Hi, my name is Gustavo and own a Verizon phone line ending in (XXX) XXX-3683.
My previous mobile carrier provider was AT&T. I requested a number transfer on July 15th from AT&T to Verizon. The problem started when they asked my account number on AT&T. Since my account number on AT&T was bundled with AT&T Internet and AT&T Wireless, everywhere I looked there was a single account ID for both services. I presumed, obviously, that that account ID was the one Verizon was asking me for when porting the number, and only later I came to find that there was an account ID unique to the Wireless Plan in which I had to call AT&T to get that information. It wasn't even in my bill statement. So I provided that account ID, the one that actually was related to the Internet Service and not to the Wireless plan, but that were bundled together.
When I requested the number transfer, I received an e-mail with the following content:
JULY 15TH, 2021
GTO 4G 5G Interim DFILL SIM
Order number: 39125760699
Line Number: XXX-XXX-3683
Phone number you're transferring: XXX-XXX-3683
Retail price
$0.00
Special Promotion
This device is eligible for a $650 BYOD Rebate - Online and Telesales Only
Redeem your rebate via My Notifications in My Verizon.
Must submit by: 08/14/2021
One-time activation fee: $35.00
(charge and credit appears on first bill)
When receiving this message I submitted the rebate on July 17th 2021. This is the e-mail that I got:
JULY 17TH, 2021
Submission Status
Hi GUSTAVO STOR,
We've received your submission for the Bring your own device to Verizon and get a $650 Verizon eGift Card promotion. Your tracking number is 967125419.
Based on the purchase date provided, you can expect us to validate your rebate around September 28, 2021.
Go to Check My Status* for an easy way to check your status, or Contact Us if you have any questions about your submission.
* Check My Status
Meanwhile, I still had no access to the Verizon cellular plan because they were unable to port the number due to the incorrect account ID I provided. After a couple of days without cellular plan from neither carrier, I decided to give up on the number transfer and get a new number instead, while I worked on this issue with both carrier providers. On that same day, I got in touch with AT&T and they provided me the correct account ID belonging to my AT&T Wireless Plan. I got in touch with Verizon to start the number port and after about 3 to 4 hours on the phone and they were able to successfully cancel the previous port request which had a wrong account ID on to allow me to create a new port request with the correct account ID from AT&T this time. I immediately got cellular signal from Verizon after that.
About three weeks later I received an e-mail with the following content:
AUGUST 10TH, 2021
Submission Status
Hi GUSTAVO STOR,
We've reviewed your submission with tracking number 967125419 for the Bring your own device to Verizon and get a $650 Verizon eGift Card offer.
We're having trouble processing your rebate. For more details and resubmission instructions, please go to Check My Status* or Contact Us if you have any questions.
Thanks for choosing Verizon Wireless.
* Check My Status
Upon checking the reason for the trouble processing my rebate, the reason was "This offer requires bringing your number from your previous carrier to Verizon.". The PROMO CODE is PREMBYOD650 and tracking status is 967125419. You can see that the mobile number on that submission ends with (XXX) XXX-3683, which is exactly the number I was porting from AT&T. But I immediately assumed the reason for it being declined. By the time it was processed, it must likely used the temporary number I got from Verizon while I was trying to get my number port working, since the number porting from AT&T was filled with a wrong account ID belonging to my bundled service there and actually was the account ID of my Internet plan. But I had fixed it, as I said before, on July 17th, when I first got the rebate declined, in which I contacted AT&T and they provided me the correct account ID for my AT&T Wireless plan. The thing is that they most likely processed the rebate before the number port got into the system and processed the claim using the temporary Verizon number. No worries, I still had until August 14th 2021 to make a second attempt, this time with the number correctly ported and no obstacles or requirements not being met. So, on August 12th 2021, I got in touch with Verizon and was able to initiate a new rebate, since they understood what happened and explicitly said I met all the requirements and sent me this following e-mail:
AUGUST 12TH, 2021
Hi GUSTAVO STOR,
We've received your submission for the Bring your own device to Verizon and get a $650 Verizon eGift Card promotion. Here are the tracking number(s) for the mobile number(s) you provided:
(XXX) XXX-3683:
970270696
Based on the purchase date provided, you can expect us to validate your rebate around September 28, 2021.
I was hopeful that things would work out fine this time. But less than a month later I received the same e-mail again regarding the trouble processing my rebate, but with another message. Here it is:
SEPTEMBER 4th, 2021Now, as you can see, they say the date received for this second rebate attempt was 08/12/2021. Now look again on the first e-mail I've ever got regarding this special rebate promotion: "Must submit by: 08/14/2021". The date I talked to Verizon after getting my first rebate declined and explained the situation and with their help initiated a second rebate to fix this issue was 08/12/2021, which is before 08/14/2021. I was WITHIN the eligible dates. So how can the error message be that the date of my purchase, my initial purchase, on July 15th 2021, which I had until the August 14th 2021 to claim the rebate, say that it wasn't within the eligible dates?
For me to making this post instead of attempting to call or chat is because I've tried everything already. I call Verizon at least three times a week. One of my last calls with Verizon gave me hope when the costumer support told me that I was right and I met the criteria and they were escalating this to the rebates team, and I should receive a response through e-mail within 10 days. 3 weeks have passed and nothing.
The reason I decided to switch from AT&T to Verizon was mainly because of this rebate, because the price I paid/pay on both providers is less than $10 difference and I already have the perks of Hulu/Disney+ through my family subscription. So if nothing, this was a false advertising. I'm not able to get in touch with the rebates team. I'm not able to ask why they are declining my rebate directly to them. I have to rely on Help Chat + being redirected to the wrong department (ALWAYS the wrong department) + being redirected again at which point I'm in a redirect loop for hours where NOBODY knows what to do. But my hope is that here someone will read this here and treat it and help me this time. THERE IS a rebates team. THERE IS a team dedicated to that. And I should be able to contact them and understand WHAT IS HAPPENING! And they are violating the contract I signed by giving me invalid reasons to decline my rebate.
Consumer protection laws exist to prevent dangerous or unethical business practices, such as false advertising or faulty products.
As someone coming from a background of lawyers in my family, this qualifies as an unethical business practice. You lured me into moving my services from AT&T to Verizon, made me pay an early termination fee to AT&T, promised me a rebate of $650 if I ported my number from AT&T, which I did, and now NOBODY is able to help. NOBODY. I don't even know what else number to call anymore because I've exhausted every single number in the Verizon help center. All it happens is I get redirected, over and over again. The person I'm talking to doesn't know what to do and redirects me to a random department where they also don't know what to do. And this doesn't go anywhere.
So please, help me, because I have everything documented and I'm willing to go after my consumer rights for negligence towards misleading advertising.
Finally, these are the requirements for getting your rebate accepted:
- Bring your own 4G or 5G smartphone
- New Line Required
- Port-In Required
- Play, Beyond, Do, Get, Above Unlimited Plan Required
- Consumer Accounts only
I meet all of them. I brought my smartphone. I'm a new costumer to Verizon and have a new line. I ported my number from AT&T to Verizon. My plan is Play More Unlimited 5G UW. And obviously I'm a consumer account. Last, but not least, when I filed both the rebates, even the second one with the account ID correction, it was before the expiration date for filing a rebate.
