Option #1:
When you get your bill with the "upgrade fees" you call in and tell them to transfer you to retentions. Then you tell them you have spoken to the competitors and they are willing to wave upgrade/activation fees if you join them. You will be put on hold for them to "check for notes", then when they come back you will be told "as a one time courtesy we will wave these fees".
I have had every activation/upgrade fee waved "as a one time courtesy" every single time over the last fifteen years. There is no reason to ever pay for the "privilege" of signing a two year contract of guaranteed payments. If they don't want your two years of money without upgrade fees, someone else definitely will.
Option #2: (Only if option #1 above fails)
If they won't budge, transfer your number to Google Voice which would cancel your Verizon account, and resign contract as a new customer. New customers don't have to pay "upgrade" fees, and they also get the phones $150-200 cheaper than current customers. All together, that's a potential $180-230 in extra savings.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G Android Phone (Verizon Wireless)
Upgrade for current customers Price: $229.99
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G Android Phone (Verizon Wireless)
New Customers Price: $79.99
http://wireless.amazon.com/Samsung-...=INDIVIDUAL_NEW&sr=1-3-entd&qid=1334197629182
I follow this same exact process with my cable/internet bill. Every time my Verizon FiOS contract ends, I ask them to renew at whatever the on going promotion rate is for new customers. In most cases, they do when I call the retentions department and act exactly as described in Option #1.
If they call my bluff(they've only done that once), I proceed to Option #2 and tell them that I'm canceling service and I return their equipment. You can then re-sign with them online when you get home to get the new customer promo price and you will be assigned a different customer account number the same day after they've closed out your old one. You can also do this by signing under your name or your wife, sibling, or parent's name alternating at every other contract renewal in case they try to tell you that you don't qualify as a "new" customer because your account didn't lapse(or you didn't wait the required number of days).
They then either have to send out a tech again to bring all equipment or mail them to me.
That's more money lost for them and more money saved for me, so I don't care.
It's amazing to me how these telecom companies treat their "current" customers like a red headed stepchild and new customers like they're some kind of spoiled brat.
Facebook
Twitter