Upgrading early for free

Rogsa
Newbie

So I had been getting advertisements and on my app kept telling me that I could upgrade early for free. I still had a little time on the balance  left on our current phones so it seemed like a good deal to upgrade our 14’s to  the iPhone 16. Went through the process of upgrading, sent our old phones in, got the new ones etc. then I get a bill for over $300.00. This is after I had to pay taxes up front on the new phones and 35.00 upgrade fee for each so total spend  of $260.00. For this free upgrade. I spent hours on the support chat trying to get it straightened  out. I just kept getting told that there was a 200.00 pay off balance on each our 14’s and I had to pay that. I begged to differ because no where in the upgrade process did that amount come up: it’s wasn’t until over a week later when I got a new invoice with different numbers. Long story short. Somehow they switched my upgrade order (even though I have the agreements and receipts to show that) to a trade in order. For some crazy reason an upgrade will pay off any balance owned on the phone (which I knew this hence the reason for upgrading. But a trade in does not pay off the remaining balance. Well they changed my order to trade in and are trying to make me pay that. Finally the support agent saw that and my proof and cleared this amount off. However I still don’t see a change in on my app so looks like I have to call back and go through more of this craziness. And my future monthly bills are over 20.00 more then what it was. And I’m supposed to have a price lock on my plan. Yeah right!  Nothing is free people 

0 Likes
Reply
7 Replies
vzw_customer_support
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hello Rogsa. We're sorry for the mix up on your upgrade and bill. We'd be happy to look into this for you and make sure your previous bill has been corrected and that the bills moving forward are the expected amount. Please watch out for a private message from us so we can further assist.  -Sara

0 Likes
Reply
Rogsa
Newbie

I have authenticed. Do I wait on this screen?

0 Likes
Reply
SynthpopAddict
Champion - Level 3

Hi, if you authenticated in the private message and nothing is happening in the window which opens, or there is no additional chat window opening, it's possible the timed link expired.  You can try live chat while logged into My Verizon - type "live agent" to get past the AI bot.  When someone answers in the chat, they will send you a text to authenticate, and then they will continue on in the live chat through My Verizon.

As for your billing question, I'm wondering if the offer you received was a "buyout" promotion.  Have heard of people getting that offer when they are 18 months in on a contract.  The way it works is you pay off the remaining balance on your existing phone to start a new contract with a new phone.  It's like getting a new phone for half price, so not actually free, but at a discount.  And you aren't penalized with early termination fees for breaking the previous contract.

-------------
I'm not a Verizon employee, just another customer trying to help.
0 Likes
Reply
vzw_customer_support
Community Manager
Community Manager

We are sending you a private message so we can assit. If you can please resond there we will be able to assist.

-Kaye

0 Likes
Reply
GNASHYNU
Newbie

Woooooow, well, there goes My reason for being on this app today. Whats crazy is, I thought our bill would be less because I’m still making payments on my 14 and its telling me that two of the 16s will be zero dollars a month so I’m thinking the bill will be less if I upgrade, Jokes on me thank you so much

0 Likes
Reply
cmh283
Enthusiast - Level 1

I’m dealing with the same situation. The woman at the store told me that I had to pay a little bit towards getting the new phone so I thought that the payment I was making was for the new phone and that my iPhone 15 Pro would cover the remaining balance of the iPhone 16 Pro. Well, that was not the case I spoke to a phone representative and he told me the same thing that the woman at the store told me. But then I ended up having to call Verizon again because the First phone operator scheduled a call back with me and then never called me back. When I spoke to the third person, she said that because it was an early upgrade the 15 would go towards cover the cost of what remained on my 15. This is annoying because I traded in a phone to cover the cost of the 15 in the first place. Verizon is double dipping. As far as I’m concerned my pay off plus the trade in to get the 15 in the first place settled my account but I’ve this learned that was not the case. So sending in my 15 does nothing for the 16 purchase! She said that I would have to finance the 16. I said no I’ll just get my refund then. Because she didn’t want me to go through hat hassle…she is honoring the 830$ promotion towards the 16. 
im starting to feel like Verizon is being really shady with these “promotions “ as they call it! I’ve been with them for over 10 years and in the last year I’ve seen some changes. They cannot be trusted. I’m thinking to switch to a different carrier once my contract is up. 

0 Likes
Reply
vzw_customer_support
Community Manager
Community Manager

We had sent a Private Message to continue the discussion related to your upgrade question. This query is specific to an individual account, so we will need to continue in Private Message to fully resolve the concern.

 

Please contact us if you still need support.

 

0 Likes
Reply