Verizon canceled pre-order, refuses to make it right
ZACMCC28
Enthusiast - Level 1

So, this is a rather long story and I am wondering if anyone has had a similar situation and got any type of resolution from it.

To begin, I pre-ordered (2) iPhone 7 Plus on 9/9 @ 2:15AM CST, as soon as they went live on the site. My arrive by date was 9/23 and I completed the order and thought that I was done. Fast forward to this evening, they are preparing shipment for my phones and attempt to charge my card. I used a card that I haven't used in a few months and the CC company flagged it as fraud, no big deal I called them and let them know it was authorized, to which they removed the hold and stated that Verizon would need to reprocess the charge. Cool, should be easy enough right?

Called and spoke with a man named Jesus who told me he needed to reprocess the pre-order in order to charge the card, I assume this individual that works for Verizon is aware of how things work, so I say ok, as long as his method of reprocessing the order doesn't change my delivery dates. He insists that it will not, however I will get a "canceled order email" and then get a new email after he reprocesses. Well he cancels and during the reorder, he drops the phone call. He calls me back and continues, but he drops the phone call again and doesn't call me back.

I wait 15 minutes and call back in and get directed to a man named Daniel. Daniel reads through the notes, does a bit of research and calls a hand full of other departments to try and figure out what the previous guy was doing and how to continue it. As luck would have it, he comes back to say he is going to begin the order now so we can get it done. Great. Then he gives me delivery dates of 10/19.. I told him that wasn't right, that the other individual I was working with had stated none of my delivery dates would change. Back to doing more research. 30minutes later I am presented with two options, go stand in line at a store and try to get them or place the order and wait... This is absolutely unacceptable. The order was canceled on recommendation from the Verizon employee who INSISTED on me being able to keep the same delivery date. I ask Daniel to speak to a supervisor, he puts me on with Milton, Milton feeds me the same info that Daniel did. Your pre-order is gone, there isn't a thing we can do about it, stand in line on friday or preorder again and wait another month on top of the original amount. He offers to credit my account and contact Apple to see if there is anything to do, but is sure they will not be able to. While he is connecting with Apple, he hangs up on me. Never got another call back from him either.

Gotta say, I have a pretty bad taste in my mouth about Verizon now. I have been a customer for years, I spend a considerable amount of money for phones and service and I find it hard to believe that I am being "punished" for one of their own employees mistakes here. I stayed up until 2:15am so that I WOULDN'T have to stand in a line to get a phone before a trip in October, now suddenly I have to do both if I actually want to get a phone?

Labels (1)
0 Likes
Re: Verizon canceled pre-order, refuses to make it right
rcschnoor
Legend

These stories happen EVERY SINGLE new iPhone release.

Moral of the story, IF you absolutely must be one of the first adopters of the newest iPhone, make sure your payment method WILL NOT BE DECLINED. If so, it is likely your order will be cancelled.

I am unsure what you expected to be done if the CS rep didn't "insist" that your dates wouldn't change. For him to just let the order sit and you NEVER get the phone? Seems you would STILL be in the same predicament you are currently experiencing.

0 Likes
Re: Verizon canceled pre-order, refuses to make it right
ZACMCC28
Enthusiast - Level 1

It's 2016, I have credit cards stolen every single year, multiple times per year, it's naive to EVER think that a payment WON'T get declined, especially when its hundreds of dollars. I have no control over what the CC company thinks is fraud or not.

Also, you missed the point of this, obviously I didn't expect it to just sit there and be fine. What I do expect, is that a company's employees are aware of the methods of simply reprocessing a payment.

More than that, I expect better service than people consistently dropping the call and not having the decentcy to call the customer back. It's easy to sit behind your computer and act like it's no big deal when it hasn't happened to you, it's more annoying after you sit on the phone for 2hrs when all you needed was for them to click resubmit and all that came of it was a canceled order and an "Oh well!".

Re: Verizon canceled pre-order, refuses to make it right
RNCCRN9706
Enthusiast - Level 3

The same thing happened to me 2 years ago! I preordered my phone. At 6am, so for the Gold 128GB 6Plus, I had a ship by date of 9/28. Well, that date come & went & we're now into October. No phone. So, I call CS. I was told that my debit card was declined and the order was cancelled yet I NEVER RECEIVED A CANCELLATION NOTICE. So you got me beat on that aspect! Debit card should've never been declined as the money was there to cover the initial payment of the phone. They did give me a $30 credit on my next bill for my inconvenience.

Anyway, I get your anger. I was upset too when I saw a few hours into launch period last Friday that my phone, with an original delivery day of 9/16 now had a ship by date of 9/28! Well, luckily for me, my phone has shipped and will be here tomorrow.

Re: Verizon canceled pre-order, refuses to make it right
rcschnoor
Legend

ZACMCC28 wrote:

Also, you missed the point of this, obviously I didn't expect it to just sit there and be fine. What I do expect, is that a company's employees are aware of the methods of simply reprocessing a payment.

No, I did not miss your point but it appears you missed mine. You said "so I say ok, as long as his method of reprocessing the order doesn't change my delivery dates." What if he wouldn't have said that? What if there ISN'T a method as you would like? While I know it would be NICE if there were a method AND it was used correctly so that your dates would not have been changed, but do you KNOW for a fact there IS a method in Verizon's system to do so? While the CS agent may have stated there was a method, with the stories on here about clueless Verizon employees, it is just as likely the CS agent was unaware of what was possible. IF that was the case, you would be in the same boat as you were now.

There are countless people on these forums which say how clueless Verizon employees are. Those SAME people go on to say "but I was told such and such by a Verizon employee". IF those people think/know that Verizon employees are so clueless, why do they THEN spout off what a Verizon employee states as FACT?

ZACMCC28 wrote:

It's easy to sit behind your computer and act like it's no big deal when it hasn't happened to you

That would be an ASSUMPTION on your part, and an INCORRECT one at that. This HAS happened to me at MULTIPLE vendors(Verizon being one of them. Others include Amazon, Best Buy, etc...) MANY times. In EACH instance, at ALL of the vendors, the order has started over from SCRATCH from when I call in to inquire about my order OR show up to pick up my order. And it isn't always because the CC has been declined for whatever reason, but an expired card which was declined was one of the reasons given. I have been given ALL sorts of reasons. So, YES it has happened to me. YES, I live with it. It is NOT life changing event. Your life WILL NOT end. It is simply a MINOR inconvenience in the scope of things. If this is the WORST thing in your life, you are living a charmed life.

Hopefully you will be happy with your device when you get it.Smiley Happy

Verizon canceled pre-order, refuses to make it right
brokensparrow
Enthusiast - Level 1

This happened to me two times. If the smartphone preordered is popular and the delivery date is early, then the likelihood of it getting cancelled is high. The reason given is either bank charge denied or fraud alert or some othe lame system excuse. My take on this is an employee at telesales or fraud department, is hijacking orders and selling it for profit. There's a corrupt employee in Verizon.