tk3765's Posts

The area they may have access to, and I am going on what has been said here, may only be flat system related without access to any type of storage. Verizon, or anyone for that matter, is not going to spend the time to "play" in someone's phone for the purposes of stealing information.  Allowing temporary access to diagnose a problem is standard procedure for many electronics.  When the session ends it is over..they don't have ongoing access and the person has to accept the access at the time of request. Unfortunately, intermittent issues with individual phones can occur.  I noticed during activation my Note 8 got extremely warm but hasn't since.  Given the number of phones produced, a certain percentage are going to have glitches...quality control, even the best of it, can't always catch every incorrect product which is why some of these updates cause problems in some phones but not all. Just out of curiosity, if you haven't already , back up all of your data and then try a factory reset.  I've found in the past it corrects the glitchiness..I had to do it twice in a year to the S7 Edge as it was slow and "heavy" in its operation.  The factory reset cleared the problems and the phone worked better even after re-loading the updates.

You have to first download the Shop Samsung app from the playstore.  Once you open the app, select the three bar menu icon in the upper left corner and then My Promotions.  The Note 8 promotion should come up. You have to request and submit by 14 October but it is only for purchases made by 24 September.

I took advantage of the Note 7 to Note 8 Escalation program, do Verizon actually credited the balance of the payments so I could upgrade.  So, the phone has been technically paid off but I am guessing the flag indicating a loan payment issue will need to clear.  There wasn't any indication by the store associate or customer service that a trade-in would be denied due to taking advantage of the promotion, so it may just need to process through the system. If I don't see it clear in the next few days I'll call in.   .  I am getting messages about credits and account changes so the system is processing things. I appreciate the follow-up.

Secondary update... I ordered online and chose in-store pickup.  I tried to do the trade-in online but received a "device cannot be verified; device is on a loan payment" error. I am guessing, and hoping, the trade-in will be allowed once things cycle through.  According to the order screen, I would receive an e-mail in 5 days offering the trade-in so will see. At this point, I have to say that any type of trade-in credit is NOT guaranteed.

Day 2 of the process I called to request status as I still hadn't heard back.  Updated info: Customer service will contact the "Samsung Loyalty Exception Offer" department who will immediately process the credit.  On the next bill, or by the bill after anyway depending upon bill closing date, the customer will see a charge for the rest of the cost of the phone but will also see the same amount in bill credit.  However, the credit is immediately applied and the customer now has the option to process the new upgrade online or in-store (whether only corporate or also through retailers they didn't indicate).  I just looked at my account, only 10 minutes or so after the end of the call, and I am now upgrade eligible with the trade-in program. Now, two things.  The current promotion of 50% ($480 off over the 24 payments) is not applicable with this program.  As we all said previously, Verizon is essentially back applying that 50% credit to the current amount to pay off the Note 7 replacement phone.  What I did see was that using the regular trade-in program, the phone (in my case the S7 Edge), IS eligible for $190 trade-in credit so that is a small reduction anyway. Going online real quick and starting the process, it looks like as long as the order for the Note 8 is placed prior to 14 October customers can still take advantage of the free gifts being offered. As with any upgrade the customer has to pay the taxes for the phone up front but this wasn't a surprise. Included in the overall fees are the taxes, upgrade fee and first payment on the phone. FInally, from what I understood from what the rep asked me but I didn't confirm, the customer also is not locked in to buy the Note 8 if they take advantage of this promotion.  Since the promotion pays off the remaining payments, it is like the customer did it themselves. Hope this helps

Hi All...I may have gotten a little too in-depth when I posted this in the overall Android forum so I will repost here slightly edited. It took some driving and some calling and talking to many people but I finally got the process for former Note 7 owners to upgrade to the Note 8 without having to pay off the replacement phone.  The upgrade cannot be done directly in the Corporate stores. Users need to contact customer service at 800-922-0204 and specifically indicate the Note 7 to Note 8 Escalation promotion.  An alert came up on my account indicating I was a previous Note 7 owner so the flags are in the system.  Understand as well that this is a brand new promotion and word still hasn't quite gotten out to all of the stores or even the customer service reps so for now, be patient and just talk things through . Customer service will contact the department handling this particular promotion who will then work their background magic to credit the balance of the remaining payments on the replacement phone.  Once the credit goes through, the customer service department will then process the Note 8 order.  In my case, they need to call me back as they were still searching for the phone number for the department they needed to notify . All replacement phones are eligible for the promotion..it is based on whether or not the customer was a Note 7 owner and not which phones were taken instead.  I admit I forgot to ask about the promotion still in place, the $480 credit over the 24 months of payments.  I'll add that to my mental outstanding questions list for when I get the call back. Just to give everyone an idea of the different answers over the course of my multiple conversations..:).  I heard the standard "pay it off before trade-in."  Another option indicated was to use the Samsung promotion, buy the phone at Samsung for the $425 off and Verizon would make a bill credit, but that the replacement phone on the Verizon plan still to be paid off using the regular monthly payments in place and that Verizon wouldn't charge the second line fees.  Yet another option indicated that the new promotion was only for 44% off the Note 8 and the phone traded in had to be paid off first. Again, the  promotion is legitimate but the firm process is still being ironed out so my actual "successful" call didn't get through the entire process.  I'll update here as things progress.

Personally I haven't seen any issues since the update that I didn't already have.  Battery power is still running normally to amount and type of use but I am still getting the occasional lock-up (which was occurring even before the update).  This update must have modified the e-mail somehow as my icon changed, but, ever since I got the Edge last year I have never been able to sync my e-mail...the update didn't correct that problem so I can't tell what the changes might have been.

OK, this makes much better sense from a business and customer satisfaction standpoint.  I guess I can understand, to a point, why this wasn't offered up at first..the challenges of changing over all of those accounts may have been a little dicey, but, it looks like they have gotten everything in place. I just may be heading to my Verizon Corporate in the next couple of days...hopefully this is consistent.

Thanks for the update.  The promotion isn't showing online as yet so will see if and when it kicks in.  The original promotion offered was good through 24 September so it may not kick in until the current promotion ends.  I will take a guess and say the extra items promotion, the SD card or Gear camera, won't be a part of the new promotion but will see .

It most likely is not a phone or Verizon problem..well,not a Verizon problem directly anyway.  I can't say for sure but it is most likely a spoofed number call.  Bad guys (ok, or girls ) spam call and spoof the number so it appears as your own number or caller ID. Best thing to do is ignore it; don't pick up, don't unsubscribe if it comes through a text message.  I had the same thing happen pretty regularly over the course of about a month but eventually it stopped. Spam calls are getting worse in general.  I kept a log last month of my "real" calls as opposed to spam calls,  I only had 23 real incoming calls...I had 139 spam calls; I didn't track the spam text messages.  My blocking app has 284 individual numbers in the list and 8 global blocks of numbers with the same area code and exchange; the app hangs up automatically without allowing voicemail.  I get, on average, 8 spam calls a day and most of those are within a short, and I mean within just a couple of hours, timeframe.  Anyone I need to talk to is identified by name..otherwise I don't answer the call.