IPhone Trade In Scam

[estes1976]

Hello.  I am having a similiar experience.  Did you ever get any resolution?  If so, what did you do?  I contacted the call center and they told me they would "escalate" my issue.  I was appraised at 200 dollars and recieved 36 dollars.  I followed the instructions implicitly.  I feel like I was totally scammed by verizon.  I want my phone back or the full amount appraised.  What a complete and utter joke.

[estes1976]

Verizon executive from.colorado called me this morning and made it right they credited me the full amount for the trade in of my phone thank you for your prompt response Verizon

[estes1976]

They did the same for me 🙂

[Jungull]

I also wish I saw this before I sent in my phone. However, my issue is that they still do not have my phone lsited as "received." I put it in the mailbox at my local post office on sept. 29th and I haven't heard a thing.

Does it normally take that long?

[matthewood]

Hi there. Any chance you got a name or number or email of someone to contact? I haven't been able to plead my case to anyone who will listen, and I have all the documentation and a similar situation. Glad you got it resolved!

Thank you!

Matthew

[estes1976]

I called the executive dept for colorado...search verizonwireless.com to find the executive rep for your region.

[Nicole76]

I am so upset and totally feel scammed. Sent my perfectly fine 4s in for trade and now it's "Device is broken - Side/Back is cracked or broken, Activation Lock not deactivated". Neither is true!!! The phone was in a case the whole time I had it and I have the email confirming the lock was deactivated. What a rip off, so disappointed in this experience.

[Dborgman]

I had a similar issue. I traded in an iPhone 4s and an iPhone 4 in connection with the iPhone 6 promotion (we bought two new iPhone 6s).  Both phones were in perfect working order, and were in use up until the minute that I disabled them and sent them in for the promotion.  On both phones, I disabled the find my iPhone feature, and reset each phone to its original factory settings. 

Nevertheless, with respect to the iPhone 4s, I received a notification indicating that the find my iPhone feature was not disabled, and a gift card of $36 instead of $200. For the iPhone 4, I received a notification indicating that the phone would not power on, and again a $36 gift certificate instead of a $200 gift certificate.  I am 100% certain that both of these claims are false.  I am continuing to dispute these issues, and will continue to do so until Verizon sends me the $328 that it owes me, but highly advise anyone considering this promotion to look elsewhere. Similar to many people on this board, I've been a Verizon customer for over 10 years and find this whole experience highly frustrating and upsetting.

[scdantes]

I didn't get a name from anyone.  I received the following e-mail:

Good Evening,

I can understand the frustration you are having with this situation.

The value of your phone was reduced because your device was received with Find My iPhone not disabled. This renders the device unable to be recycled. The Activation lock on the phone is a kin to us buying a house from you but you not giving us the keys to the house. And in this situation we can't even call a lock smith. This is why there was a reduction in value for the phone. Please see attached photo of your device.

If Activation Lock/FMIP App is not deactivated; please visit iCloud.com and sign in using your AppleID. As there can be multiple IDs involved, please check any email address that you may have used with Apple. This will allow you to see any devices active on the Find My iPhone application. If the screen for Find My iPhone says all devices offline or shows any active, please click the downwards facing arrow at the top center of the screen. This will allow you to see all devices on the Apply ID. Verify the device has been removed from any and all AppleIDs.

There is a difference between offline and not attached to the AppleID. A clients phone needs to be removed from the iCloud account. The iCloud shows all devices offline, click the drop down menu for all devices at the top of the screen. This will show all devices attached to the Apple ID and please remove all devices.

By verifying the Activation lock is disabled, we will be able to continue our investigation into this situation, and come to a mutually beneficial resolution.

Unfortunately, per the terms and conditions of the Verizon device recycling program and agreed to by you when you submitted and mailed your device for trade-in, no devices can be returned.

Thank you for your inquiry.

Regards,

Verizon Wireless Device Recycling Team

I logged on to the iCloud, deleted the phone from my account, and replied to the e-mail address that sent me the e-mail which was:

support@online.trade-in.vzw.com

I told them I had removed the phone from my iCloud account.  The next morning, they sent the second gift card for $164.

[whitneyanne1]

Hello,

I am also having serious problems with this rebate program.  My fiancé and I  turned in my iPhone 4s 16gb with an appraised value of $200 and his iPhone 4 16gb with appraised value of $200. All directions were followed by our Verizon representative, Alyssa at the Verizon store (turn "Find my iPhone" off, clear personal data, reset phone) and sent in. A few days later we received emails from VZW with virtual gift cards of only $36 in value.

Our iPhone were in excellent condition and all steps were followed before sending it in. According to VZW, the reason was that the "Find My iPhone" was not turned off. I called VZW's trade in department to dispute this as I know with confidence that I followed all the listed steps - including turning off the "Find My iPhone" function. The woman on the phone told me that I did not do as I had just stated and that "there was nothing she could do." She also told me that she refused to return our cell phones as they are now "property of Verizon." Yes, that is exactly what someone wants to hear, her attitude was the icing on top of the cake.  I am absolutely disgusted with this entire situation. I am a medical student, it took me 36 times JUST to get placed on HOLD one afternoon in-between surgeries. I don't have time for this, seriously; I DO NOT HAVE TIME FORE THIS. I 100% follow every rule and make sure that everything I complete is done 100% correctly. I am disgusted that Verizon Wireless thinks they can treat me this way, I have been a paying customer for the past TWELVE years! Our monthly bill for our family plan is > $350.00 per month and is always paid early. I am outraged at the lack of customer appreciation and for withholding the credit we loyal customers deserve.

I called again, the same night and another woman said that she would escalate the issue and send the Trade-In dept. an email to have someone call me back. But of course no one called me back, I still have yet to receive a phone call or e-mail.

Believe me VZW, I will not let this go! Our iPhone's were in excellent condition and the Find My iPhone app was turned OFF before shipping, I WATCHED THIS HAPPEN in the VERIZON STORE!!!! I don't care what it takes, either send me my phone back or give me my $200. I will be calling everyday and emailing everyone at corporate until this gets corrected.

This is the most disgusting customer service I have ever dealt with. Shame on you Verizon, SHAME ON YOU.

-Whitney Anne