Any suggestions on how to deal with Verizon on this issue?
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with me when I signed a two-year contract with them in October 2003.
I originally signed up for Verizon Wireless service in October 2002 at a
Radio Shack store. I signed a one-year contract in order to get a
special promotion on call minutes and a special price on a phone. I got
a Motorola V120C phone for a special price which was higher than the
price for getting the phone on a two-year contract. I had to pay a
small fee to get a one-year contract, which would not have to be paid
had I signed up for a two-year contract. I also got a one-year warranty
on the phone - which would be repaired or replaced at no charge during
the first year.
During that first year I had several problems with the original phone,
and it was repaired several times at the Verizon store at North Hills SC
in Raleigh, NC. The repairs did not seem to fix the phone, as people
kept complaining that they couldn’t hear me, or that my calls kept
getting dropped even within a ten-mile radius of downtown Raleigh, NC.
So in the Fall of 2003 – on or about early October 2003 – a Verizon
Customer Service support person told me on the phone that I should take
my phone to a Verizon store and have it replaced with either a new phone
with a new warranty (since my contract was almost up) or a refurbished
phone that would not have any additional warranty coverage). This was
well within the one-year warranty of the original phone.
At the time, I would have wanted to replace the phone only with a camera
flip phone that were on the market with other companies, but Verizon
didn’t carry them at this time. If I had known that they were not going
to carry them for almost a year, I would have switched carriers.
I didn’t want to get a totally new phone until I could make sure I was
going to get a good deal with Verizon to renew my contract. So I wanted
to see about getting a refurbished phone at least until I made up my
mind. The Verizon store at North Hills did have V120C phones in stock,
but they did not have a way to download all my store phone numbers, so
they told me that I would have to get my phone from the Cary Verizon
store. I contacted the Cary store and was informed that they didn't have
any V120C phones in stick, that they would order me a replacement V120C
phone, and would call me when it came in.
After several days, the phone had not come in. I was worried that the
one-year warranty would run out before the phone came in, so I contacted
the main Verizon Customer Service support center (by dialing 611 and
following the voice prompts) and asked them what they could do about
expediting the shipping of my refurbished phone. They said they had
nothing to do with that, and suggested that I get a new phone. I asked
if there was any special deal that was being offered for signing up for
a new contract. This was in early to mid October 2003, and my contract
was due to expire at the end of the October.
I was told on the phone that if I renewed my contract with Verizon by
signing a new two-year contract, I was told I would be able to get a
special price on a new phone that would be lower then the price I would
pay if I had renewed for only one year, which was lower than the price I
would get for no contract.
At the time, Verizon had only recently introduced the the V120E phone -
an upgrade from the V120C model. But it was not the phone I wanted -
Motorola had been introducing a variety of camera flip phones and I was
told by Verizon and had read on the Internet that Verizon would be
getting them before Christmas. (This news was all over the Internet by
this time. Of course as it got closer to Christmas, Verizon claimed
that Motorola was having problems with parts delivery, and so they were
going to carry LG flip camera phones instead of Motorola).
When I told them that they didn't have any new phones I wanted to get
right now, but that there were some phones scheduled to be released in
the near future (by Christmas 2003), they said they would honor the
price on the new phone for the two-year contract for one year after
signing the two-year contract. That was my incentive to sign a two-year
contract.
Before I actually signed the new two-year contract at the end of October
2003, I went into Verizon in Cary and got a refurbished phone. They no
longer had any V120C phone, so they gave me a refurbished V120E phone
that had no additional warranty - the warranty on the original phone was
set to expire at the end October 2003. I would not have had a working
phone had I not gotten the refurbished phone under the warranty.
When I did sign the two-year contract at the end of October 2003, I did
increase the number of peak minutes in my plan by paying more money per
month when I signed the new two-year contract, but I could have gotten
that same plan had I only signed a one-year contract. Then I waited for
the new phones to arrive in the stores so I could take advantage of the
offer Verizon had made to
Well Verizon and Motorola had some well-publicized problems with their
Motorola camera flip phones in late 2003. Basically - there weren't
going to be any Motorola phones introduced in time for Christmas, and
the first camera phones that Verizon offered were not tri-mode phones
(that would work in analog as well as digital mode), so I held off
making a purchase of a new phone. Verizon was scheduled to introduce
these phones by March, May, June, July and early August and kept pushing
the introductions back until they finally introduced the Motorola V710
which is on the market now (as of 8/12/04).
I kept worrying that they wouldn't have a good phone out until the first
year of my two year contract would expire, but the phone is out now and
I contacted Verizon Customer Service via their 611 number to confirm
that they would honor their offer to let my purchase the phone based on
the incentive offered when I signed the contract last year, and they
told me that I couldn't get a price on the phone for signing a two-year
because I didn't take advantage of it when I originally renewed the
two-year contract in October 2003. They said if I wanted a new phone
now at the two-year price, I would have to sign a new two-year contract
effective now to get the two-year price on the new phone. They basically
told me I should have got a new phone when I renewed in October 2003,
even though they told me otherwise to get me to sign up in October 2003
because they didn’t have a new phone I wanted at that time. I was
within my rights to get a refurbished phone under the one-year warranty
on my orignal phone. Now it appears that I got a phone with no warranty
and they will not honor the incentive offer they made me in October 2003.
And of course at
http://www.wirefly.com/specialoffer....2&planid=12858
I can get the same phone for $169.99 with a new two year contract, which
is $100 less than I can get the same phone from Verizon with a new
two-year contract. I can't buy the phone from Wirefly and use it for my
current contract.
So if I just buy the phone from Verzion with no contract, I have to pay
$319 bucks. If I buy the phone from them and sign a new contract, it
will cost me $279. If I get it through Wirefly.com, I can save over
$100 for the same two-year contract. I was wondering - if I get a new
two-year contract with Verizon but sign it through Wirefly, will Verizon
honor the contract and let me extend it?
Or any suggestions on how to get Verizon to match the Wirefly price and
deal if I sign the two-year contract with them?
