Home

Apparently inspired by my recent examination of wireless service and subsequent switch to prepaid service, a friend of mine started scrutinizing his own Verizon Wireless Family SharePlan. He too had the smallest bucket of minutes advertised by Verizon, 700 minutes. He too realized it was far more than he ever used, instead averaging about 300 minutes.

One part of my tale intrigued him. When I quit Verizon, the customer-retention person offered me a 550-minute plan for $10 less a month, or $60 instead of $70 (for two lines). Armed with this information, he called and asked for the 550-minute Family Plan. Customer rep had no idea what he was talking about. The plan didn’t exist.

Then this week, he called back and got more aggressive, threatening to defect to another wireless service. Actually, it wasn’t that aggressive: He asked how much it would cost to cancel his current contract.

Suddenly, he’s offered a 550-minute Family SharePlan.

He had reasons he wanted to stay with Verizon, so he took the deal and saved $120 per year for the effort of making a phone call and veiled threat.

All this is not a criticism of Verizon Wireless service. It is generally recognized as having the best network. And perhaps it’s perfectly reasonable to pay a little more for the top-shelf service in the industry. But how much more? It’s not even a criticism of Verizon’s pricing policies. It can offer whatever prices it wants. The market will decide whether the prices are reasonable.

But as consumers, we also have the right to share information, such as the secret 550-minute plan, for leverage in our negotiations with Verizon Wireless.