Unknown Account Issues Preventing Device Upgrade

[bdm18]

Trying to find out if anybody else has experienced this issue and what the remedy was.

My wife and I have a 2-device plan. My wife's phone was paid off last year (2021) and has been working fine. I just recently paid of my device (March 2022) in order to upgrade both of our phones. We chose to purchase our phones through Costco (based on great friends' and family experiences working with Costco to purchase VZW phones) and the initial ordering and delivery of the phones to Costco went through with no issues. However, when we showed up to have the new phones activated and brought onto the account (replacing our current phones), which we were told would be a simple task, everything went haywire.

First problem: my new iPhone was not activated using the correct IMEI number. The onboard eSIM IMEI number was activated and that number was the one that VZW retained on record for the new device. Unfortunately, that meant that the physical SIM IMEI number on the device and the IMEI number that VZW brought onto the network didn't match, causing my "new phone" to be completely unfunctional. I ended up doing hours of research on my own to diagnose my own issue, then contacted Verizon support and essentially told them what I believed the issue was (mismatching IMEI numbers); the tech helping me switched the IMEI numbers and my phone began receiving missed messages instantly. First problem fixed, thank goodness for my own technical ability!

Second problem (the big one). On the initial day of activation (Wed, 23 March) , it became apparent that there was an issue activating my wife's new device, as the Verizon account would not apply the device payment plan to our account and thus refused to fully activate the phone. After 2 hours in the store attempting to correct the issue, we left with my wife's current phone (a Pixel 3a) reactivated and her new iPhone stayed at the store. Believing that it was just simple system issues on Verizon's end, I returned back to the store 2 days later (Friday, 25 March) hoping that the systems were working. I would be sorely disappointed. We experienced the same issue with activation - our Verizon account would not accept the payment agreement applied to the account and thus could not fully activate the phone. The gentleman helping us at Costco contacted Verizon support, where he finally found what he believed may have been the issue causing this problem - a "Pending Payment Agreement Completion" note. Verizon was able to correct that issue and we hoped that would solve the problem. Nope! Contact Verizon support again, and after nearly three hours of working this issue I was told by Verizon tech support that there was an "unknown backend issue" with my account that was preventing the phone line from being upgraded, and that no matter what store or location we'd go to the issue would prevent us from upgrading her phone. I was then told that a "Verizon At Your Service Ticket" was submitted to resolve this issue. I was provided the Incident # and a direct phone line to call and was told that I could call that number and provide the incident number and obtain the status of my ticket. I was also told that these tickets were most often closed within 24 to 48 hours of ticket submission, and that my ticket was placed in the highest priority. I was forced to cancel the phone transaction, and once again left the store with the old device still on the plan with no new device, and an additional 3 hours wasted.

Today (Monday, 28 March) I called the number I was provided, I provided the incident number, and asked for a status of my ticket (since it had been over 48 hours). The tech that was helping me then informed me that he had no way of seeing a status on the ticket because the tech that submitted it locked the ticket details "for security reasons" and that he had no information. He also told me that the tech that submitted the ticket would call me when the ticket was resolved to inform me of the update. This information was never told to me when the ticket was created, as I was told I could call and check on the status. The tech also informed me that these tickets are usually closed in 2-5 business days, contradictory to the "24-48 hours" I was originally told.

Current situation: with no information on current status, no idea who submitted the ticket, and no number to call to find out anything, I am left waiting and hoping I receive a phone call by the end of the week. I have no email and no physical confirmation from Verizon of my ticket, only a ticket number that a tech confirmed was submitted, and no additional details. I am unable to upgrade one of the phones on my account and have no way of determining the status of the effort attempting to fix this issue, and no accountability for the techs at Verizon to ensure that my ticket actually gets resolved. 

All of this said, I know darn well that Verizon will make sure that I get hit with the activation fees at my next bill, for the phones that I've gone through heckto purchase, despite being a customer of Verizon for 15 years. 

The funniest part is that not an hour after leaving the store, I received an email from Verizon letting us know that my wife's line was ready for an upgrade!