Switching to Verizon has left us disappointed, dissatisfied, and depressed! Our entire family went in on Labor Day to look into upgrading 3 of our iphones. I was told Verizon was offering a trade in on devices, $1,000/each for 3 of our phones, which would make the iphone 12 free. I was shown the print out of the promotions that were going on, and all 3 of our phones fell into the same category for values. The $ value was to be applied to our account monthly so we would only be paying for services. Since we were already paying about $190/mo with Sprint (who had just combined with Tmobile), we were very clear that switching phones and service providers couldn't cost us MORE than we were already paying, or we would have just stayed with Spring. The rep convinced us, writing all these numbers down and plan options (kind of like a car salesman) and all appeared in order. We finished all the paperwork, I paid the activation fee on 3 phones, and ended up adding a 4th line for my youngest, as it was only supposed to be $5/mo more with multiplan discounts.
Upon finishing the paperwork, we're told that they don't actually take the phones back in the store, that Verizon will reach out to us to send the phones back. A week goes by and no call. So I find information online and request to start the trade in. I get two of the 3 phone trade in requests completed, where it states the estimated value is $1000, and the 3rd comes up as $300. The NEWEST of the phones I was trading in, an iphone 11, was being valued at $300. I went back into the store to talk to the salesman and was told it was a Verizon customer service question and it couldn't be answered in the store. So I called and was told it all works out in the end and to just send it in and we will see the credit. I called again, to see if I was told the same thing, and I was not. I was told that if that's what it says I'll get, it will never be more than that. After spending hours on the phone with customer service, trying to get it sorted out, as to why all 3 weren't showing as $1,000. By this point, it's been about 5 weeks, going back and forth, which I even brought up to the customer service rep. His reply was not to worry about it. I was told to just send them in and they will process them. I opted to just send in the first two devices first and not chance the third, since I never finished the request anyway, because I didn't feel comfortable sending it when it showed the value at $300. I'm so glad I didn't. So we waited, and called for updates. Nothing. Then after not every hearing anything back about the devices, and our bill still being close to $400/mo vs. the $185 we were expecting, I found the tracking for the trade ins and was SHOCKED to find the actual credit amounts that were applied.
We were credited $140 for an iphone XR and $86 for an iphone 8plus. Both in perfect condition, no scratches, no damages. There was ZERO information given for the difference in trade in value for the XR. Just that it was originally appraised at $1000 and final was $140. For the iphone 8, it's original appraisal was $1000 and final was $86. While it doesn't necessarily give a "reason", it does show the received device was "different" than the expected device in that it shows the carrier was Tmobile vs. Sprint. Except they were the same company! Sprint had actually just sent us Tmobile sim cards to expand the network - both phones had it in them. They were the same company, and all our bills were still Sprint.
No matter what. We left the store on Labor Day, with 4 new iphone 12 pros, expecting to trade in 3 of our phones to apply $3000 in credits to our account, to only end up with $226. That is essentially $2,774 that was stolen from what we were promised, since I can't even get those phones back. I would have NEVER ever sent them in if I knew I was going to be shorted thousands of dollars. I would have NEVER switched had I know this could happen. I can not express how depressing and stressful this entire switch has been. I should have googled this issue, apparently it's a huge problem. I am surprised there hasn't been some sort of class action lawsuit filed by now! Maybe it's time. This is ridiculous! BEWARE!
Sorry to hear about not getting the expected trade-in value for the phones you sent in. This can certainly be corrected by any customer service rep as long as everything else lines up with the offer. We'll send you a private note so we can get you linked into our secure chat platform.
- Henry
Thank you for your assistance, Henry. I appreciated you taking the time to make the situation right.
You're welcome! Any other questions for us?
-Lorenzo
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
