My wife and I switched to Verizon because of a promotion that sounded like a great deal…read more Unfortunately, the experience was frustrating from the beginning and ultimately cost us a significant amount of time, money, and stress.
We spent more than three hours in the Verizon store getting our account set up, only to have our plan and devices activated incorrectly. We then had to make multiple trips back to the store to try to get the promised promotions and discounts applied.
From the first day of service, we also had almost no usable cellular service. GPS, Spotify, Google Maps, phone calls, and other mobile services frequently wouldn't work unless we were connected to Wi-Fi. This continued for more than six weeks.
We returned to the store multiple times and contacted Verizon customer service at least two dozen times. Eventually, two different Verizon supervisors told us that our best option was to port our numbers back to another carrier because they couldn't resolve the service issues. We followed their instructions because I need a reliable phone for work, and we have a 7-month-old son. Not being able to reliably reach my wife in an emergency wasn't acceptable.
After leaving Verizon as instructed, we were then told the original promotion would not be honored. This resulted in AT&T billing us approximately $1,600 for our devices.
After several more hours on the phone, Verizon eventually told us they would credit us for the phones so we could pay off the AT&T balance. We were told the process could take up to 60 days.
Final Update -- September 30, 2026
After countless additional hours on the phone and repeated promises from different Verizon representatives, we still have not received what we were promised.
We received only "fair market value" for one device. The other was a brand-new iPhone 17 Pro Max, which Verizon has repeatedly claimed they never received.
However, we have receipts showing the trade-in, and an in-store Verizon representative documented on my account that Verizon received the phone. We were later told that a store employee canceled the trade-in after we had already left the store with Verizon in possession of our devices.
Despite providing receipts and having account notes confirming the phone was received, we still have not received the money or promotion we were promised.
This entire experience has dragged on for nearly three months and resulted in countless hours on the phone, multiple store visits, more than six weeks of unreliable service, approximately $1,600 in unexpected expenses, and the additional cost of switching to another carrier.
At this point, this experience has seriously damaged my trust in Verizon. I'm considering pursuing the matter through formal channels, including potentially taking legal action, because I don't feel Verizon has held up its end of the agreement.
If you're considering switching to Verizon because of a promotion, I strongly recommend reading the terms carefully and keeping every receipt, trade-in document, and record of your conversations.
For us, the promotion simply wasn't worth everything we went through.
