BEWARE: Misquoted On iPhone 6S Upgrade

[jsrock]

I was recently misquoted after a long call with a Verizon rep. Any one else have this problem recently? My situation went like this:

I called to check on pricing for upgrading my iPhone 5 to an 6 or 6s. My plan currently costs about $85 per month and I have been eligible for upgrade since 2013 (been a member since 2003).

(CALL 1)

After a long conversation with a representative we agreed that the iPhone 6s 64 GB Space Gray was the best option with a plan modification from my 10 GB data to the "Jumbo" 12 GB data (both had unlimited text and calling). So, I was told the phone would cost me $449 with ($100 promo credit off the retail price of $549) and the total monthly cost to me would be about $91.98 plus a dollar or two for federal taxes (I clarified multiple times that price was for the phone and plan...EVERYTHING, except federal taxes). I said great! This is only a few dollars more than what I am currently paying. So, I paid the $59 that she said covered taxes on the phone and the first months phone payment.

(CALL 2)

After accepting terms etc.. I received an email stating a much larger retail price ($649). I called and the representative told me my bill would be about $127 and that the phone was $749 discounted to $649. Far off from what was discussed with the previous rep.

He said there was nothing he could do and he was sorry the representative lied about the price quote. He said he would reverse and cancel everything.

(CALL 3)

I called back later than day (about 5 hours later) and the rep said he had done nothing as a ticket to cancel was never submitted. So, here I was lied to for a second time by Verizon....

She was kind enough to submit a ticket and provide the ticket number to me.

Later that day I received and email stating my phone was shipped. I was confused, as this was supposed to have been taken care of with the ticket, so I thought.

(CALL 4)

I called back again and demanded to speak to a supervisor. I waited for the 30 minutes or so  and got a supervisor (at this point my total time on the phone with Verizon was over 3 hours). She agreed to fix everything and call me the next day to confirm everything. She called the next morning and left a voicemail but no callback number and said she would call later that day....She never did.

(CALL 5)

I called today and spoke with a rep that said a supervisor would call back in an hour and they would give me the quoted price....4 hours later no call.

(CALL 6)

So, I called back and spoke with a representative and AGAIN explained the situation. He agreed that it was crazy what was going on and said he couldn't get me a supervisor right away because he was at lunch. After over 40 mins on the phone with him he said he would try and make it up by meeting me half way on the price difference. The way I look at it to make my bill about $92 per month (the original agreed upon price) from my original $85 that would mean a $7 increase. That would mean the $749 iPhone 6S 64 GB Space Gray would have to be discounted to about $168. With that pricing the phone would cost me $7 per month over 2 years. So, $749 minus the $100 promo puts us at $649. To get to $168 that's a $481 discount. He came back with $100 credit....that's like 20% not even close to half way. THEN to top it off he broke down the pricing and said "the $649 phone with the $100 promo and $100 credit will discount to $449"! I informed him now HE was misquoting me. It was $749 with the $100 promo and $100 credit down to $549. He apologized and corrected himself. In the end he said the $100 credit was the best he could do.

Bottom line is I think the way Verizon has handled this situation is terribly unprofessional. When a quote is given and a customer agrees to that quote and the deposit is paid that should be a legal binding contract and Verizon should be liable to provide the agreed upon price. If they took the time to review my call with the original rep they would see what I am talking about. I am not one to complain but I think that others should know about this experience and to be very cautious when getting price quotes from Verizon representatives.

[kaebfly · Accepted solution]

The original quote you were given sounds way off since the 6s 64 gb is $749 full retail. Unless I'm not understanding it sounds like you were told that you would get $200 off totally some point but somehow the original quote you got would have given you $300 off since the rep told you that you would only pay $449 (and said that the retail price was $549)? Unfortunately somewhere along the line someone or several people were incorrect in their info. The listed price shown on Verizon's website (and Apple's) is $749. Verizon and most carriers have it buried in their terms that verbal info does not override their written info so getting them to honor what you were told in error isn't likely to ever happen. It's unfortunate but not much can be done on that.