Verizon Kills 2 Year Phone Upgrade Program, Screws Over Commissioned Employees

Just as Verizon is about to get their very own shiny iPhone units they have announced that they are killing their New Every Two upgrade program. If you are unfamiliar with their program it allows users to receive credit towards a new phone every two years, a credit that provides them with discounts ranging from $30 to $100.

That two year contract plan will no longer exist as of January 16. Current customers will still be able to take advantage of one upgrade, however after that point they must pay full price for any devices they choose to procure.

In the past Verizon allowed customers to stay on their contract for just 13 months before signing a new contract, that time has been extended to 20 months.

While customers are sure to be a bit peeved by the change, as a former Verizon Wireless sales rep who worked on commission, I would be pissed to learn that a large part of my customer base will not be willing/able to upgrade their contracts at full phone pricing for 20 months. I made a large part of my sales commissions at Verizon thanks to customers looking to upgrade after just over a year of phone use (the typical shelf life for a phone in my 15 years of telecom experience). I can recall hundreds of sales in which someones phone broke after 13+ months and I earned a commission by offering them a discount for a new two year contract.

There is the possibility that Verizon may offer better restructuring of their upgrades program, which customers always found confusion when approaching a rep, but at this time it looks like they are going to try to rely on new iPhone customers, much like AT&T has done since securing their exclusive iPhone contract.

[via The Wall Street Journa]