Verizon — Local services in Fruit Cove

Yesterday, my hubby & I decided to check out the Jax Home & Garden Show. As we passed the Verizon booth, Brandon got our attention regarding upgrading our phones. We had 2 months left on our current ones w/ ATT, but he said he could help out of it. He also offered to have us trade them in to make a little more. He checked our address for internet & cell. He said internet was not offered, but the cell was good. He truly was nice. We convinced us to open up 2 more lines for our kids. We ended up spending about 3 hours trying to get the phones activated & numbers ported. Not his fault. He had to utilize his hotspot to help. A power outage also did not help either. Even with the wait we were happy for our new phones. We were so pleased with the service we even spoke highly of Brandon while purchasing our phone cases from Target.

I noticed that as we got closer to home our bars kept dropping. While in the home, mine & my hubby’s bars were between 1-2. My son & my daughter’s ranged SOS to 1. My husband and I were dumbfounded as a cell tower was erected so close to our home that it is visible from my son’s room upstairs. I decide to check my neighborhood page regarding Verizon. Literally 2 of the last posts from March from my neighbors addressed this. One post was a neighbor who had a response from the CEO’s office that stated “Through a partnership with our Advanced Technical Experts and Network teams our office has been able to review the coverage and service in the area surrounding your home located in St. Augustine, FL. Through this review it has been found that there are some issues with areas of swamp, marsh, and trees between your address and the cell sites in your area. As cell sites require a line of sight between your device and the cell site to have a good signal, the terrain in your area is currently causing the issues that you are experiencing and have described on our call. Our office has been able to learn from reviewing other tickets created with our Network teams in the area, that there are expected coverage expansions planned; however there is no exact start or completion date for these plans at this time.” This post also addressed the time a few months back when someone attempted to call 911 from the amenity center and the call literally did not go through. Another neighbor in March voiced similar stating the rep informed her that it may be some terrain issues blocking the signal from the closest Verizon tower and there are opportunities, but no solid plans for putting up a new tower or adding to the existing one just yet.” That being said I knew I made a bad decision.

I got absolutely no sleep. I was worried for me and hubby. Both of us work in healthcare. We have jobs that require us to be on call. When a surgeon needs to do an immediate surgery, I need to answer that call and be at the hospital within 40 minutes. Having a working phone is critical. After lunch, we stopped by to return the phones. I am first told they do not see an issue with my area, followed by a booster pitch. I stressed my concern w/ missing a call from work if my wifi is out. I am told that even though I am returning the 4 phones that I received LESS THAN 24 HOURS before this, and they know the reason why, the only thing that can be done is waiving the restock fee & the activation fees. They stated my trade in of 315 was final & I couldn’t have my phones back or the money for them. That being said, for Verizon selling me a cell service that their own CEO states is lacking in my area, I am out for the previous phones and the money promised to me for from the services that I was convinced to cancel that sadly actually worked. That being said I spent my Mother’s Day gifting Verizon $426, while they gifted me the joyful job of spending my mother’s day now struggling with another wasted day cancelling services, battling issues with getting a transfer pin, and having to open and activate four new phones all the way into the early evening. Way to show you truly care about first responders and nurses. ...

Let's start at the beginning of this disastrous and infuriating visit to Cellular Sales- Durbin Park. I preface this with that I don't usually write negative comments but this interaction was over the top. I simply arrived to pickup a new iPhone 15 that I had paid for online with Verizon. Everything was done and paid for online, I was just supposed to be there for 5 mins - in and out, as this was just a pickup location. I ended up being there for over an hour and to add insult to injury, was charged a "setup fee" to essentially fix the business' screw up.

I show up, give my name and order number which started the 10-15 min search, which led to multiple trips out back, and multiple failed attempts to contact the associate by phone, text, and carrier pigeon, that put the order and phone together. After all this is said and done, I get told we can't find your phone that we, as a verizon retailer, were entrusted to have and give to you today. I then get told we can cancel your order and essentially "buy a new phone" from out back, starting the whole purchase over again with an iPhone 15 they had out back, but was not the IMEI number that was setup by Verizon online. The spider sense told me to walk out of the store right then and call Verizon and have them send me a phone by mail. My mistake. I gave them a chance and begrudgingly sat down.

I won't mention the associate by name but they called Verizon, cancelled the order, which took another 20 mins. I told them that I already paid the sales tax and upgrade fee so I need to be refunded. That prompted another call to Verizon because at this point, I'm not going to pay twice - but that comes later. I insist that the Verizon agent send me proof that I will get a refund before I start the process again. So we start the process, they get another new iPhone from the back and they immediately open the box of the new phone and start some activation process which required my son's phone to be interrupted for 5 mins, then shut off and put back in the box. Now that there's fingerprints all over the phone, it goes back in the box. I'm like ok I'll pay the sales tax and activation fee again and be on my way. Wrong.

As they are going thru the whole process again that I did online on my own time, coverages, etc, I get told about a $30 "setup fee" and oh yeah, the activation fee on my first bill. I'm like, "wait a minute, I have to pay $30 setup fee, for what?" They say, "well thats how I get paid". Word for word. So I say why am I paying another $30 for a phone that you guys misplaced, essentially paying $35 upgrade fee and now an extra $30 setup? I just came in here to pickup a phone and walk out, you didn't have it, therefore I should not have to pay for your mistake. And the next line was a winner, they tell me "well not to mention I just spent an hour of my time taking care of it for you". Who says that to a customer that's already irritated they went from 5 min pickup to over an hour, redoing everything they did yesterday. So what the associate is saying is that I am taking food out of their mouth because I am arguing about paying another $30 because they opened a box (which I didn't want them to do). I will mention I asked why it was being activated and was told it was because they had to attach the IMEI number to the account (which Verizon does for you when you do it online). I learned later from Verizon that this was optional and they are supposed to tell you it's optional but it's a little trick the stores play for a setup fee. To end it, and before I said something I would regret, I gave up. The manager had walked out 10 mins prior so I knew I wasn't getting anything waived. I was too far into it to leave now. The associate tells me to call Verizon and have them waive the new upgrade fee to make up for it. They even wrote this on the invoice.

Moral of the story - do everything online and have them send the phone to your residence. Lesson learned. Will never go back to this...

BE WARY:

We had an awful experience with this Verizon RETAILER. First, they are a RETAILER, not a Verizon Store, and will not be truthful about that unless pressed (it affects inventory, etc) We switched to Verizon from another carrier and "qualified for a national incentive" of two $200 Visa giftcards per line, which we would "receive in 4-6 weeks". After 8 week, we contacted Verizon online and learned that the promotion was valid, and NEVER SUBMITTED by the store. (It's been retroactively submitted by Verizon) We qualified for a first responder discount, per Verizon policy, and provided our sales rep with required documentation; we were assured that he would submit it for processing. NEVER HAPPENED: again, Verizon online verified that no such discount was applied-for by the store. (The required steps were taken to enroll in the discount online) We were unhappy with our phone selection and returned to the store to exchange them, 3 days after we purchased them (well within the Store guidelines). They didn't have the iPhones we wanted in stock, told us they would order them, and that we should receive them in 2 days. After 2 days passed we called the store: "no phones have arrived". We checked with Verizon online: "NO PHONES FOR YOUR ACCOUNT HAVE BEEN ORDERED FROM THAT STORE". Verizon online shipped the phones to the store... --- we confirmed via Verizon online that the store received the phones on the following day. Then we called the store to confirm: "no phones for your account here". When confronted with the Verizon online confirmation, after a brief hold on the phone, we were asked who our sales rep was. After we provided his name, and another brief hold, suddenly the phones were located ... having been "Set aside". (nope, don't believe that for a second: very shady business there).

Do yourselves a favor: go to an actual Verizon Wireless store (NOT an...