AT&T Confirms Device Upgrade Fee Rising to $36
Top message: Ha by Tofuchong
Replying to: Re: Ha by Versed
Re: Ha
That's not what the fee is for, the fee is simply an attempt to recoup part of the money lost by offering at a steep discount, usually around 75% or more off the retail price of the phone....
With an upgrade you get a $500-$700 phone for a fraction of the cost, the upgrade fee is simply an attempt recoup some of the difference...
That being said, it is a rather pointless fee and based on my time working for at&t I would estimate that only about 10-20% of people who are charged an upgrade fee ever actually pay it, everyone else asks for it to be waived and it is almost always granted, the only exception is if a customer is really obnoxious, this can cause to just dig in and refuse to waive anything...
When we were visited by at&t corporate, they actually told us not be aggressive about the fee and to grant a waiver to anyone who asks for it, because it is a dumb fee and no one cares about it anyway...indeed, we were told that the main reason the fee is charged is specifically so that it can be waived...have an unhappy customer, an easy way to appease them is by waiving the upgrade fee, customers think waiving the upgrade fee is a big concession, but it really isn't.....waiving the upgrade fee is an easy way to appease a customer without actually DOING anything meaningful.. .that's at&t CORPORATE who told us that, people who were fairly high up in the ranks....
Now that the fee is double, I imagine the percentage of customers who actually pay it will slip into the single digits...if even that...
Honestly, given that people only rarely actually pay the upgrade fee, they are really better off just abolishing it, it isn't a significant source of revenue, it's just a pain in the ass and a source of near constant customer complaints....
With an upgrade you get a $500-$700 phone for a fraction of the cost, the upgrade fee is simply an attempt recoup some of the difference...
That being said, it is a rather pointless fee and based on my time working for at&t I would estimate that only about 10-20% of people who are charged an upgrade fee ever actually pay it, everyone else asks for it to be waived and it is almost always granted, the only exception is if a customer is really obnoxious, this can cause to just dig in and refuse to waive anything...
When we were visited by at&t corporate, they actually told us not be aggressive about the fee and to grant a waiver to anyone who asks for it, because it is a dumb fee and no one cares about it anyway...indeed, we were told that the main reason the fee is charged is specifically so that it can be waived...have an unhappy customer, an easy way to appease them is by waiving the upgrade fee, customers think waiving the upgrade fee is a big concession, but it really isn't.....waiving the upgrade fee is an easy way to appease a customer without actually DOING anything meaningful.. .that's at&t CORPORATE who told us that, people who were fairly high up in the ranks....
Now that the fee is double, I imagine the percentage of customers who actually pay it will slip into the single digits...if even that...
Honestly, given that people only rarely actually pay the upgrade fee, they are really better off just abolishing it, it isn't a significant source of revenue, it's just a pain in the ass and a source of near constant customer complaints....
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