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Verizon Wireless' $200 iPhone trade-in program is a sham. At every step in the process, Verizon thwarted customer efforts to utilize the trade-in program:
1. Signed up for $200 trade-in online; talked to customer service; informed that I could take my old iPhone 4 to a Verizon Wireless Store for trade-in. At the store, I was informed that I would have to wait to receive the new iPhone 6 before I could trade-in my old iPhone 4. Because they needed the new phone's serial # to complete process in the system. I told them that I didn't need the old iPhone 4, and would be willing to give it to them, and then wait a month for the $200 credit. They would not even accept or evaluate my phone. One hour wasted based on misinformation from telephonic customer service and bad Verizon policy.
2. Verizon failed to send me the "return mailing package" for my old iPhone 4. I had to re-requested proper mailing several times. When I received my iPhone 6, it included a trade-in donation package. When I complained and again requested the package, Verizon advised that they were having problems mailing out the return packages, and that it would be sent soon. I eventually received the proper return envelope, but how many other customers have old iPhones laying around un-returned. Another hour plus spent dealing with this problem.
3. When I ordered the iPhone 6, I carefully and explicitly requested that we have the promotional customer loyalty plan ($60 for unlimited talk and text, plus 2gb data). After over an hour on the phone with CS, Verizon confirmed that we could have this plan, and the new iPhone 6 would not change it.
4. When the new iPhone 6 arrived, our plan reverted to the "More Everything Plan" without our knowledge. I checked the bill and found that we'd been charged approximately $40 more than the plan that the Verizon representative confirmed when I ordered the iPhone 6. Over an hour wasted (see # 2) based on misinformation from customer service and fraudulent Verizon procedures (changing our wireless plan without our knowledge -- and even worse, I took precautions to avoid this happening and Verizon did it anyway).
5. I went to the store to fix the billing issue. They were unable to fix it in store, but had to call a telephonic representative for authority. They tried to turn me away to handle the call myself, but a helpful representative stayed with me for over an hour while he and I talked to Verizon customer support. The $60 deal was no longer available as promised to me (it was reduced to 1GB). The representative would need to take the request to a higher level in Verizon, and I would have to wait several days for resolution. It was finally fixed, and I received a voice message with a general statement from Verizon that the billing issue had been fixed. The call was made to sound like "hey, just calling to let you know your issue was fixed, don't we have good customer service?" However, good customer service is building in procedures and properly training staff to avoid these types of problems. I spent several hours trying to get the bill correct due to a Verizon error. I wonder how many customers are less vigilant in reviewing their monthly bills. It's evident that price errors only go against the consumer and in favor of Verizon.. Based on my experiences here, Verizon does not care about errors that deceive customers.
6. The last straw was that, when I finally received my $200 gift card, I tried to apply the balance for future payments of my Verizon monthly invoices. I could not set up the gift card in autopay, which I use to pay my bill in a timely manner every single month. Therefore, I tried to just "pay bill," and take a negative balance, which could then be used to offset future autopays from my bank account. However, I received an error that Verizon does not permit its gift cards to create a negative balance. Only credit cards and bank accounts. In order to actually use the card to pay my Verizon bill, I have to suspend my autopay for two months and manually enter the gift card. Another 30 minutes wasted.
There is no way for Verizon to fix the above problems, as the damage is done. If it was just one or two things, I would've let it go. However, Verizon had disrespected my time and loyalty as a customer. And to be clear, this was not the fault of any customer service agents -- they were mostly professional and friendly. This a problem with Verizon Wireless the company. Please improve.