screen is as good as new. Sadly, Verizon's trade-in value for
this little guy is $0. Sure, I can use it for the $300 promo, but I plan to keep it
forever. It was my very first Android phone! The Fascinate and the Galaxy
Nexus are the only two Samsung phones that I've owned that didn't have home
buttons(physical).

Original AndroidCentral review of the Samsung Fascinate is here:
http://www.androidcentral.com/verizon-fascinate-review

 

[cjp39]

Amazing. Lol.

How long after you sent something in do they hit you with another code. I got mine like 1 day before they credited me for the Droid X I sent in from adding a T2 to my account?

Thanks for the info.

 

[badkitties]

Amazing. Lol.

How long after you sent something in do they hit you with another code. I got mine like 1 day before they credited me for the Droid X I sent in from adding a T2 to my account?

Thanks for the info.

I went through all the emails that Verizon sent me in the last couple of months.

It appears that these "bonus" trade-in emails came in 3 to 11 days after I had
already activated a new line.(which already had received a trade-in offer of $300)

The most recent one(as shown in the screenshot I posted in post #1 above) was
the fastest. It arrived in my inbox just 3 days after I activated a new line with the
LG G4. (which was already free to me to begin with, thanks to the $100 off, $300
trade-in, and $200 LG rebate Visa card)

I don't know what the deal is... but who am I to turn down free money? To make up
for it and to build good karma, I stuffed two $20 bills down the steel kettle next to the
Salvation Army guy at the local Walmart earlier this evening. I admit that I usually
just walk past these Salvation Army guys after smiling at them. It just occurred to
me how selfish that was. From now until Christmas I will donate any pocket cash
that I have when I walk past the Salvation Army guy.

 

[cjp39]

So it's only after adding a line? Hmm. I think I remember reading about extra $300 bonus offers coming in in a thread over at slickdeals form the guys doing the LG G4 thing. They were trading in the store getting a code, then another would get emailed. I just added a line online traded in all through the web and still got another one. Looks to me like they never fixed the problem with multiple codes going out, although supposedly it was fixed.

They did change the terms in that you have to keep new lines open for three billing cycles I'm assuming you got in before all that. I did.

I wonder if they will let me use bill credit's to pay off a DPP? I should have $450 in credit here shortly.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

So it's only after adding a line? Hmm. I think I remember reading about extra $300 bonus offers coming in in a thread over at slickdeals form the guys doing the LG G4 thing. They were trading in the store getting a code, then another would get emailed. I just added a line online traded in all through the web and still got another one. Looks to me like they never fixed the problem with multiple codes going out, although supposedly it was fixed.

They did change the terms in that you have to keep new lines open for three billing cycles I'm assuming you got in before all that. I did.

I wonder if they will let me use bill credit's to pay off a DPP? I should have $450 in credit here shortly.

I can tell you first hand, you can not use bill credits to pay off DPP. Tried with several reps and got shot down.

You can only pay with credit card, Verizon gift card and you can only pay the whole amount, no partial payments. So you can't even pay extra here and there to pay it off faster.

 

[badkitties]

I can tell you first hand, you can not use bill credits to pay off DPP. Tried with several reps and got shot down.

You can only pay with credit card, Verizon gift card and you can only pay the whole amount, no partial payments. So you can't even pay extra here and there to pay it off faster.

It is also impossible to use two $250 Verizon gift cards(physical or e-gift cards) to pay off $450 DPP on Verizon's website. I thought that was just ridiculous.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

It is also impossible to use two $250 Verizon gift cards(physical or e-gift cards) to pay off $450 DPP on Verizon's website. I thought that was just ridiculous.

Yes it is. You can only use one payment payment source.

Guess have to remember even though Verizon says no more contracts, the DPP is a contract, so they don't want to make it easy to pay.