I woke up at 5am the day of the preorder to make sure that I ordered the new iphone SE in order to have it shipped by its release date, I got confirmation that my order was successfully completed and no other correspondence stating any follow up was required. I was never notified there was an issue with my order, but when I logged in today to see if it had shipped, I noticed that it had been cancelled, and today I received an email stating the cancellation. Supposedly it was cancelled due to fraud concerns, but I can't imagine why, as my phone is eligible for an upgrade, and both my verizon account and the line itself are old. There was no suspicious activity on the account to warrant cancelling my order, as far as I know, and no one ever could explain why it was cancelled in the first place.
If I were to re-order, the site said it would not be delivered until May 6. My entire purpose of preordering was to have it by the 24th. I noticed that Best Buy works with verizon, and that they had an option to pick the phone up in store on the 24th, which is a valid option that I should be able to use. Not only am I able to pick the phone up on time (which is not an option with verizon, due solely to verizon mistakenly cancelling my legitimate order) they also have a promotion going on. When I go to the best buy site it connects me to Verizon to determine upgrade eligibility. It says I am eligible. Then, when I go to check out, it says "verizon has declined the upgrade."
After two hours on the phone, multiple reps, and several possible, incorrect explanations as to why my order couldn't be processed, one rep finally figured out that I was unable to upgrade because the "cancelled" order is actually still pending. The reps should have known this without multiple phone calls, because I told every single person I talked to that on my end, it states that the order is pending, and requires action. I thought it would be a simple fix to get the order cancelled once we figured out what the issue was. Nope. Literally four more hours on the phone and in the chats. I started with the fraud number, as that was the number advised to call on my pending order. They simply told me it was cancelled and I should be able to order now. Still couldn't order. So I used the chat, they told me to call fraud. I called fraud, who told me I needed to speak to customer care on the phone. I did reach one rep who actually was helpful, and told me that I needed to speak to sales to request a manual cancellation, but unfortunately due to policy he could not stay on the line. When I reached the department he had transferred me to, I requested "manual cancellation" as advised. This rep said she needed to transfer me, again, to fraud. While waiting on hold for a long time with fraud, I was told in a chat that I just needed to wait and there was no issue. I spoke, again, to the fraud department, who said I needed to speak to customer care. I told them I just spoke to customer care, and he replied that he had no idea why I would need to speak to fraud. Talk to another girl in the chat who, again, suggests I speak to fraud, again. I asked if she was sure, as I had just spoken to them. She apologized for the runaround but confirmed I did need to speak to fraud. Again, when I spoke to them I was directed elsewhere. Spoke to another rep who again just tried to pass me off to another department named Hosny. All of the reps were clueless, but at least most were pleasant. Hosny was outright rude. Spoke to yet another rep in the chat, who I explained the problem to in detail only for them to say "i don't know what you want me to do the order is cancelled." I explained, again, that I was aware the order showed cancelled, but the issue was not resolved. He just kept repeating the order was cancelled, despite me repeatedly saying that that did not resolve my issue and there was more to it. I hoped to get this person's name, but it only came up as "verizon agent." Spoke to another rep who told me to allow more time, which I agreed to do, but after researching this issue online, it seems this is a fairly common problem, and it doesn't not appear to have ever been resolved for most.
Just to add to the ridiculousness and to emphasize the incompetence of Verizon employees, the "verizon agent" who just kept repeating "it's cancelled" also told me there was "No such thing as a manual cancellation." I asked why multiple employees had told me specifically to ask for a manual cancellation if it doesn't exist, and he did not acknowledge me. Why are half of your employees aware of this phenomenon, and the other half responds condescendingly, implying you're making it up?
One rep even told me I wasn't even eligible for an upgrade at all! After I spoken to about 5 other people who said I was, the Verizon site states that I am eligible, and the best buy site stated I am eligible. She still insisted I was not eligible, and described two options. She said the only way to be eligible is to have a phone paid in full, or to pay off the phone, and then trade it in. I had just been told that a phone with a remaining balance IS eligible for trade in, and mine specfically was eligible because I had the 18 required payments. I asked "so is sending in the device and making monthly payments on the new device no longer an option?" At which point she said "gotcha, you're talking about..." and then went on to describe what I had just told her. I'm not sure why she said I wasn't eligible, and why she completely skipped over a whole option and didn't acknowledge it until I brought it up. Why do I know more about your upgrade options than your employees?
I've asked to speak to a supervisor, and apparently am not able to. The customer service has been so terrible I'm not thrilled about continuing service with verizon as is. We have been customers for a long time, always current on bill, never had any other complaints, spend a lot of money on phones. It's an inconvenience to switch, which is the only thing preventing me from doing so, but if this is not resolved by tomorrow, I will cancel my service. There's no reason getting an SE should be this difficult, and it doesn't have to be when I get it with less hassle and with better deals elsewhere.
Do you or do you not currently have device payments on your current active phone on the line you want to upgrade?
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
I'm so sorry to hear about the ordeal you went through in trying to upgrade, BFassnacht. This is absolutely not the type of experience we would ever want for you. The ball was clearly dropped here and it's vital that we turn this ship around. We would never want you to leave the Verizon family and it's important that we figure out the best path forward. So we can best help, please respond to the Private Note we've sent.
RyanM_VZW
I already answered that. Also, i'm wondering why you're asking? Why does it matter? If one has made 18 or more payments they are eligible for trade-in upgrade, both on the Verizon and Best Buy site. This has been confirmed. My issue has nothing to do with eligibility. The mistakenly cancelled, still-pending order is the issue.
Trade-in promotions require the device to be fully paid for prior to trading it in.
I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.
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