The other day I went with my family to the Verizon Wireless on McKnight Rd. in Ross Township store to upgrade my wife's iPhone 6 and to simply get my son who's in fifth grade a phone for the first time. Of course, he already had an Android assigned to him, but he never used it. In fact, he refused to use it until it was time for an iPhone. That time came last week. 

When we first entered the Verizon Wireless on McKnight Rd. in Ross Township, we quickly found out that you need in the appointment to get your phones checked out or to do whatever you wanted to do except maybe to buy something off the shelf. To do an upgrade we had to make an appointment and it was about two or three days out for that, so we made an appointment and came back a few days later. 

When we got there at our appointment time on a Tuesday afternoon we were quickly greeted and had to wait about 10 minutes before a kindly young gentleman brought up our account information and confirmed it all and advised us on how to upgrade our phones. 

He was very knowledgeable about the cell phones they sold and all the accessories as well. However, he was heavy on trying to get us to upgrade our plans for extra lines and other discounts which may save you money in the short term but might end up costing you more money in the long run. Now I have been a Verizon customer for years, but I am guessing most major cellular brands push the same kind of deals. 

I recall two years ago when I upgraded my phone and my daughter upgraded hers to an iPhone 11, we were told that if we added an extra line to our family plan (of which we didn’t need) we would get a free iPad and the phones would be BOGO. 

OK, that sounds like a good deal I guess and who doesn't want an extra iPad? Therefore, we did go with that deal a few years ago. One of the things that are not very clear is that there are new fees for adding new lines and you must pay taxes on the free iPad and pay taxes on both phones at the full price (I am pretty sure). All of this, even though one phone and the iPad were supposedly “free”. Then there are upgrade charges and oddly enough when I look at my cell phone plan today it seems that from adding those free devices a couple of years ago and adding the extra lines, plus getting all the discount deals, it just turned out to be more money, in the end, no matter what. So take the long-term view when upgrading. 

One nice thing at Verizon Wireless on McKnight Rd. in Ross Township is that you get interest-free financing on your phones. So whatever phone you get they can put you on a 3-year interest-free financing plan which means an iPhone 13 at 800 bucks as we are not the “Pro” types or the “Pro Max” types. Each new phone would amount to an extra $22.00 a month on our phone bill. There were $35 upgrade fees and that was about it. Once we added some cell phone cases and glass to protect the cell phones and plus get some charging blocks because charging blocks are no longer included with cell phone purchases, we still spent around 300 dollars to upgrade two old phones. 

I find upsells an annoying aspect of visiting any cell phone store for that matter. Verizon Wireless on McKnight Rd. in Ross Township did try to sell us on Verizon credit card that guarantees a lower discount or something on our regular plan but the last thing I want to do is open another credit card. So, we turned that down. 

On the positive, the sales professional was knowledgeable and polite and knew what he was doing. If there was one minor drawback is that from what I recall they usually turn on the new phones for you and make sure you leave, there knowing that your phones work and that you're getting reception and everything like that. We were basically given instructions to power on the phones when we got home. When we did that later it didn't necessarily go as smooth as possible. For whatever reason, we couldn't connect to our cellular network. Therefore, I had to get a chat tech representative on the computer which did involve more time at home chatting with a bot that basically instructed us to reset the network using the general settings on both iPhones. Following those procedures, everything worked fine. 

All in all, we went there knowing we were going to have to spend some money so I'm not really complaining about that. The customer service was very good, and the products are top-notch. The store is clean but maybe a little bit hard to get to. If you're heading north on McKnight Rd., you must circle back at the Ross Towne Center shopping plaza intersection since Verizon Wireless on McKnight Rd. in Ross Township is a southward bound McKnight store. 

I don't know but I don't think I'll ever fully enjoy going to a cell phone store period. To me, it's like the modern equivalent of visiting a dentist's office. You must do it every so often to keep up with the latest and greatest. That goes for your cellular networks as well as your dental hygienist. So, if you look at a trip to Verizon Wireless on McKnight Rd. in Ross Township like a trip to the dentist well then, I was happy to be out of there in an hour. My wife and son were certainly showing their pearly whites when their phones successfully connected later that day too.