BEWARE UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES
Everyone should be aware that when they say "free phones on us" that your phones ARE NOT FREE. FREE means they give you a credit for what the phone would cost if you were financing it. So if you have a phone that costs $40/month to finance, they will issue you a credit of $40/month. So, it's not free. That is just the scam they sell you. Then if you leave Verizon, that credit is removed and you are responsible for the entire cost ot the phone. This was not explained to us. I could write a novel about the unethical and shady sales tactics they used, the HOURS I spent on the phone with Verizon but I will try to keep it as brief as possible. The nightmare begins.....
After speaking with the sales rep, he estimated my final bill to be between $220 and $240. Given that my current plan and my internet was around $260 I figured that I could save my family some money and get some new phones. Sounded like a good deal and knowing that the 5G home internet worked at my location, that's how it all started, I would bundle and save and have all my communications on one bill.
I traded in a Samsung S21+, which I was completely happy with, because I was told the S24 Ultra the sales associate gave me was free with the trade in and switching over, so I said, sure. Same with my wife's phone (iphone 15). My kids phones, 2 iphone 14's, were also free. Plus, I had a Galaxy 4 watch and part of the promotion included a watch which was supposed to be free as well. So, instead of porting the watch over, he said, the watch is free, just take that, so I did.
He ported over the phones and once we finished he then says, ok, you just need to pay for the taxes on the equipment. What, you didn't mention that. At that point, the phones were already transferred so what other option did I have. I figured that we just got 4 new phones for "free" so, fine....well, $450 is what the taxes cost. That's a fun, unexpected expense.
The next day, I get a notification that said that one of the phones did not port over. So I spend about an 2 hours with a Verizon tech over the phone and with a T-Mobile rep to rectify the issue. We finally got everything working.
My wife's phone did not transfer over properly so she had to go back to the store, met with a different sales rep and after about an hour or so, got everything transferred over correctly. Great, all done...nope
Fast forward a month, with 4 Phones, 1 Watch and the 5G Home Internet, I was told I was going to be paying right around $220 and to expect around $240 after taxes and fees. Well the bill comes in at $571! WTF!
I call Verizon and spend about 2 hours on the phone speaking to multiple service reps and finally speaking to a supervisor who applied promotions to bring my bill down to, what I was told, $268 a month. Now I am paying MORE than what I was paying for T-Mobile and my previous ISP provider.
Next month, my bill arrives and it's $315. Ok, now I'm really POd. I call verizon again and spend another 1.5 hours going through all the other things I mentioned to the previous Supervisor and she tells me my bill is going to be $289.99/month going forward and no other promotions were available at the time to apply, BUT they will try again in 5 days and again in another 5 days if there are no promotions, and she said that I will be notified of any changes.
I asked the rep, If I cancel my service, what will I be responsible for and this is where I really got POd. All together, phones and watch, if I did not continue with Verizon for 36 months (because that is how long it would take to pay off the "free but not free" phones) I would have to pay over $4,000 because I would have to pay for the phones...because they are free but not free as mentioned before. There was no mention of the value of the trade-in devices in that quote and at this point I was just beyond frustrated and wasted enough time that I figured that I will call again next month when my bill arrives.
So, they say NO CONTRACT, but when you receive a promotional offer with "free" phones, you are locked in unless you want to dish out the cost of your devices. The sales associates DON'T explain ANY of this to you and manipulate you into thinking that what you are getting is free when in reality, that is the furthest thing from the truth.
I have an extreme amount of patience and did with all the reps but that doesn't mean I am not POd. The Store's sales associate took advantage of us, did not explain the details, terms and conditions and the TRUE cost of what we were getting and now we are in a position where, IF we don't stay with Verizon for 3 years, I will need to spend thousands of dollars to transfer to a different carrier. I guess I should have read the 8 pages of terms and conditions at 7pm, while the associate was lying to our faces.
Totally shady and unethical and If I ran my businesses like they do, I'd be sued. read more