Cell phone companies are all full of shit. I've been a Verizon customer for a little over a year. I signed into my account a couple months ago and noticed I am "Eligible for a discount!" on a phone upgrade. So, I start looking at phones and set my sights on the Motorola Droid X. The full retail price of the phone is 399.99. If I upgrade, I would have to sign a new 2-year contract, which would drop the price down to 199.99. Ordering the phone online drops the price down even farther to 149.99.

The trouble is, if a new customer was to order that same phone, he would have to sign a 2-year contract and he would also get the online discount, which means he would also be paying 149.99. Where the frak is my discount?! I'm paying the same price a new customer is paying even though Verizon is telling me I'm getting a discount for being a valued customer.

So, I sent an email to Verizon, explaining all this to them. I just got off the phone with a representative who tried to explain to me that I really am getting a discount. She kept saying something about how I'll also be eligible for an additional discount in August, but a new customer would not be. She also kept saying something about being able to get the phone today for 149.99, but that price could change tomorrow, which has absolutely nothing to do with the situation I was trying to explain to her. When I finally explained it in the same way I did in the opening of this blog, she said something about it being a "matter of perception." What in the holy-hemorrhaging-frak does that mean!!

And, I know Verizon isn't the only company that does this. AT&T and Sprint are the same way or even worse. The last time I upgraded a phone with Sprint, I actually paid MORE than what a new customer paid for the same phone.

(ETA)Something she kept asking me was, "How much of a discount do you want?" It's not a matter of how much of a discount I want, it's a matter of Verizon telling me I'm getting a discount when I'm not. And, here's something else that I just thought of: They can actually say I'm getting a discount because when I was looking at the Droid X when it first came out, I noticed that I would have had to pay the full retail price of the phone because I hadn't been with Verizon long enough to be eligible for an upgrade discount.