- Jul 22, 2000
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This will be my first time dealing with Apple, but my family has been with Verizon for a while. We're all eligible for upgrades.
We're looking to do the following upgrades:
Dumb phone > 4s (99 cents - $5 credit for trade-in)
iPhone 4 > 5s Gold 32GB ($299 - $100 credit for trade-in)
Dumb phone > 5s White 16GB ($199 - $5 credit for trade-in)
Old Droid > 5s White 16 GB ($199 - $8 credit for trade-in)
I was going to have all this done at the Verizon store, until we were about to check out and he informed us that there's a $30, non-waivable 'upgrade fee' FOR EACH PHONE.
That's $120 out of pocket ... for nothing.
On Apple's website, there is no activation fee.
The rep told me I can get all the phones from Apple and just come into the store to activate them so they can convert our plan from 2GB per-phone plan (I have to choose something on Apple's site) to a 4GB Family Share Everything plan.
He told me there won't be any activation fees since I'm getting it through Apple. He also notified me the Silver 5s is shipping late October, with the Gold shipping in November to Verizon.
Insurance is $10 per month per phone through Verizon with a $170 (4s) - $180 (5s) deductible per incident. This also extends the manufacturer's warranty by 1 year.
Apple Care though is only $99 up front, extends manufacturer's warranty by 1 year, and gives you 2 accidental damages with an $80 deductible.
So, by all accounts it's a lot cheaper to go directly through Apple (and may get the phones earlier) than through Verizon. As long as you don't have more than 2 incidents, after 1 year and 1 repair, Verizon total cost = $300, Apple total cost = $180.
Here are my questions, hopefully you guys can answer:
1) Can anyone verify that there is in fact no $30 'upgrade fee' when ordering directly from Apple?
2) Does the 'accidental damage' cover everything basically? Cracked screen, fell in water, feel on the ground, theft, etc? $80 vs. $180 is a huge difference, not to mention the $120 (1 year insurance through Verizon) vs. $99 through Apple.
3) How good is Apple Care overall?
4) On Apple's site it says 'shipping in October' for all these phones. How accurate is that?
5) Has anyone had problems getting phones THROUGH Apple, then taking them to Verizon to get the plan altered (if you have a family plan for instance like I do)?
6) Any issues with trade-ins?
7) We're going to stagger the activations. If we get these phones soon (they're all coming to me), 2 of them will be sitting unactivated until my parents get into town a couple weeks later. There shouldn't be any issues with a delayed activation, right?
8) Anything else I missed?
TIA!
We're looking to do the following upgrades:
Dumb phone > 4s (99 cents - $5 credit for trade-in)
iPhone 4 > 5s Gold 32GB ($299 - $100 credit for trade-in)
Dumb phone > 5s White 16GB ($199 - $5 credit for trade-in)
Old Droid > 5s White 16 GB ($199 - $8 credit for trade-in)
I was going to have all this done at the Verizon store, until we were about to check out and he informed us that there's a $30, non-waivable 'upgrade fee' FOR EACH PHONE.
That's $120 out of pocket ... for nothing.
On Apple's website, there is no activation fee.
The rep told me I can get all the phones from Apple and just come into the store to activate them so they can convert our plan from 2GB per-phone plan (I have to choose something on Apple's site) to a 4GB Family Share Everything plan.
He told me there won't be any activation fees since I'm getting it through Apple. He also notified me the Silver 5s is shipping late October, with the Gold shipping in November to Verizon.
Insurance is $10 per month per phone through Verizon with a $170 (4s) - $180 (5s) deductible per incident. This also extends the manufacturer's warranty by 1 year.
Apple Care though is only $99 up front, extends manufacturer's warranty by 1 year, and gives you 2 accidental damages with an $80 deductible.
So, by all accounts it's a lot cheaper to go directly through Apple (and may get the phones earlier) than through Verizon. As long as you don't have more than 2 incidents, after 1 year and 1 repair, Verizon total cost = $300, Apple total cost = $180.
Here are my questions, hopefully you guys can answer:
1) Can anyone verify that there is in fact no $30 'upgrade fee' when ordering directly from Apple?
2) Does the 'accidental damage' cover everything basically? Cracked screen, fell in water, feel on the ground, theft, etc? $80 vs. $180 is a huge difference, not to mention the $120 (1 year insurance through Verizon) vs. $99 through Apple.
3) How good is Apple Care overall?
4) On Apple's site it says 'shipping in October' for all these phones. How accurate is that?
5) Has anyone had problems getting phones THROUGH Apple, then taking them to Verizon to get the plan altered (if you have a family plan for instance like I do)?
6) Any issues with trade-ins?
7) We're going to stagger the activations. If we get these phones soon (they're all coming to me), 2 of them will be sitting unactivated until my parents get into town a couple weeks later. There shouldn't be any issues with a delayed activation, right?
8) Anything else I missed?
TIA!