Is there anyone at Verizon Wireless that can actually help you?

[btdillard]

Signing up for Verizon Wireless has been a disgusting experience and we still can't find anyone that can actually do anything. If you are aware of anyone, please reply.

My wife needed new cell service after leaving her old employer and wanted to keep her phone number and her company procurement checked with Verizon (their business account provider) and got the instructions for porting the number and which required them to move from a business account to a personal account - which she did. She did not keep the phone - only the number.

When we asked (and I was on the phone as well) about a new phone and as part of setting up a new account, we were told she could go to any retail store and get a phone just like if she was a new customer. So she agreed to a plan and I went by the store only to be told that because she was an existing customer, she was not eligible for a phone unless he wanted to pay retail $649.00 for the particular phone she wanted. Keep in mind that we could have just walked in, got a new phone and number, and paid $199.00.

After hours and hours of calls someone there finally "gets it" and that they mistakenly showed that we took the phone and that we should have been able to get a new phone price like a new customer had it been processed right. My wife needs it asap, they promise by Wednesday morning if she pays for expedited shipping. She gives credit card info and.....    

This morning no phone. Check order number online and nothing. Hour plus to get someone who says that apparently a supervisor pulled the order and it has not gone out. No call, no update to us, no nothing. And then we start all over and it just ended with a lame offer for to get a low end phone for $199.00 if we re-upped for a 2 year commitment. By the way, the low end phone was a refurbished unit that they would still have to ship to us.

Truly the worst experience ever.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hey there btdillard. I am glad your wife chose to join us at Verizon Wireless. I want to personally welcome her.  I am sorry about the confusion over purchasing a new device and I would like to clear that up for you today.

One question I have for you btdillard is was your wifes company account with Verizon Wireless? If yes, if she wanted to keep her number there was an agreement tied to that number. If she transferred that number from that account into an account in her name, that agreement would have followed up and the upgrade date would have stayed the same.

If her company account was on a different carriers account and she transferred the number over, she should be eligible to purchase a phone at the 2 year pricing with her same number.

Which carrier did her previous employer have?

NickB_VZW
VZWSupport
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[btdillard]

Good luck. Three times thus far we have worked our way to through people on

the phone who once they listened, said they would fix it, only to not follow

through.

Here is the net of it - my wife wanted to keep xxx-xxx-xxxx and her employer

ran it through procurement to get requirements to keep the number only, not

the phone and as her employer required the phone to be returned (GMAC was

acquired by another company OCWEN and those assets were not part of the

sale). They got instructions from Verizon and regarding the number having to

be moved from a business to residential account and the whole Assumption of

Liability process.

Before she did this, and I helped get it set up and was on the call with

her, we called the number GMAC/OCWEN gave us for Verizon and made sure we

understood the liability and the timing as she needed to have a phone by the

following Wednesday before taking our son to Disney for his birthday. We

knew the cost of a new phone if we set up a new number with Verizon vs added

another number to AT&T wireless with whom we have an existing family plan

with 3 phones. So before we assumed any liability on this existing number

transfer, we wanted to make sure the following:

.        Liability if we transferred the number to AT&T; it was $175, I

think and we ruled it out

.        Liability if we kept the number and set up new residential service;

zero provided we signed a new agreement

.        Cost of a phone as she did not keep it; depends on phone but no

difference than if you signed up as new customer

These were more technical people but so then my wife went through the

process of completing the AOL, but these were more tech people and she

answered their questions. We received nothing after that, no e-mail, no

nothing. My wife called the number back and spoke to someone who said just

go to any retail store. I checked online and got the same thing in a chat

session with CS - go to Verizon and set up a new number, pick out your phone

and once activated, they will the xxx-xxx-xxxx number and you're good to go.

We did and the first thing they told us at the retail store when we told

them what we were doing and they asked for the old number xxx-xxx-xxxx was

that this is an existing account and you are not eligible for an upgrade so

if you want the iPhone 5, $649.00. No ifs, ands, or buts and they said if we

had as issue, take it up with the AOL group because it shows here you

already have a Verizon issued phone.

From the store, I called the AOL number - probably 2 hours after my wife had

completed the AOL process and spoke to someone who going through everything

said this should not have been processed showing that we had a phone when we

didn't. He tried to fix, then tried to call someone to help get this all

through, then finally came back and said he couldn't do it and couldn't find

anyone who could. I told him we were not paying full price for a new phone

when if they had just told us the truth, would have ditched the transfer. He

said the only way they could undo it was if old employer requested the

number back.

That evening, my wife and I called and I spoke to someone for at 30 minutes

before she realized what was happening and said that if we could give her

some time, she would find somebody who could fix this. She called back 2

hours later and told us the best she could do was offer a discounted low end

phone that could be refurbished, but they would have to ship it to us. I

said no. My wife then tried, called back and spoke with someone, got bumped

up to a supervisor, then another person and finally someone who could help

her. I didn't like it, but they agreed to reduce early termination fee (of

which we were told there would not be one if she set up a new number) to

$30.00 and to overnight the Apple iPhone 5 (32G) for $399.00 so she would

have it Wednesday morning before she flew out with my son. Oh, but she had

to provide them with her credit card and pay for the overnight. This was

late Monday evening.

By Wednesday, early afternoon no phone and I called to check on status. Gave

them number and they said it wasn't shipped and all they had was notes in

the record that a supervisor denied approving this sometime after my wife

spoke with them. No explanation as to why, person said she would call and

find out and call us back. We are running out of time already. She calls

back and said that supervisor had not responded to voice mail or e-mail so

no idea why it was denied. My bigger question was why wouldn't someone have

had the common courtesy to call us back and tell us and after my wife had

expressed the importance of this and actually provided the credit card info

to pay for the overnight shipping.

So Wednesay afternoon, I went to Verizon and got a new number - xxx-xxx-xxxx

for my wife and with the phone she wanted

iPhone 5 and she took that on the trip. If we cannot the xxx-xxx-xxxx ported

over to that account and without paying a termination fee, then that phone

will be returned tomorrow and the service cancelled.

We will also cancel the xxx-xxx-xxxx number and as it was assumed by us

based on inaccurate information provided by Verizon as part of the transfer

process. And if we ever receive anything indicating we owe Verizon for any

of this, we will file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and every

agency in the US that regulates communications, fair trade practices and the

like.

I have never seen anything like this in my life where we have spoken to so

many people who have acknowledged the error, promised to fix it, then kept

sticking it back in our faces. The worst straw of all was that even my

wife's former employer tried to help, including a willingness to just take

the number back - only to be told that, "we can't talk to you about it

because its not your number anymore". This was after we were told that we

could not give the number back to her employer, they had to request it.

This should have been very simple to resolve. I hope you can help, but

tomorrow is our deadline on getting this resolved or returning this phone

and going with AT&T. 

Todd and Dana

>Personal info deleted<

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[btdillard]

In case I wasn't clear with my previous response. My wife's company account

was with Verizon. The phone was issued by her company (now former company)

and it had to go back to the company which it did. This was why she went to

such efforts to make sure she could get a new phone at the new customer

price if she assumed the liability for the number.

A person we spoke to in the AOL department told us this should have been

processed differently by Verizon and given that she did not take the phone.

He said Verizon should have either told her that she would have to purchase

her own phone at full price or processed the AOL and set up of new account

in a way that she could get a phone at the new customer price.

We are out of time trying to get this resolved.

Todd

>Personal info deleted<

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[dcschuss]

After 20 years as a Verizon customer I now can honestly say "NO ONE CAN HELP"

I called in to renew my contract and get a New phone, Martin from WA sold me a bill of goods, In order to get me to agree to a New 2 year contract he offered me the New HD Razor for $75, plus tax $86.99.  Later that day I received a text for the full price....I called a second time and spoke with a rep. told her my story and asked her what she could do, she said nothing I told her to cancel my order wasn't I surprised when the phone showed up Monday morning.

I called in again and asked for a supervisor, I was told one would call me back within 24 hours (NEVER HAPPENED)  I called a third time Asked for a supervisor this time he listened, so I told him the whole story, he could not do anything so I asked if I could speak with Martin's Supervisor, he told me he sent a email to him and he would get back with me with 24 hours (NEVER HAPPENED)

I called in again, asked to speak with a supervisor and the rep. would not put me thru, he actually argued with me...  So I hung up and called again this time after speaking with the rep. he said he would get me a supervisor (I was on hold for 50 minutes) final spoke with a supervisor he could not do anything.

The results, I'm returning the phone and after 20 years with Verizon I think it's time to move on!

Truly the worst experience ever.

[rall_g4]

Funny thing ( or maybe not so funny) is that Verizon can terminate you under the Terms of Service  you sign for lying.

[#7]

Quick everyone who wants out of their contracts start lying! (Humor)

That is never going to happen. If you read these posts it seems Verizon Wireless Reps are taught to lie to the customers. However how can the customer or the company be proven so?

[#8]

I didn't have the patience to read all that, however, if she did an assumption of liability of an existing Verizon line of service, she is not eligible for a new subsidized phone until 20 months into the contract.  It doesn't matter what happened to the phone itself.  She needs to pay full retail price for a new phone or put an old phone on that line and finish out 20 months of her existing contract.  This makes sense if you think about it.  Anytime Verizon, or any other provider, sells a phone at a subsidized price, they are giving a huge discount of $400 to $450 for example.  The person who owns that line has to make 20 monthly payments to pay off what is, in essence, still owed on the phone.  If that line of service moves to someone else via AOL, the new owner of the line still needs to finish making the 20 payments.  Otherwise, people would play games and do AOL's back and forth to get out from under their contracts.  It's somewhat like buying a house and assuming the previous owner's mortgage.

[#9]

You have 14 days to cancel the transaction and return the phone.  You have to pay a restocking fee of $35.  That still doesn't explain why you didn't get the phone at the subsidized price.  We can only assume you were not yet eligible, meaning you have not completed 20 months of your 24 month contract.  Otherwise, I have no idea.

[HawaiiBKC]

I don't believe that you're providing us with enough information.

Did you activate a new line?

Upgrade?

Did you buy online or through the store? I'm guessing online, since you were looking to cancel the order.

What did the text say exactly?

You've been with Verizon the year it was founded? Off Topic.