I have been a Verizon customer since 2003 and I currently have 6 lines on my account with Verizon. I have experienced maybe 1 issue every other year. Every issue has come out in my favor, and I am sure this will too, but I do not want anyone else to have to deal with the fraudulent behavior from this Retailer. After reading this and other reviews posted, decide for yourself if you want to do business with this store. My 75-year old mother went into this store when her phone stopped working. She asked for help with her phone. She told Daniel, a sales rep, that she was authorized on the account, but that her daughter only has her on the authorization to get help with her phone as needed. She has never had her own wireless phone account and is not aware of how the plans, upgrades, etc., work. This is what Daniel did, in spite of what she told him:
1. Sold her a new phone
2. Signed her up for a HUM device, table and insurance plans
3. Advised her that she would pay $60 in fees for the phone and told her that everything else was free
4. Daniel was told by my mother to call me. He called and did not leave a message. She asked why he did not leave a message and he said he would call me back later. I was never called back.
I noticed an email that I received from Hum Services. I called HUM and that is when I discovered what had happened. I called the Retailer and spoke to Daniel and found out that he had sold these items to my mother and I informed him I did not want any of those devices. Daniel's comment, with a rude attitude, was "Well she's authorized on the account," and basically that was that, as if I was just out of luck. I immediately called Verizon and they were as disturbed by this incident as I was. It took the Verizon rep on the phone 2.5 hours to change my account back to its previous state. During the 2.5 hours, my mother went back to the store and was told by Daniel that there was a procedure to return the items and that he couldn't do it then and to come back another day. I had her go back, but by then Daniel was gone and the other sales people then said that only Daniel could do the return because they needed Daniel's code to access the system and return her items. She was going out of town on Sunday and would not be able to come back until Wednesday, so we had to delay this process until then.
The Verizon Rep also discovered Daniel had done the following:
1. Changed my plan to a 12 GB data plan. My previous plan was 25 GB.
2. Removed my Ipad from my account and put the new tablet in its place
Here is the scam with this Retailer:
They deceive the customers into thinking they are an actual Verizon store, and then tell you they are giving you all of these items free. Once the customer figures it out and returns everything (within 14 days), they charge a restocking fee and will not refund fees for setting up the devices.
I have been in contact with the account liaison for this location to start an investigation. I am told that a report goes to the Corporate office of Verizon and the Corporate office of the Retailer, as well as district managers. I have only been told this information and so far and no one has contacted me.
In my experience, Verizon has exceptional service, but this Retailer does not value that same level of service. With this Retailer location, it seems as though others have been taken advantage of as well, and that the Retailer should not be allowed to have the authorization to sell Verizon services and products if they are going to practice fraudulent scams against consumers.
I have also had to remove my mother from my account authorization. I would like her to be able to have authorization when she needs it. It would be nice to see Verizon modify the account authorization options, similar to what they do with the Family Safeguards/Controls.
I will be doing a follow-up to this review as I receive or don't receive additional responses from the involved parties. read more
