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Do NOT upgrade your phone with Verizon

I recently upgraded my daughter's phone. The upgrade offer said that she would get a $19 credit every month. I did the entire transaction online like the website said, including trading in her old phone. After I placed the order, I received the following email (some info is deleted for privacy).

Order details

Order placed

11/26/2018

Order number

64946....

Location code

E247501

Store order number

1239956

Order selections

Your plan

The new Verizon Plan Large 8 GB

Due monthly

$70.00

Due today

Due monthly**

Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB in Midnight Black

Order number: 64946...…..

Device payment agreement

Retail price: $696.00

Down payment

Monthly device payment

$29.00

Note: Your first month's device payment of $29.00 will appear on your first bill, and we'll email you a bill summary once you activate your device.

Promo credit applied in 1-2 billing cycles‡

-$19.00

Upgrade Fee

$30.00

It was everything exactly as was stated in the offer on their website, so no problem, right?

AFTER I activated the new phone, my daughter's line only got a $4.16 credit. We contacted Verizon via chat, got an additional $14.84 credit, and were told the issue would be resolved. MONTH TWO, SAME THING.

MONTH THREE! SAME THING....only THIS TIME, when we contacted Verizon via chat, we were told that we were never eligible for the promotion, because we didn't add a line. What? Verizon asked us to upgrade a phone that was already on a line on the account. So we asked about the email they sent us, that said we would get a $19 credit every month. Apparently, IT MEANS NOTHING, BECAUSE VERIZON DOES NOT FEEL THE NEED TO OPERATE IN GOOD FAITH.

So now, my daughter is stuck with a phone she can't afford, because Verizon decided to change their promotion and has no desire to honor an email they sent out to a paying customer. Which really means I am the one stuck paying for the phone, because I convinced her it was a good offer from a reputable company. Boy, was I WRONG!

I hope Verizon realizes that I will be posting this review of them EVERYWHERE.

Comments

Verizon_Support

Ginnybrownp, it saddens me to hear you feel this way as we want you to love your service with us. Upgrading is supposed to be a fun and exciting time and getting the best deal on the phone is always a good thing. Help is here as you deserve resolution in this matter. As a consumer myself, I know how important it is to have a handle on the monthly bills and I don't want to see your daughter in a position where she cannot afford her phone. Based on the date provided for the upgrade, I see that the promotion in question was the Pre-Holiday 2018: Up to $300.00 off select Android/iPhone smartphones with Trade-in. This promotion states that when activating a new line of service (including a port-in or adding a new line to an existing account) that line will receive $300.00 off. The promotion also was offered to our existing customers who only wanted to upgrade their existing line as you'd receive $100.00. Because your daughter's line was an existing line, she received $100.00 off for the monthly discount of $4.16. This is the correct amount. I'd love the opportunity to review the email in question. I’ve sent you a private message here in the forum. Please check your inbox at https://community.verizonwireless.com/inbox to discuss further details about your concern.

NatashaR_VZW
Follow us on TWITTER @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

Ginnybrownp

Well, Natasha, since the email clearly states that we were to get a $19 a

month credit, I don’t see how I am mistaken. And further, if there wasn’t a

$19 per month credit offered to us, I would never have arranged for my

daughter to buy the phone. If you would like to provide me with a Verizon

company email address, I will happily send you the email in its entirety.

On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 4:14 PM vzw_customer_support <

Doggo

Verizon lists what requirements are for promotion before you order. Under shop, there is a lowercase "i" that shows you if you need to do anything special like add a new line. One promo they've been doing for awhile is offering $100 for trade-in on an upgrade and $300 if you did the same on a new line.

There's nothing to honor if you didn't fulfill promo obligations like a new line of service.

Ginnybrownp

Except that THEY SENT US A CONFIRMATION EMAIL, WITH OUR ORDER NUMBER,

STATING THERE WOULD BE A $19 CREDIT EVERY MONTH. ALL BEFORE WE RECEIVED OR

ACTIVATED THE PHONE.

Had they said the credit was only $4 a month, I would have returned the

phone without activating it.

It’s really that simple.

On Thu, Feb 7, 2019 at 8:27 PM glitchedpixel <forums@verizonwireless.com>

joey2007ua64

Verizon Wireless Customer Support wrote:
Based on the date provided for the upgrade, I see that the promotion in question was the Pre-Holiday 2018:

The DATE provided in Ginnybrownp's screenshot is 11/26/2018 which was a little event known as CYBER MONDAY during which the S8 and LG G7 ThinQ were offered online only for $10/month with no trade-in and no new line required. Also the Pixel 2 XL was $15/month and the Moto Z3 was $5/month.

Ginnybrownp

That is super helpful. Thank you!

boringusername

It really pays to READ the terms of any deal.

Ginnybrownp

Again! The CONFIRMATION EMAIL WITH MY ORDER NUMBER!!!

joegrayjo11

Exact same thing happened to me. Upgraded a phone after being sent a text about $250.00 dollar credit to upgrade. Did the upgrade in August. Every month no credit, every month chat, and every chat a different excuse and story. I am very close to cancelling service with them.

Verizon_Support

We want you to get the promotional credit that you deserve, joegrayjo11. You mention that you upgraded in August and you have not received any of the $250 credit for your upgrade promotion. Let's get some additional information. What specific promotion was it? Was there a specific name for the promotion?
Did the promotion require a phone to be traded-in?

AntonioC_VZW

zeussii777

same thing happened to me ! I thankfully printed copies of everything even the chat log where the rep said that if i paid this one amount that he "guaranteed" me that the amount would be removed from my account and stated that he made the notes on my account only to find out what he said and what he actually did was two different things - he refused to let me speak with a supervisor which 2 reps did the same thing ! Thankfully I have copies of all my chat log and documentation which i offered to send and show what was said but they said oh we dont need that it will show us nothing. Crooks is all i can say - who will lie to you then go back on their word. My order number even showed that it was an upgrade but that but they did not want to acknowledge that. Then they tried the oh we did not get the phone - I gave them the tracking number to show that they did and the rep had nothing to say and hung up ! Its sad ! I turned mime over to consumer affairs and the BBB, as well as my local TV station. Business practices by some people here is not acceptable but Verizon does nothing about it but make excuses !!!!!!

Verizon_Support

We've sent you a Private Note to take a closer look into this matter. This is far from the experience we want for you, and are committed to turning this around. We look forward to receiving your response. LauraF_VZW

Kyancey7729

Just had my first experience with Verizon. In December of 2019, Verizon was running a deal on iphone 8's. Basically, existing customers could add a line and get 2 phones free. The only reason I went with this offer, is because our daughter needed a newer iPhone. Originally, we were planning to get my wife a newer phone, with a larger screen, and she'd pass her 7 (which looks and works like new) down to our daughter. But, since Verizon was running this deal, we decided to get two new phones and pay the difference for the plus version, which equates to $5/mo. After all the taxes and fees were cleaned up in the following month, I saw my bill came out higher every month, when it should have went down (because of auto pay and paperless billing taking $15/mo off of three lines)! I looked into the bill and found them charging me $23/mo for the plus and not getting the credit off, leaving the $5/mo for the plus difference. I contacted support through chat, and the best they could say is that it was a buy one (at regular price) and get one of equal or lessor value free. I told them that that was not the deal the in store rep explained to me, when she laid out what all monthly charges were and what my total bill would be, before all the taxes. Now, I'm charged with back tracking through 3 months of paperwork, to find the evidence that I can't show them, because everything is closed because of quarantine from Covid-19! Sometimes I wish we still had people with paper and pencils, instead of computers!

Verizon_Support

Kyancey7729

Oh no, this is never the way we want you to feel and we definitely want to get to the bottom of this together. Are there any more details that you can provide as to the promotion you are referring to. The reason I ask is that upon my review of the past promotions, I do not see any promotion that gave two free phones for adding one line. Where there some trade-ins involved. Please provide more information so that we can work on mending this relationship.

EdwardL_VZW

mdcwaite

I really wish I had read this forum before Saturday, July 18, 2020. It pays to read consumer forums. The same thing has happened to me. As a long-standing, loyal Verizon customer (since they were Alltel), I asked the chat representative if there was a promotion on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. The rep replied, "yes, $700 off...$350 on a trade-in and $350 off, plus half off the activation fee". I declined the trade-in but gladly accepted the $350 off, the rep quoted "$31.25/month for the device". The would have been for our daughter's 19th birthday on July 22 (a splurge for our straight-A at UNC-Chapel Hill pre-med student). After I received the order confirmation, I saw no mention of the $350 discount but did get the $20 off activation. I called and asked when and what documentation I would get about the $350 and was told there was no promotion with the order. I told the phone rep that I had copied the chat in which the order was placed. She suggested that I cancel the order and place the order myself "online and not through the chat". She gave me a "cancelation ticket number". That was Saturday. It's Tuesday, and I have not been able to get anyone on the phone for help nor has the online service been working. No phone. (The phone's USP tracking show "delivered" but NOT to my address...to the Verizon Returns Center in Texas) I cannot upgrade my daughter's phone, because it looks like she has a new iPhone 11 Pro Max (which she doesn't). And, which is worse, there is NO ONE to help. No online service; no phone service that will answer. The chat stalls out after FOUR minutes, with no follow-up. We're beyond confused and feel misled. No customer should be treated this way...but, being a customer with FIVE lines, unlimited service, upscale phones, and 20 years of loyalty...it's time to move on, I guess.

Verizon_Support

We are sorry to read that you had this negative experience, and will be happy to further look into this issue you are having upgrading. We have sent you a private note to better assist you.

AlfredoL_VZW

megibson95

The Verizon representative who responded in this disrespectful and not helpful manner clearly should not be in the retail industry because they do not have a shred of customer service skill in their life. Arguing back and forth with a customer on a review thread that all customers can read and using the tone of her typing with capital letters and fold and underline insinuating that she would be yelling or sarcastically saying the words. literally every single person in the retail industry knows that the customer is always right and if the customer especially had it in writing then there should be zero questions or anything up for debate and the fact that Verizon doesn't want to even try to attempt to make it right is just disgusting and it makes me want to throw up. Things like this happen and it's happened to a lot of Verizon customers including myself. But thank the Lord I was lucky enough to had the experience of somebody who truly knows customer service unlike this representative who a 3-year-old has more compassion. I would immediately have demanded to speak to the district manager. I would have skipped right above the store manager because clearly that manager isn't doing their job correctly allowing employees to very publicly display such hideous treatment to a customer who was very patient and was dead to rights correct sometimes in the retail industry you have to just terrible it up because number one rule is the customer is always right if you walk into a store and you see a product labeled incorrectly and when you go to ring it up the cashier says it's actually more expensive than the labeled thing and it was a mistake they actually have to give it to you for that price and that's a law and that's exactly what's going on in this situation because it was in writing about the price and everything verbally discussed and look what happened.

Verizon_Support

Hello there megibson95 and thank you so much for your reply. Verizon Wireless does commit to delivering the best products and services with customer service being the priority. Operating with integrity is at the core of who we are as a company and it does concern us to hear you feel this way. Upon reading the dated thread, I can see where a member and customer replied to the original poster but I apologize as I do not see where a Verizon representative replied in this thread incorrectly. Are you able to share what you are speaking of as we want to make sure we address this and all other concerns for you correctly?

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