I wanted to share my frustrating experience with Verizon’s trade-in process in case others are dealing with similar issues and in hopes a competent representative from Verizon is reading this and is able to help.
I traded in two devices—an iPhone 12 Mini and an Apple Watch Series 6—as part of Verizon’s trade-in promotion in December. I followed all instructions, opting for in-store trade-in, and received emails confirming I had 30 days from activation to return my devices. However, Verizon later claimed my trade-ins were late, despite multiple reassurances from their own support team that I was still eligible.
Timeline of the mess:
12/03/24: Ordered new devices & selected in-store trade-in. Received an email stating I had 30 days from activation to return my trade-ins.
12/04/24: iPhone 16 Pro delivered.
12/20/24: Apple Watch Series 10 delivered.
12/21/24: New Apple Watch activated.
12/28/24: Received an email stating I had “20 days left” to return trade-ins. This was only 3 days after my watch activation and did not align with any previous communication or dates.
01/18/25: Received an email stating Verizon had not received my trade-ins and my promo credits would be removed.
01/18/25: Contacted Verizon via chat. A representative assured me not to worry and said I could still bring my trade-ins to a store as I had originally planned. This chat was followed up with an email in which the rep reiterated “…as soon as these devices were received by our facility, we will submit a promo correction ticket. Any negative promo credit updates you received during the return process, kindly disregard as this can be corrected.”
01/22/25: Attempted to drop off trade-ins at Verizon store (1964 York Rd, Timonium, MD). The associate refused them, incorrectly stating I only had 30 days from order placement and denying that the email said activation even when I showed her
01/22/25: Chatted with Verizon again. They confirmed I now had to mail the trade-ins instead and provided me with QR codes for return. They also stated as long as I mailed them within 5 days (by 01/27), I would receive full trade-in credits.
01/26/25, 3:54 PM: Dropped off trade-ins at UPS Store (11307 York Rd, Cockeysville, MD) using Verizon’s QR codes.
02/02/25: Received an email that my $1000 trade-in credit for the iPhone was reduced to $30 because it was “returned outside of the offer window.”
Verizon also applied two chargeback fees:
• $55.82 for the iPhone
• $5.00 for the Apple Watch (which has not yet had its trade-in credit adjusted, but I am concerned it will be).
This has been a nightmare. Verizon’s own reps told me I was fine, yet now I’m being penalized for following their instructions. I have chat transcripts proving I was told I could still return my devices and that my credits would be honored.
I’m hoping they fix this ASAP, but I’m also warning others—be VERY careful with their trade-in process.
