Verizon Trade-In Program flaws and problems.

[matthewood]

Hi there,

I am a long time (almost 10 year) customer with Verizon, spending tens of thousands of dollars in my tenure as a customer.

I have worked for a large entertainment company for 23 years, and because of our corporate relationship I use Verizon.

I have always owned a smartphone, & have gone through 5 or 6 different generations of expensive phones over the years, settling in on the iPhone.

I picked up the 5s from Verizon last year, and was propositioned at the Verizon retail store to trade-in my old Verizon iPhone 4s for a verizon gift card.

I was told at the store I would get at least $200.00 for it.

I went ahead and did it online on 2/11 and it was appraised for $220.00. On 2/28 I received a gift card in the amount of $39.60.

I was told the reason for the extremely low return was because Find My iPhone was still activated on the device.

This is not the case. I have spent time online with Apple support verifying this fact.

The Verizon trade-in support center wants an email from Apple proving that it is turned off.

I had an online support with Apple and they told me that they do not produce these emails.

I have screenshots of my iCloud accounts with no devices attached, and the Apple chat transcripts.

At this point Verizon is holding my iPhone 4s and the complete gift card hostage.

The communication process with the Trade-In center is not productive. You can only call in, and receive boilerplate responses, and they type up your message and send it to the engineers who are the ones with the phones. Then a few days later you receive boilerplate email responses to those messages. I reply to those emails with direct questions, screenshots, and Apple chat logs and do not receive direct answers.

I was also told that "we are unable to validate that Activation Lock has been disabled for this device."

When dealing with money that is to go to back to a loyal customer, it would seem the possibility of extreme dissatisfaction will arise if the amounts appraised don't match the amounts given, and there is no recourse to discuss this with the team.

Also, the fact that the phone seems to be gone at this point is almost like theft.

Funnily enough, this is all for the priviledge of receiving a Verizon gift card which can only be spent at Verizon.

I appealed this case to my corporate accounts manager at Verizon, and he answered with a single sentence: "I understand."

I would like to think that this isn't a scam (even though the majority of the comments here seem otherwise).

But the facts remain:

Apple is has verified that "Find My iPhone" is not turned on with my accounts.

Apple says they do not send out confirmation of removal emails (which Verizon claims they need).

The iPhone is in the possession of Verizon.

I only received 18% of the Appraised Value

Verizon says they are unable to validate if FMiP is disabled.

There is no way to directly talk to the department in question.

This message is for anyone who is thinking of using this service, and hopefully for Verizon to look at their practices from the customer's point of view.

Thank you for your time, and feel free to comment here with your thoughts.

Matthew

[matthewood]

UPDATE: Today I received and email answer to my question of why they cannot check the Activation Lock again:

"Physically unable because the device has already been processed and moved on to scrap/parts department."

They still have not addressed my question of how I am supposed to furnish an email from Apple stating that the FMiP was turned off if Apple themselves have told me they do not send out such emails. They also have not addressed my chat transcript from Apple which states that FMiP is NOT turned on for my accounts. This is a very bad system that Verizon has in place. Scrapping a phone with no recourse is beyond ridiculous.

[matthewood]

Here is the photo that the Verizon Online Trade-In Support sent to me.

The state that this is:

"It is an example of the e-mail received by a customer after removing their device from iCloud."

This is NOT an email.

Since when does an "email" have a login prompt and have knowledge of what iPhone is plugged into it?

This is probably a warning screen from iTunes stating that the phone is linked to another account when you try to Activate it in the application.

I have replied back to them stating this and I get back:

"Yes, it is.

Still wondering how to produce this impossible email for proof.

[matthewood]

Can anyone tell me who to speak with at Verizon as their engineers are insisting that the photo in my posts that they provided to me is an "email from Apple" and Apple has told me that it is not.

If this is the proof they require to ensure FMiP is turned off, then there are going to be many unhappy customers. I am reaching the end of understanding here.

Thank you,

Matthew

[matthewood]

Well I was able to gather up from the numerous and frequent complaints on the discussion boards here the next course of action.

The Better Business Bureau has a file already started with this same problem in my State. I will be going that route.

I never received any reply from any Verizon rep that would take time time to listen to this problem.

Giving me an impossible item to produce and then their engineers using an incorrect photo as proof of this item is beyond strange.

Bad business, and bad form Verizon.

[matthewood]

I would really like an official answer from someone at Verizon as to how the picture in my post is "email proof" from Apple that FMiP has been turned off. This is the logic that the engineering department of the Trade-In division is using to deny me my full appraised amount. This picture is NOT an email from Apple. Apple does not send out such emails. I have verified this with Apple.

Verizon, can you please answer this?

A seriously disgruntled loyal customer.

[Ann154]

matthewood wrote:

I would really like an official answer from someone at Verizon as to how the picture in my post is "email proof" from Apple that FMiP has been turned off. This is the logic that the engineering department of the Trade-In division is using to deny me my full appraised amount. This picture is NOT an email from Apple. Apple does not send out such emails. I have verified this with Apple.

Verizon, can you please answer this?

A seriously disgruntled loyal customer.

Unfortunately for you, you didn't mark your post as a question so none of the VZW reps that roam this community will ever see it. Additionally this is a peer to peer customer forum so a response from another customer isn't always quick.

[matthewood]

With the new iPhone being released it reminded me of this terrible Verizon Trade-In program.

Wanted to bump this experience up to hopefully have future iPhone Trade-In customers be warned!

Never resolved, never responded. Fraudulent, ridiculous policies and practices still in place.

MW