Trade in agreement.

[acmeweapons]

In January I upgraded from Galaxy S10 models to S24s. Verizon stated I would get trade-in value for the old phones sufficient to cover the cost of the new phone upgrade, with a minor change to the current plan and a promise to stay on for 3 years. This is pretty much what new customers typically get offered to join Verizon.

A series of computer-system screw-ups ensued at Verizon where record of my signing the agreements did not register, and I was prevented from picking up the new phones. I was forced by Verizon to cancel and re-order to clear things up. I was reassured by the agents that the original agreement would be honored, and I re-did all the paperwork after several more hours on the phone with them. Finally I was able to pick up the new phones and transfer the data from the old ones. I returned the old phones to a local store the next week, as advised by Verizon agents, once making sure no data was lost.

Only after the old phones were traded in did Verizon notify me that they "did not meet the requirements" for trad-in and I would not be given the agreed-upon trade in value. Now, for three billing cycles, I have being charged full price for the S24s.

I've spent over 10 hours now trying to wade through AI bots and service call agents, only to get "ticket escalations" and empty promises that the full-credit would be eventually  be applied and our original agreement honored. Nothing has changed.

I've reopened the service ticket and notified Verizon that if this does not get cleared up before the next bill is due, I will be filing a grievance with the FCC. I'm repeating that here so 1) they will be notified of my intentions outside of the discussion thread on the service ticket itself and 2) you other customers will be warned of the type of treatment Verizon seems to give its long-term customers.

I've been a happy customer (until now) for over 20 years, and it's infuriating that they think that they can do this. This is the absolute worst customer service experience I've ever had in my life, and my patience has reached its end.  Beware!

[vzw_customer_support]

Hello acmeweapons,

We definitely want to help ensure you are able to receive any promotion that you are eligible for. Please look for the Private Note we are about to send so we can gather more information about what is going on. 

-Christopher

[acmeweapons]

Christopher, are you a living, breathing human that can talk to me on the phone and resolve the issue?  If so, call me.

[vzw_customer_support]

Helllo There. please send us a DM so we can assit. 

 

~Joe M

[acmeweapons]

First follow up: after wasting 3 hours chatting with "live agents" i.e. AI chat bots, the result was no adjustment to my monthly bill after explaining multiple times what the problem was.  I got cut off twice and had to start the whole process over.  This was a huge waste of my time.  The live phone line is not available until tomorrow.

Oh look!  Another "live agent" just texted me, asking me if I had a question about my account.  *sigh*

[acmeweapons]

Update 2.  After navigating the blockade of AI Chat bots at the service call-in number, I spoke with 3 service reps in a 3 hour conversation.  I spoke with Gabriel, Angelica, and finally account specialist Reese.  The original trade-in promo was expired so a new one for $800 for each phone was applied, and an additional "customer loyalty credit" applied to cover the difference for the full cost of the new phones. One annoyance is that that credit only goes on for one year and I have to call back in yet again to get it reapplied. Record of it supposedly has been made to the records so I won't have to argue about getting it reapplied.

According to my account info online, this April's bill is still the erroneous amount, but May's estimated bill is a negative amount (i.e. a credit back to me for the past bills overcharges), and beginning in June the amount is what we originally agreed to.  I will be monitoring how this plays out, and if this is honored I will post a follow-up to that affect.

The frustrating thing about this whole meat grinder of a process is that I had to spend 20+ hours of my time on the phone or online chats.  Verizon needs to fix their process of correcting billing errors.  As it is, there is no personal accountability on anyone's part to make sure things get resolved, and if promised updates are not applied the customer has to fight through the automated comms bots to even get to speak to a living person to begin with, and then work up through the chain of command until he contacts someone who can actually fix the problem.  This has been the most unpleasant customer service experience I've ever endured.

Kudos to the live agents who spoke with me today.  They were all courteous and professional even though they could sense I was very frustrated and out of patience over this whole ordeal.  Thank you.  I look forward to seeing Verizon follow through with our agreement.