Kin One Exchange Program

[Pynzo]

I bought a Kin One to replace my daughter's Blackberry on Dec. 9th. Two days later Verizon announces that they're pulling the plug on Kin Studios making the phone virtually useless. On Dec. 11th Verizon sent out letters to Kin One owners (I found a copy on WPCENTRAL.COM) stating that they would exchange for free the Kin One to any 3G phone in their stores- you have to go to a Verizon Store, Free Phone-No Contract Extension.

I contacted customer service the night I read about this (Dec. 30th) and was told I qualified for this exchange, and to go to any Verizon Store. I took my daughter over to the store last night and was given the biggest run around experienced to date. Sales Rep disregarded the notes attached to my account info on the subject and went so far as to tell me to return the phone to Best Buy (where I purchased it).

Luckily I have had dealings with Best Buy's Mobile Dept. Manager and he contacted his Verizon Rep, who got everything straightened out, setting up an appointment with the Verizon store's manager. I returned to the store tonight for the pre-arranged exchange only to have another turn on the runaround merry-go-round.

It took over an hour to get this done. The program is not in their pricing system, and in order to leave with the Samsung Fascinate my daughter picked out, they had to charge my account the full price ($614.) with a verbal promise that the account will be credited for that amount tomorrow. They would not put it in writing, or even send me an email notating this credit.

I will update this post as new info comes out

[SydneyK]

This exchange program is for customers who bought the original Kin, the ones that required a data plan. If you just bought a Kin on Dec. 9, I highly doubt you'll get a free Fascinate out of this. When you bought the Kin to replace the BlackBerry, there was no indication that the Kin Studio, Loop and other features were available on this phone.

[Pynzo]

I bought an original Kin. Best Buy still had one for sale, and I would not have attempted to have exchanged it without having verified eligibility first with Customer Service. I already had a contract for the $29.99 data plan. And yes, all the features you mentioned were on this phone, along with the software freezing issues.

[SydneyK]

OK, I see. I had no idea there were any of the original Kins still in stores. Good luck with your exchange. There are a few threads on this board about this exchange deal, and it sounds like users were able to upgrade to any device.

[Pynzo]

I bought one of the last 4 phones Best Buy had for sale in Pennsylvania. As of 12-30-10 Verizon had not notified Best Buy of their decision to discontinue the Kin Studios or exchange phones. Whether you bought a Kin One from Verizon, or any other vendor, Verizon Corporate Stores are supposed to handle the exchange. I unfortunately chose a store with a salesman looking for commission, unwilling to do a free exchange as I was promised.

[Pynzo]

I was finally able to view my bill today.

Although I had been assured by customer service that a credit had been issued by the Verizon Store where we exchanged the phone for the full amount of the $614 price of the phone, and a review of the charges by a Verizon rep monitoring this posting, the credit did not appear on the bill and I now have an $869 wireless bill this month.

Round 2 of hassle with Verizon has begun.

[SydneyK]

EEK!    

Thanks for the update, and best of luck getting it straightened out.

[Pynzo · Accepted solution]

Credit of $614 issued today!