Verizon charging me for phones I returned!!!!!

[Vanilla1234]

On 10/7 went online to place and order. Was switching from another service provider, 2 phones I was bringing over and would be getting 2 phones from verizon.  Website said I would receive email confirmation. I never did receive email confirmation and on 10/9 I called verizon and explained that I placed an online order on 10/7. Agent said that she could not find the order and that it did not process, and proceeded to place a new order. Fast forward a week or so and I receive one box with two phones one day, and another box with two phones the next day.

I go thru the email instructions to activate the phones that I have email confirmation for. Get porting numbers from the old provider, phone EID, IMEI, IMEI2 numbers etc. Process is a disaster. Try online, try agent chat and try speaking to a human. In each instance I am told that everything is all set, only for the phones to never activate. Days go by and finally get someone from this country to speak with who is seemingly competent.  After telling him that if the phones don't get activated that day I will be returning them all and be looking for another provider, he investigates ..... Well, turns out that the original online order did process and that is the one that is tied to an account. So spend hrs on the phone with him and he finally is able to get the phones that were opened activated as well as the 2 devices that we brought with us.  So I ask about the additional 2 phones that were sent to me. He tells me that the billing is all a mess, and he will be working on that in the coming days and will call me back once it is all straightened out.  He never calls...... So weeks go by and I finally call Verizon and say "Hey I have 2 phones here that you sent me that are not activated that I assume you want back". After spending another hour trying to get them to understand and reiterating which phones are active and which ones are not, they email me a label to bring to a local UPS store so I can return the devices.  

Devices are returned, and shown delivered on 12/18/23. My bill notification shows that I have a nearly $1000 charge for a phone. So I do the agent chat, spend another hour going thru the details. Agent confirms that they received the devices and assures me that I will not be charged for the device. I also bring up the second device that was returned that I seemingly have not been charged for yet and want to ensure that I am not. Agent tells me that they are opening a ticket and  not to worry. I receive a text from verizon stating that a ticket has been submitted.

Fast forward to today...... I see the charge for the phone come out of my bank account - $1000 for the phone I was told would be removed from my bill before the due date (it was not). I obviously need to resolve this so I try the agent chat. Waste another hour there only to get dropped 3 times. I finally schedule a call with a human. 2 hrs on the call here. Only to be told that because the phone was returned after 30 days that I am stuck with the charges and that the other phone that was returned will be coming as a charge on the next bill! I am obviously unhappy with this, but it gets even worse! Agent assures me there is nothing they can do to reverse the charge and stop the next one even though they confirm that they have received the unopened devices. So then I tell the agent that I at least want the devices I have no paid for sent back to me (If I am going to pay $2k I at least want the phones in hand)! I am told that there is no way they can send them back to me! I ask to speak with a supervisor and am told that one will call me, but am given no commitment as to what time, other than being told that it likely won't be today. 

This is outrageous.  A multi-billion $ company, and they get the phones back to resell and stick Joe Average Guy with a $2K bill for absolutely nothing. And it has been their error from the start, starting with the agent called on 10/9 who said they could not find the online order and placed an additional one. I have spoken with no fewer than 7 people from the point of order to activation to billing and along the way have been told that things were going to be fixed only to get this news today 2 days after Christmas.  Is this how you conduct business Verizon? Mishandling the situation on your side of things, and then charging customers for devices that they physically returned to you that you will undoubtable resell? Stay as far away from this company as possible.  

[vzw_customer_support]

We are sorry to read that you had this negative experience, as this is never what we want for any of our customers to go through, we'll be glad to look into this. To better assist you, we will be sending you a private note.

~Freddy

[Nana5910]

I got my phone's last day or last week in June and it was a pixel pro 7. I've had nothing but problems. I they I had two phones to return. I returned them at that time. I bill was $1,619 and then the next day my phone bill was $2,494 today. My phone is disconnected and I'm not able to talk to a Verizon customer support. Alls I get is a recording. How do I talk to a live person?

[DenzelRo1993]

Dealing with this same issue different scenario  @vzw_customer_support  it’s really ashame  to talk to an agent and do what they tell you to do out of good faith …for you guys to turn around and still bill someone for a device that is returned …… I opened an account in November of last year and got the phone and had issues activating. So I called and had to go through multiple agents to get my phone on and somehow one of the agents ended up messing up my plan and changing it to a prepaid plan instead as a pay as u go plan….. fast forward 3 or 4 months later …   February of this year and  I’m on my way to work using my phone talking to my sick mother and my phone connection just shuts off and is suspended…. I call Verizon and they tell me …yeah your phone was suspended due to a balance for your phone that wasn’t paid that I never ever even set up. I was paying the bill thinking that I was paying the correct bill and An agent messed up my bill and didn’t even care …I ended up just sending the phone back in good faith because your agent said that once it’s sent back it’ll be wiped away and that was was in February…. fast forward to last week and my wife sends me a paper from u guys saying I owe for a phone I returned in the same condition that you guys sent it to me .. It’s very sad you guys are having these issues being a major phone service company:…. I will hope u guys fix you guys customer service issues….i was switching from t-mobile to come to you guys because i heard great things but I guess what was told was lies …. Ill just keep trying to get this rectified because now you guys are trying to have me responsible for some I returned months ago and probably have resold that item as a used phone …… this is unacceptable.

[vzw_customer_support]

We are sorry to read that you had this negative experience, and want to help out with straightening this out. Do you have a receipt or confirmation of the return? If so, please provide us with that information.

~Freddy

[RoyaleDenzel0]

Is there anyway you guys can help me with an issue of paying for a new phone that I returned …. I paid for a new phone back in November of last year and set up a pay as you go plan …. Somehow my plan got screwed up and was put in as a prepaid planned so time went by with no calls or anything to notify me …. You guys turned the phone off and suspended saying I owed 1200 on a phone that I thought I was paying on monthly ….i called you guys customer service reps and they haven’t been able to help at all even one rep put me on hold and hung up the phone…..I don’t think ethically this is acceptable to do because I sent the phone back and you guys are trying to make me pay for that phone …. I need help getting this rectified 

[vzw_customer_support]

I know that I would be concerned if I was being charged for a phone that I had returned as well, RoyaleDenzel0. I would be happy to take a look into this. We will need account access to help investigate this return. Please be on the lookout for a private message from me so I can help.

-Joseph

[Antwnet]

Not sure if this has been resolved, but you should file a charge back with your bank on the phone charge telling them that you are not in possession of the phone so you're not paying for nothing. They can't charge you for a device that you don't have in your possession. 

[Cmw2024]

I am having the same problem right now they claim it was past the 30 days been messing with them since January every agent I talked to they said it would be credited to my account talked to supervisor and he said no way no how will they I asked for phone back and they said no

[vzw_customer_support]

Cmw2024, the last thing we want is for you to be billed for a device that you returned. Based on what you've shared, it sounds like we had set up the expectation that the device would be credited once you returned it. We'd be happy to take a closer look at your account, and make sure we do all we can to help you out. We'll be sending a Private Message to best assist.

~Izzy

[Nworden]

I’m here because the same thing is happening to me. I returned my device, did not keep the receipt from UPS. They’re telling me they have no way to track the package when they sent the shipping label to me!! I can’t go to UPS and figure out what happened to the package because the shipping label was not under my name… it’s their Shipping label. Now they are trying to charge me $500.  Unfortunately, I have never had a good experience with Verizon since joining. I believe they make their money getting over on people and it’s sad. 😢

[vzw_customer_support]

I know I wouldn't be happy with an unexpected charge for phones that I had returned, Nworden. I am here to help, and I also want to be transparent with you. We do have some internal tools to track returns without a shipping label, and if we can't locate them with our internal tools, and there isn't a UPS returns tracking number that indicates they were delivered to our returns center, our options will be limited. I'd like to get a fresh look into this and see what we can do to help, so please be on the lookout for a private message from us.

-Joseph

[BaM97]

I am having the same problem except I did not have a phone to send back. I received an empty box. They are charging me for a phone I did not get. This has been going on since August. I have been issued 4 different ticket numbers to have the charge taken off. I still have the charges. They have cut off service two different times - even though they said I would not be disconnected. Now they have charged each line $40 to have the service reinstated on the next bill. Biggest mistake I made was switching to Verizon. I might not have had the best reception with AT&,  but I never had issues like this.  This has been going on since August. The last chat had was 141 messages. I have been told this is resolved (apparently it was not), disconnected from agents, spent up to four hours on the phone, timed out on chat, and told I would be called back to update me - that did not happen.  

[vzw_customer_support]

BaM97, these type of problems should definitely not happen when you've decided to give us a chance, and we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to make things right. We're sending you a Private Message so we can better help.

~Jesse

[Allen17buff]

I am currently going through this same exact situation. Switching from another provider to Verizon. It has been an absolute mess this far, I still do not have any phones. I received emails stating they’ve canceled my order, after paying money three times, in and out of stores four times, online 16 times, on the phone with Verizon core four times and I still have nothing. Emails states they’ve canceled my order because they were unable to prove who I am? Now I’m nolonger sure if I want to switch to Verizon, it’s been such a mess since day one.