Re: The Verizon Run Around
cperk78
Newbie

August 18, 2011 - I have been reading about the numerous problems that many Verizon customers seem to be experiencing with both their Samsung Fascinate phones and customer service. I, too, have experienced problems with my phone and am absolutely shocked by the way that Verizon has handled this issue. I have been without any text messaging capabilities for at least one month (if not more) and am intermittently experiencing dropped and missed calls, freezes, force closes and blank screens. I am beyond frustrated at this point. I believe that what Verizon is doing is illegal. I have documentation that Verizon knew about these problems with the Fascinate as early as September 2010, yet continued to market and sell the device at full price without any warning of the potential defects—this is dishonest and misleading, and in Tennessee, I believe it is a gross violation of our consumer protection act, which prohibits businesses from engaging in “unfair or deceptive” business acts or practices. Marketing and selling an expensive phone to unsuspecting consumers without disclosing its KNOWN defects is, in my mind, an “unfair and deceptive” business practice that Verizon should not be permitted to continue. I sent the below letter to the following individuals today in an attempt to try to get my phone problem resolved:

CT Corporation System (TN’s Registered agent for Verizon Wireless Services, LLC)
800 S. Gay St., Ste 2021
Knoxville, TN 37929

Steven E. Zipperstein, Vice President-Legal and External Affairs/General Counsel

Charlie Falco, Vice-President - South Area Customer Service

Jerald M. Fountain, President - Carolinas/Tennessee Region

Roger Tang, President - South Area Region

Daniel S. Mead, President and CEO

TN’s Office of the Attorney General - Consumer Advocate and Protection Division

Verizon Wireless Store in Murfreesboro, TN (580 North Thompson Lane)

I urge everyone who has had similar issues and has been lied to and misled by Verizon to contact these individuals, as well as your state Attorney General’s Office (Consumer Affairs Division), as well as the Better Business Bureau and anyone else you can think of who might be able to help customers get this issue resolved in a fair, honest, just manner. Good luck!

August 18, 2011 Letter:

My name is Claire {edited for privacy}, and I am an attorney in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (which is located just outside Nashville). I am writing in an attempt to resolve a dispute with Verizon regarding recent problems I am experiencing with my phone. I purchased the Samsung Fascinate on October 27, 2010, at the corporate Verizon Wireless store in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which is located at 580 N. Thompson Lane. I initially enjoyed the phone very much. In addition to purchasing the phone, I also purchased the home dock, a phone case and car charger. However, approximately a month ago, my phone automatically/involuntarily performed a software update (or some similar operation), which has effectively rendered my Samsung Fascinate useless. The touch screen intermittently freezes and stops working. The apps frequently freeze and “force close.” I have not been able to receive all of my phone calls, text messages or emails. I have voice mails where no missed calls are shown. When I send a text message, although my phone indicates the text was sent successfully, I learned (after several detrimental, extremely frustrating mis-communications involving both personal and business matters), that my text messages, actually, have not been going through as indicated, and in fact, text messages that I “sent” weeks ago have been delivered to intended (as well as unintended) recipients weeks later. Needless to say, my cell phone situation has been a mess for the past couple of weeks, and the problems only continue to worsen in both frequency and severity.

On July 23, 2011, I read several forums on the Verizon Wireless website regarding the Fascinate—some authored by other Verizon customers and some by Verizon employees. I also spoke with a Verizon employee regarding my situation. I was informed that the problem I am experiencing with my Samsung Fascinate is a “known” software problem, of which Verizon is (and has been) well aware. I was told both directly (through a Verizon representative) and indirectly (through posts by Verizon employees on Verizon’s website and posts by other Verizon customers), that the Fascinates would no longer be replaced or refurbished due to the numerous known problems with the phone. Instead, consistent with the enclosed materials (which reflect the types of representations Verizon has made to me and to other Verizon customers), I was informed that I could replace my defective Samsung Fascinate with any of the three following phones: (1) the Samsung Charge; (2) the HTC Incredible 2; or (3) the Motorola Droid 2. I was told that if I wanted to replace my phone with the Samsung Charge, I would need to go to my local corporate Verizon store to complete the exchange, but that an exchange for either of the other two devices could be handled on Verizon’s website. Verizon never mentioned anything about this exchange option “expiring,” etc. After carefully considering my three “replacement options,” I selected the Samsung Charge, primarily due to its similarity to the Fascinate and the fact that I would not have to totally re-familiarize myself with a new, completely unknown phone. I allotted approximately 1 ½ hours of my work day on Monday, August 8, 2011, to go to my local Verizon store and effect the transaction that I had read about (on Verizon’s website) and been told about on July 23, 2011.

Needless to say, my experience at the corporate Verizon store in Murfreesboro did not go as expected. Much to my surprise and disappointment, I received zero customer assistance in effecting the transaction previously represented to me (and other Verizon customers) on Verizon’s website and through its technicians, employees and agents. I spent an hour and a half in the Verizon store on the phone, myself, with a technician named Aaron (who said he worked in second-tier technical support) while three store employees—Jeremy, Carlita (the store manager) and another male employee—literally stood behind the counter and watched me attempt (unsuccessfully) to resolve my dilemma on my own, occasionally asking me what the person on the phone was saying to me. While Aaron (the gentleman I spoke with on the phone) was very polite and at least seemed as if he was attempting to help me, he ultimately reported to me that the computer “wouldn’t let” him place an order for the Samsung Charge to replace my defective Samsung Fascinate, despite telling me earlier in our conversation that he would order me the Charge, yet stating that if I didn’t actually receive the Charge, I would receive “something similar.” I ended my call with Aaron feeling extremely frustrated and deceived by Verizon, as I had gotten no where in the store or on the phone and was late to a meeting due to the amount of time I had to spend in Verizon in an attempt to get what I paid for—a Samsung smartphone that works. Carlita and Jeremy were incompetent, unhelpful and exhibited very poor customer service skills. They literally did and said nothing. They were utterly useless and might as well not have even been there. They put me on the phone with tech support and stood there. It was insulting and disgusting. When I initially spoke with Jeremy upon my arrival at the store, I explained to him the 3 options I had been given and that I had selected the Samsung Charge for my replacement phone. At the time, he did not act as if that would be a problem. Only later in our interaction (when they had me call tech support from their store) was I informed that the “deal” allowing me to get the Charge in place of my defective Fascinate had “expired.”

My position is that this is not a “deal” in any way, shape or form. I am a full-time wife, mother and attorney. I am constantly on the go and rely on my cell phone, primarily, for business purposes. More importantly, I have a 12-year-old daughter to whom I must be available by phone at all times. My family and I are long-standing, loyal Verizon customers. Year after year, I have trusted Verizon to make sure that I am accessible to my family, my clients and my business colleagues, but, this time, Verizon failed me. On top of being sold an expensive phone with “known” software defects and “bugs” (which were known to Verizon at the time I purchased by phone on October 27, 2010), Verizon now refuses to: (a) honor the replacement policy I was informed of on July 23, 2011, by allowing me to replace my Fascinate with a Samsung Charge; (b) provide any refund or store credit for returning the Fascinate phone accessories (home dock, car charger and phone case) I purchased when I bought my defective Fascinate and which are useless to me without a properly operating Fascinate.

Respectfully, it is my position that Verizon is in violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (codified at Tenn. Code Ann. §47-18-101, et seq.), specifically Tenn. Code Ann. §47-18-104, which prohibits “unfair and deceptive acts or practices.” I purchased a smartphone (as well as a handful of accessories for the phone) less than one year ago (still under manufacturer’s warranty) that is anything but “smart” and does not perform as advertised and intended. Moreover, on July 23, 2011, when Verizon agents informed me of the so-called replacement “deal,” permitting customers to exchange their defective Fascinates for a Samsung Charge, Verizon failed to disclose that the “deal” would expire five days later (July 28, 2011). Apparently, as evidenced throughout the enclosed documents, many other Verizon customers have experienced virtually identical product and customer services problems, which leads me to conclude that Verizon has implemented a company-wide policy of knowingly continuing to market and sell defective Samsung Fascinate phones to unsuspecting consumers and then offering a bait-and-switch “remedy” for what amounts to nothing more than a deceptive sales tactic by Verizon in the first place.

I request that my defective Samsung Fascinate be replaced by a new (not refurbished or used) Samsung Charge, consistent with the “deal” that was offered me on July 23, 2011, and that I be permitted a store credit, refund, etc., for the cost of the home dock, car charger and phone case that I purchased for my Fascinate, as the accessories are no longer useful to me since the Fascinate is defective. I do not want to try another Fascinate to see if it will work, due to the nature, duration and volume of the problems Verizon has knowingly experienced with the Fascinate since at least September 2010 (before I even purchased the phone), yet continues to sell unsuspecting consumers without any disclosure of the known defects. The only other replacement phone that will be acceptable to me is the iphone 4, as I purchased my Fascinate only because the iphone was not yet available through Verizon. Otherwise, I would like the Samsung Charge, as I was told I could receive less than one month ago. I request no more or less from Verizon than its fairness, honesty, basic courtesy and compliance with the law, and I sincerely hope that this matter can be resolved without any further inconvenience to me. Unless I receive an immediate, satisfactory resolution of this clearly-documented issue, I plan to prepare a lawsuit against Verizon (requesting class action certification), which will be filed no later than Monday, September 13, 2011. I sincerely hope that Verizon will simply honor its representations and right this unfortunate, inconvenient situation for its customers. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing from you and to a swift resolution of this issue.


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Re: The Verizon Run Around
nickjr
Contributor - Level 3

cperk78 wrote:

August 18, 2011 - I have been reading about the numerous problems that many Verizon customers seem to be experiencing with both their Samsung Fascinate phones and customer service. I, too, have experienced problems with my phone and am absolutely shocked by the way that Verizon has handled this issue. I have been without any text messaging capabilities for at least one month (if not more) and am intermittently experiencing dropped and missed calls, freezes, force closes and blank screens. I am beyond frustrated at this point. I believe that what Verizon is doing is illegal. I have documentation that Verizon knew about these problems with the Fascinate as early as September 2010, yet continued to market and sell the device at full price without any warning of the potential defects—this is dishonest and misleading, and in Tennessee, I believe it is a gross violation of our consumer protection act, which prohibits businesses from engaging in “unfair or deceptive” business acts or practices. Marketing and selling an expensive phone to unsuspecting consumers without disclosing its KNOWN defects is, in my mind, an “unfair and deceptive” business practice that Verizon should not be permitted to continue. I sent the below letter to the following individuals today in an attempt to try to get my phone problem resolved:

CT Corporation System (TN’s Registered agent for Verizon Wireless Services, LLC)
800 S. Gay St., Ste 2021
Knoxville, TN 37929

Steven E. Zipperstein, Vice President-Legal and External Affairs/General Counsel

Charlie Falco, Vice-President - South Area Customer Service

Jerald M. Fountain, President - Carolinas/Tennessee Region

Roger Tang, President - South Area Region

Daniel S. Mead, President and CEO

TN’s Office of the Attorney General - Consumer Advocate and Protection Division

Verizon Wireless Store in Murfreesboro, TN (580 North Thompson Lane)

I urge everyone who has had similar issues and has been lied to and misled by Verizon to contact these individuals, as well as your state Attorney General’s Office (Consumer Affairs Division), as well as the Better Business Bureau and anyone else you can think of who might be able to help customers get this issue resolved in a fair, honest, just manner. Good luck!

August 18, 2011 Letter:

My name is Claire {edited for privacy}, and I am an attorney in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (which is located just outside Nashville). I am writing in an attempt to resolve a dispute with Verizon regarding recent problems I am experiencing with my phone. I purchased the Samsung Fascinate on October 27, 2010, at the corporate Verizon Wireless store in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which is located at 580 N. Thompson Lane. I initially enjoyed the phone very much. In addition to purchasing the phone, I also purchased the home dock, a phone case and car charger. However, approximately a month ago, my phone automatically/involuntarily performed a software update (or some similar operation), which has effectively rendered my Samsung Fascinate useless. The touch screen intermittently freezes and stops working. The apps frequently freeze and “force close.” I have not been able to receive all of my phone calls, text messages or emails. I have voice mails where no missed calls are shown. When I send a text message, although my phone indicates the text was sent successfully, I learned (after several detrimental, extremely frustrating mis-communications involving both personal and business matters), that my text messages, actually, have not been going through as indicated, and in fact, text messages that I “sent” weeks ago have been delivered to intended (as well as unintended) recipients weeks later. Needless to say, my cell phone situation has been a mess for the past couple of weeks, and the problems only continue to worsen in both frequency and severity.

On July 23, 2011, I read several forums on the Verizon Wireless website regarding the Fascinate—some authored by other Verizon customers and some by Verizon employees. I also spoke with a Verizon employee regarding my situation. I was informed that the problem I am experiencing with my Samsung Fascinate is a “known” software problem, of which Verizon is (and has been) well aware. I was told both directly (through a Verizon representative) and indirectly (through posts by Verizon employees on Verizon’s website and posts by other Verizon customers), that the Fascinates would no longer be replaced or refurbished due to the numerous known problems with the phone. Instead, consistent with the enclosed materials (which reflect the types of representations Verizon has made to me and to other Verizon customers), I was informed that I could replace my defective Samsung Fascinate with any of the three following phones: (1) the Samsung Charge; (2) the HTC Incredible 2; or (3) the Motorola Droid 2. I was told that if I wanted to replace my phone with the Samsung Charge, I would need to go to my local corporate Verizon store to complete the exchange, but that an exchange for either of the other two devices could be handled on Verizon’s website. Verizon never mentioned anything about this exchange option “expiring,” etc. After carefully considering my three “replacement options,” I selected the Samsung Charge, primarily due to its similarity to the Fascinate and the fact that I would not have to totally re-familiarize myself with a new, completely unknown phone. I allotted approximately 1 ½ hours of my work day on Monday, August 8, 2011, to go to my local Verizon store and effect the transaction that I had read about (on Verizon’s website) and been told about on July 23, 2011.

Needless to say, my experience at the corporate Verizon store in Murfreesboro did not go as expected. Much to my surprise and disappointment, I received zero customer assistance in effecting the transaction previously represented to me (and other Verizon customers) on Verizon’s website and through its technicians, employees and agents. I spent an hour and a half in the Verizon store on the phone, myself, with a technician named Aaron (who said he worked in second-tier technical support) while three store employees—Jeremy, Carlita (the store manager) and another male employee—literally stood behind the counter and watched me attempt (unsuccessfully) to resolve my dilemma on my own, occasionally asking me what the person on the phone was saying to me. While Aaron (the gentleman I spoke with on the phone) was very polite and at least seemed as if he was attempting to help me, he ultimately reported to me that the computer “wouldn’t let” him place an order for the Samsung Charge to replace my defective Samsung Fascinate, despite telling me earlier in our conversation that he would order me the Charge, yet stating that if I didn’t actually receive the Charge, I would receive “something similar.” I ended my call with Aaron feeling extremely frustrated and deceived by Verizon, as I had gotten no where in the store or on the phone and was late to a meeting due to the amount of time I had to spend in Verizon in an attempt to get what I paid for—a Samsung smartphone that works. Carlita and Jeremy were incompetent, unhelpful and exhibited very poor customer service skills. They literally did and said nothing. They were utterly useless and might as well not have even been there. They put me on the phone with tech support and stood there. It was insulting and disgusting. When I initially spoke with Jeremy upon my arrival at the store, I explained to him the 3 options I had been given and that I had selected the Samsung Charge for my replacement phone. At the time, he did not act as if that would be a problem. Only later in our interaction (when they had me call tech support from their store) was I informed that the “deal” allowing me to get the Charge in place of my defective Fascinate had “expired.”

My position is that this is not a “deal” in any way, shape or form. I am a full-time wife, mother and attorney. I am constantly on the go and rely on my cell phone, primarily, for business purposes. More importantly, I have a 12-year-old daughter to whom I must be available by phone at all times. My family and I are long-standing, loyal Verizon customers. Year after year, I have trusted Verizon to make sure that I am accessible to my family, my clients and my business colleagues, but, this time, Verizon failed me. On top of being sold an expensive phone with “known” software defects and “bugs” (which were known to Verizon at the time I purchased by phone on October 27, 2010), Verizon now refuses to: (a) honor the replacement policy I was informed of on July 23, 2011, by allowing me to replace my Fascinate with a Samsung Charge; (b) provide any refund or store credit for returning the Fascinate phone accessories (home dock, car charger and phone case) I purchased when I bought my defective Fascinate and which are useless to me without a properly operating Fascinate.

Respectfully, it is my position that Verizon is in violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (codified at Tenn. Code Ann. §47-18-101, et seq.), specifically Tenn. Code Ann. §47-18-104, which prohibits “unfair and deceptive acts or practices.” I purchased a smartphone (as well as a handful of accessories for the phone) less than one year ago (still under manufacturer’s warranty) that is anything but “smart” and does not perform as advertised and intended. Moreover, on July 23, 2011, when Verizon agents informed me of the so-called replacement “deal,” permitting customers to exchange their defective Fascinates for a Samsung Charge, Verizon failed to disclose that the “deal” would expire five days later (July 28, 2011). Apparently, as evidenced throughout the enclosed documents, many other Verizon customers have experienced virtually identical product and customer services problems, which leads me to conclude that Verizon has implemented a company-wide policy of knowingly continuing to market and sell defective Samsung Fascinate phones to unsuspecting consumers and then offering a bait-and-switch “remedy” for what amounts to nothing more than a deceptive sales tactic by Verizon in the first place.

I request that my defective Samsung Fascinate be replaced by a new (not refurbished or used) Samsung Charge, consistent with the “deal” that was offered me on July 23, 2011, and that I be permitted a store credit, refund, etc., for the cost of the home dock, car charger and phone case that I purchased for my Fascinate, as the accessories are no longer useful to me since the Fascinate is defective. I do not want to try another Fascinate to see if it will work, due to the nature, duration and volume of the problems Verizon has knowingly experienced with the Fascinate since at least September 2010 (before I even purchased the phone), yet continues to sell unsuspecting consumers without any disclosure of the known defects. The only other replacement phone that will be acceptable to me is the iphone 4, as I purchased my Fascinate only because the iphone was not yet available through Verizon. Otherwise, I would like the Samsung Charge, as I was told I could receive less than one month ago. I request no more or less from Verizon than its fairness, honesty, basic courtesy and compliance with the law, and I sincerely hope that this matter can be resolved without any further inconvenience to me. Unless I receive an immediate, satisfactory resolution of this clearly-documented issue, I plan to prepare a lawsuit against Verizon (requesting class action certification), which will be filed no later than Monday, September 13, 2011. I sincerely hope that Verizon will simply honor its representations and right this unfortunate, inconvenient situation for its customers. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I look forward to hearing from you and to a swift resolution of this issue.



I sure hope your are successful in obtaining an Charge, several of us are in the same boat but unable to get one.
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Re: The Verizon Run Around
thornbe
Enthusiast - Level 2

Claire,

 

Thank you for taking on this crusade against VZW.  I agree, since VZW might have known about the numerous issues with the Samsung Fascinate, they should allow client's that are experiencing issues to replace their Fascinates with a "new" device.

 

My wife and I both have the Fascinate and they each have their own issues.  My Fascinate has terrible reception/cell strength.  I can be in the middle of my work parking lot (major metro area) and consistantly get "Connection error - retry" messages over 3G.  The signal strength indicator constantly fluctuates from 3 bars to 0 bars.  The Samsung Fascinate has a very low SAR level at 0.57 for digital.  This may be one of the reasons the signal strength is so poor.  Actually, Samsung has the most phones with the lowest SAR rating.

 

SAR Ratings

http://reviews.cnet.com/2719-6602_7-291-1.html?tag=page;page

 

Samsung SAR Ratings

http://www.sarshield.com/english/radiationchart-samsung.htm

 

Let's see where this goes.

 

Thanks again,

 

Tim

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Re: The Verizon Run Around
wardcst24
Contributor - Level 2

Did Verizon ever get back to you ?

Thanks

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Re: The Verizon Run Around
Elitist_Jerk
Contributor - Level 2

You where offered something on one day--you declined.., a software update came out to fix the issue on july 28th, you can't go at the end of the next month to get the replacement. To date the software issue has been resolved

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Re: The Verizon Run Around
cstephens
Newbie

This is the EXACT situation I've been describing, but the call center techs tried to make think I was crazy and that there was never an offer to exchange the Fascinate for a Charge. When I continued to push they offered me a Droid X and an Incredible 2. I feel the same way, I passed up on those phones for a reason and chose a Samsung. So, if I'm going to swap then I want a Samsung!!! Not a Motorola or an HTC. Well, my husband and I are getting the same run around. Empty promises of supervisor call backs. Nothing. The only supervisor that SAID he could authorize it then says he can't do anything because the offer has now EXPIRED and all he CAN (CORRECTION: WILL) do is send me out another crappy FASCINATE!! We asked for corporate's address and/or contact, he refused to provide any. So, I had to resort to searching the net for a contact. It has been nothing but a constant frustration. Right down the the fact that I had called in with complaints of problems, after the Froyo update, DURING THE SWAP OFFER and was NEVER TOLD ABOUT IT. In fact, when I asked for a different phone the tech support told me all I could get is another Fascinate. Fast forward to today, and now I can get any 3G phone (no IPhone or no 4G phones) but I'll have to sign a new 2yr agreement to get another phone other than a stupid Fascinate!!! Such the runaround!!

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Re: The Verizon Run Around
cstephens
Newbie

i just drafted a letter and contacted the executive leadership and legal counsel, documenting my issues with the Samsung Fascinate and all the runaround that I've received in my request to replace this phone for one that works. I contacted the following:

John Bianchi, VP, National Customer Service

Joan Bowyer, VP, Midwest Area Customer Service

Ken Dixon, President, Midwest Area

John Granby, President, Michigan Region

William Peterson, VP, General Counsel and Secretary

 

I advise everyone else to do the same!! Look for your regional leadership under the "About Us" link and find the "Leadership" link for a list of the VZW executives you can complain to regarding this poor service.

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Re: The Verizon Run Around
cstephens
Newbie

After send out emails to all the people I noted, I did receive a call from Executive Relations, Office of the President of Verizon Wireless. They listened to my list of issues and voiced concerns over how this is handled, as well as, I thru in several of the commented issues of mulitple people in this community. They extended me an offer for a 3G phone of my choice instead of just an Incredible 2 or Droid X2, but maintained that I could not request an iPhone or a 4G device (which is fine! I did not want a 4G device anyway) So, I went into a corporate store and looked over all their 3G phones and decided that I wanted to try the Droid 3; which was my other choice when I switched to a droid phone last October. Let's see if this one gives me the issues that I had with my Samsung.

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