<p>I’ve had Verizon Wireless cell phone service for years, and at this point we have 3 cell phone lines on my plan. We are able to replace the phones about every two years for relatively low cost, in exchange for extending the contract for 2 years. About a month ago, I went into a VW store and replaced my phone with a new one that is also a MP3 player. The salesman told me that I would need a new memory card to use the MP3 feature, and he suggested that I buy a package that included the memory card, earphones, and a case. I told him that I didn’t want the case and didn’t need the earphones, since I already had some. He told me that only their earphones would work with the phone, and that buying the bundle would cost less than buying the memory card and earphones separately. So I bought the bundle, and he installed the new memory card. </p>
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<li><p>Shortly after I bought the phone, S1 downloaded some music onto it. He plugged in his earphones, and laughed at me when I told him that only Verizon’s earphones could be used. It turns out that any earphones work, and I suspect that the ones I bought are no different than any others (they are still in their original package).</p></li>
<li><p>When I got my next bill, it was over $300. I called to find out why, and it turns out that the salesman had added all kinds of services to my plan. This had never even been discussed, apparently he just did it. The person on the phone ended up removing about $175 from my bill. I told her that I wanted to make a complaint, and she took the information about where I had gone to buy the phone.</p></li>
<li><p>Today, I went online to buy the same phone for S1, since his line is also eligible for a new phone. I was expecting to have to buy a memory card for him, but I learned that the card that is included with the phone has enough memory for 250 songs! So I didn’t need the memory card, either.</p></li>
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<p>After the billing problem, I looked at BBB online, and learned that there have been many, many complaints against Verizon Wireless for the kinds of things that happened to me. I am really angry now, and I’d like my money back for the bundle I bought because the salesman lied to me. I doubt that he lied to me, or changed my plan without permission or even discussion, on his own - I suspect that they do this as a matter of policy.</p>
<p>Any suggestions? Should I call the manager and ask for a refund? File a complaint with BBB or the state attorney general?</p>
<p>Wait - you believed what a salesperson was telling you? And a wirelessphone salesperson on top of that?</p>
<p>I feel for you. Verizon salespeople took advantage of upselling things to my elderly mother as well. Some of these salespeople, most seeming to be young guys in their 20s for some reason, have no principles. I think some of these wireless salespeople are used car salespeople rejects. Note that I have had decent ones as well though.</p>
<p>Definitely contact Verizon and complain. Make sure you head up the chain as need be. It’s not right what was done to you. You shouldn’t have to split the cost of their unethical and untruthful practices - they should return it all to you as long as you’re willing to return the items.</p>
<p>Consider switching away from Verizon when your two years are up.</p>
<p>I would switch away from Verizon, but they have by far the best coverage in my area. I also have found the people on the telephone to be efficient and responsive. </p>
<p>I guess I should have gone in with S1, so that I wouldn’t have been seen as someone who could be fooled! </p>
<p>I will make a complaint. When I found out about the earphones, I was irritated. When I got the bill, I was angry and thought about making a complaint to the BBB, but I told myself that the bill had been straightened out (at the cost of about 30 mins of my time, of course) and that it wasn’t worth the money to take more time to complain about having been lied to about the earphones. Now that I know that I was also lied to about the memory card, I am inclined to take it up with Verizon.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I’m sure they must be trained to do this - or they work on commission, or both.</p>
<p>My S refuses to go into a Verizon store for this very reason. He knows (in most cases) more than the salespeople do and it irritates him no end what they try to do. Last week he went in with his friend and the friend’s mother and was able to keep friend’s mother from getting more than she needed or wanted.</p>
<p>We have been extremely please with Verizon cell phone service and I have had excellent experiences with their customer service and techs by phone. It’s too bad they have their salespeople pulling these stunts.</p>
<p>Are you dealing with Verizon or one of their dealers? There is a world of difference between the Verizon Wireless store and a Verizon authorized dealer. We had all sorts of trouble with the authorized dealer. They sold my daughter a phone which we returned after discovering it was used. The replacement had been refurbished. We found that out when we asked the the real Verizon people why it wouldn’t hold a charge. I took that back and had a conversation with the manager and finally we got a brand spanking new phone.</p>
<p>We now look in the store and order the phone we want over the phone.</p>
<p>The Verizon owned stores are just as bad. Short story: I had a nice phone and made the mistake to get it wet. Replacing the same phone would have meant an expense of about $400.00. Only solution was to puirchase one crappy Pay-as-you-go phone. I did that for about 80 dollars. Turns out the phone is defective. Verizon tells me to go to a store to get it checked. Store people download a bunch of software but phone still does not hit the “correct” antennas. Salesperson tells me that he did get an approval to substitute the phone and give me a new one for only 30 dollars. I walk out of the store with the same crappy phone (but now a refurbished one.) Phone works a bit better and I am happy. </p>
<p>Then 4 weeks later my dad asks me why I extended my contract for two years with Verizon when I am TWO months away for moving to an area where Verizon works very poorly. Turns out the friendly salesman just gave me a 29.99 phone with a new contract, which was printed on the back of the exchange receipt. To make things worse, the same phone was available for Minus 20 dollars online. </p>
<p>In the end, I spent 110 dollars plus a two years contract at about 15 dollars a month for a basic phone I used only 2 1/2 months.</p>
<p>I had Cingular (now AT&T) try to pull the new contract thing on me when I made a minor service chane once - no new equipment or anything. Once I detected they did this I contacted them and said no way am I going to agree to this since they never mentioned a word of it. They reversed it. Since then my mantra is to confirm with the reps that there’s no change in the contract term any time I even talk to them but especially if I add or delete a service - like adding more allowable text msgs per month or something. </p>
<p>These companies definitely practice deception to try to get people to extend their contracts and some, especially Verizon, try to upsell, especially if they think they have a ‘mark’ like a person who clearly doesn’t understand the technological basics of these new-fangled devices.</p>
<p>I’ve had pay-as-you-go service for quite a while with AT&T/Cingular and have never had any problems with upselling.</p>
<p>I have been in a Verizon store though and was surprised to see that they charge an activation fee for PAYG phones - something I’ve never paid at AT&T. To get an idea of sleazy on Verizon’s part, the phone that I have has a camera as do a lot of phones today and it has bluetooth and modem capability. With every vendor but Verizon, you can download pictures from your phone to your computer. The hardware and software on the phone allow you to do this.</p>
<p>Verizon disables the ability to do this. You have to email the picture to yourself to get it off the phone at a charge of 75 cents a picture. I’ve seen frustrated customers that read the specs of the phone and assume that they can use the features of the hardware and operating system only to get mad when they find a useful feature disabled.</p>
<p>I have stories of Verizon DSL too but I’ll save those for another time.</p>
<p>Onward, this was a Verizon corporate store, not an authorized dealer. </p>
<p>Crescent22, I was telling S1 about the card tonight, and he told me that when he had my phone hooked up to his computer (to download music), he noticed that there was 1 Gbyte of memory - the same amount that comes with the phone! So I think that I may have been sold an equivalent memory card.</p>
<p>What is Page Plus, SodiumFree? I haven’t heard of it. Maybe I can change in 2 years!</p>
<p>I am going to write a letter to Verizon and, if they don’t respond appropriately, make a complaint to the state and/or BBB.</p>
<p>I really hope you complain NYMOM, that’s the way to make things change. I also am a big fan of buying verizon phones on-line. Their website is very, very easy, the selection is bigger then the stores and the prices are lower. The phones come in less then a week in the mail and you activate them yourself in just a couple of minutes, plus, you can transfer all your contact info. I’ve gone into the stores to look the phones over, but for the last few years ordered on-line. I have an I-phone now, but verizon coverage and service is better in this area. I’m hoping that verizon picks up the I-phone soon.</p>
<p>NYMomof2,
If you are considering changing providers in two years, calculate the cost/savings of doing it now.
My son found a competitor offers a similar package at $30/month less, $30 x 24 = $720, minus the $175 cancellation fee and the $200 new phone, still saves him considerable money; that is before he sells his old phone :)</p>
<p>kathiep, I will never go into a store again. I just bought another phone from Verizon’s website, and it was very easy. They have free one-day shipping. </p>
<p>mominva, That’s a very good point. I will keep an open mind to switching during the contract period.</p>
<p>We recently switched from Sprint to Verizon for the better coverage, lower cost of having 5 phones w/ unlimited texting, etc. We did the entire thing online and saved a bundle over what the store would have charged. The one time I spoke to a person at the store, (before we switched) I left with a bad taste in my mouth. He lied to me about all sorts of things, especially about how it would be a bad idea to do everything online. Oh really, why? Because we’d save so much money???</p>
<p>OP should definitely complain, long and loud.</p>
<p>Verizon has much better coverage than Cingular in our area, so we switched. Yes, both will take advantage given an opportunity. So I’d go ahead and complain, since you have a pretty blatant tale of abuse. Oh, and do consider buying your phones online. Cingular’s SIM cards are simple to change, and the Verizon telephone support can switch a phone if you have a phone with no SIM card.</p>