Verizon — Local services in Huntsville

I purchased a phone from this location 3 weeks ago. The purchase itself was fine. I told the lady that I really didn't want a screen protector because they never last and work. She sold me one. It started cracking and shattering within two weeks, so as soon as I could get to Huntsville I went into the store to see what I could do. Three weeks from purchase, a young man met me at the front of the store and told me that he could give me the name of the company to get another one from but he couldn't do anything. Just for the record, the screen protector was $65 and I haven't dropped my phone or anything. I said, okay, then my husband came in and said that it was ridiculous that he couldn't help us more. He was definitely not strong in customer service and argued with my husband that no companies take anything back anymore and that everyone had to go directly to the manufacturer, which makes it pointless to buy and have the markup from a 3rd party. We also found out that there is more than one type of screen protector, which would have been nice to know before we purchased one. We went with him to the desk to buy another one that covered the area better, and he was rude the whole time. I finally told my husband that we needed to leave and get it somewhere else. My husband was inappropriate by that time as well. I have generally always had great experiences with Verizon stores, but I will not be back to a place that hires people who shouldn't work in...

I'm always prepared for unpleasantness when I enter a Verizon store: long waits, very few places to sit, lots of arguing with tired employees about extra services that I don't want to debate, hidden fees, loud company commercials etc. However, upon entering this store I was really hopeful that our experience would be different. There were many more places to sit, for example, and the store was not blaring ads over and over again. However, what made the experience unpleasant were the following things: (1) it was unclear where we were supposed to go to wait for service, (there were no signs, there was no receptionist, the chairs are arranged around the perimeter of the room and you can't see people sitting there because they are blocked by displays), (2) the employees, though engrossed in helping people at their desks, did not acknowledge us, tell us where to wait, or ask us what we needed until we had waited for nearly thirty minutes and migrated to leaning against the main counter (even though they walked past us a few times), (3) our issue would have only taken a 30-second "you have to call the main customer service line" conversation.

(And, I should add for those concerned, though people said on the Verizon forums that you can terminate a line in a store, the service rep said you can only do this online, so take note so you don't have to wait for 30 minutes to be told this).

Seriously, don't go in there unless...

I spoke with a pleasant Verizon Wireless representative on the phone, made arrangements for a new contract and phone pick-up at a local store, all the details were notated on my account file. I walked into the store... One attendant present was with a customer, the other attendant present was sitting at a desk texting away on his own phone. Without so much as looking up, the attendant welcomed me to his store in a very bored and unconvincing tone. While sitting with this attendant discussing the terms that I had already agreed upon with the representative (on the phone), he continuously attempted to upsell me to different services and devices. Failing this, he brought up my account, scanned over it, and told me to disregard everything that I had spoken to the Verizon representative about. He then proceeded to tell me that instead of selling my iPhone 5 for the appraisal value of roughly $170, I would have to pay him $22 and change, on the spot simply to continue the discussion, and another $160 to enter into the new contract and receive the phone, a case, the charger, and some screen protectors. This was not my first negative dealing with this location, simply the one that upset me enough that I decided to enter this rating of, "AVOID...