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Verizon is said to be changing up their rebate program – in-store, anyway – pretty soon. There will be no mail-in rebates for devices which normally cost $150 or more, while devices cheaper than that may still be subject to the standard rebate system. This doesn’t mean Verizon won’t ever offer discounts on their more expensive devices from here on out, it just means that if your $200 smartphone comes with a discount, it’ll most likely be applied at the point of sale. Our own tipster says this may be an in-store only change, though, so be sure to check the details for purchasing over the phone and online, as will we. [via AC] [Thanks, anon!]
Finally I am glad they are getting rid of rebates that was such a hassle having to mail the rebate in then wait weeks to get the rebate sent back to you
Looks like it’s only going to be through Valentine’s Day according to the screenshot.
It’s look like they are going the Best Buy route. Price of the phone already has the rebates factored in. A lot of times to get the new phones at 199.99 price requires a rebate to get to the 199.99 price point.
but they could offer better discounts because percentage of the people that send in rebates are less than 100%. Not that I care…I’d rather have slightly less easy money right now than do work to get slightly more money in 6 weeks.
If you read it.. It looks like a 2 week sale (see the date range ?) to get rid of some of their cheaper phone stock.
Yeah I noticed this. http://71-32-92-83.tukw.qwest.net/8511.htm
I thought online sales already had the rebate price.
This probably has to do with the iPhone. I’m sure Apple wouldn’t tolerate that rebate BS, and Motorola didn’t want the competitive disadvantage against Apple in the Verizon store.
See? Competition is good for everyone.
i am not sure of how the online rebates are done now, but back when i purchased my Dinc, it gave me an instant rebate at the point of sale. Maybe that was because i pre-ordered it though?
i’m pretty sure that removing the rebate will increase the price… since about 40 (guestimation lol) percent of people never send theirs in… guess who gets to keep that money? that’s right. why would big red want to end that unless theres something in it for them?
I think this is just a way to offload some of their in house sales so that they can concentrate on their profit-making services rather than their money-losing phones. Offload the discounting to Best Buy and PC Richards.
money in the bank pockets full of rank
Wait, they’re calling it a new strategy? I call that just HAVING a strategy. What’s strategic about ticking off all your existing and potential customers with a stupid rebate program, which ANY poll will show you that consumers don’t like? It’s just good business sense to get rid of it, because it’s less hassle/paperwork/overhead on Verizon’s part, and much less headache on the customer’s part. I’ve always bought my Verizon phones from the website because I get the instant discount without a stupid rebate. Also, nobody ever seems to think about this, but you save more than just the rebate amount by doing that too, because now you’re also not paying sales tax on that extra $100, and the shipping is free too. I’ll probably still continue buying new phones online though, just because it saves me a trip to the store and the headache of dealing with a sales rep who knows far less than me when it comes to smartphones.
I never used the mail-in rebate stuff anyways. If you just purchased online, the “rebate” price was an instant deduction! I wonder how serious this is based on the date.
Yeah, what brad said.
May be different around other parts, but around me it’s cheaper to buy somewhere else and not at the VZW stores. Best Buy and RadioShack have the rebate already factored in to the price. Also, they don’t charge activation or upgrade fees.