Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be appreciated.

[kehlis]

So about three weeks ago the button on the top of my iphone4 stopped working.

No worries, after doing some research I found out it was a pretty common problem. I take it in and the guy checks it for water damage and there was none and obviously there was no physical damage or they wouldn't have even let me send it in.

I had insurance and there was no water damage or visible physical damage so he said no problem, they would overnight me a replacement and I would send my original phone back in. It went flawlessly, had the new phone within a day and sent the old one back. No problem.


Today, I get an email from Verizon saying they were charging me for $300 because of the defective returned merchandise. The email includes a picture of the "damage" that is unable to be pulled up either by me or the rep in the store when I forwarded to him.

So obviously I had been in to the store and explained my problem. He pulls up my account and is kind of reading the notes out loud to himself and all it says "pulled phone apart, top button doesn't work, no other damages."

He sees, that says let me take this in the back for a minute.


After me forwarding him the email I received he comes out about 15 minutes later and says the "port" is damaged (where I plug it in to charge it).

I doubt that because I take good care of my phone but whatever. My problem is now they are going to charge me 3 times what I originally payed for the phone.

I had no choice, if I had been told up front this could happen I would never have sent it in because other than the button, it worked fine (including the charger).

I asked if I could just have the old one back and he said no, "Once they do their thing it can't be returned." And that is my biggest issue, they are handcuffing me with paying $300 with absolutely no other choice.


I understand normal procedure would be to ask to speak to a manager and whatnot but they were shortstaffed and I wasn't in the mood at that time. I'm going to call the call center and see if I can get any resolution from them.

Anyone have any other suggestions for me?

I'm all for paying something I owe but, at least to me, I feel I did my do diligence and wasn't given any opportunity to avoid this. My biggest issue I guess is the fact that I can't choose to take my old phone back.

[23]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

What do they mean the phone was opened?

I know if you do that, that probably voids the warranty, but what is that all about?

[kehlis]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

What do they mean the phone was opened?

I know if you do that, that probably voids the warranty, but what is that all about?

They apparently opened it after I returned it to them to check for damages. I didn't touch it.

[mgoblue]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

I never had a problem with Asurion (the Verizon insurance guys) and I've had extensive experience lately (sadly!).

My fiancee spider cracked her screen on her Razr Maxx. I file the report, get the new phone, send it back, transfer to new phone, etc.

Everything's fine, just pay 200 bucks and I'm good.

A week later her phone falls off a counter and breaks the screen again. Had to scan and submit a form since it was so close to the last one, but paid 200 bucks and got a new phone.

Now we can't file anything under her insurance for 2 years lol.

It's crazy how they're nailing you on this, doesn't make sense at all.

[23]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

They can't charge you for opening the thing if they did it

The 300 bucks is for the new phone. Do they have some kind of funky warranty or something? I'd definitely call to speak with someone about it because unless that's iphone specific it makes no sense, especially if it was no negligence.

[kehlis]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

It's crazy how they're nailing you on this, doesn't make sense at all.

That's my issue!

I know I blabbled a lot in the first post and didn't get into this but as it turns out, they didn't send it in under insurance, they sent it in because it was still under warranty but that was never once brought up to me.

I would like to pretend I'm an expert at this but this is the first time I've EVER had an issue with any of my phones, they've always lived their full life until it's time to get a new one.

Today I was told that if this was discovered at the time I brought it in I could have just paid that $200 copay and move on but they aren't even giving me that option at this point.

[Phobia]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

I would go ballistic. I would hit the ceiling so hard every single person at the company I would call. I would call them every single day and just go off about how much of a piece of **** company and crooks they are. I would get some sort of resolution one way or the other. No way in hell would I pay $300 if I did nothing to deserve it.

[jyoung]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

Was your original claim filed under the manufacturer warranty or through the Asurion insurance?

It sounds like you filed it as a warranty claim, which is a free claim as long as there's no damage to the phone.

However, if you do a warranty claim, Verizon always inspects the phone you are returning to them, and if they find any sign of damage to the phone, they will charge you a "damaged device fee," with the cost being close to the phone's full retail price.

If they are charging you for a bad port on the phone, it likely means there was corrosion inside the port that was caused by water damage. Keep in mind that something as simple as sweat or moisture can result in water damage to a phone, even if you never actively spilled anything on it or got it wet yourself.

Had you done an insurance claim through Asurion, you still would have had to pay a deductible to get a replacement, which is either $169 or $199, depending on whether you have a 8/16 GB iphone or a 32/64 GB iphone.

So the $300 damage fee definitely sucks, but you still would have had to pay close to $200 if you had done the insurance claim originally.

Also, the phone you got sent from your warranty replacement is brand new whereas the one you would have gotten from the insurance company would have been refurbished.

[Burns11]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

Don't ignore the BBB, while it's true that the BBB is really powerless to help you, large companies worry about that rating and have people whose job it is to resolve BBB disputes, and these people have more discretion to come to an amicable conclusion.

A BBB complaint helped me with ATT last year. After banging my head against the wall with ATT customer service reps bouncing me from department to department, basically calling me a liar even when I could bring up the same deal on their website, a post on BBB and someone was calling me the next day. They listened, they looked at what I was talking about, and it was resolved right there.

[kehlis]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

I would go ballistic. I would hit the ceiling so hard every single person at the company I would call. I would call them every single day and just go off about how much of a piece of **** company and crooks they are. I would get some sort of resolution one way or the other. No way in hell would I pay $300 if I did nothing to deserve it.

I think I found a solution which I'm still not happy with that I will post after all this that at least saves me the money but I'm still not happy about the way this was handled.

I'm a very calm person but this is something that would cause me to go baulistic over, I'm trying to be realistic about it, but after that conversation today I felt I was giving all take and getting no pull....

It sounds like you filed it as a warranty claim, which is a free claim as long as there's no damage to the phone.

However, if you do a warranty claim, Verizon always inspects the phone you are returning to them, and if they find any sign of damage to the phone, they will charge you a "damaged device fee," with the cost being close to the phone's full retail price.

If they are charging you for a bad port on the phone, it likely means there was corrosion inside the port that was caused by water damage. Keep in mind that something as simple as sweat or moisture can result in water damage to a phone, even if you never actively spilled anything on it or got it wet yourself.

I'm not disputing any of this and as I said, if it was something that was my fault, I'm more than willing to take the blame.

My problem is the fact that I took it to the store where it was checked for water damage and they found none.

I was never given an option to file and insurance claim versus a warranty claim.

THey just said we will overnight you a new one and all will be good.


On top of that, they aren't giving me the option to take my old phone back. Water damage in the port or not, it worked fine, I don't have a lot of time left until I can upgrade and I can live with it.

I'm not an unrealistic person but I was never given options, I was told everything would be fine and being the trusting person I am, I went along with it.

But to now be told after all that that I have to pay 3 times what I originally payed for the phone without any options or choice is what I have an issue with.

Don't ignore the BBB, while it's true that the BBB is really powerless to help you, large companies worry about that rating and have people whose job it is to resolve BBB disputes, and these people have more discretion to come to an amicable conclusion.

A BBB complaint helped me with ATT last year. After banging my head against the wall with ATT customer service reps bouncing me from department to department, basically calling me a liar even when I could bring up the same deal on their website, a post on BBB and someone was calling me the next day. They listened, they looked at what I was talking about, and it was resolved right there.

I actually work for a large bank who takes BBB complaints very seriously.

While I'm not someone who would file a frivilous complaint, I feel I every ground to report this since I was never given any options at all.

Had they just emailed me and said that they found damage and offered me the option of retaining my old phone or paying this fee for the new one I would be okay but that doesn't seem very fair to me.




All that being said, I did some digging and found out that because I have the payments set up on auto deduct from my Wells Fargo credit card I actually have an annual insurance for damaged devices of up to $600. Doesn't make what happened right but at least should save me the money.

[Phobia]

I hope your solution works out man, let us know how it turns out. I for one am interested the course this will take.


Sent from da lil phone.

[kehlis]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

I hope your solution works out man, let us know how it turns out. I for one am interested the course this will take.


Sent from da lil phone.

I will and I appreciate your interest.

It just comes at the worst possible time because I'm in the middle of a bidding war as I'm trying to buy my first house and I'm dealing with **** at work.

[PVarck31]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

Man Kehlis. That really sucks.

I have had Verizon for a long time, and for the most part they have been pretty good. I know I have had a couple warranty replacements. The most recent was an issue I had with the Galaxy Nexus. I literally couldn't get higher than 1-2 3G bars in my house. And was very lucky to get two. I thought it was the phone so I got another a few days later, same thing, I dealt with it or like a month and just couldn't deal with it anymore. So I did an insurance replacement. SAME PROBLEM. And keep in mind this wasn't just my house or immediate area. Everyone else's phone got 4G no problem.

I went to a store and raised hell. They wouldn't do anything. I was irate.

So here's the whole point of my story. Sorry for being long winded.

I called customer support and basically demanded a new phone. Basically told them I have been with them so long and I should at least be able to get a freaking 4G refurb of any kind. So finally after speaking with a supervisor they asked me if I would take a Razr Maxx. Of course I would. Was that so damn hard!

So anyway, I have learned and been told by other to stay out of the stores in these circumstances. They won't help you. The best bet is to call customer service, talk to someone until you get what you want. Within reason of course.

If you stay mostly calm, but let them know you mean business, they will work with you. You may have to ask to speak with a supervisor, I had to do that.

Good luck man.

[BattleBornLV]

I had an issue with Verizon awhile back when I sent back a defective device. I received the exact same charge from them because they said they never received the device I sent back. Of course the tracking number I had showed nothing for them so I was being held responsible for it.

I was calling them every single day to see if they received it and I was raising hell with every call until one day I called and they tell me they found the device in their warehouse. Apparently they received it but whoever is supposed to be informed that it was received was never informed. It's like wtf how stupid can you be. I would stay on their *** about this until they resolve it. Hopefully you get it resolved soon because I know it sucks to have to deal with it. Keep us updated.

[Knight165]

Re: Let me tell you about my fun time with Verizon today...Any help would be apprecia

Man...this sounds like a bunch of nonsense.

IMO....there is no way they should be able to take your phone....charge you $300 without even giving you the option of just keeping your old phone as the alternative.

...and the fact that it was done after the fact.....would irritate me to no end.

Hope this works out.

M.K.
Knight165