The last few weeks have been frustrating and upsetting to me. I’m angry at Verizon, Microsoft, Maybelline, and myself.
I recently wrote that the decision to have our landline discontinued seemed to be working out. It’s now become a problem. It was another bad decision I made. Depending on Verizon exclusively is a mistake.
I discovered a few things about Verizon. First of all, did you know that not all Verizon stores are Verizon stores? I need a new phone so I compared prices. I went to the small Verizon store in our town. It looks like a Verizon store. It has the Verizon logo and the décor is similar to other Verizon stores. It handles only Verizon products so I assumed that it was a Verizon store. It is actually a sort of a franchise deal. That means they can sell phones for whatever price suits them. They don’t have to abide by Corporate Verizon store advertisements.
The phone I want is just a phone. It doesn’t have internet access, it doesn’t have a camera, or even Blue Tooth capability. It’s just a flip phone with big numbers, and a large, readable display. It is marketed primarily to persons in my age group (that means old). I don’t want to renew my contract for 2 years because I’m not sure I want to continue our long association with Verizon. I think it might be best just to pay full price for the phone since it costs so much to cancel the contract early. It costs more to cancel the contract early than the price of a new phone.
I checked Verizon on line. The price was $169.00. The price at the “franchise” store was $250.00. It was $200.00 in Walmart. I found one on Ebay for $145.00. One on Amazon is $129.00. The associate at the corporate store wouldn’t discuss the full price of the phone with me. He wants to sell $700.00 phones. While I have the wherewithal to purchase a phone, I don’t want to make a mistake and waste my money. And there are other considerations that are contributing to my inability to make a decision.
If I commit to a 2 year contract, I can get the phone for as little as a penny using a franchise establishment or the corporate Verizon store offers it for $39.00 if I renew the contract.
I think I creeped out one of the sales associates at one store. My Fixit and I have a family plan, or shared minutes as it was called years ago. I asked the young man (All associates in these stores look to be about 16 years old to me.) if I died before the two-year contract was fulfilled could Mr. Fixit cancel the family plan. He stuttered for a second and he said that in the event of death the contract could be negated. Mr. Fixit saw that he was a bit flustered by my question and told him that I am not expected to die any time soon. But being the practical person I am, I added, “But you never know, do you?”
I am currently using an old phone that my daughter-in-law is letting me use. It doesn’t hold a charge. If I talk more than five or ten minutes, it goes from a full charge down (4 bars) to almost no charge (1 bar).
One other thing I discovered through this phone ordeal is that Verizon folks lie. It may be a lie by omission, telling complete untruths, and by PR people who put their own spin on things. I’ve come to the conclusion that most businesses will do any underhanded thing to get your money. There is very little integrity left in the retail world.
I have asked advice from a few people, but I still can’t make a decision. My pride is holding me back (as well as not wanting to waste our resources). I hate hearing, “I told you so.” So here a I sit dithering about. My decision-making track record lately hasn’t been the best.
We’ll take up Microsoft and Maybelline at a later date. There are some surprising and intrusive things going on with Microsoft, too. And what is this message I get that my browser is no longer compatible with Blogger? It is suggested that I change my browser to Google Chrome. That really burns me, too. I don’t want Google putting its nose into my business anymore than I want Microsoft putting intrusive programs on my computer without asking me first or at least telling me that it has been done. As for Maybelline, that was just a little inconvenience, but with all the other crap going, it brought me to tears yesterday.
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