Say it more like Simple Jack!

Why is it that the first thing I thought of when I read this headline was "This must be some kind of impersonation scam?"

I had a similar experience with a CSR for Verizon FiOS. They asked if they could look at my account to see if they could save me money. I said NO, I like paying too much money. Just kidding... I said OK, and he said I had two separate movie packages and they would combine them and save me $5 a month.

Then I said I was interested in a second HD DVR set-top box, but I didn't want to pay $17/mo when I was only paying $13/mo for the first one. After looking at some other deals he tried to give me, he finally agreed to give me the second box for $13/mo. I pays to haggle with these guys sometimes.

Whoa, whoa. Where do you find a single plan, let alone an Unlimited Data plan, at Verizon for $30 a month, for two lines?

Because I am lazy and waited until the last minute to pay my home phone bill, up until a couple of years ago, I would often pay it in person at the Verizon store.

Every single month, the person who took my money would quickly review my account and make sure I was getting the best price for the services I needed. Nearly every month, I walked out saving an additional five or ten dollars per month (which, over time, added up).

I thought that was nice (and something I never got with Southwestern Bell).

@BlackMage is doing the Time Warp agaaaaaaain!!!: Its 30 for each line, not 2 lines. And that isa pretty standard not corporate price if im not mistaken. But if you get it, they block access exchange email.

Whom is a direct object.

I had a similar experience with VZ except I called them and we went through all of my accounts (wireless, fios (tx and net), local and long dist.) and at the end of the call we added up the savings and it came out to $67 a month!

@Segador: I'll see you again tonight in my head movies. But this head movies makes my eyes rain!

Until they strip the 5GB cap from their EVDO plans, I won't be planning to switch anytime soon.

@WBrink: No, no, you're supposed to say "Who is a direct object."

"I am."

"So after 14 minutes and 3 seconds on the call, I am not saving $40 per month. How cool is that?"

Oh yeah thats really cool.

VZW did the same to me about 2 years ago.

I thought it might be an impersonation scam at first also, but she only asked me to verify my Zip (or something equally available from a phone book).. No SSN or mother's maiden name, etc. that would have set off alarm bells.

Then I thought that perhaps it was VZW's clever way of getting me to renew my contract, so I asked her if the change in service level would cause my contract to renew. She said no. (<-- Everyone else should ask that too, though.. Never know if they've changed things in the past 2 years).

So I guess it's just their way of getting my rates down before I see the next Sprint ad for a lower rate.

The CSR was promptly fired.

Be careful because Sprint did this to, to renew your contract. Anytime you goto a lower minute plan the system automatically reset your contract date back to 2 years.

Also with Sprint it was a third party that was not "really" Sprint but they were able to make changes to your account just like the people at Best Buy can. Then that company gets a commission check for you resetting your contract back to 2 years.

Yeah I think this is somewhat normal. If they can get you to renew your contract it's good for them. But I'm guessing they don't normally sacrifice $40/mo. to do it. I mean Sprint would call me offering nights and weekends at 7pm for free awhile back and it came with a bonus of a new two year contract.

Ahhh Bizarro....one of my least favorite villains. (That means I like him).

Changing your price plan w/VZW does NOT extend your contract. In fact, if you are running over in a bill cycle, they will allow you to backdate to a higher plan and then future date a return to your normal plan (WAY cheaper than overages).
And, yes, they are trained to try to put people on the plan that fits their needs best--like if someone who is averaging 500 minutes a month is on a 1400 minute plan, that sort of thing.

Let me clarify; the dog hit the enter button while I was answering a text: "If they see someone who is averaging 500 minutes a month, but is on a 1400 minute plan, they are supposed to recommend the lower minute/price plan", that sort of thing.

@AnonymousFinger: $13 a month!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Is there any way to buy these things outright instead of renting them for retarded amounts of money?

I have also had several helpful calls like this from verizon. Ones that let me know I was texting more than I used to and that the 5 dollar plan would save me money. They back dated it and gave me a couple months free sorta thing. I have also had them offer me a 150 dollar credit for renewing my contract. I was planning on it anyway as I personally like verizons service and coverage. I can't say I have ever had any problems. And they don't spam me to tell me American Karaoke is on either.

To echo - changing the number of minutes or most other things does NOT extend the plan by 2 years. I got the same kind of call yesterday. It started with the "you can get a new phone for $100 off" (which would be a 2 year lockin) but continued with a review and it ended up I had a shared plan but dropped the other phones (and apparently am grandfathered into unlimited EVDO). Turns out I could save $20/mo by lowering the minutes which I don't use (except for a few in-plan friends, or nights and weekends which are unlimited anyway).

So far I've not wanted to switch from Verizon. I detached the other phones because I wasn't using them (an unused business phone, and a longtime number I moved to very very inexpensive Callcentric VoIP which I use as just a voice-mailbox with emailed mp3s and a message to dial my main phone if it is urgent).

AT&T did the same thing for my girlfriend last year.

I would go online immediately and see what they actually did to your account. Verify that your contract wasn't extended.

@Shadowman615: No, he's on second. Who's on third.

Lets all thank Blackberry for finally updating their fees they charge to the carriers, hence the lower usage fees for different service.

I get this from godaddy all the time, They call about every 4 months or so, i have the smallest hosting package with them and have my domain pointed at my personal server and keep backups on theirs and have it set as a backup/failover if my box explodes. But they call every so often and say that it shows in my record i'm paying extra for the month to month and if i switch it over to this for Xmonths they'll make it retroactive and reimburse me the extra i paid monthly, then when i tell them i'm planning on cancelling it eventually when i get unlazy and have my own backup server, they drop the issue right then and ask if i have any problems and even offer help and suggestions on my personal equipment that i'm useing instead of paying for theirs. they've never tried to pressure me in to switching and even offer _actual_ help getting my stuff up and running that they don't support or even make money off of.

Verizon really has an uphill battle if they want the above and beyond tag, eh?

@AidenDawgy: I also had Verizon (Wireless) call me when I wasn't using nearly the minutes I had in my plan. They helped me change to a more appropriate money-saving level, and did NOT reset my contract running time.

I'm not super-thrilled when companies call me generally, but I did appreciate this.

@Nighthawke: Yeah, i can't even watch YouTube on Verizon's EVDO

hahaha... hahahaha.. that made me laugh.. thanks

I had the same experience with FiOS. I spoke with them about the my plan and I got two premium packages that after everything was said and done, my monthly was the same as before. They even called me back when they mistakenly told me something and called to clarify. I've liked their CSR.

@esp13: Beautiful :-D

@Segador: You make my pee-pee maker t-t-tingle

I used to work for a company that sold Verizon Business. What they do is call you, tell you you're paying more than you need to be, and then get you to either upgrade your service or sign into a contract. At least, that's what they did with their Business accounts. When people wanted to do things like downgrade or take off features, but didn't want to upgrade their service or sign a contract, the CSRs would either say 'Okay, we'll do it' and not do anything, or give them a different number to call.

These things always seem to happen to reader Ben.

@Warll: now - the w is close to the t.

I know of no company that calls to get you to pay them less. I don't understand your post, either.

@Nighthawke: @Nighthawke: Are you talking about the 5GB cap on aircards? As an ex-employee, just wanted to share with you the reasoning on that, and why it's now becoming industry standard. EV-DO and Rev-A capable aircards are not meant as a sole source of internet. Not even as a backup. They are meant as a source of internet for people, mainly business-people, that need to access limited email, intranet, etc. while on the road. They are not intended nor are they designed to be used in place of a service like DSL or Cable. If one person uses the full 5GB cap or more, the bandwidth is equal to as if the customer had a dedicated cell site transmitting information for them only. It's a burden on the network and to other customers. However, there is a new 10GB plan that is $199/mo. Expensive? Yes. Just another reason not to use it as your primary ISP.

Oh and Nighthawke: I have a BlackBerry 8130, and I can watch YouTube fine over EV-DO

@Warll: Gotta love the editors' proofreading on this blog. This is one of the reasons I still can't believe Consumer Reports bought this site. Well that, and the mood on here is totally opposite to the objective attitude that CR has.

@Saboth: You am have to explain none of the time!

Why everyone run away!!?!? Me am monster! No one like Bizarro! Bizarro go away now!
.. he actually didn't speak in opposites, he was just a bumbling fool that everyone thought was bad because of how he looked, kind of like umm... Frankenstein, where they stole the idea. In reality, he was just a dumbass comic relief sidekick. Then he met the blind girl. Then Superman had to be a dick and fuck things up for him. Bizarro is actually a good guy and Superman fucks him over simply because Superman finds his dumbness annoying, and suddenly he's the bad guy because he gets mad at Superman when Superman cock blocks him and generally treats him like shit just for being alive. This is why I hate Superman. He claims to be all tolerant of others and some sort of high and mighty morals dude, but then does shit like this. It's not the only case. Superman IS a dick. If you don't believe me, read the old comics. He also sucks because all of the early comics are retarded (the newer ones are hardly better) and they use ONLY exclamation points as punctuation. That just annoys the shit out of me.

How cool is it to not save $40 per month? Man, this guy's definition of cool is way skewed.

Sprint has called me in the past to ask if I wanted to lower my bill by lowering the number of minutes I have on my plan. I have a 1400 minute plan and when I only use 700-800 minutes for 2-3 months in a row they will call me on it.

We got a brochure about consolidating plans from QWEST to save money, so we called them. We went over everything for some time. We wound up saving $10 a month and adding a few services, including indoor line repair for nothing extra. A month later we got a letter in the mail. They could save us even more money by unbundling all the plans so they were going ahead to do it retroactively. So, we saved $15 by going a la carte, just as we were originally, but with a few added services!

I have Sprint; 2 lines, 1000 minutes for $50/mo., an offer I got when I called to cancel thanks to their administrative fee addition(which I read about on this site of course!) a year ago. I use 500 minutes max a month. I called to see if I could trade some of those minutes in for a cheaper bill. I was told, for $20 more a month I could get a 700 minute plan. I love helpful CSRs.

AT&T does the same thing for their customers. They call people that are making consecutive overages and do offer the same plans as Verizon. Instead of giving you your 500 additional bonus minutes, AT&T gives you rollover minutes.

I work for Verizon Wireless and sales reps at our store will review accounts of local customers and give them calls for stuff like this. For example, if someone is spending a bunch of money on text messaging without a text bundle, the Verizon rep will offer to put them on the bundle to save money. The cust pays less, and the VZW employee gets credit for the text bundle. Everyone wins.

Unfortunately most people have a strange aversion to saving money when they're called. "Sir, this would save you XX.XX a month..." "No, thank you."

@MisterE87: Not only that, the user database is still linked, just go to your profile and you'll see your gizmodo, etc posts.