Verizon wireless has consistently referred to the Samsung recall notices in its FAQ online regarding the Note 7 and said it was following Samsung recall process. However, verizon does not follow that process at all. And in doing so, it actually also positioned itself to make money of customer trying to exchange their note 7 device for another device (purposefully or not).
Samsung clearly states that as part of the recall process, customers should be able to exchange their Note 7 for another samsung phone and be credited the difference in price. Since the note 7 is the top of the line, it is obvious that the Samsung spirit of the writing is customers receiving back as credit the difference between the retail prices of exchanged phones. In addition it also is offering a $100 incentive for people sticking to samsung device, so somebody exchanging an $864 retail Note 7 for an inferiror Edge 7 at $792 should receive $100 + $72 difference retail price + difference in taxes. So samsung means to indemnify customer by $172 for that switch.
But that is not at what is happening right now. What verizon put in place is a process of return and repurchase, which is not AT ALL the same thing and is definitly NOT what samsung and hence verizon referred to in the note & recall notice. What verizon seems to conveniently forget is that many people purchased the note 7 with a lower price thanks to coupons and returned phones for exchanges. Nullifying the contracts is a sure way to take avantage of customers. coupon are void. Returned phone, who knows what will happen to them since the contract was cancelled.
So let's take a concrete example. Recently there was an offer for the note 7 with a $200 down on retail price, and a phone exchange bonus of $300 for select phones. In effect the note 7 was meant to cost the customer $864 - $500 = $364 for the device. The process online to get a replacement for the note 7 for the inferiror Edge 7 cost $792, and is only offered retail right now. So essentially, it would cost the customer $428 MORE to get an inferior phone. If we count the samsung rebate, the customer would have to pay $328 instead of receiving $172, so a cost of $500 dollars for the customer!!!!
So my question is the following, what is the process to follow to actually go through a true exchange as explained in the FAQ? What is verizon going to do to fix the process which is obviously totally inappropriate at this point?
