Everyone is aware that you can buy a Verizon phone, get a rebate and because your phone was free - you are on a 2 year contract with the company. I believe this rebate is a BIG SCAM. Just 2 month ago I got a letter in the mail saying that I am qualifying for a free phone for Verizon (they do it as soon as your contract with them expires just to keep you). It was time to change the phone so I went and purchased a simple phone and signed a new contract to get a full rebate. I mailed all of the documents to them to get my rebate but I never got one. I called and explained the situation to a person working in the rebate department. The guy said that no rebate will be issued to me because I did not make the copy of the box for the phone! He said that too many people cheat and get rebates for the phones they did not purchase. I explained that the original UPC from the box was mailed to them with the rest of the docs for the rebate and I did not have the box any more but I had a receipt stating that I paid for the phone, the phone with all the serial numbers, the paper that the seller at Verizon store issued with the information about the phone such as UPC and serial number and a contract that I signed in order to get this "free" phone. The person in Verizon rebate center kept insisting he needed the box for the phone. He agreed that he saw that no rebate was issued to me but could not help, he explained that that is the Verizon Wireless company policy/law. So, I paid for my phone out of my pocket and I have a contract that I should not have had since my phone was not free. I don't know whether the Verizon rebate center employees put the mail in a trash or the mail courier fails, but the facts are they don't want to pay you even if you have all the evidence. This is my second time they don't want to pay. 6 years ago my wife had the same situation with them but she had the copies of everything including the box, they never paid anyways. All of my family is considering switching to a different phone company since they don't have contracts and I am still fighting to nullify the contract since I paid for my phone myself. I am also reporting them to BBB. Verizon customer service has not been helpful at all.
