iPhone 17 Pro Order Incorrectly Marked As “Fraud”

[Kinch310]

I have been trying to order the new iPhone promax since October 3. This order had to be cancelled due to an “unfixable” payment processing error after my transaction was placed on hold 14 days after my order. When my card went to be charged, the transaction was incorrectly marked for possible fraud—Verizon says by the credit card company I used—they said by Verizon. Fine, use a different card. Nope, this time AmEx even sent me a bill for the amount, lol. So, Verizon chat people and several different over the phone reps were no help. (We’ve done things like fix my incorrectly entered address, and weirdly nobody seems to be able to fix that my middle name was typed into my first name box by the store rep who set up our account initially in August). So, I had to lose my place in line for my new phone and let them cancel the order. Stinks,, but whatever.

After correcting yet another spelling error on the latest attempt to fix my address by a phone rep, I drive to the store. My goal is not to reorder a phone but to get a straight answer as to what is happening with my account and how to fix it. The store rep told me, “we always enter your info off of your license by taking a picture of it and we can’t change it.” So, does everyone just have their middle name listed as part of their first name? Awkward silence. “I can’t really comment on other customers sir.” ….. Sorry, I seem to have stepped into a hostile dimension, where nobody can ever truly answer my legitimate questions for pseudo-policy-based explanations that lack critical thinking. I did not say this out loud but instead decided that this person is just not competent to help me.

Questions go between the rep and his manager. And before I know it, things in my account are being “fixed” and then I’m asked to sign for a new phone… What? I just wanted to fix my account info? I’m not interested in the phones you have in stock? …. “Ohhhhh, yeah, I’m sorry but I can’t help you then. But just order your phone normally. I looked through your account and it was just a one time glitch. It won’t happen again.”

So, naturally, I just placed a new order for an in-stock phone I decided I can settle for. Can you guess what happened? Lolol. Hold placed on transaction. “Fraud detected.” Had to approve the transaction with Chase. Did so. Then got an email notification to contact Verizon fraud detection. Hey! This is progress!!!! Maybe I’ll finally be helped!

After a 50 minute phone call during which they asked me nothing about myself, not for my account pin, my social security number, nothing, I am informed that they “are not able to verify me and are not able to tell me why due to fraud dept policy.” I have no idea why I’m being flagged. I suspect it’s because someone registered my account incorrectly somehow and nobody from Verizon’s customer service is competent to find what is triggering the fraud detection on their end. And nobody from fraud detection can tell me what’s triggering the fraud alert on their end because they don’t give out free info or negotiate with bad guys—even if that means that some people like me get caught in the cross fire. I asked the rep, Should I just cancel my account then?

“Yeah, maybe.”