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.

[DirtyShirley]

Well interestingly enough after I made this post I received another email from the rebate center with a new tracking number, validated, Visa card mailed for "BOGO Appeasement Promotion". HAHA, whatever, I got my money.

Keep squeaking squeaky wheels, they'll grease you eventually. 😉

[Justaperson]

I've been through a similar situation, but I've now been told that my rebate came back to them as undeliverable. I receive mail at my home address every single day. We've verified my address multiple times.

As of Friday I demanded a tracking number for their mailing via UPS. I was told to call back in a day or two to get it. I just completed call back number three, and imagine my surprise, it's still being processed.

I'm about to contact the BBB and the Attorney General. This is a total scam. I've been a long time customer.  Best part is the bill I just received for this is due November 3rd. Verizon rebates owes me $792. I'm going to raise hell.

[KFLYERK]

I wonder how many people simply give up on this scam and let Verizon take their $800? I won't be one of them. Here's my story:

I purchased a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (with a new line) for my son at Best Buy on May 24, 2016. The salesperson told me about their promo that was going on where I can get a second GS7 Edge for free. I have always been an Apple guy and didn't really need a new phone but my son talked me into it. I also decided that if I didn't like it that I would just go back to my iPhone. The salesperson (Chase) told me that I needed to go ahead and pay for both phones and that I would get a voucher in the mail in about 45 days that I could take to Verizon and get a refund for the 2nd phone.

Well... After over 90 days and no voucher, I went back to the Best Buy store on Aug. 13, 2016. Of course the original salesperson (Chase) no longer worked there. I explained that I was having problems with my rebate and they said that I would need to go to the Verizon store. I thanked them and went to the Verizon store. When I explained my problem to the Verizon store, they told me that I needed to go back to Best Buy since that is where I purchased the phones. I immediately go back to Best Buy (both stores are only a few blocks away from each other). The manager at Best Buy (JR) gave me a website address (www.vzw.com/digitalrebatecenter.com) and the promo code (S7-APRILPROMO). He said that I was supposed to go there to register for my rebate. The original salesperson never told me that useful information. My son can back me up on that since he was also there. Anyway, I go online to register for my rebate that day (Aug. 13, 2016) and I notice that the window to do so has expired. There was a way to chat (Verizon Wireless Redemption Chat) online and so I chatted with a customer service representative named Esther. She said that since I am a valued customer that she would create the record for me. By the way, the system was very slow and she had to keep apologizing. She said that I would need to email scans of both installment contracts, photos of the original phone boxes (luckily, we still had them), and a copy of the store receipt. These were all to be emailed to: resubmissions@yourwirelessrebatecenter.com. I did that right away. She told me that in 15 days my record would be updated and that the whole process would take 8-10 weeks. I asked her if there is a tracking number or an account number and she said that I should receive one in 15 days.

No rebate yet. Today, Nov. 23, 2016, I called the rebate center to check on the status of my rebate and I speak to Fatima. There were many gaps and delays in the conversation, and the line quality was very poor, so I'm pretty sure I was speaking to someone in a different country. Fatima asked me for my tracking number. I said that I never received a tracking number. She then tried to find my account by asking for my address, phone number, etc. She said that I was not even in the system and they never received any information from me. While we were speaking I attempted to re-email all of the information several times (resubmissions@yourwirelessrebatecenter.com) from several different accounts and each email came back returned. The returned email said that my IP had been blacklisted and also there was some interesting information at the top of those returned emails that said the X-Actual-Recipient was VerizonResubs@cimondemand.com. I kept telling Fatima that the emails were being returned and she made sure several times that I was sending them to the correct address. I assured her that the address I was sending to was as she said and then I asked if there was another email address that I could send it to (she said no). I tried to explain to her that she must have been giving me an invalid email address. She told me that I could check it through an email address validation service that I could find on Google and so I did. It seemed to be legit. I then tried to send the email a few more times in different ways; no attachments, directly through gmail.com, etc. and they all came back. I asked her if I could just snail-mail the information (she said no). I asked her if the Verizon store in town would be able to help me if I took my information there (she said yes). This phone call lasted 1 hour.

When I arrived at the Verizon store I was helped by sales associate Ekatrina and the store manager, Tiffany. After going through my story and explaining the phone call with Fatima, they called the rebate center and spoke with Phil and then Ruby. We were given the same information about emailing my contract, receipt, etc. I asked if it would be OK for the Verizon store to email it and they said yes. However, the store manager did not feel comfortable doing that so she refused. I asked her to at least send a test email to the address that they were giving us (resubmissions@yourwirelessrebatecenter.com). Tiffany did finally agree to do that on her phone and the email was returned.

So, basically, the only way that I could get a rebate was to email information to a Verizon email address that did not work. Even going to the Verizon store did not help. Tiffany said that I should check with Best Buy since the rebate was offered there. I told her that I would not go back to Best Buy since I had already been given that run-around. After all, my phone payment (installment) goes to Verizon, not Best Buy. She said that was all she could do. I was adamant and insisted that if she thinks I should go to Best Buy then she should call them up and ask them if that will take care of the problem. She dials the number and we wait on hold for 20 minutes. Just before the Verizon store closed (I was there for 1.5 hours), I was able to give my name and number to the Best Buy associate who finally answered who will give it to the manager who will call me. I guess I will be headed back to Best Buy very soon. In the mean time I am also posting this to Ripoff Report.

[NKLAWJUNK]

Add me to the list of people scammed by Verizon on the S7 BOGO offer.  Basically, I got the same runaround as the original poster - in all I submitted everything they asked for FIVE times before I was told that they had all documentation.  Then, wait 15 days for the rebate card.  Then, I got a message that my rebate was invalid because I have a business account.  First, I had no idea I had a business account.  Second, the BOGO deal was offered while I was shopping while logged in on my account.  Third, there was nothing that said I was ineligible because I had a business account.  Fourth, Verizon salesman continued to push the deal on me as though I were eligible for it.  Fifth, Verizon strung me along for months on the documentation issue and THEN told me my account was ineligible.