or do it on My Account for free.

NO i think they charge online too

No charge online either!

also the shady guy is doing you a favor that corporate will not do since they have access to the very same system. So really in this situation who's the shady one??

very well put....it is kinda shady that they want to stick me out of 20 bux when i can do it online for free and mr.shady can do it too....

they want to push you toward self-serve options...it costs the company less to do that than have people come in the store...the fees are to cover the costs to pay the person sitting there helping you. 😁

its also done to help keep traffic down in stores. that way when people show up for activations and contract renewals, they'll be able to find a parking spot...but they won't tell you that

I don't the think the brain-trust behind verizon is that good to come up with a way to reduce the ammount of congestion in our parking lots.

that was the reason behind it. it doesn't work though. they come in and we tell them about the 20 or doing it online. then they leave and do it online. kinda defeats the purpose though since they already parked and took up the spot in the lot

I tell everyone there's a 20.00 activation for every non-warrenty activation or 10.00 for non-warrenty phone book transfers. I also (for every direct fulfill or insurance claim) that they can activate from the comfort of their homes by calling customer service or doin it online through My Account. Now is this in the name of customer service, saving the customer a buck? yeah, but the real reason is...
I like having plenty of slack-time to read my books or read phonescoop.

Hummmm...here is a perfect example of when the direct b!tch and complain about the indirects, VZW gives the direct channels more tools (NE2) etc, but who is the one that actually takes care of the customer. I don't charge for simple 2 second ESN changes. I don't charge for Phonebook transfers. I have loaners for customers to use if they are without their cell phone for an amount of time. I will sell a phone on store credit...giving the customer up to 30 days to pay for the phone. But yet the store reps talk smack about agents saying they are out for nothing but the almighty dollar. Who is the one that sounds like is after that now?

Agents get paid around 3x the commision to sell a phone. They also don't deal with billing questions.

CSR's have more important questions to deal with than little Jimmy wanting to swap cell phones every other day. I would say it takes a minimum of 3 minutes to change an ESN, get the phone programmed and make a test call. This is an optimal condition though, ie person knows how to remove the battery from the phone, can read the ESN the first time, can tell the * button from the # button..... It goes on. The average ESN change takes roughly 4-5 minutes. That's time better spent with someone that got a $1000 bill or wants to suspend a stolen phone.

Via the website you can do it in the same amount of time for free whenever you want. If a ...
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Not being picky, but an indirect agent doesn't get paid 3x the commission. We get zero salary, zero benifits, our office isn't paid for by VZW, and the one big one...we subsidize the phone. To match some of the deals VZW is doing, I might make less then 50 bucks. And if the customer disconnects before 6 months is up, I could lose 150 bucks on that deal. And once again, that 50 bucks has to pay me, another employee, the rent, the utilities, the advertising, any benifits, and etc.

I have seen deals that even with my 3x the commission, if I matched the deal we would LOSE money. That's right...LOSE money. This is one sore spot with me when directs complain about this huge commission that VZW pays their agents. But remember the above....
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Why don't you draw up a secondary contract to cover yourself then? It's 100% allowable and not that uncommon anymore.

sure...but have fun collecting...