Verizon Will Not Return My Prepaid Phone

[Beniyocha]

I have been calling Verizon's Prepaid customer service for weeks to resolve an issue with a defective replacement phone. On 11/12/20, I actually spent 3 hours straight on the phone with Verizon Prepaid because they have representatives that have no clue on how to problem solve issues outside of a limited subset of issues. On 11/13/20, I spent over 2 hours on the phone with Verizon Prepaid. Most if the time Verizon Prepaid would transfer the call to other Verizon service areas to avoid handling the matter due to an obvious disconnect in communication and ability to problem solve outside the scope of a script. When Verizon Prepaid customer service would transfer me to another area, the representative from that area would send me back to Prepaid and request I ask to speak to a supervisor from the Prepaid department if the representative attempted to transfer the call out to another area within Verizon.

The phone in question is a NOKIA 2V I purchased from Best Buy on 07/11/20. I began experiencing issues with the sound distortion—caller's voices sounded like chipmunks. I troubleshooted the issue with Verizon's technical support who couldn't resolve the issue and referred me to contact NOKIA directly. NOKIA advised that I take the phone to a Verizon store to have the SIM card replaced as a troubleshooting method before mailing the phone to them for a replacement. On 10/20/20, during my visit at a Verizon store location, the representative broke the SIM card brackets and had to order a replacement phone.

I received the replacement phone on 10/23/20 without a back cover (go figure). Verizon advised me to return the defective replacement phone using the UPS label provided in the box. To date, Verizon has not re-issued the prepaid replacement phone. The defective replacement phone has been in Verizon's possession since 10/30/2020 and Verizon's Prepaid customer service has not been able resolve the issue of having the defective phone replaced and re-delivered to me. 

Due to the ongoing exasperating nature of dealing with Verizon's Prepaid department to resolve this issue, I had no other recourse than to submit the dispute to Verizon's Headquarters. I hope they will resolve the matter and I will FINALLY get a replacement phone.

Oh, and another issue which occurred to add to this horrific experience was a Verizon representative who completely closed my prepaid account after I called to request a suspension until I received the replacement. I did not think it was monetarily practical to continue to pay for service that I could not use. The representative advised that I could not suspend the account and had to continue to pay or close the account. I elected to close the account, but the representative did not inform me that she would be shutting down all account access or that closing the account would affect the open order for the replacement phone. Fortunately, I was able to reactivate the account, but had to pay another monthly fee while I still do not have a phone. I also found out that I could have kept the account open and filed a claim to recover the money paid during the time I was without use of the prepaid plan.

I have been a customer with Verizon for over 25 years. I have home, internet, and post-paid cellphone accounts with Verizon. I am sorry to say that, I rue the day I selected Verizon for my prepaid plan service provider. 

Verizon prepaid customer service representatives should know how to problem solve—undoubtedly issue will arise that need to be resolved outside the scope of a script or limited subset of issues.