Why was I placed in collections for a phone I never received
jturner916
Newbie

Back in September, 2017, I ordered a new phone on Verizon's website.  My old phone stopped working, so I was unable to update my address because it required a SMS verification code.  I spoke to someone in online chat to update my address and they offered to place the order for me.  I made sure to mention that the address on file was incorrect and told them not to ship the phone to that address.  The CSR assured me that they were taking care of it, even though the invoice I received still showed the wrong address.

The next day, I checked the order status and it still hadn't shipped from the warehouse.  I decided that it would just be easier to cancel this order and purchase the phone at a Verizon store instead.  When I called to cancel the order, the person on the phone told me it had not shipped yet and confirmed that I would be able to cancel my order still.

The day after that, I went to the Verizon store to purchase the phone and the person there told me that I already had an outstanding order (the one I cancelled the day before).  I checked my account online and it gave me a FedEx tracking number.  When I checked the tracking info, I saw that it was being shipped to the WRONG ADDRESS!  At this point I was furious because I had been lied to by more than one Verizon representative.  At this point, I was without a working phone for 3-4 days.

I checked the tracking info again the following day and it showed that the delivery was refused (the first good thing to happen during this whole process).  At this point I was completely fed up with Verizon and decided to switch to Sprint, hoping that they might have a competent staff.  I assumed that Verizon would be able to determine that the phone was returned to them and had never been activated.  I was wrong

Either through sheer incompetence or ethical bankruptcy, Verizon decided to place my account in collections for the tune of $800 for an order that was cancelled, yet still shipped to the wrong address after being told not to ship it there multiple times, and returned to them.  Basically they are trying to extort money from me that they have no right to receive.  By the time I was aware of this fact, it had been passed on to a third-party collection agency and Verizon reps would no longer speak to me about the situation.  When I finally managed to mash enough keys to get a real person on the phone, all they did was transfer me directly to the collection company who was less than helpful.

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Re: Why was I placed in collections for a phone I never received
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

I understand the importance of clarification when addressing a concern associated with collections. Let's see take a look. To fully assist, respond to the private message. - 

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