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Horrible Experience With Verizon Wireless Customer Service Re: Package That Fedex Admits Was Misdelivered

After approximately 2.5 years with T-Mobile, we decided to "return home to Verizon."

Had we known what a nightmare this would be, we would have NEVER done so.

On 7/27/15, in a conversation with Chadd Clarke of Verizon Wireless, I ordered 4 Samsung Galaxy S-6s, 64 GB each. I provided Chadd with detailed shipping address - my place of employment, including the name of my company, the exact floor of the building in which we are located (10th), building address etc. On Friday, 7/31/15, on the way home from vacation, I stopped in the office to pick up the phones. Turns out only one package of 2 was in our office, despite fedex tracking indicating that both packages were "delivered." My wife and I spent much of the next 5 -6 hours trying to get to the bottom of this. My wife, with the kind help of the building security manager, visited EVERY mailroom in our 10-story building in a vain attempt to find the package.

At 8:12 pm on 7/31/15, I received a call from a fedex representative. who admitted that fedex delivered the package to the 7th floor, rather than the 10th floor (i.e. it was NOT delivered as addressed). My company is only on the 10th floor, the name of my company and floor were provided to Chadd of Verizon Wireless, and the company on the 7th floor is totally different and unrelated to my employer. The building security night manager promptly reached out to his contact at the company on the 7th floor. The contact promptly confirms that their mailroom has no record of this package and no person by the name of the person that purportedly signed for this package.

I figured that once I shared this information with Verizon Wireless, they would promptly remedy the situation. After all, I provided Verizon Wireless with the proper delivery information (including name of company and floor), Verizon Wireless hired fedex to deliver the package to me per my specific delivery instructions), and fedex admitted they delivered it to the wrong floor. I also obtained a copy of the building's delivery sign-in log, which confirm that at the time in question there was only a delivery to the 7th floor, not the 10th floor.

BOY WAS I WRONG. I will not bother with all the details of my countless hours on the phone with Verizon Wireless and fedex, nor will I use this forum to name all the names of the people I dealt with. The bottom line is that despite hearing from FEDEX directly that the 2 phones were delivered to the wrong floor, the Verizon Wireless reps essentially told me the burden was on me to file a claim with fedex. For context, a few reps were kind enough to put me on hold while they called fedex directly to verify everything I have said. In pointing out the absurdity of this to one of the Verizon reps, I said this is the equivalent of a customer whose payment check gets lost in the mail telling Verizon to file a claim against the post office. The Verizon rep lost all credibility when he said that Verizon often does this.

So the phones were NEVER properly delivered to company, floor and address specified by me. The carrier hired by Verizon Wireless, Fedex ground, admits it was not properly delivered (and, curiously, cannot find the actual signature of the person that purportedly signed for it). Fedex will admit this to anyone that calls them with the tracking number and/or case information.

We are now paying for two carriers simultaneously (T-Mobile and Verizon), and we are in danger of losing some or all of the $600 of rebates - $200 for porting numbers and $400 for trading in old phones within a specific period of time.

Ultimately, my goal is to have the issue resolved promptly and fairly, so I filed a claim with fedex (but reserve my rights against Verizon Wireless). I learned that its almost impossible to file a claim for the would-be recipient. It's not exactly easy to find the EXACT ship from address and telephone number of the shipper - New Breed on Citation Drive in Memphis?. I also have no way to supply a "Photocopy of FedEx Airbill and/or FedEx Ship Manager printout and/or FedEx Ground Pickup-Record."

Verizon Wireless, you may or may not make this discussion visible on your website, but that's OK. Since you have made the simple task of getting Verizon Wireless to comply with its obligation to deliver these two phones in accordance with the delivery instructions a full time job for me, I will be reaching out to every consumer protection agency and will using other lawful methods to get proper recourse. This is not a situation with ANY factual ambiguity, yet Verizon Wireless refuses to do the right thing. There is no reasonable rationale for Verizon Wireless to behave in this manner. Verizon Wireless also added insult to injury - all but one of the representatives who promised that they or their supervisor would call me promptly NEVER bothered to call, and the few who gave me contact telephone numbers and extensions never bothered to share the fact that they cannot receive incoming calls. My hunch is that the Verizon Wireless representatives all read from the exact same hymnal, the one that says something to the effect of "if fedex tracking indicated 'delivered," it is the customer's problem." Perhaps that policy makes sense in many circumstances - BUT NOT IN CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE FEDEX ADMITS TO ANYONE WHO ASKS THAT THE PACKAGE IN QUESTION WAS NOT DELIVERED AS ADDRESSED. The same fedex delivery person who mis-delivered the package in the first place.is likely responsible for triggering the "delivered" information on fedex tracking, and fedex ADMITS it was not delivered as addressed! Verizon Wireless employees have also admitted hearing this information directly from Fedex, but, sad to say, they refuse to let reality get in the way.

Prospective Verizon Customers - you have been warned.

Comments

frommage

Ah, but your beef is indeed with fed ex and not verizon. If you don't like it simply return the lines and go back to tmobile. It's really not that hard. In the meantime if there was a payment for the ones have your credit card company investigate. You can dispute the charges with them. And by the way tmobile sells these exact phones.

Myronfo

Frommage -

I would move to T-Mobile in a heartbeat but am afraid I would trade one battle with an unreasonable Verizon Wireless for another, especially given that I did receive 2 phones. Having two lines with one carrier and two lines with another is not a cost effective solution.

Verizon Wireless, if you are willing to not charge me a cent for any services or any phones if I return the two phones I received in new condition, I will do so immediately. Please advise so all in the forum can see.

MiiHere

Even if you're within the 14 day return period, you'd still have to pay the restocking fee; $35 each phone and you most likely would have to mail them back and couldn't just return them to the store.

You'd still have to resolve the issue of the 2 missing phones. File a claim with FedEx.

Why didn't you just ship them to your house? I'm surprised Verizon would even ship them to your work, in the past they have made it clear they will only ship to the billing address / account holders address.

You said you were paying for both Verizon and T-mobile, so I'm not sure why it would be so hard to switch back to T-mobile when...you haven't made the switch to Verizon.

Myronfo

I did file the claim with fedex on 8/4/15. However, without Verizon Wireless's cooperation, I cannot supply the "Photocopy of FedEx Airbill and/or FedEx Ship Manager printout and/or FedEx Ground Pickup-Record" that fedex requires.

I now have 2 lines on Verizon (active since 7/31; numbers automatically ported from T-Mobile the moment we turned on the 2 phones we received) and 2 lines still on T-Mobile.

Myronfo

E-commerce depends in very large part on shippers standing behind their shipments. For illustrative purposes, I attach a link to Amazon's policy dealing with a similar situation. The facts are not in dispute, given Fedex's admission of mis-delivery.

Amazon.com Help: Find a Missing Package That Shows As Delivered

Find a Missing Package That Shows as Delivered

What to do if your package shows as delivered but you can't find it.

If your tracking information shows that your package was delivered, but you can't find it:

Within 36 hours of expected delivery

Verify the shipping address
Look for a notice of attempted delivery
Look around the delivery location for your package
See if someone else accepted the delivery
Some packages travel through multiple carriers; check your mailbox or wherever else you receive mail.
- Wait 36 hours - in rare cases packages may say delivered up to 36 hours prior to arrival

36 hours past expected delivery

Go to your orders and click "I can't find it" next to your order, select whether you wish to request refund/replacement or contact seller.

Your orders

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peterpaul25

This is crazy. Verizon should replace the phones.

Weth

FedEx loses the phone, yet you feel Verizon is obligated to pay for another company's mistake?

peterpaul25

Weth - To borrow lyrics from Boston, it's "more than a feeling."

It's VZW's contractual obligation under 2-319(b) of the Uniform Commercial Code.

But seriously, do you think VZW would not for one second put the burden on you if your check or trade-in phone was not delivered to them because of the carrier?

What about a phone that's defective when delivered - should VZW simply say go after Samsung or Apple or Motorola since the defective phone is "another company's mistake?"

§ 2-319. F.O.B. and F.A.S. Terms. | UCC - Uniform Commercial Code | LII / Legal Information Institute

§ 2-319. F.O.B. and F.A.S. Terms.

(1)Unless otherwise agreed the term F.O.B. (which means "free on board") at a named place, even though used only in connection with the stated price, is a delivery term under which

(a) when the term is F.O.B. the place of shipment, the seller must at that place ship the goods in the manner provided in this Article (Section 2-504) and bear the expense and risk of putting them into the possession of the carrier; or
(b) when the term is F.O.B. the place of destination, the seller must at his own expense and risk transport the goods to that place and there tender delivery of them in the manner provided in this Article (Section 2-503);
(c) when under either (a) or (b) the term is also F.O.B. vessel, car or other vehicle, the seller must in addition at his own expense and risk load the goods on board. If the term is F.O.B. vessel the buyer must name the vessel and in an appropriate case the seller must comply with the provisions of this Article on the form of bill of lading (Section 2-323).

Myronfo

Thanks. I wouldn't know FOB from FAS.

Though I have already filed a claim with fedex, The process was extremely difficult as it required information and a copy of the FedEx Ship Manager printout and/or FedEx Ground Pickup-Record that are only in Verizon Wireless's possession. Verizon Wireless has NOT provide that yet.

Also, through FedEx is a big company, I suspect they would jump higher and faster if Verizon - the company that hired them - made the claim.

The fact that Verizon does not make clear on its website or on the phone that Verizon policy is that the burden is on the customer to make claims for misdelivery of phones shipped by Verizon means that Verizon has its cake and eats it too.

If Verizon publicized this policy, they would likely lose e-commerce business in favor of brick and mortar stores or to competitors who have much more customer friendly policies. I have dealt with many issues in the past with many other companies, yet this is by far the most customer unfriendly experience I have had. I've had more luck with an ebay shipper from China regarding a misdelivered item than with Verizon.

Also, Verizon made me spin wheels. One of their reps told me that they need to do an investigation that takes 72 hours and they would call back. They never called back, so I called them. Verizon rep said investigation confirmed misdelivery and I need to file a claim with fedex. They offered to "start another investigation" - to what end? To tell me again that its my problem? They constantly exacerbated the situation with promises of call backs that never came. On top of this they are charging me for the phones and the service relating to the phones that they know I did not receive.

Very shortly I will be faced with the added dilemma of either losing the $400 trade-in rebate on the two T-Mobile phones, or having my kids be without phones until this nightmare is resolved (or paying for prepaid phones with different numbers).

Myronfo

Dramatic Improvement in Verizon's Customer Service - Yesterday morning I spent some time at the local police department following up on the police report that a Verizon rep suggested would be necessary to expedite matters.

While I was at the police department, we received a call from a Verizon representative. Upon my return to the office, I called this rep back (the rep provided a working call-back number!). The rep was very helpful and very apologetic and promised to "make it right."

A few minutes ago, the first part of the "making it" right occurred when two replacement Samsung Galaxy S-6s (64GB) were properly delivered to me at the office via overnight delivery. I have not yet opened the boxes nor touched the phones as that act had apparently automatically triggered porting of the numbers from T-Mobile to Verizon with respect to the two phones that were properly delivered to us approximately 1.5 weeks ago. I need to time the logistics of porting to better coincide with getting the phones to the family members that will use them, one of whom is over 200 miles away at college.

Anyway, this is looking a lot better than it did for the last week and a half. I will update with positives and negatives as the facts warrant.

keekster12

Sounds like this may have a happy ending. Can't see why it took so long.

fernandobot

there's a certain procedure that Verizon takes. you call in to report the devices not delivered and theres a ticket setup with the warehouse. once the warehouse gets around to it they contact you and then they issue out the replacement device. it was one of those people that you initially deemed unhelpful that ended up helping.

Myronfo

Fernandobot -

1. One of the Verizon representatives I spoke with on Saturday 8/1 said many things consistent with your remark, including the fact that the Verizon "investigations team" need approximately 48 hours to do their investigation. This representative indicated he would call me on a specified date with an update once the investigation was complete.

2. I did not get a call back on the specified date so I reached out to Verizon reps directly on two successive days, The first of these two reps, with whom I was on the phone for approximately an hour, advised that the aforementioned investigation concluded and told me that as a result of that investigation I needed to file a claim with FedEx. During this call the Verizon rep reached out to a FedEx contact that I dealt with, and the Verizon rep acknowledged that the FedEx rep admitted the package was in fact misdelivered. I asked several times to speak with the Verizon rep's supervisor. I was initially told by the Verizon rep that his supervisor would tell me exactly the same thing that the Verizon rep told me, and subsequently was told that the supervisor was busy and that she would call me later. I never received a call from this supervisor. The next day I reached out to Verizon again and was told, in effect, that, as was stated to me the prior day by another Verizon rep, I needed to handle the matter with FedEx. Unfortunately, and as noted in my 8/13 post, FedEx ultimately denied my claim and said it needed to be handled directly by Verizon.

3. I am currently dealing with the same Verizon rep that first reached out to me on 8/10 and I could not be happier with this Verizon rep's professionalism & attitude and the results to date. His actions have been consistent with his initial vow to "make things right."

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