I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago titled Verizon Storm 2 Question.  The post was about how I used the upgrade on my line to get my girlfriend a Storm 2 on her line (we’re on a family share plan).  When I did this I asked the sales guy about the buy one, get one free offer.  He said it would only work if I got a new line since the other line on my share plan was not eligible for an upgrade.  I won’t go into my the whole story as it’s in the previous post but I wanted to let you know what I ended up doing.

What I decided to do

I added another line to my family plan in order to get a free Storm 2.  This means that I signed a new 2-year contract.  I was required to activate the Storm 2 on my new line and as soon as I did I then took it off that line.  I then put my girlfriend’s old phone onto that line.  This allowed me to sell the Storm 2.  Also when you activate the Storm 2 Verizon requires you to add a data plan to that line.  Once I took the Storm 2 off of my line I was able to immediately drop the data plan.  I am also required to keep the line for 30 days.  If I cancel it before 30 days I’m required to return the Storm 2.

The costs

The Storm 2 costs $279.99 with a 2-year contracts.  I also had a $100 credit from Verizon for my new every two.  Then the Storm 2 also came with a $100 mail-in rebate, which I sent out right away.  The cost of adding another line is $9.99.  I just received my first bill a few days ago and it included “Verizon wireless surcharges and other charges” equaling $27.95.  This included activation.  Now I was told activation was free and looking at another part of my bill I was credited $27.24.  Then I also had “Taxes, governmental surcharges and fees” totaling $4.01.  So my grand total for the first month is $14.71.

My ebay experience

I then took the Storm 2 to ebay.  They were running a promotion so the listing was free.  Actually I paid $0.50 for the listing because I included a sub-title.  All I did for the listing was pretty much copy a recently finished listing.  The final offer for my phone $485.  I was hoping to get close to $500 since the retail price of the Storm 2 is $539.99 without a contract.  I was pretty happy with the price and was paid through paypal.  I included free shipping on ebay so that cost me $6.67.  Then after paypal fees I was able to withdraw $465.78.

Total experience

So let’s look at this in total.  When I look at my receipt, the total came to $213.53 which included a case and screen cover.  In return I got another Storm 2 in which I was able to put $459.11 in my pocket right now.  I also have $100 mail-in rebate that I should receive in a couple of weeks.  The downfall is that I have to deal with my other line.  I can do one of two things, 1. I can cancel the line and pay the $175 cancellation fee and be done with it or 2. I can continue to pay the $9.99 per month plus taxes and fees for 2 years.  I have another week and a half to decide if there is any reason to keep this extra line?

If I follow my original plan and cancel the line as soon as I can Verizon will have paid me $155.87 to get my girlfriend a brand new Storm 2 with a case and screen cover.  That’s not too shabby.  I do have let you know that I’ve read recently that Verizon is raising their early termination fee on ‘advanced devices’.  Sounds like this is prevent what I just did.  Good thing it’s a little late.

Related posts:

1. Verizon Storm 2 Question
2. Money Is Not Math…
3. Who Controls Your Retirement Money?

Yesterday, I had the joy of going to Verizon Wireless.  My girlfriend’s cell phone wasn’t charging anymore and she has had her heart set on a Blackberry Storm 2, so we went to look at them.  A little while ago, we had combined our two lines onto a family share plan which helped us save about $30 per month.  I am happy to save  $360 per year.  I knew my line was eligible for an upgrade.  Actually, my line has been for a while, Verizon doesn’t have very good smartphones mostly due to the fact that  I’ve avoided Blackberrys.

So we start talking to the sales guy.  I ask him about the Storm 2 and the mail-in rebate they are offering.  It’s funny, I think every phone in the place had some form of a mail-in rebate.  $50 here and $100 there, nothing upfront all mail-in.  So the Storm 2 costs $179.99.  That’s what they tell you.  So I’m like no, how much do I need to pay.  Because I pay $279.99 out of pocket and then get a form on the receipt to fill out and mail-in for my rebate.  Time to get rebate 2-6 weeks, but they guy said it usually comes closer to 2.  I’m sure it does.

Then I inquired about the buy one, get one free.  That’s a good deal, how do I get that?  So the guy had to look my account up.  Of course he starts off by telling me how my number is eligible for an upgrade and I have an upgrade credit of $100 (which I knew about).  Great!  Then he looks and says the other line on the account is not eligible for an upgrade until February.  So I can’t get the buy one, get one free.  There’s the catch, both lines need to be eligible for an  upgrade.  My first thought is ‘does that ever happen?’  But of course if you open two lines at the same time then your upgrade eligibility would be at the same time.

• Tip: If you’re on a family share plan, do all your phone upgrades at the same time.  That’s how you get the best deals.

I never thought of that.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t wait another 4 months because we basically had a broken phone.  So I start asking the guy if there is anyway that we could get the buy one, get one free.  His response, ‘get another line’.   My first reaction is ‘how does that make any sense?’  I go through the math in my head.  It’s a $180 phone.  The new line would be at least $10/month plus with a Blackberry you need to have the data feature which costs $30/month and you need to sign a 2 year agreement.  So that means that I would pay $40/month for two years just to get a free phone.  That’s paying $480 to save $180.  Does that make any sense?

The sales guy then tells me something that I almost fell over at.  He says “It’s a way to finance your phone”.  What?!?  Why would anyone do this?  He says it happens all the time.  Let’s do the math.  Taking an equation from Wikipedia, the interest rate comes out to 63.299%.  How do you feel about that?  I guess the best sales technique here is that they never mention rate because it’s not an actual loan.  So people say oh $40 a month I can afford that.

I’m not a Verizon guy but I think you could technically move the phone to your main line and reduce the cost of this new line to $10 per month.  I believe the Blackberry would need to be on the line for 24 or 48 hours (something like that) and then you would need to transfer another phone on that line, to pull this off.  This would then reduce your payments to $10/month instead of $40/month.  Now let’s look at it.  Using the same equation I came up with 15.470%.  That’s a little better, I guess.

I’m going to be honest.  My original thought was to get the free phone and sell it on ebay.  I figured that I could make money off this deal.  My phone is fine so why do I need a new one.  I am waiting to see what comes over to Verizon at the start of 2010.  With rumors of the Palm Pre and even possibly the iPhone, I have no problem waiting until next February to upgrade my phone.  The Storm 2 retails for $539.99 so I figured I should be able to get $400 or $500 for it.  That would be cool.  However, it doesn’t work as easy as I wanted it to, so I didn’t do it.

I also learned that people come in all the time and pay full retail price for phones.  A cell phone seems to be a great example of people trying to make a statement or status recognition with their possessions.  Whatever it takes to get the coolest phone right?  Full retail or some form of ‘financing’.  Is it a scam to use the term ‘financing’ to get someone to make a sale?  Do Verizon Wireless employees get paid commissions for sales?  Initially, this was my basis on writing this post but it’s changed as I been writing and now I need your help.

I just came up with something while writing, please let me know what you think.  Is it worth it to open up this other line and get the free phone?  I mean I could pay $10/month and sell the free phone for $450 (let’s say).  Is that a good deal?  Leverage the free phone to make $450 – $10/month.  Or maybe it’s better to cancel the line.  The termination fee is $175.  So instead of paying $10/month for 2 years or $240 I would instead pay $175 and not have to worry about it.  So I could keep the line active until I sold the Storm 2 on ebay then terminate the line.  So even if I got $400 for the Storm 2, the most it would cost me is $40 for the first month of service plus a $175 termination fee for a total of $215.  I would make $185.  That sounds like a good deal.  What do you think?  Should I see if I can pull this off even though I bought the phone yesterday?  They should let me change my mind right?

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Related posts:

1. How I Made Money With My Verizon Storm 2

Yesterday, I had a message on my voicemail from someone we’ll call Paul.  It said something along the lines of ‘Hi, it’s Paul.  We met last night at the networking event.  I made a note to call you because you had mentioned having to deal with acid reflux.”  Now I go to my fair share of networking events.  I meet a good number of people and they always ask for my card.  I’ve been giving it to them.  The funny thing is they never call me.  Paul did, so I called Paul back.

Now when Paul called me he was focused on the call and was probably all ready to talk.  When I called Paul back, I could tell he was searching or going through his stuff to figure out what he wanted to talk to me about.  Now I told Paul that I was calling him because I was impressed he actually called after a networking event and I was showing my respect for him and his business by returning his call.  But he wasn’t ready because I called him and when he couldn’t find his notes on me, he did what every cold caller does, he talked.  He was off and running.

When I mean off and running, I mean talk, talk, talk.  I couldn’t get a word in.  I don’t even know if he took a breathe.  Everybody has had a call like this right?  The kind of call that you barely have enough time to squeeze in the uh-huh.  So I waited and waited for my chance to speak.  Then I think he took a breathe.  I looked at the phone and said something along these lines “Paul, I’ve been on the phone with you for 7:38 and I don’t want you to take this the wrong way but I haven’t been able to say a word.  It sounded like in the beginning you were looking for your notes on me, I’m guessing you didn’t find them?”  Paul said “no I can’t seem to”.  “Well in your message you mentioned acid reflux.  I know that, why didn’t you ask?”  Paul stuttered.  So I said “You’ve told me how great this product of yours is but unfortunately, most of it doesn’t apply to me.  However, if you had got me talking about my acid reflux, you might have just gotten somewhere.”

Now me and Paul continued talking for about a half hour.  The conversation ended with him thanking me for my honesty and constructive criticism.  I also ended up learning that not only was Paul trying to sell me a product but he is also sort of in between jobs and this is a part-time thing for him.  I’m going to introduce him to a couple of people I know that might be able to help him find a job.  Why?  Because I like Paul and I like the fact that he called.  He can learn to talk better on the phone but you can’t teach people to actually call.  (Well, technically you can it’s just a lot harder to do)

Why am I tell you this?  I was reading Knowing vs doing: Let’s compare these 2 friends who try to earn more from @ramit.  The difference between your financial success and your financial failure begins with your income.  If you don’t have any or enough then how can you succeed and it is a lot easier to succeed with a big income.  So can you call?  Erica Douglass teaches us that if you can make 5 call you can make 500.  And if you can make 500 you can make 5,000.  Whatever it takes.  Paul can call.  He’s ahead of about 95% or maybe even 99% of all the people I meet networking.  These people call themselves entrepreneurs or worse yet they are working for someone else.  Paul is one step closer to succeeding than they are, he called.

If you can call then go see The Rainmaker Maker so you can learn about what to do next.

If you can’t call then you just might want to devote some time to that or find a new job.  Something is  broken, are you going to, or better yet willing to, fix it?

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