Cell Phone Companies... What a Scam

So today I went to upgrade my phone from mostly because my screen is currently cracked all over. So I think "ok the whole family has an upgrade it's a good time to do it". Boy was I wrong we went to buy three of the new HTC 8x Windows phones and as they rang each item up the tech guy said "that'll be $850.00". Seriously!?? Three phones with upgrades come out to almost $300.00 each. They charged us activation fees, new plan fees, and offered no rebates on the phones. What ever happened to the good old days when they would say each of these phones comes with a mail in rebate for $50.00 and we will activate your phone for free while also transferring your contacts and making sure that you are satisfied. I guess that cell phone companies have forgotten what it means to do business and are only worried about making extra money on something that costs them hardly anything to do. I realize I am just ranting here, but seriously what the hell is going on I'm about to bust out my old LG flip phone and activate it just to make a point too bad I'm addicted to smartphones like the rest of the world though. I hope that Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and all of the cell carriers that are trying to scam each of us can read this and think "wow, we do suck". When you have had the same customers for 10 years you don't charge them $800.00!