VERIZON WIRELESS So-Called Premium Retailers Pretend to be "real" Verizon stores Bellevue Washington

during my years of college I worked for a verizon premium retailer, this companies pay their employees commission, the sale's rep will always try to sell you the most expensive phone with the most features because that is how he makes his money, at the same time you could get a better deal at these places than at verizon stores, premium retailers have the advantage to discount phones, something that corp. stores aren't allow to do, if you would have walk in there and tell the sale's rep, listen I want to buy a phone but verizon store gives me this phone $50 less than you, that guy would have give a $75 dollars discount so that would have buy the phone from him because he gets pay commission, verizon stores employees don't care if you buy the phone from them or go to another store , either way they still make money.
I would never buy a phone from a corp. store always go to retailers and bargain you could get a amazing deal.

I just wanted to say I have been in the wireless business for over 15 years now and have been a Premium Retailer for Verizon.  I owned and managed over 40 stores in 6 states.  I also have worked in the corporate stores and have been a dealer for other carriers too.  I just wanted to say this about your local Premium Retailer.  Your local dealer/retailer is a individual business owner like you and I.  Not a big corporation like Verizon or Wal-mart.  The prices they charge for the phone is based on what they are making from Verizon.  Most if not all dealers want to sell you the phone as cheap as they possibly can.  Because the dealers are not making money on the equipment/phone.  What they make money on or don't make money is the service plan you choose.  I would call your dealer the little guy in this Big business world.  He is just trying to pay his/her overhead and feed his own family.  Verizon as well as all of the big cellular carriers or getting very good at lowering commisions paid to their dealers.  Which means when the carriers decide that they want to get extremely aggressive and lower the phone price they make the dealer shoulder/eat the blunt of the cost of the equipment.  In return if the dealer chooses to charge more just to break even on the transaction they could be charging more to the customer for the same phone.  Belive this! They are not charging you more to RIP YOU OFF!  They are just trying to break even on the sale or make enough money to pay their expenses.  Dealers are struggling!  I know you may not care about wether your local dealer is successesful or not, but they do provide jobs to people too.  You never know when it might be one of your own family members.  I love this business and it can be a great career path.  Wal-mart is definately cheaper, but I will agree that the service is not that great.   If you are going to buy any of the premium devices/smart phones like the Androids, Blackberrys, and other Windows devices.  You will need good customer service.  If you want to have a cellular professional give you good service after the sale than you may want to pay a little bit more to help support your local dealer or retail store.  I will tell you that your corparate owned store reps are well trained and can do that for you too.  The main difference could be (I say could be because it really depends on your local dealer.) in the corparate store and your local dealer is the wait times.  Dealers tend to be less busy and can wait on you quicker.  A good Premium Retailer should be able to give you exceptional service.  If not go find one who will.  If price is the only issue that you have and you are good with technology buy your phone at Wal-mart or online.  It is definately cheaper.  Wal-mart works off of a very small profit margin so they can sell their phones at a loss and make it up on what the carrier pays them.  Phones are extremly expensive.  The cost to the dealer is about $450 for a smart phone.  So every phone that is sold is sold at a loss.  Why carriers sell equipment for a loss is that they make it up over the 2 year contract that you sign.  With hopes that you will stay with them longer.  I hope this helps enlighten any issues you may have.  I am not try to be confrontational.  Just trying to share a little info.

sincerely,

a wireless expert

I have been working for a Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer for years. Every Retalier is not the same i must admit, but its your job as the consumer to do your research before buying something. Most retailers are different but have one common theme and thats customer service. We are all trained the importance of customer service. Wether Reatiler or Corp the training is the same when it comes to the product. Every premiuim retailer will set up their own prices, but every premiuim retailer will price match any other listed price. If you spent a little more time doing your research on your product you may have not spend $80 dollars more and thats the consumers negligance. We as a buisness set prices according to what will keep our buisness in the plus and not the minus. Unfortunaly a corp store can set prices at a ridicluosly low level sometimes that we just cant match without bringing our profit into the negative. There is one thing i guarentee you will get out of a premiuim retalier and thats excellent customer service. So please do your yourself a favor and spend a little time looking into the product before you accuse a company of ripping you off. You ripped yourself off.

You seem to be just another person who hasn't done their homework. I used to work for a Premium Verizon Retailer, and most of what you said is incorrect as you can't lump all of the 3rd party retailers into the same group. Each retailer is owned and operated differently with different rules for their employees and different policies in regarding how they handle returned phones and cancelled service. Your biased view comes from a bad experience with a Premium Retailer because you didn't do any research beforehand.

First, each Premium Retailer is bound by the rules that Verizon places on them. These rules only have to do with the service that is provided, and not the phones being sold. As I said, each one is different. Premium Retailers don't rip off their customers by charging them $80 more than the corporate Verizon store, that particular chain that you dealt with is the one ripping people off. Some will be higher, and some will be lower at the companies discretion. The store that I worked for routinely matched or beat Verizon's prices on their phones, usually offering our customers deals on the handset that Verizon never would.

Second, granted, there is USUALLY a fee on the phone itself if you cancel your service beyond the 30 day test drive period but inside of 6 months, however, that is once again at the discretion of the store itself and not a requirement imposed by Verizon Wireless. There are stores that do not have this stipulation in their store agreement.

Third, at a decent Premium Retailer, you will receive a higher level of customer service than the corporate Verizon store will offer. When an associate sells you a phone, they are taking the responsibility upon themselves to help you in any way they can with your phone because if you're unhappy and cancel within six months, they lose their commissions for selling you the phone. They have access to tools and parts of Verizon support that the average customer does not, and can help you with most anything. The person you buy the phone from becomes your own personal support rep for your Verizon account. My personal rountine involved calling the customer at 30 and 90 days after they activated their phones in order to make sure everything was okay and see if they had any questions. It all depends on where you decide to go and WHICH retailer you get your phone from.

Do your homework, take some time on your research, and find out which Premium Retailer would do well for you. Your bad experience with one dealer does NOT mean that ALL dealers have the same inflated prices and poor service.

You consumers need to understand that cell phones have a value. Motorola and Nokia don't stay in business by giving carriers phones for free. Wal-mart tends to sell phones for cheaper than anyone else in the industry, so it is not fair to hold a Premium Retailer, or anyone else for that matter, responsible for not matching phone prices.

Blackberry sells its Verizon 8130 Pearl to Verizon for a set price. Verizon then sells it to its distributors, ex. Wal-Mart and Premium Retailers for $375. Now, depending on what part of the country you're in, the commission to the dealer for selling a $39.99 rate plan won't be more than $300. Now if you add the Blackberry data for a minimum of $29.99 a month, which is required to purchase a Blackberry, a dealers commission can jump up to around an extra $150, or $450 total. In most, probably all cases, the Premium dealer's commission will be less than Wal-Mart's... I'd guess about $400 for this plan. So, if a dealer would match this price, he'd make $25. You can't make stay in business by making $25 on a phone.

By the way, shopping at a Verizon Premium Retailer is almost always in your favor. It is independantly owned, so you have the opportunity to haggle along with getting accessories at a better price or free. Not only that, you're keeping the little guys in business rather than selling your soul to Wal-Mart.

The company I worked for was cellular sales! It is true that we could give a new phone cheaper to a new customer! This is because we got payed more for new costomers and had a higher "phone loss"(meaning less of the phone cost came out of our pay). I can't tell you how many time I had to trick upgrading customers into thinking they would get a good deal. You do get 100 dollars on the primary lime on your 2 year upgrade. On upgrades the 100 buck you get would cut to depply in to the dealers pay. In some cases is dealer would lose money if they sold you the phone at the "normal" cost. This is because upgrades had less pay and phone loss. It is not verizion it is the dealer. If you stick with verizion go online that seems to be where you get the best deals. Unless you know a dealer that scams phones. They do that alot.

Phones would always cost little to nothing if you cut out the dealer. I would get 120 on a new activation on a phone I sold for 50 dollars with a 50 dollar mail in rebate. Just how cheap would they be if you cut out the middle man?

I used to work here and can testify to this report and much more about this company.

The $39.99 cell phone plan is not a technicality. If you can buy a BlackBerry with a plan for $39.99, then it is less than the approximately $70 per month that Verizon charges for the same phone. Lower price is not a technicality, it's a lower price. Apples to apples, you get more with Verizon's plan. However, having the option to add features is preferable to having them bundled and forced on the consumer who might not want them or use them.

As I said before, the $50 rebate is independent of WalMart, meaning it has absolutely nothing to do with WalMart, either in store or online. This is an entirely different vendor. WalMart would know nothing about this unless they are making a similar offer which, to my knowledge, they are not.

My point was that the person who originally created this post only scratched the surface when she complained about the Verizon "premium stores." Premium pricing extends into any Verizon store and I think I've more than demonstrated my point through these posts. The most Verizon can tell people is that they have the best coverage, best service, best whatever. The real question is whether this best coverage and best service justifies the price Verizon charges. The bottom line is you can get the best coverage and best service without having to pay a premium for the hardware necessary to have that best coverage and best service. America is about capitalism and this means competition, in service AND in price.

As for me not keeping an open mind, if this were really the case, I would have just stuck with paying whatever Verizon asked for their hardware without looking any further. It is, in fact, my open mind that helped me to find other hardware vendors. I'm stubborn too? I explained my position early on and I stuck to my position because I could back it up. If I'm stubborn because I didn't run for cover when confronted with a rebuttal that did nothing to refute my position, then I guess I'm stubborn.

Finally, the fact that I don't buy hardware from Verizon when I can find the same products for less elsewhere hardly makes me a cheapskate. Some people call this smart shopping. Neiman Marcus charges a small fortune for most everything they sell. They must have the best stuff which is why they charge more, right? I can't imagine buying a $500 or $600 Brooks Brothers suit when I could go to Neiman Marcus and spend $2000 or more for a suit that does the same thing. If I bought the suit from Neiman Marcus, I would have $1500 less but I would have the best, right? Do you bring your Verizon check over to Neiman Marcus to buy your clothes? Did you buy your car from Neiman Marcus? Have you bought anything from Neiman Marcus? If not, you must surely be a cheapskate as well. Being smart with your money is not being a cheapskate. People work hard for their money and so should Verizon.

I haven't resorted to any ad hominem arguments through all of these posts. Accusing me of not keeping an open mind and calling me stubborn and a cheapskate does not support anything you have to say. It does nothing for your argument and it certainly does not help the image of your company or its employees. I have enjoyed the debate as well but I could do with a little more research from you and little less with the names.

Ok, you got me on a technicality on the 39.99 blackberry plan. Yea of course there are other carriers, but last i checked this report was headlined Verizon Wireless. So if you wanna chalk up a win on a technicality go ahead but regarding Verizon i'm 100% correct...call and ask! Blackberry has an agreement with Verizon that a data plan MUST be attached to a blackberry device of $29.99 or more. Other smartphones Treo, Motorola Q do not require a data feature you can go pay as you go.

The rebate...yea irrelavent where it comes from, you are correct. I did call 3 different wal-mart wireless departments in my area. Each i asked the same question "i was looking online and saw on certain wireless cell phone devices you could make $50, how does that work?" Each one responded differently but got the same point across. The phone prices you see online, are for online only. They are not always the same in the stores and right now we do not have any phones that you make money on. That was not just for Verizon Wireless either, i did not specify which phone or carrier i was looking at either.

You are always going to find something cheaper than a corporate location with accessories and sometimes phones. Yea there are a few retailers that give phones away for new customers. But 99% of the time it's not that hot new phone out that everyone wants or that does everything. I wasn't implying that you care about the pricing struture, just stating that you don't understand it. Not ALL products that you get at authorized retailers and even Wal-mart are identical products, alot of authorized retails buy phones that Verizon does not warranty including Wal-mart that is how they are able to sell at the prices they do. Whether you care or not is a different story. I'm not saying the place you bought yours does that or your phone doesn't have a warranty through Verizon.

If you want the best you are going to pay for the best. Verizon is more expensive yes, but they are the best that's why they can be more expensive and people still love them. Being the fact that Verizon Wireless has more Post Pay customers than anyone and just as you said a majority of the people you talk to are Verizon. Yea you might be able to get all your features for cheaper on another carrier, but you probably would have to get a larger bucket of minutes and texting b/c you would not have the luxury of talking/texting Verizon customers for free anymore. Therefore you would have to go up in price on another carrier based on the amount of minutes/texting you would be using.

As far as phone prices, it all boils down to money. I'm sure you have a job or have at least had a job. If your boss competed with every price out there, whether the internet or some discount store they probably wouldn't be in business, unless in fact you do work at a discount store. If you go to a corporate with a new every 2 discount you are entitled to up to a $100 phone for free......yes free at the corporate location and Premium Retailers. Authorized retailers can negotiate deals with Verizon on their commission structure to enable deals like that to be done, in addition to other spiffs running.

You are entitled to shop around for something to get it cheap, but when it breaks or something goes wrong and the place where you got it for cheap can't help you and sends you to a corporate location or premium retailer. Don't be surprised when that phone you got isn't all that you thought it was, it may be, i'm not saying i know that will happen just merely saying don't be surprised.

I'm done arguing with you as you do not keep an open mind and are too stubborn. But that is how cheapskates are, don't care as long as it's cheap or free. Thanks for the debate.

First, there is no "scheme" by WalMart to give consumers $50 for a phone. The promotion is independent of WalMart. Whether the $50 comes out of the pocket of the retailer or the cell phone service provider is irrelevant. How many consumers are going to stop to consider where the $50 came from before deciding to accept the $50? Speculation on my part here but I would surmise that if you offer 10 people $50 with their new cell phone, those 10 people will probably accept the $50. It doesn't matter who honors the rebate from a consumer perspective. $50 is $50 regardless of where it comes from.

Second, I'm telling you you are wrong about the $39.99 BlackBerry plan because you are wrong. Not all cell phone providers make you add the 29.99 data plan if you buy a BlackBerry the way Verizon does. This plan is a la carte, meaning that you can add web, text messaging, email, whatever else as you please. The phone plan is still $39.99. I read the text of the agreement and this is indeed true. If you want web access, email, etc., you are right - the bill is more. However, I said before that I could get the BlackBerry with a $50 rebate and for a $39.99 monthly plan and I stand by that claim. It is available and it is not through WalMart.

Lastly, I am complaining about Verizon's phone prices because they are higher than even their "authorized agents." Verizon stores do not compete on price. Period. They do not match, they do not negotiate, they do not care; the price is the price to them. I have yet to use the Verizon gift card I received over the holidays because I found the phone, the memory card, and the Bluetooth headset cheaper elsewhere. I don't care about Verizon's "hardware pricing structure" and I doubt most consumers do either. Most people understand that paying more for something in one store when they can get the same product elsewhere for less is a bad idea. I'm talking about identical products. This is not rocket science. No need to understand any "hardware pricing structure" to know that if consumers can pay less for the same product, they probably will. I don't care how Verizon justifies this to their employees; in the real world it makes no sense.

My new phone plan is higher but I have more options. I am not complaining about that at all. I could get the same options cheaper but that would mean using a different provider. I chose Verizon because of my friends and family so that's nobody's fault but mine. When I say "the long I stay, the more I pay," I mean that I pay more for a phone than some person who is new to Verizon. I don't know whether Verizon stores offer these deals but their "authorized agents" certainly do. In fact, some GIVE you the phone if you are a new customer. I know this for a fact because this is the problem I had when I got my phone. Staying for 10 years was not smart on my part.

This is hardly personal. I don't doubt that you and your store are tech-savvy and that's great. Verizon is still more expensive, both from a hardware and a service perspective. I originally wrote in to confirm that buying hardware from a Verizon store, regular or "premium" (whatever that is), is foolhardy and I stand by that claim. One need only spend a little time on the internet to validate what I am saying. That would be doing your homework.

While i don't doubt Wal-mart has some scheme for consumer's to make $50 on phones. I know for certain that it must come out of their own pocket, the manufactorers of the phones are the ones that provide rebates, and as stated in my previous post and on the rebate forms. If the purchase price is lower than the rebate price, the rebate will NOT be honored" Not sure how you can tell me i didn't do my homework, i've been on the Wal-Mart website, i've seen their "deals". I've also dealt with them as well, my store is less than a mile from a Wal-mart.

As far as the price plan, why are you telling me i'm wrong? You didn't even buy that blackberry, yea you can get a price plan 39.99, BUT you are REQUIRED to have a 29.99 data plan on blackberry devices, gee i guess Wal-Mart plays the handset game too huh?? Why would I have any incentive to make this stuff up either, my information comes DIRECTLY from Verizon Wireless not Wal-Mart.

Most likely you probably still do not understand the hardware pricing structure. Because if you did, i would really be bitching about Verizon's phone prices. I have no idea what phone you have but judging by your posts and buying at wal-mart you probably have some cheaper FREE phone. I can't say that sometimes Verizon Wireless overprices their phones, but let's be honest what business doesn't overprice sometimes? I'm not saying your ALL wrong with everything you said either, especially the part about buying something at a store and when it breaks you take it and the person has no clue what to do for you. I however and not one of those people, neither are the employees of my store.. I'm just providing you with the FACTS about how Verizon Wireless really works.

In reference to your bill getting higher i can't explain that without seeing your bill. Seeing that you have been with VZW for 10 years i'm sure your plan started out dirt cheap for the monthly access but has since gotten higher with newer price plans. You have to understand, they don't just jack up the price without you getting something in return. You've gotten a much bigger footprint (the entire US) with the best network you can get, in addition to that all your friends that have verizon, i'm sure you talk/text them ALOT more than non-Verizon customers....right?

So please don't tell me i didn't do my homework b/c i promise i have much more knowledge and information about this situation than you do.

If you did your homework, then you would have visited Wal Mart's website and you would have seen that you could get the phone for free. It is free and only if you are a new customer to Verizon. I am not making this up. Why would I make it up? I'm not here to promote Wal Mart and I'm sure not promoting Verizon but if you're going to buy the phone and sign up with Verizon, you might as well get the benefit of my homework.

Furthermore, if you look around, not just at Wal Mart (ie, do your homework), you will see that you can get the BlackBerry AND $50 on top of that. Again, not making this up. Moreover, it is advertised right next to the BlackBerry that the rate for the plan IS $39.99. I did not get this phone or plan because I'm still with Verizon. I'm still with Verizon because of the free Verizon to Verizon calling but, rest assured, I'm no lifelong Verizon customer anymore. I have virtually no incentive to make any of this up. I am not employed by T-mobile, Verizon, WalMart, myrateplan.com, any cellphone provider, or hardware manufacturer.

Frankly, I don't care if someone reading any of this decides to have no cell phone at all. On the other hand, if you are buying a phone, then you might want to listen to what I have to say. Lastly, phones are expendable now; people change phones like they're changing clothes. If the phone breaks, I'm not going to waste my time talking to some salesperson who likely has no idea about electronics beyond the button that turns the phone on. If I'm paying for the salesperson/customer service expertise when it comes to phone malfunctions, please deduct that portion of my bill as that is entirely useless. I have been with Verizon for over 10 years and it's only because I didn't pay much attention to the hardware pricing structure until now. You can be sure, though, that I will not hesitate to tell anyone who will listen about this wonderful cell phone game, brought on in large part by the cell phone companies themselves. The longer I stay, the more I pay and you still haven't convinced me otherwise.

Premium Retailers are a title give by Verizon Wireless to certain franchises that they decide are better than authorized agents. Yes there are some Premium Retails (in my area) that do not deserve that title, but there are some that definately do deserve it.

your
you did your homework, great....but not enough.
Not sure how you get paid $50 for a blackberry since the rebate company will not honor a rebate for something you paid nothing for, unless somehow wal-mart sends you a rebate themselves. I just looked at the fine print on my rebate forms and it states and i quote "For phones purchased at a Verizon Wireless Communications store or kiosk, rebate not available if final equipment purchase price (prior to rebate) is less than the state rebate amount."

When you upgrade/sign a new contract and are the primary line on the account or single line calling plan, you are elible for a new phone free of up to a $100 value. New customers DO NOT get phones cheaper than that. Secondary line on Family Share accounts on eligible for promotional pricing only

Your blackberry and plan for 39.99 is also false information that if you just upgraded at Wal-mart you will find out quickly that at least $29.99/mo email and web feature MUST BE added to your plan when activating a blackberry device. The phone cannot be activate without that plan. So hopefully wal-mart informed you of this or you already knew this since you did you homework.

If you think Verizon Wireless is worse then any other carrier why have you been with them for over 10 years? Of course your can find something cheaper at a discount store. But tell me this......if your blackberry breaks or has some issue do you really think the "sales person" (i use that term loosely) is going to have any clue as to how to fix it? NO! they are going to say "go to the corporate store" Some places when you buy equipment part of that price is paying for the service you are going to get. You get what you pay for, some people are just flat out cheapskates. For that fact is why when you need to get something simple done, like a phonebook transfer or switch phones on the account corporate stores will charge a service fee for that.

Just remember, you get what you pay for!!

Any rebuttles i will gladly respond to them as well!

What exactly justifies a "premium" label on a Verizon store? What's so "premium" about it? The price? This doesn't strike me as out of the norm with Verizon. I have found almost all of my hardware cheaper elsewhere and Verizon would do nothing to match it. Guess I did my homework, Dan the Verizon Man. I've been with Verizon for over 10 years and only now as I decided to get a new phone did I realize this cell phone business is a game. The game is setup to force you to switch to a new provider. If you want a new phone (yours will eventually die), you can get some kind of credit for a new phone up to about $100 or so. Wow, $100. That would have paid for my phone but since I was such a long time customer, my phone was priced from $209 to $379 depending on who I talked to at Verizon.

However, if you are a new customer to the carrier, these cell phone carriers will roll out the red carpet for you. I could have had a Blackberry for the same service plan I have now (39.99), AND been paid $50. Verizon could not match this and could only apologize. Apparently these "authorized agents" are the mothers of all negotiation when it comes to purchasing and passing those savings on to consumers. It seems Verizon will just agree to buy at whatever price and pass those ridiculous costs on to consumers as well.

I'm not subsidizing Verizon's inability to negotiate a better price. I did do my homework, Dan, and I'll just give everyone here the short, succinct version - don't buy your Verizon hardware from a Verizon store. Try Wal-Mart. Seriously, my phone was almost free but for my allegiance to Verizon. It was free if I was new but for me it was $100 since I was renewing. Furthermore, get your friends and family to switch providers after your contract period (about 2 years). If businesses make bad rules and customers don't figure it out, it's not a game; it's a rip-off. Bad business shouldn't be rewarded with repeat customers. The longer you stay, the more you pay. Dispute that, Dan.

M

I just want you to take some pictures of the store where you bought your phone - exterior, interior, whatever, and post them somewhere. When you do, you're going to feel very silly because I guarantee that the store has PLENTY of signage indicating that it is a Verizon Wireless AUTHORIZED AGENT and therefore is an independent store. I also am sure that the store has plenty of signs indicating the name of the actual store.

Better yet, just tell us the name of the company on your receipt - then we can go to their website and see what their stores look like for ourselves.

My favorite comment is this: "I consider what they are doing fraud! Customers should be told BEFORE they make a purchase that they are paying extra because they happened to walk into this so-called Premium Retailer."

Why do you hold your wireless provider to a different standard? When you walk into a Circuit City, do you expect them to tell you that the SONY television you are buying is on sale for less at the SONY outlet store??? If you buy a brand new Chevy Impala from one car dealership, do they tell you before you buy "oh hey by the way, we're charging you more than the dealer down the street..."???

The stores set their own prices. Sometimes you'll get a better price at an agent store, sometimes you'll get a better price at a corporate store. However, the agents are free to negotiate on price, the corporate salespeople generally are not.

Admit it, you didn't do your homework and you got burned. There's no reason to hold it against the store or the company because you didn't read the sign on the door before you walked in.