BOGO Offer Not Honored
Bill166
Newbie

I recently joined the "Victims of Bait and Switch" club at Verizon.  I have been with Verizon for over 20 years, with no issues.  I recently contacted Verizon on 12/16/2022 to purchase an iPhone 14 for a Christmas present for the wife.  The very friendly customer service rep told me about a great promo going on.  I can get a buy one get one free (BOGO), and a trade in of $400 per device.  I discussed with her at great length that I was not upgrading my plan to a more expensive plan, nor was I adding a new line (both of which seemed to be required  for the best deals at this time).  She assured me that I did not need to do either.  I did not need a second phone, but the deal seemed too good to pass up.  I noticed on the receipt of purchase that neither promo was listed.  I was again assured by the Rep that all the info about the promo and trade in was in her notes.  I trusted her, as a Rep for the company.  I received one phone (UPS), but the other never arrived.  I will skip the next two weeks of phone calls to Verizon and the shipping company that lost the phone, and the numerous reasons given to me why Verizon would not ship me the 2nd phone (again), and just go straight to the final day of conversation on  or about 01/11/2023.  I was being told that the only way to get the new phone(s) now was to cancel the existing order, and place a new one.  By that point, I just did not care, as the idea of a gift was blown to heck, and now I was just trying to complete the order.  I agreed to cancel, and do it all over again, but only if I was still able to get the original promo offer.  It was at this time that I was informed that I was never eligible for the promo (originally), nor for the $400 per phone trade-in.  The Rep acknowledged that all of the promo info was in the original Reps notes (I have her notes verbatim), but that I just did not qualify.  I asked to speak to the supervisor (Aaron), who just regurgitated the same good news.  His words still resonate in my ears..."if it is not on your receipt, then it does not exist".  I asked for him to review the recordings, and he said he could not.  I was flabbergasted.  I told Aaron that basically I was a victim of an illegal bait/switch...and that Verizon needed to make this better somehow.  He blew me off...stating he would give me $100 trade in (per phone), and no BOGO.   Luckily (I guess), as one of the original phones (the gift for my wife) was lost during shipping and I never activated the 2nd one (mine), I was still able to just cancel my order, with the satisfaction that I will switch to ATT as quickly as possible.  Didn't seem to phase ole Aaron, though.   So, with the order cancelled, my next call was to ATT.

After getting my fairly good offer from ATT, I had calmed down by this point.  I figured that I would give Verizon one more chance, as I did not want to leave them after so long, based on one bad experience with a bad employee.  I called Verizon, and discussed the charade with the poor Rep who answered the phone.  She was pretty shocked that I was not offered some recompense, as the issue was obviously what she called a "Verizon verified error".   So, in a nutshell, I was offered the existing iPhone 14 promo at this time (for just the one phone), given $100 trade on the old phone, and given $100 credit for my "inconvenience".    It certainly did not seem enough...especially considering the original offer.  But, they beat me down enough over the past month, so I agreed.  Ironically, their offer was not in my receipt!  Unbelievable.  I called attention to this fact, and I was given the same old "its in my notes" spiel.  I just laughed, and repeated the arrogant supervisor's words to them..."if its not on the receipt, it doesn't exist".  The Rep certainly understood my suspicious approach, and sent me an email stating the offer that I was to receive.  I accepted this, hoping that such poor customer service does not occur, yet again...and if it does, I have it in writing.  I certainly hope this ends my saga of the Bait and Switch.  But for now on, when I deal with Customer Service, I will insist that everything is in writing, as Verizon had certainly lost my trust.  I would speculate that it is not my trust they want, but just those automatic payments out of my bank account.

I just received my wife's phone today (01/19/2023)...Merry Christmas, Dear.   I will post a sequel, if they try to lie their way out of my present promotion.

Keep the faith.

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