Verizon Wireless Verizon charges a $30.00 upgrade fee when you buy a new phone from them. Internet

We have been loyal Verizon Wireless customers for at least fifteen years. Imagine our surprise when we ordered a new phone and agreed to a new two year contract through Amazon Wireless and received an e-mail from Amazon listing a $30.00 upgrade fee. We were told by Amazon that the fee is on the final check out page on their website. It was never mentioned anywhere else in the step by step purchasing procedure.

We called Verizon customer service and were given the lame excuse for the upgrade fee that they were going to use it for "customer workshops" and "educational seminars". Wow, I really wanted to spend $30.00 on something I didn't want or need!!!

We needed to replace two phones. We had already arranged to have the phone we wanted transferred from one Target store to a closer Target store. We will purchase this phone on August 15, 2012, after just purchasing the one from Amazon Wireless on August 14, 2012. We asked customer service if we would have to pay the upgrade fee when we purchased the other phone the next day. Her response is that every time we upgrade (i.e. buy a phone from Verizon), we have to pay the upgrade fee. Now that is what call a double rip-off!!! Yes I know you can buy your phone elsewhere and avoid the Verizon upgrade rip-off.

For Verizon, it pays to be number one with a license to rip-off their customers.

Thanks Verizon for your loyalty to your customers.