How can I exchange a defective Verizon certified pre-owned phone?

Question

In fairness to my fellow consumers, I'm compelled to share my experience so they can determine for themselves whether a certified pre-owned phone from Verizon is a good purchase. In my experience so far, it is not.  I'm hoping that my situation can be resolved amicably, but I'm losing hope.
I purchased my certified pre-owned phone directly from VerizonWireless in July. In August, I determined the phone was defective. I called Verizon's technical support, and they confirmed the phone was defective, and that it would be an easy thing to fix. I could simply go to a Verizon store directly, and they would repair or replace the phone.
But this was not the case. The Verizon Wireless stores are actually franchises. My local stores, and a VerizonWireless customer service representative got in touch with all of them, will not exchange a device unless the parent company sends them a new phone first, because otherwise they'd have to absorb the cost. The customer service line refused to send a new phone, arguing it was the local franchisee who should pay to replace the phone.
In short, after six hours of phone calls, Naomi from Customer Care promised to give me a full refund and a free months service because I had been treated so poorly, and that this refund would take three to five business days to effectuate. Six business days later, I still had no refund. I called again, and over another four hours of calls, I learned that Naomi never submitted the paperwork in the first place, and that I was no further than I was before.
In short, Verizon promised to replace any defective pre-owned phones that they sold within 90 days of purchase. I purchased my phone 30 days ago and it is defective, but Verizon has in effect refused to honor the warranty. Their internal processes are so confused that, although they agree there is a warranty, they cannot agree on who internally is obligated to honor it.
I really hope this situation can be resolved amicably. I would love to discuss this further with a Verizon Wireless supervisor or customer care manager privately if possible. I want this be resolved quickly and easily.
I will report back later to let everyone know how my case has been resolved.

Answer 1

Hi Sherita,
I sincerely hope that is true. As I've said before, it seems like it should be a very simple transaction--there's no external damage or water damage whatsover. The problem is that the GPS simply doesn't work, and it doesn't lock on to cell towers properly. I couldn't cause that kind of malfunction if I tried, and tech support has already identified those problems to be a manufacturing defects. The only question is what will Verizon do about it.
I have a 90 day warranty. It's printed on the box, and is stipulated on Verizon's website. But as I mentioned before there seems to be internal confusion as to what that process looks like exactly for a certified pre-owned phone. So far, after 12+ hours of phone calls, no individual team or department within Verizon claims it has the authority to effect a return for these phones.
I would love nothing more to report success. But so far, I've been working with Verizon support for two weeks, and am no further than when I started. I messaged Trevor immediately, but haven't heard back from him yet (but that may be because of labor day weekend.)
Please, please, please - just tell me what I have to do or what I have to show in order to get Verizon to replace the defective phone it sold me. I'm at a loss as to what I should do next.