As a family of 7 there are things we shop family plans and individually to see where the best deal is. Last month our cellular family plan was expiring so we were shopping around with all the major networks and some resellers, and timing worked out that Verizon had the best rates for us on both new devices (which we got entirely free with trading in our 3 year old devices) and lines at the time. 5 of us have cell phones, and we moved them all from our previous carrier.
In the store, this is always an ordeal, and this time was no exception as it took 3 hours and manager intervention to get everything working. Then we went home and set up our online account access and here’s where it gets interesting.
We were never told in the store that there would be activation fees, but when the first bill generated a couple days in, there was a $50 activation fee for each line. I chatted a Support rep and was able to get all of them removed. So we went from $250 underwater back to even here. Then I noticed a notification of being eligible for a rebate. Also hadn’t been mentioned in the store. It was a rebate on EACH LINE of $250 for switching carriers. I waited to write this until they all went through and we’re now up $1250 on this deal, basically covering our phone bill for the next 6+ months.
The rebate had to be submitted within the first 30 days of switching or we would have missed out, and if we’d just set up autopay without looking we’d have been out the never quoted activation fees as well. Moral of the story, whenever you open a new account, log in early, often, and poke around. Sometimes there’s buried treasure.
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