Iphone 4s preowned speaker broken - 90 day guarantee no one responds

Question

Hi,
I bought a pre owned phone from verizon.  It has a speaker problem. I want to exchange it. But whenever I call customer care. I am going in rounds wasting my time. what is the process to exchange if there is manufacturer defect.
This is more like a previous user defect. My provisos experience with verizon was bad. E.g I bought a prepaid phone from verizon. They ask me to return my device within 14 days + give $35 if I don't like it. On top of that, I have to forgo the  pending balance on my prepaid card. Should have learnt the lesson first time itself.
This is more frustration with Verizon.

Answer 1

The speaker has a dent on it. I lost hope with Verizon and refunded it. So much for certified pre paid.
Didn't know I am running into another monster. Just to ask the status of my refund, I am hopping from department to department for more than 40 mins. Every hop takes at least 5 mins of holding. See screenshot below. I can see the agents asking me order number, location number, yet still not able to locate my order. I  pity them, they don't have a reliable IT application to rely upon.
Why is there so many departments? Refund dept doesn't know about the account status, account team do not know about the refund status. They are not willing to wait and even hear what I am saying, they are just happy in sending me to another dept. Classical support team reaction to a problem they don't have tools to handle.
Finally reached refund dept who don't see my return yet. I gave my tracking number <<removed>>. Yet after 10 business days, I haven't still received a refund and nobody knows what happened.  I have to call after a few days to check my status. One more hour is going to be wasted in my day for a phone that I didn't use. Reference number  <<removed>>.
I did learn a lesson. Never to do business with companies like verizon. Hoping to get my refund at least. Anyway my first month prepaid amount is useless now.  I am sticking with my current company where it is a breeze in customer care.
<<Image removed due to private information viewable.>>.