I've been a loyal Verizon customer for 19 years, but my recent experience has left me feeling deceived and stuck in an extremely unfair situation.
Here's what happened:
On November 27th, I called Verizon after noticing a bill increase. I was informed my autopay discount had been reduced, and I asked if there were ways to lower my bill. I was told about a $1,000 trade-in offer with a new plan that would LOWER my bill. They sent me a quote and promised to call back the next day (Thanksgiving), but they never did.
On November 29th, I called again to confirm my adjusted bill if my family ( 3 of the 4 lines) traded in and upgraded under this new plan. Again, I was told my bill would be LESS than before.
On November 30th, I placed the order online, and on December 1st, we picked up our phones and traded in our old devices.
December 2nd was spent resolving a technical issue with one phone, which took all day because neither the online retailer nor corporate stores could help because it was bought online. I had to troubleshoot it myself after getting confirmation from both places that there was something wrong with the update but not the phone.
On December 3rd, I checked my new bill. While I expected taxes from the phones to increase it temporarily, the new monthly bill was SUBSTANTIALLY higher than what I had been paying.
I called Verizon again and explained my situation:
- The representative I spoke to admitted I had been misled and when I asked if it was because all of the lines didn't move that it increased he informed me that changing the final line would increase it further. I told him to leave the final phone number alone. He said he would need to speak to his specialist and I sat on the phone for 3 hours! At the end of which he said the specialists said there was nothing they could do to help
- I escalated to a supervisor, who essentially told me, "You signed it, so you're stuck". I asked her to listen to the recordings of my calls to verify I had been lied to, not once but twice and she said she couldn't.
- When I asked about option, I was told it was too late to my old phones back. Switching back to my previous plan would result in me paying full price for the phones because the trade-in was tied to the plan change.
I'm now stuck paying more than I was previously paying, with no viable resolution, despite being a Verizon customer for nearly two decades. I could've traded my phones directly to Apple for money towards a new device, but I trusted Verizon's representatives and their promises.
Has anyone else faced a similar situation? What recourse, if any, do I have? Do you upgrade your phones directly with Apple, if you're iPhone users??
