My family and I have been customers of Verizon Wireless for 10+ years and I am now convinced that it should not be for a day more. The experience that I have had with Verizon's customer service department over the last week or so has been quite possibly the worst I have ever endured.
The issue started when I decided that I would move off of my family's account and set up a new account with my wife (who currently has AT&T but planned to transfer over to Verizon). Given that I have an old iPhone, I also decided to inquire with customer service about whether I was eligible for any upgrade promotions. A Verizon representative informed me that I could trade in my old iPhone 8 and receive an $800 credit towards the purchase of an iPhone 14 Plus. I specifically asked the representative whether the fact that I planned to move to a new account at Verizon would jeopardize my eligibility for the promotion. I was assured that it would not and that the credit would carry over to the new account. Based on that assurance, I proceeded with upgrading my device and purchasing an iPhone 14 Plus. I subsequently was informed by another Verizon representative that the credit would not carry over and I would have to pay the full retail price for the phone once I moved to a new account. For the last week, I have spent hours trying to rectify this issue -- an issue caused by Verizon, not me -- and with no success. Certain Verizon representatives have assured me that they will follow up with me by a certain date and time and then fail to do so. Another Verizon representative -- a supervisor no less -- implied that I was lying about the discussion in which another representative told me that the trade-in credit would carry over.
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Below is a detailed summary of my interactions with Verizon over the last nine days. The record speaks for itself.
Tuesday, February 7: I speak via instant message with a Verizon representative (“VZ Representative 1”).
On the basis of the representative’s assurances that the trade-in credit will carry over to my new account, I proceeded with an upgrade and ordered a new iPhone.
Wednesday, February 8: I had a telephone call with another Verizon representative (“VZ Representative 2”) regarding a transfer of service. That call lasted 1.5 hours. During this call, VZ Representative 2 told me that I had been misinformed by VZ Representative 1 about the trade-in credit carrying over to my new account.
Thursday, February 9: I spent another 45 minutes on the phone with various Verizon representatives. My call eventually was escalated to a member of the Customer Relations team (“VZ Representative 3”). I recount my February 7 instant message discussion with VZ Representative 1 to VZ Representative 3. In turn, VZ Representative 3 tells me that (a) he needs to request a transcript of this discussion and expects that it will take approximately 48 hours to receive the transcript, (b) if the transcript corroborates what I am saying, then Verizon will find a way to apply the trade-in credit to my new account, and (c) he will follow up with me on Monday, February 13. VZ Representative 3 also tells me that he has set a calendar reminder for himself to call me that upcoming Monday.
Monday, February 13: Having not heard from VZ Representative 3 despite his assurances that he would reach out to me, I called Verizon at approximately 4:45 PM ET and explained my situation to yet another representative (“VZ Representative 4”). This individual informed me that he was sending a message to VZ Representative 3 indicating that I had called and asked to speak with him. No response.
Tuesday, February 14: I called Verizon at approximately 10:45 AM ET and spoke with yet another representative (“VZ Representative 5”). VZ Representative 5 informs me that he has sent a message to VZ Representative 3 and copied his supervisor. No response.
Wednesday, February 15: I called Verizon at approximately 9:55 AM and spent another 40 minutes re-summarizing the issue and what has transpired. I eventually am escalated to a supervisor (“VZ Representative 6”) who tells me that she has no record of my February 7 discussion with the VZ Representative 1 (and goes so far as to suggest that it did not occur). When I insist that I saved as PDF transcript of the instant message exchange with VZ Representative 1, VZ Representative 6 asks that I send it to another supervisor (“VZ Representative 7”) and assures me that she will follow up with me the next day. Immediately following this call, I send an email to VZ Representative 7 with the transcript of my discussion with VZ Representative 1.
Thursday, February 16: I send VZ Representative 7 a follow-up email mid-afternoon having heard nothing from Verizon. Two hours elapse. I send another email to VZ Representative 7 and indicate my intent to escalate my complaint further if I don’t hear back by COB. No response.
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I am truly disgusted with my experience with Verizon’s customer service team. It is quite clear that this company does not value its consumers and is betting that anyone with a complaint will eventually give up. In closing, let me summarize the key takeaways from my experience with Verizon this past week:
- Verizon incorrectly informed me that I would still receive a trade-in credit promotion after moving to a new account.
- I upgraded my device based on this misrepresentation.
- When I escalated the issue, I was told that Verizon was looking into my complaint and would follow up with me on a certain date. That day came and went with no outreach from Verizon.
- I proactively reached out to Verizon several times thereafter and specifically asked to speak with the representative who was going to follow up with me. Despite these reminders, no one followed up with me.
- I raised the issue to a supervisor at Verizon. The supervisor stated that no representative had told me that the trade-in credit would carry over to my new account -- despite my reading directly from a transcript of my discussion with the representative in which the representative said just that.
- I sent the transcript to another Verizon supervisor and followed up twice to ask for a reply. No response.
