Husband is a long-time Verizon customer. 2 kids and I have been with ATT for past 5-ish years. One kid needed new phone so I contacted ATT to get their promotions/loyalty offers and thought I would contact Verizon for comparison. Was told over the phone (800 number) and in-store (yesterday) that I could trade in our 2 iPhone XRs for $800 credit toward purchase of new iPhone 12 64 gig ($799), plus get $200 VISA gift card/line for porting our numbers. Alternatively, we could each get a $450 Verizon credit card if we wanted to keep our existing phones and come over to Verizon. My son with the iPhone 7 needs a new phone, and I was told that he could get an iPhone 12 mini for free if we added his line to the Verizon account. I was further told that he could also get the $200 credit for porting his number if the new phone cost at least $800, so he got the 256 gig 12 mini (basically paying $150 more than than 64 gig mini in order to get the $200 credit). The store rep wrote all of this down on a sheet of paper, which I kept.
After weighing our options, my daughter and I decided to trade in our XRs for 2 new iPhone 12s. I went to the store today, and left with the 2 iPhone 12s. The mini needed to be mailed since they don’t stock the 256 gig minis. I also left with both of our XRs because I was told they no longer port the contents of your old phone but instead you DIY at home and then mail in your device in a box they provided. I didn’t get a printed receipt, but had them emailed. Before opening the boxes, I thought I would check the receipts. At that point, I realized that the iPhone 12 purchase was done as a BOGO (with each of us getting a $172 credit for our XR) rather than each of us getting the promised $800 credit for our trade ins. Also, looking at our next bill and the monthly bills thereafter, we are being charged $100/month in device protection fees. This is crazy, since I declined the device protection plan and the receipt we were emailed shows that it was declined. I discovered all this after the store had closed, but the online chat person I “talked” to tonight said they they “automatically” add the device protection plan when someone purchases a new device. What?
Not sure what to do. I have two unopened boxes with the new iPhone 12s. My daughter and I have our old XRs but our ATT service has been cancelled since our numbers have been ported to the new Verizon phones in the boxes. I need a phone, but I definitely don’t plan to keep these iPhones if we aren’t gonna get the deal we were promised. My son’s iPhone 7 still has service with ATT because his new Verizon 12 mini needed to be mailed. THIS IS SO MESSED UP and I”M SO MAD! And even if someone at the store offers to switch the BOGO to the promised $800 credit for each XR, I’m afraid to mail them to Verizon in Texas after everything I’ve read on this forum about people not getting the promised amounts. At this point, I think I’d rather either get the $450 verizon card for keeping our devices OR just go back to ATT. I agree with the people who say that the state AG’s office needs to be contacted about these practices. They seem very misleading and deceptive.
