Samsung S7 BOGO Scam/Fraud/Lies

[Tomski919]

     Tried to take advantage to the S7 BOGO and still trying.  Submitted all the necessary info on 3/23/16 (well before the 3/31/16 cut-off) and added the line. So, I just keep tracking my rebate through the provided website.  4/15/16 I'm shocked to see my rebate is invalidated and a whole litany of problems; some of which are really weird.  But, through the chat message feature, the customer service representative is able to resolve all the "issues" and resubmits my rebate saying "all is well" and to just keep tracking over the next 15 days to find out when my rebate card has shipped.

     Well, come to find out that my rebate is invalidated once again, around the end of April.  This time the reason is "your purchase information is not eligible for a rebate".  This makes absolutely no sense.  Contact the customer service rep via the chat feature and ask "why is my rebate invalid?"  The rep writes "your purchase information is not eligible for a rebate". Ummm...OK...WHY?  The rep writes that they "don't know why" and that all my information is submitted correctly.  The rep then "escalates" my submission to "upper management" and tells me to wait 15 days for a response.  I'm like "OK".

     15 days later, keep on checking my status, still marked as "invalid".  Get back on the chat feature with customer (dis)service and ask again what is going on.  The rep doesn't know what is going on, cannot answer the simple question of "what is preventing my submission from being approved" and re-escalates my submission to "upper management"; oh, wait 15 days.

     Wait 15 days (do you see where this is going?) and still invalid.  Get up on the chat, and, nobody knows anything.  They now say that the escalation of the submission is pending and once that is resolved I'll get my card.  They ask me to wait...guess how long...15 days and then contact them.  I ask to speak with a manager and the chat rep says that the only way to do that is to call the 1-800 number.  I call.  The person I speak with [Removal required by the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service] : massive confusion, anger, blood, and guts.  The manager says that they will escalate the submission again and wait 15 days.

     After that I called the regular Verizon Customer Service number (as opposed to the rebate help line) to lodge a complaint.  Describe my situation but to no avail.  The customer service rep records the complaint but cannot provide any resolution; you see, the rebate department deals with that...aghhhhhh!

     15 days pass, no resolution.  Contact rebate people, but they are somehow more than useless.  I sit here in limbo, [removed], thinking about how T-Mobile will cover my switching costs and how I won't have to change out my sim card when I travel to Europe with T-Mobile's service.  I am writing to Verizon Wireless now to begin the mandatory arbitration process by filling out a "Notice of Dispute" form and sending it in.  I will then move to small claims court and continue as my attorney advises.  Who knows, maybe this will be a whole class action thing?

     If anyone else is having problems, please sound off.

[HELLOSATTY]

Hi ,

I had the same issue. Mine was invalided 7 times but never gave up . Escalated the issue with the mail ID from verizon site for escalation , visited store thrice & finally got the rebate approved .My last call with customer care was as usual , they corrected information & asked to wait for 14 days but I demanded an escalation mail ID  without which I am not going to drop the call . Got this [removed] finally . Sent an email & also mailed the escalation point of contact & got resolved less than a week

The comment from VZW to this thread was NO WAY useful to get the claim .

Personal information removed as required by the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service

Message edited by Verizon Moderator

[mlkbrat66]

Thank you for this information. I am going to give the escalation a try.

[lovemore]

Thank you so much for this information. I still have not received my

rebates and niw instead if giving me the 15 days spiel, the last time I

spoke with someone, July 16, they asked I give them 30 days!

[FYE88588]

Tomski--

I'm going through a very similar nightmare of an ordeal with trying to get my rebate. It started at the Verizon store in Grayslake, IL when I told them I'd take them up on the BOGO offer that they talked me into. This was my first ever smartphone and wanted the "free" one for my friend who also never had one. They NEVER told me that I'd have to do a rebate submission or even that there was a rebate. I just thought I wouldn't get charged for the 2nd phone. They also never gave me the 'retail installment contract' so even if I knew about a rebate submission, which I did not, they didn't give me the paperwork to file it. Didn't know about the need for a rebate submission until I got the first bill with a $33 equipment charge for the 2nd phone and went to the store to ask them about it. They told me about the rebate submission, which I did. It came back invalid. Called the rebate center and after an hour on the phone was told 'We're good- the status just went from invalid to pending'. Week later got an email from Verizon that now submission is invalid due to 'purchase date'. The useless people at the store tell me they can't do anything and I get the "escalated to upper management, will hear back in15-30 days" every time I call the rebate center. I've never been so pissed.

Class action, Tomski? Let's take it to 'em.

[vzw_customer_support]

We want you to get the rebate that you were promised asap. How long ago did you purchase the devices? Did you receive a call back yet? If so, what was said?

NicholeK_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the ?Correct Answer? button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!

[FYE88588]

Nichole-

First phone purchased 3/17, the "free" phone purchased 3/22. Did not get a

call back. The people at the Verizon store are useless. Never would have

taken 2nd phone (to help a friend) if they didn't talk me into the BOGO

deal. They never told me anything about a rebate or rebate submission. This

is a classic case of fraud and trust me-- Verizon does not want the noise

I'm going to make about this.

On Sat, Jul 30, 2016 at 5:26 PM, Verizon Wireless Customer Support <

[vzw_customer_support]

We understand the importance of receiving the rebate you were expecting. We do have a special department that handles this. Please reach out to them directly here http://bit.ly/2aIZa6H so we can further assist.

RashadM_VZW
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[CHAGRI71]

After battling for 72 days because the store had problems porting the numbers from my old phones to the new ones, the rebate center approved my submission after I threatened to go to a local TV station that likes to do segments on companies that try to screw their customers.  Supposedly I will get the card soon.  Actually, My Version customer service and the store manager tried hard to get the problem corrected.  But the problem is the subcontractor, Blackhawk Network.  People need to post in other places how bad they are.  Since I am a Verizon stockholder, I asked shareholder services to connect me with someone in Verizon that has oversight over Blackhawk Network.  If they don't know, then they need to know how bad these guys are.

[CHAGRI71]

Update on my Post 63:  After emailing the Executive Director of Shareholder Services, I received an email from Executive Relations that day at 10 PM EDT which is the time of close of business PDT.  A Verizon employee in the Executive Relation's office called me the next day.  Since Blackhawk Network after 72 days had "validated" my rebate, my interest as a shareholder was to complain as loudly as I could about Blackhawk's unprofessional and unethical give-customers-the-run-around practices.   Verizon uses many subcontractors in their various marketing promotions.  I asked if Verizon practiced the methods of enhancing "rebate breakage" as part of their company marketing plan.  The representative replied emphatically, NO.  But clearly, Blackhawk Network does use these unethical practices or is incompetent in administering these promotions.  As a shareholder, I have a choice:  (1) present this issue to as high a level of Verizon management that I can because it greatly affects their reputation, (2) divest from the company, or (3) do nothing.  I intend to proceed with (1) before resulting to (2).

As a note to how ridiculous Blackhawk's performance is:  when they finally validated my claim they posted that they were mailing me a $0.00 gift card.  I had to contact them again, threaten them again, and then they posted a "Verizon Wireless BOGO Appeasement Promotion" of submission type "customer care" for the correct amount under a different tracking number. My conclusion is that Blackhawk is incompetent when it comes to handling anomalous rebate submittals.

The pop up survey at the end of chat sessions offers the opportunity to review a transcript of the chat.  Every time I clicked that option it immediately shut everything down.  I suggest that if you want a record of your on-line chats and you should to document your case, take screen shots (Windows snipping tool) throughout the chat.  The Verizon rep said that the shutdown should be no surprise because different browsers behave differently.  I used Chrome.  I would appreciate if anyone using IE or Firefox would let me know if they also had this problem.

[bigbearsgym]

I used Firefox and didn't have the problem. I was able to copy my chat and save it.

[PHRED47]

Well I finally made it out of the bs from Verizon and got an email from Verizon saying that my rebate was approved.  Seriously I didn't think I was going to receive the rebate because of all the hoops I had to go through however it finally happened and I got it. OK it was truly not worth the aggravation though but I do think I know what happened. Check the agreement contract carefully and especially the phone number on top of each agreement make sure that they are different. I noticed that the numbers were the same. Hmmmmm  so I went to "my Verizon " and got to the section my receipts and found service contracts found proper form resubmitted the former and got the approval. There was a type error on the physical form I got from the store I bought phones from. Simple !!!!!! Lol still can not wait till contract is up should not of had to go through the bs.

[vzw_customer_support]

PHRED47,

We're glad to hear about your rebate and certainly apologize for any inconvenience or delay. We certainly would not want to lose you as a customer and here to help. Is there anything else that we can assist with to keep you as a valued customer?

AdamG_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the ?Correct Answer? button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!

[Tomski919]

***UPDATE*** After nearly 5 months I have finally received my rebate card in hand.  It seems that a lot of folks are being approved around the July 22-24 time frame.  Could it be that our efforts at not "letting this go" are finally paying off?  I don't know, but what I will tell people out there still trying is this: not to give up.  Keep calling the rebate center, then get on the I.M. chat feature and complain, then call verizon corporate, then jump on the community boards and complain, followed by social media.  Thank you to CHAGRI71, as a verizon shareholder, I'm glad you found out some info about the 3rd party rebate company and complained to shareholder services. That is awesome.

Nobody who fulfilled the obligations for this deal should be denied their rebate (and to those on this board who are like "Did you remember to do an RSA or add the line or you better have your lawyer look at the terms of service...I wouldn't pop-off on here without doing my due diligence".  This stunk of a scam, and it took a lot of work for me to get this bloody rebate.  The attempts to "Rebate-Break" by verizon and their 3rd party joke rebate company are completely unethical.  It's a shame that corporate America treats its customers with such disrespect, but it we don't complain and stay persistent, then they'll (corporate America) never change their ways.

[grl3]

I did a Verizon buy a Samsung 7 or Edge 7 phone, open two lines, and get a phone free. I tried to buy online but the sale wasn't going through. I ended up finishing the sale with online Verizon rep. I asked "how do I get my free phone?". Rep replied in 8-10 weeks you will get a credit card in the mail for the value of one phone. After 12 weeks nothing. So I called Verizon. After 3 hours on the phone, and several people not knowing what they were doing I reached a man who told me I should have gotten a promo code in a text msg or email. I said I got nothing. And I looked through the paperwork with my phone (him on the line)--no promo code. Rep said: Well, a lot of people didn't get that email. He said no problem I have the code for that offer let me walk you through the submission now. The submission is a lot of stuff to do. Never told I had to send pics of this and that but we did it, submission done. Phone purchased in April, I am doing the submission in July. I get a few emails from verizon rebate asking for info to process my rebate. I give info. Today they come back denying me the rebate of free phone saying I was submit within 30 days of buying phone. That is the first I heard of that! No one ever said I need a promo code or I needed to submit stuff or that there was a deadline for submission not even the guy who helped me do the submission. SCAM

I told my friend about this situation she said...well it was during the Verizon strike. So the people working probably didn't know what they were doing, things fell through the cracks.

I'll say!!

[vzw_customer_support]

grl3, lets get to a better place. I have send you a Private Message. Please reply to the message, so we can look into this issue. I feel confident we can find the best answers for you.

JoelR_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the ?Correct Answer? button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!

[grl3]

On 8/14/2015, I replied to your direct message.

[vzw_customer_support]

Xx, we apologize for the inconvenience and we are anxious to assist you. Would you please resend the direct message one more time?DoloresK_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the ?Correct Answer? button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!

[grl3]

Warning

Joel supposedly from Verizon support may be a scammer. I already replied twice to his  request to gave my full name and phone number, i was hesitant though. Now he wants my account password to further investigate  the matter. Uh No! Never give out your your  password, it is Giving someone someone  carte blanche to your account. If Joel really wanted to help he would have asked for the rebate tracking number and to communicate off the forum,p by email or calling me.

[Ann154]

The Verizon Wireless reps like joelr_vzw  have to follow the same procedure as if you had called the customer service number. They have to verify your name and billing password in order to access your account. If joelr_vzw  asked for this information in the Direct Message system (which is basically a private email) of the community, they are a legitimate Verizon Wireless employee. If you feel uncomfortable with sending it to them, ask them to call you first before you provide that information.

[DirtyShirley]

Add me to the list of NOGO. This really feels like a scam and I hope anyone reading this will strongly reconsider joining VZW for or signing up for any BOGO program.

I submitted my rebate for 2 x S7 Edges on 4/21/16, entered the appropriate documentation, device payment plans etc. 3 mos later I'm still "pending validation" and my status screen STILL says that my validation should be complete by 5/21/16!! . I've had several chat sessions and have called the rebate center. Each time they tell me to wait longer and "escalating" to "upper management" cuts 5 days off the escalation time, whatever that means.

So my last attempt was 8/3 where I was told that I would have to wait 3 more weeks. I waited an extra week and contacted them again today. I was told again to wait longer, 5 days this time and guaranteed this would be resolved at the end of 5 days.

I would NOT have purchased these phones nor signed up for this deal had I known the BOGO would take 4 months instead of 4 weeks. BOGO was the only reason I did this at all!

So now I have serious regrets and am worried that the runaround will never end. Hopefully 5 days from now everything will be cleared up but I'm not optimistic.

[vzw_customer_support]

DirtyShirley, this is definitely not what we like to hear. May we ask if you have reached out to our rebate department? Let us know if everything is resolved in the time frame you expected. KleoL_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the ?Correct Answer? button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!