Broken promise: switch to Fios promotional offer

[merizon]

I signed up to switch to Fios in August 2019 largely due to the promotion I was offered. Service was installed on September 14, 2019, and I was told by Verizon that I would be contacted with instructions to redeem the promotional offer for the free Chromebook or $200 Samsung 'tech credit'.  

Here's the exact language from the Verizon email confirmation of my order: "A $200 credit toward select Samsung products or a Samsung Chromebook 3 or a Galaxy LTE Smartwatch on us.* You'll receive an email with redemption instructions approximately 30 days after your Fios service(s) are installed." The footnote for that statement was: "*Offer avail. 6/6 ─ 8/28 via redemption code for a Samsung Galaxy LTE watch (42mm), Samsung Chromebook 3 11.6' (4GB RAM) or $200 credit toward select Samsung products; see www.samsung.com/fios. Must install and maintain qualifying Fios services in good standing to redeem. Verizon will send an email with redemption instructions 31 days after install. Customer must redeem code w/in 60 days after delivery of email or by no later than 1/28/20, whichever is first. Credit and/or credit balance not transferable or redeemable or refundable for cash. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd."  

Well, the first email I received from Verizon related to redemption of the offer was January 2, 2020.  It had a graphic button with "Redeem now" that took me to the Fios login screen when I pressed the button.  Once I logged in, there was nothing further on the website letting me redeem the offer.  I received a second email on January 16, 2020 reminding me to redeem the offer.  It had the same graphic button, and the process had the same result.  No way to redeem the offer.  At this point, I called Verizon to figure out the problem.  The representative said there was a problem because the promotion had ended already.  She told me she would escalate the service ticket since it appeared to be a Verizon mistake (that they had not sent my instruction email in time).  No follow up from Verizon.  

I received a third email today (January 31, 2020) that was the same as the second email.  I clicked the "Redeem now" button and found the same result.  I called Verizon again today and spoke to four different representatives before being put on hold for 1 hour and 9 minutes.  At that point I hung up.  

The first representative acknowledged Verizon's failure to provide a way to redeem the promotion.  She transferred me to their "promotions dept." after telling me she spoke to them, and they would provide me an active promotional reward as a substitute.  The second representative from the "promotions dept." told me the original offer had expired and there was nothing he could do.  I explained the situation to him, and he said the first representative was wrong.  There was no way for him to add an active promotion to my account.  He transferred me back to the general customer support pool and said I should insist on speaking to a supervisor.  

A third representative picked up and offered to help me.  I explained the history for the third time, and he put me on hold again to "look into it".  He came back and explained to me that the promotion had expired and I should have redeemed it before it ended.  I explained to him the dates again (that I received the first email with redemption instruction on 1/2/20), and he repeated that I was late in trying to redeem the promotion and he could not help me.  I asked to speak to a supervisor.  The representative said the supervisor would just tell me the same thing.  He repeated his statement two or three more times... that I had failed to redeem the offer in time.  There was nothing Verizon could do to deliver the offer to me.  I insisted that I speak to his supervisor.  He put me on hold.  

A fourth representative picked up, to whom I had to explain the whole history again.  She was actually quite sympathetic and told me she would speak to her supervisor offline and call me back.  She did call me back a little while later, but she and her colleague could not resolve the matter.  She said I would have to talk to a different department that had the power to offer me a substitute promotion.  She told me she recorded all the details of the situation in the support ticket, then she transferred me.  That's when I sat on hold for an hour and nine minutes before giving up.  

This is not about the promotional reward at this point.  This is about Verizon's failure to deliver on a commitment to me.  On top of that, the way I was handled today should be written up and published in a trade journal as a case study in how not to treat a customer.  I have been a Verizon Wireless customer for about 10 years now, and I was excited to finally have Fios available in my neighborhood.  I am now rethinking my relationship with Verizon.  

It would be great to hear from Verizon that they regret the mistakes made here, and that they will remedy the situation.  Anyone else have issues with the promotions that Verizon promised?  Anyone actually have this resolved to their satisfaction?  

[KH-OrnEsh1]

Hi

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Please check your Private Messenger Inbox for a message from a Verizon Support agent. You can find your Inbox by clicking on your username at the top right corner of this page and then clicking the envelope icon that appears at the top of the menu. Please direct all correspondence concerning your issue to the agents who will be assisting you privately.