Trade-In device credits never applied

[dkrueger357]

This post is long, but bare with me because not only was it multiple mistakes and lies from customer service reps, it was also refused to be corrected. I previously upgraded a phone on our account using one of Verizons trade-in deals. Within a month or 2 of that initial trade in agreement I realized the monthly bill credits were not being applied on our bill and I was paying for a phone that was supposed to have been free via the 36 month device payment credits. I contacted Verizon customer service to address the issue right away. As I had become accustomed to, I was greeted by a friendly and helpful customer service rep. He was easily and quickly able to see the error on our bills, verify the trade in device had been recieved on their end and assured me the issue had been corrected and future billing statements would be correct. 

At that point in our 11 years as Verizon customers, I had never experienced a billing issue and every other issue that required me contacting customer service had been quickly solved and never required follow up. Because of the amazing service we had all the years previously, I did not give the issue much thought after that and (quite regrettably) did not verify on the next billing statement if the situation had truly been handled as assured. 

However, the last 2 years have been a vastly different story. I happened to notice on the bill recently that the device credit error had not been corrected as previously stated. I immediately printed out every bill as far back as online account access will allow and reviewed each bill line by line to find, not only had the device credits not been corrected, there were multiple other billing errors totaling over $1200. I wanted to see exactly how far back this problem went so I contacted customer service and requested older billing statements going back 2 more years. All my info was verified and the rep told me the request was submitted and I would have the statements within a week. Surprise, they never showed, and I waited 2 months on the off chance the postal service was lagging on delivery. I opened a chat on the app to again request the older bills. I was informed by that rep, the previous request was never submitted. She assured me she had submitted the request and I would have them within a week. No surprise, again they never showed. 

I decided to work from what I had and contacted customer service. After some time on hold while he "looked over everything" he confirmed the credits were never issued as they should have but unfortunately because the inital trade-in agreement was too long ago there was nothing that could be done and I would have needed to contact them sooner. I informed him that I had done so right away, was assured it was corrected, and very stupidly assumed that person was competent. Still he would do nothing. He informed me that their system would not allow an account credit and also said, no level of management with verizon could override it. He stated that returning the phone I had sent to them (a phone that still worked perfectly and at the time was sold as refurbished on their website for almost the full value of the new phone we were getting) as part of this deal is also not possible, nor is it possible for a device credit or new phone to be sent without another trade in. 

He did offer me one "solution" to being out the money. He suggested that I take advantage of Verizons current deal and add a 4th phone line to my account to provide me with a free phone. He stated that while I will pay a little more on my monthly bill for taxes and fees for the additional line, the actual plan fee would be canceled out by better discounts I would be provided by having a 4th line. This was truly infuriating. The only "support" I was offered was a sales pitch to pay more monthly for an additional phone line I neither need nor want to get a free phone to make up for the one I paid for after the 2 errors on Verizons part that caused this mess. A deal that is available to everyone including myself without needing to have money owed to me by verizon. That is not crediting me for a phone I shouldn't have paid for. That does not make up for the money I am out. That is a free phone I would get either way if I needed a 4th line. Even if I took that online deal and got the free phone it comes with, verizon would still owe me money for the previous phone I shouldn't have paid for. 

No trade-in device credits, a promise that it was corrected when it wasn't, 2 reps outright lying about submitting prior billing statement requests, and a rep acknowledging an error by verizon but refusing to correct it or escalate my call to a level of staff that would be able to help. I can't think of worse customer service and from the looks of this community forum, this is just a standard practice for verizon. 

No accountability, no actual support, no correcting MISTAKES THEY MADE. Yes, I should have paid better attention to my bill. I was very stupid to assume a company would continue to uphold the amazing standard of customer service they once had. I truly hope I have just happened to get the worst reps possible over the last few years, and that someone from Verizon who actually provides real customer service and real solutions will respond to this. But if not, at the very least, maybe my experience will help other customers struggling with this type of nonsense to call it quits and switch to a different service provider. I've been with Verizon for 14 years now, but switching is where I am at after this string of horrible customer service calls. 

[vzw_customer_support]

Hello dkrueger357. We absolutely want you to get any promotion that you qualify for. We're very sorry to read about these continuing issues and will be sending you a Private Note to help. -James