I have spent the last week trying to get a new phone.

Question

Last Wednesday I spoke with a lovely young lady in the Charlotte, NC call center.  My cell phone was no longer working and I was just a little over a month shy of my renewal date.  We had a great conversation and she granted an exception to have me order a new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and we could renew my contract early.  Great!  I ordered 2nd day shipping thinking it would be to my home my Friday, maybe Monday.  I was fine with that.
I kept an eye on verizonwireless.com and noticed it still said my order was pending as of Thursday, so I called and spoke with a gentleman by the name of Tucker.  He told me the phone was still pending manager approval, but that he would have that approved immediately and it would be sent out post haste.  Not ideal, but I could live with Monday delivery. 
Yesterday (Monday), I phoned again.  My Verizon didn't have the tracking number.  The person I spoke with called the warehouse and said that my credit card was declined, and that was the reason the phone was never ordered.  She said I should have been told this last week and apologized.  I asked if I could go into a store to pick up the phone and she had to talk to her manager to get that approved.  After a long hold she came back on the line and told me that I could go into any store to pick up a phone, that I would be eligible for an early upgrade, and it would be clear to the person in the store that was approved.
I get to the store yesterday, and they check my account, which says I'm not eligible for an early upgrade and I'm told at this point I will not be able to get the phone there.  I call customer service and speak with a girl who transfers me to tech service, where I reach a man named Tucker.  I'm not sure if it's the same person I spoke with last week.  Tucker senses my frustration and tells me he will fix the problem.  He offers to send me a phone via overnight mail to my home address.  He says he cannot make it so I can pick up a phone anywhere, and that it's quicker if he just does this.  I had resigned myself to the fact that I will need to wait for a new cell phone, and accept the offer to overnight the phone.
Today, I called customer service.  My phone hadn't shipped.  It turns out the terms & conditions were accepted after the batch time, and it wouldn't be available until tomorrow.   I explained the situation yet again to a new person, who felt for what I had been through and told me that it's not typical service and not acceptable.  He offered me a special promotional plan and offered to overnight a phone.  I indicated I preferred to get a phone today (as I've said the last 3 days I've called) since my previous orders through customer service had gone awry and that I would appreciate it if there was a supervisor I could speak with.  The rep transferred me to Marlene.
Marlene again sympathized with the situation and told me should would resolve the issue.  She told me the reason the store was unable to fulfill the order was that the Wireless Zone I'd gone to was a 3rd party and I'd have to go to a corporate store.  She called the closest Verizon store while I was on hold and spoke with the manager.  She got back on the phone and told me everything was all set...I should talk to Zach and I'd be able to get a phone.  I drove the 25 minutes to the Verizon store in Waterbury, CT.  I got there and Zach informed me that he was sorry for the confusion, but that he wasn't able to give me the phone since he could only offer me a small discount.  I had to buy a $70 pay as you go phone in order to remain reachable by work and in case of emergencies (another snow storm tonight).
Needless to say I was and am very frustrated.  When I returned to the office an hour and a half later, I called customer service and got Ryan.  He offered the same thing I'd been offered before; he would order the phone via overnight delivery.  To sweeten the pot, he offered me a promotional plan for $20 cheaper than my current plan.  Great.  I was on the phone for 23 minutes, the majority of which I spent on hold while Ryan tried to get an approval.  I hung up when I had an urgent issue come up.  I called back later and spoke with a woman who told me the order was not placed, that she could call me back with a resolution in a half an hour.  I did not hear back from her.
I finally call back close to 3:30 and get John.  John is very kind and is sorry for all the difficulty I've experienced.  He gets a director to approve a change to my upgrade date so I can go into a store (and he specified any store) to get a new phone.  I left work early and went to the store, where the rep said I could not get a phone due to the fact that there was a pending order on the account.

Answer 1

That situation went from inconvenient to complicated quickly.  Wait for any pending orders to drop off, wait for things to clear up, wait till your upgrade comes up and then upgrade when your contract is fulfilled.  I would have suggested a replacement phone, I know, with only a month left why couldn't you just upgrade early, but these situations where people try to upgrade early always end horribly and once a phone order starts, it almost cannot finish until something winds up shipped received and returned.  Sorry this happened the way it did.  Definitely not efficient.