My bill, and my 80 year old mother-in-law......

Question

As detailed in the email below, My mother in law went to a local (Brea, Ca) Verizon store to join the world of smartphones. What transpired next was a colossal misadventure that has yet to be fixed by either the local Verizon Store Manager or Verizon
A couple of weeks ago I stopped by your store to relate an incident that
occurred between a member of your staff and my nearly 80 year-old mother in
law.
My mother-in law was in the market for a smartphone. We had done extensive
research together online and had made some decisions about which way to go.
That matter seemed dormant until I received a phone call one evening from
your store. A sales person rather abruptly told me my mother-in-law was in
your store looking to make a purchase of a smartphone. This purchase
however required her making changes to the account. I did not fully
understand what I was being asked, but I knew she had wanted to make this
move to a smartphone so I played along with your staff's recommendations.
Your sales person deemed it necessary to change our plan to a "share
everything" plan with some 8GB of data. This seemed high, but I was told by
your sales person that with this change "it included" a "jet pack". He
further explained that with the 50$ rebate the total cost of the device was
only 20$. That sounded like fun so I agreed. I inquired as to what phone
she had settled on, and the sales person responded,"I'm talking her in to
the Lucid2." My mother-in-law must have physically reacted to this
characterization because he quickly changes his vocabulary to "I'm advising
her to look at the Luicd2"
At no time did your sales person mention either the 20$ *monthly
charge*for the jet pack, no did he mention the 35$ charge for setting
up the new
jet pack. Had he provided full disclosure at the time of the phone call the
answer would have been "no".
We have been with Verizon for a *long time*. We have always been treated
with respect, and afforded a level of service that allows us to trust you
with (pardon the pun) our friends and family. My parents are now on
Verizon, as are all of my other family members. And we hope to continue
with Verizon for years to come.
When I spoke with you a couple of weeks ago I asked you to undo the changes
made by your staff member, and to date it looks as though you are holding
up your end of the bargain. Our newest bill has now arrived, and I invite
you to look it over to fix the final detail of this disastrous experience.
Specifically the 170$ cancellation fee for the ill-fated jet pack.
My wife and daughter are still holding out for this matter to clear up
before we try to get them a smartphone, when they do upgrade we will stop
by and seek you out.
Respectfully,
Patrick
----end of email----
We are now headed to our 4th month in dealing with this matter. Really? 4 months? You guys are better than this. The initial boondoggle took place on May 9, 2013. My visit took place on or about on June 20, 2013. And here are headed toward Sept with little resolved. Except the fact that we now know, the representative needs a little help fulfilling his promises. My bill is up to date with the exception of the $170.00 cancellation fee that I was told would be "taken care of". But now it appears that (maybe) the manager is encouraging his staff to pray on 80 year old grandmothers and sign them up for stuff they have no hope of understanding, and hoping we'll just shut up, pay up and go away. Or maybe he's hoping Big Brother will step in so he doesn't have to be the bad guy toward his staff.
So let's go Verizon, I got better things to than babysit your Managers and their promises.
>>Personal information removed<<
Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

Answer 1

pmhoward777,
Thank you for reaching out to us. I am sorry to hear of your long experience with this issue. We certainly want to make sure that all issues are handled quickly and efficiently. We by no means want you to feel that we are preying on your mother in law,so we want to look into this immediately. Could you please first search and follow me tonyg_vzw and then DM me your mobile # and billing password for account so we can review exactly what all has transpired. We look forward to finding an overall resolution and making you a happy customer again.
Thank you,
tonyg_vzw
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator<<>>