I upgraded my old phone (Blackberry Curve 9330) to a LG G2 and my husband's old phone (Casio G'zone Commando) to the Droid MAXX on 10/26/13. I received both phones via FedEx yesterday (10/30/13). I followed the set-by-step instructions included with my purchase confirmation packet - charged my new phone with the phone's enclosed charging cables, backed up my old phone, turned OFF the old phone, called the automated system at 877.807.4646 using my son's phone who's on his father's account, and was told everything was "confirmed" and "activated". My SIM card was pre-installed by Verizon and an additional 4G SIM card was included in my "welcome packet".
I turned my new phone ON, set up the language as ENGLISH (United States), hit "NEXT" and the phone displayed it's message of "Please wait while we activate your new phone. Remember to turn off your old phone if you are moving your phone number from your old phone to this phone." So, I wait.... and wait.... and wait... and wait.... 10 mins, 20 mins, 45 mins, an HOUR and it's still displaying the above message. After an HOUR and a HALF, I get a message on the phone stating, "Sorry, we're having trouble activating your phone. Make sure you have good signal (multiple bars) and try again. If you are indoors, try moving closer to a window or going outside." So 3-4 bars out of 5 isn't enough to activate the phone?!?. I live out in a rural area, but within 2 miles of my cell tower; we have no high speed internet other than satellite or Verizon's sub-par "Mi-Fi" (which is what I have, sadly). In the last 14 hours, I have burned through 1.5 GB of data trying unsuccessfully to activate a $550 phone! I have powered the phone OFF, removed the SIM card and started all over again - 15 times now - and still, my phone will NOT ACTIVATE!
Forget about Verizon's online tech support - when trying to use the online chat session, I receive a message of "no available specialists at this time"... I have no other phone to use (at the moment) because I have no landline, my husband is an OTR trucker and is clear across the country right now with his old phone, and my son's phone is with him at school. I cannot activate the phone through my Verizon Wireless online account because my phone number is listed as "PENDING ORDER".... so, what is one supposed to do to activate their phone? Drive an hour into town and burn through $30+ of fuel to have some snot-nosed kid do it for you? Sit and struggle through their online account burning through their data waiting on the next "available specialist" to assist you? I'm still 10 days out from my data to reset for the new cycle and I'm about to incur overages because of Verizon's terrible service.
Verizon - with the amount of money you are making off of consumers (like me!) who pay $200-300 a MONTH for service and spend $500-600 for DEVICES, I EXPECT to receive AVAILABLE service and WORKING devices! This is unacceptable and down-right robbery on your company's part! But for those of us who live in rural areas and are VERY limited in our choices, we are expected to just accept and take it. NO! I will NOT just sit here and take it and I want what I PAID FOR! Fix your system, your towers, and your customer service! And please don't try and pacify me with your generic boilerplate responses of empathy - I want my phones working NOW!
