Lengthy story, but here goes nothing:
My wife and I currently have LG G2s under a two year contract. Our contract end dates are 12/05 (line #1) and 12/30 (line #2) respectively. I recently found out about the Early Edge program so I worked out the math and found that switching to Edge would save me about $450 over a two year period for both lines. I called customer service to find out about eligibility. I was told that line #1 could Early Edge to any device and line #2 could Early Edge only to the Droid Turbo or Droid Maxx. I was also told the old devices would have to be returned but I would have 45 days to do so. So, on June 14th we go to the local corporate store to check the phones out in person. We decided that we would proceed with the upgrade with line #1 getting the LG G4 and line #2 getting the Droid Turbo. The sales rep gathers the new phones and we pick out cases. She then tells me that we have to turn in our G2s before leaving the store and refused when I pushed about taking them home to move all my docs and such over. So, we left.
I called Customer Service that night explaining what occurred in the store. The rep reconfirmed that we should be given time by the store to try out the new phones and migrate all our data before surrendering our old phones. Just to make sure I called Customer Service again on June 16th before heading back to the store and was told the same information again. We go back to the store and were told again that we would have to surrender our phones that day. I asked the sales rep what happens to the old phones and she told me they would be shipped off that night. I then asked what would happen if we decided to return the new phones within the trial period and she couldn't give me an answer. More specifically she stated "I guess you would be compensated somehow" but couldn't elaborate on what that meant or show anything in writing that would legally require the store to do so. So we left, again.
I called Customer Service back asking if anything could be done about the store not following the guidelines that were being provided to me via the Customer Service line. The rep said no, but did find me a store that was 20 minutes away from my house that would allow me to keep my old phone for a period after the upgrade. We went that last, but my son got sick on the way so we had to return home.
That brings us to today. I called Customer Service this morning to just do the upgrade over the phone. After explaining all the issues the sales rep credited my account $12.99 to cover having the phones overnight shipped. He then stated he was having issues with the ordering system and put me on hold. The call then disconnected after about two minutes. The same rep called me back and stated he was still working the order and out me on hold again. The call disconnected again, but I didn't hear back. After a six hour wait I called back to try again. I get on the line with rep #1 and explain the situation. She states she'll help me with the order but is having issues with her ordering system and need to put me on hold. When she does, I'm connected to rep #2 who has no idea who I am. The line connected like a new call, but we can hear rep #1 on the line but in the background like her headset is on her desk. Rep#2 asks to out me on hold to see what's going on. When he does I get connected to Rep#3 and it's the same as Rep#2; new call to her and can still here Rep#1. Again, I'm put on hold and again get connected to Rep#4. Same deal, new call to him but we can still hear Rep#1 in the background. Instead of putting me on hold Rep#4 calls me from another line, at which point it's just us and the weirdness goes away. I explain everything to Rep#4 who then tells me that Early Edge orders can only be done in person at a store and refuses to even try to help. I tell him I'll call back to talk to someone else and hang up.
When I call back, I explain everything that has happened to Rep#5. He tells me he'll try to get me straightened out but for some reason he couldn't get to the Edge upgrade screen in the ordering system for my account. He puts me on hold to find out why. When he comes back to the phone he informs me that my bill had posted onto my account on June 11th and that even though it's not due until July 5th I would have to bring my account to a $0 balance (mind you that after speaking to nine other reps, this was never mentioned).
At the end of the day, I'm very frustrated with this whole convoluted process and the fact that no one appears to have the same information on this promotion. I couldn't even get a clear answer on why one line was eligible to upgrade to any phone but the other line was limited. The only rep that even tried to answer told me that the promotion was applied randomly and with random criteria. I believe that one is just because one line is within six months of the contract end and the other won't be until June 30th.
This has hands down been the worst experience I've had with Customer Service with any company. I've had similarly convuleted situations come up before with other big name carriers and the guys in pink gave me a free phone over it. I can even give Verizon my money.
