Customer for 15+ years very disappointed by unethical sales practices

I was sent email to upgrade my device and they would give me a upgrade credit for trading in any device eligible.

So i ordered my husband and I the new iPhone 11 Pro spent $2,500, All I had to do was send back my devices so I did and weeks later I got back an email saying they were rejected for damage. Saying that my device did not qualify because it had damage(which is not defined anywhere and customer service themselves don’t have a single definition of this). When you do the click though for the upgrade on the website it asked me if I was trading in was in good working condition(also not defined anywhere) so I clicked yes—- I used my old phone with glass protector and a case on it to the second I got the new one with no issues.  It asked if the screen was cracked I said “no” and a few other questions that I don’t fully remember and I never got a receipt on it. The email saying damage had pictures attached (for both the phone I gave in) that I wasn’t able to open. When I got back the phones they had little red arrows on them, on my phone it was pointing to the bottoms corner of the phone. So I called customer service to see what the red arrow is pointing to because with the naked eye I can’t see anything.  He told me  he too couldn’t really see anything and put me on hold to talk to someone ease. I was on the phone for almost 3 hours on hold for most while they worked things out. He comes back with a second opinion that it was hard to see but the phone is dented. Hard to see? Or you can’t see anything? Basically when you send back your phone it goes to a warehouse where it’s put through a scanner and that has magnifiers taking pictures and they will find any little scratch or ding and say it’s damage which makes the device ineligible. I look at the phone and still don’t see the so called dent they refer to.  So I tell them I disagree with the evaluation of my phone and would like to speak with someone more senior. When they transfer me over the call drops. And they never called me back! 3 hours practically wasted. Everything through Covid has to be done online or over the phone I typically do this in person and never had any issues before. I’ve upgrade 5+ times before never had an issue.

a few weeks pass and they add the remaining finance charges to my bill which is $600 dollars and the bill is taxed. I already paid the taxes on the $600 because when you finance the phones they charge you that up front so I was being double taxed on the amount of the phone which no one wanted to hear as well when I called. I call back a second time to get the same run around and subjective opinions on the dent... to ultimately be told there is nothing they can do because I’m out of my return policy of 14 days( I asked them just to take back the new phones the old phones are fine and I wanted want I paid so far back.) but I was told my 14 days passed... well I bought the devices on 8/11 and didn’t get a status on my phone until 9/3 That they rejected the old devices so the process doesn’t work and is very misleading to consumers. How do they set such a limited time period that you need to mail back stuff and people need to evaluate things and make decisions? It seems impossible because it is impossible and a way to push the costs on to the consumer.  

Wait so the phone I bought a year ago that you sold me for over 500 dollars is not worth a penny over a so called ding you need a magnifying glass to see? Where is that in the fine print no where because it a scam this is why. When I spoke to the supervisor yesterday Victor( he told me he is very senior and no one is above him) he told me I did this wrong and I should’ve traded in my device? Wait what? I did try to trade in my device You rejected it now I’m confused? Well no I tried to upgrade by trading in my device that’s a different process... you see he “helped” me put the details in on my phone and Verizon would give me a $224 dollar value on my phone... hold on one second Victor from management who wouldn’t provide his employee number or any contact information. So you are saying if I would’ve checked the other option online I would’ve got 224 for each phone but because there are two confusing options and I thought the one I hit fit my situation best your company is telling me the value is zero? This sounds like a scam. He said yea so why don’t you try to sell us your phone and see if you get the 224? See if I? He said well yea we might get it and say it’s worth less... and I said Victor you already told me it’s worth zero! Why would anyone do this? He said it’s worth a try and I asked ok so if we don’t agree you will send back my phone? He said he doesn’t think they send back phones on that option! Wait Victor so Verizon is stealing devices from their customers and you cant do anything about? He said there’s nothing to do other than that.

Contacted support on this disaster of a transaction twice and was told they understood my situation but stating they are not willing to do anything to make it right.

So I’m sitting here with a large bill and no help on the situation I would’ve never tried to upgrade if I knew this would happen our phones worked fine and still do technically sitting in a box right now. All I wanted to do was reverse this whole thing and move on and I was told I’m stuck in this situation. This customer service was the worse experience. Bait and switching is something small companies do not large corporations and it actually distasteful to the point of not wanting to be a part of Verizon’s community anymore. Very disappointed in this whole experience.