This program is absolutely a scam. I wish I'd done my due diligence and read this board before I sent my phone in. I had an iPhone 4s and I just upgraded my phone - only because they had a promotion in March to upgrade to the 5c for free. Otherwise, my 4s 16GB phone worked just fine. The phone had been kept in a case with a screen cover the entire time I owned it. It was pristine. So I logged on and got an estimate for 200.00. I figured that anywhere between 100 and 200 dollars would be a fair price for a phone in such good condition. So when I received and activated my new iPhone 5c, I backed up all of the 5GB of apps and data on my 4s, then I removed find my iPhone, and reset the phone to the factory settings. "Hello" was streaming across the screen, just like the phone was brand new.
A few days later I received the envelope to return the phone to Verizon. Yesterday I logged on to see the status and it read "phone will not power up". That is an absolute lie, unless Verizon did something to damage the phone. The phone was in perfect working condition when I sent it to them. I called customer service. I got bumped from person to person. Finally I asked for a supervisor. The gal that came on the phone "Courtney", was rude and not very helpful. She did say that she was escalating my complaint. When I asked her who her supervisor was, she said, "I don't have one". I asked who do you report to? Her reply was "No one." I said, you are not the CEO, you have a boss, what is their name and contact information? She refused to give it to me and then put me on hold - for almost 10 minutes. Another lady who was nice but not helpful, came on the line and claimed to be her supervisor. She also claimed that someone from customer service would be contacting me. Nothing.
Today I get my voucher for 36.00. That is a completely unfair amount for a 16GB iPhone 4s that was in perfect working condition. Obviously after reading all of these posts, the standard Verizon response is "The phone will not power up". Because of Verizon's lack of customer service, unwillingness to discuss the matter, and general lack of cooperation from their recycling program department - this seems like a major scam to screw people over.
We have been loyal Verizon customers since their first merger with GTE. We spend quite a bit with this company on domestic and international service. After major customer service problems earlier this year, I almost left. When I asked them to deactivate our account they suddenly became super customer service oriented. Now that I've upgraded one of our phones and we are in a contract, they are back to their old lack of customer care. Shame on me for getting sucked back in. I have no problem paying the fee to break our contract, and I am currently shopping other wireless providers.
Regarding their recycling program - I have filed a complaint with the BBB, and as others have done, I will start investigating class action. It seems that there are many of us in the same boat.
