I wanted to share my experience and disappointment with losing a phone and having it returned to a Verizon store. On August 25th, I lost my phone in the Truckee River on a rafting trip. I went back the next day snorkeling and searching for 2 hours. I was sick because I lost photos, contacts, emails, etc. that somehow was not being backed up. I had to pay off the lost phone and pay to get a new one, but was hopeful it would still show up. When I got the new phone, the Verizon Representative was very rushed and didn't set up everything properly on my phone. After a few weeks, I realized that my phone's voicemail was not set up and was not notifying me that I was receiving voicemails. I checked and had several unheard voicemails, including one from a Verizon store across the country in Maryland. The Verizon Rep said someone had found my phone and had turned it in to their store. Unfortunately, the message was a few weeks old and when I called, they told me Verizon's policy is to send unclaimed phones back to the Verizon warehouse a week after it's been received by them. I find it awfully upsetting for how important people's phone are to them that there is not more of an effort to return phones back to customers by Verizon. They had all my information and only placed one call to me and left one voicemail. I was advised to contact Verizon Customer Service and did so, and although Kristin was very nice, there was nothing she could do to locate my phone and said it was probably already erased and refurbished. So, the phone I paid for, had a chip full of pictures and loved is now with someone else. Very frustrating.
