On 12-13-23, my wife and I were about to go to Best Buy to upgrade our iphones. I like Best Buy…read morebecause their employees are not paid commission and it is a much smoother process than trying to deal with a representative at the Verizon store who is paid commission. After pulling out of my driveway, I remembered there was a Verizon store 5 minutes from my home, so I decided to give them a try instead of driving 30 min to Best Buy. At 11:30am, my wife and I went into this store and were greeted by an employee who said his name was Bruce. He asked how he could help us and I explained we wanted to upgrade our phones. When asked, I told him I wanted the iphone 15 pro max and my wife wanted the iphone 15 pro. He asked for my phone number so he could look up my account. He looked up my account. I know this because he was reading off the different phone numbers (my kids phones) which were on my account. I explained we both wanted 500 gb memory. He asked about my wife's current phone memory which was 64 gb. He told us she didn't need the 500 gb and that she only needs 256 gb. We insisted we wanted the 500 gb because she is constantly having to delete stuff because she doesn't have enough space (Besides the fact...that's what we wanted).
My wife was unsure of the color she wanted so Bruce, kindly, said he would bring out each of the colors for her to view since they were not all on display. After he went into the back, I looked at my wife and said "He seems pretty cool". He returned with the 2 different pro max colors he said he had in stock which were both 500 gb. But as far as the pro model, he returned with two colors which were both 256 gb. Again, we told him she wanted the 500 gb model. Like he did previously, he began listing reasons why she doesn't need the 500 gb. My wife told him, again, that she wanted the 500 gb. His reply this time was straight up, "Why?". She explained that if she has the 500 gb of storage, it will give her piece of mind that she should never run out of space. This wasn't good enough for him so he began telling us the price difference between the 256 and 500. I was ashamed it took me so long to start asking myself why he wanted her to get the 256 so badly, then I thought to ask if he had any iphone 15 pro's with 500 gb in stock...his answer was "No." That's all it took for me to realize he did not want what was best for me, but whatever was going to get him his sales commission. I told him we were going to go to Best Buy to get the phones. He attempted to dissuade us by saying they wouldn't have them in stock. When I told him I already looked and they did, he got on his computer and looked it up. He saw they had the phone my wife in stock but told her, "They only have it in the Natural." She doesn't care what color so we said yeah, we will go there.
We left, went to Best Buy and the employee looked up my account and said it was locked and that she would not be able to help us. She showed us the computer screen which indeed showed my account was locked. She had me look at the phone number she used and I verified it was correct. She then asked if we happened to have gone to a Verizon store recently. When I said we just came from one, she said she has seen this issue several times. She explained once you leave the Verizon store without purchasing from them, the employee will lock your account so you cannot purchase somewhere else until you unlock your account.
I left and called Verizon customer service. I was told that my account was locked because I submitted an application for an iphone and was declined. I explained everything from the above paragraphs to her. She told me the application was submitted from the Verizon store I was at earlier and that someone from that store locked the account. I asked addition questions regarding who completed the application, how do I get a copy, who I could contact..she was helpful but I could tell this was beyond the scope of her job and she was just trying to satisfy me enough to get me off the phone. I pressed a little more and she provided me with a contact so I could get a copy of the application. Once I receive it and review it, I'll determine if a crime was committed and if so, I'll proceed accordingly. She was eventually able to unlock my account. I did not complete nor did I give anyone permission to complete an application for any device.
I'm frustrated with myself. I thought it wouldn't hurt to give a Verizon store another try. I was thinking if I didn't like what was going on, I could just leave and go somewhere else without issues. I was wrong. By providing my phone number to the employee, they were able to gain access to my account and submit a fraudulent application. I'm not sure if Bruce did this for spite or in hopes we would return and purchase from him. I am hoping this is an isolated incident from one unethical employee and not all of the employees.
