Verizon — Local services in Manhattan Beach

I started writing this review on June 6, 2023.

I got an email from Verizon that I was eligible for a trade-in for a new S23 (not the S23+ or S23 Ultra). I went to this store on May 26, 2023 because of the good reviews. There are 2 parts to my review:

Part 1 – Customer service at this store was professional and great, Samantha was the person that helped me. I got the new S23 phone, she processed my trade-in, transferred my info from my old S7 to the new S23. Phone is working fine. During the conversation, Samantha offered Verizon’s 5G home internet device and plan. That leads me to part 2.

Part 2 – The offer of Verizon 5G home internet was for a trial basis and I could take the wifi device home same day (May 26). If I wasn’t happy with it I could return the device within 30 days and there would be no charge. I accepted the trial basis and I tested the connection at my apartment. The speed was too slow. I took the home wifi device back to the same store on June 3 only to be told they don’t take the returns at the store. Fady, the person at the store that day, told me to call Customer Service to arrange the return. I was not made aware of these extra steps when I was given the sales pitch the week before.

I called customer service on June 3, 2023 using 611 on my phone (as I was instructed by the Fady at the store), I followed the prompts to hear the recording which said wifi devices can be "returned at any Verizon authorized retailer". I was connected to a customer service rep. (Richard), he told me that a return kit would be sent to me in 5-10 days. I’m supposed to package the device in the return packaging, apply the label, take a picture of the return label for my records, and drop it off with FedEx or UPS (Richard couldn’t tell me which carrier). This is a pain folks. A completely unnecessary waste of my time. During the call Richard (the customer service rep) assured me I would not be responsible for any charges because I called to start the return during the 30 day free trial period.

Suggestion to Verizon and Victra (and all Verizon authorized retailers): This experience really needs to be improved for your customers by stocking return kits in-store. If incoming shipments of devices go to the stores, then return shipments can be picked up from stores. My advice is develop a process so the customer doesn’t have to do the work. For me, part 2 of my experience at this store took my initial 5 star experience down to 3 stars.

Update June 16, 2023 – I still haven’t received the return kit. I called customer service through 611 again at 11:37amPT. Toki, very patient customer service rep confirmed that he saw the return initiated on my account as of June 3, 2023. I told Toki that I still haven’t received the return kit. He said that he’ll have another one sent to me by UPS 2-day service. I still haven’t receive the second kit yet. I’ll continue waiting. But in the mean time I’ll let you all know that I’ve been charged $11.29 on my next bill for simply having possession of the 5G Home Wifi device. I’m not happy with Verizon for the majority of this experience. Toki clarified that the 30 home trial was what they call a 30 day guarantee that the customer can return the device. However the customer is charged for the time that they have the device not for actual usage of the device (for me was a few hours of use at most). He informed me that I’ll have to call again once the bill actually posts to my account (right now it’s a ‘future bill”).

Update June 20, 2023 - I’ll update this review whenever I receive the return kit, let’s see...

HORRIBLE!! Manager totally lied to me about the "deal" I was getting. It was the end of the day Saturday, they were getting ready for inventory (early closure not on the web site) ad I was rushed through a 3 IPhone purchase and transfer from AT&T. The manager told me, "you got the best end of the month deal ever, no taxes on the phone, and a free case". I thanked him, paid what i thought was the first month's bill of $270 and went away happy. Only after getting home and reviewing the invoice di I notice that I was CHARGED more than the sales tax on the phones, as he charged me for 2 Accessory Packages I did not receive, PLUS $30 "set up" charge for each phone. There was No set up as all our info was backed up on iCloud.

In addition, when I went to the Verizon web site, I saw that one of the phones I purchased, an IPhone 6 Plus was son sale for $549, I paid $660! I went back to the store to speak to the manager who "gave me" this great deal. Although they were closed for inventory, I was let in. He explained to me that the only was he can internally not charge sales tax is to put the accessory kits on the bill. Which is fine, except the accessory kits PLUS the $30 per line "set up" charges came out to be about $80 more than just the tax on the phone. IN ADDITION, he refused to honor the advertised price on the IPhone 6 Plus and further told me that he could do nothing about the $30 per line charge which was for activation of the phones.

Being quite upset about his told misrepresentation of the "deal" he gave me, and out an extra $110 for the phone and about $40 on the difference between being charged the correct sales tax plus $30 per line plus a case I purchased (that he said was "no charge"), I returned home and called Verizon.

Verizon informed that this WAS NOT a Verizon store, but a licensed re-seller who could charge whatever they wanted! They recommended that I return all the phones for a full refund and go to their 'factory store" down the street and repurchase. Of course, this is a total pain in the a__ , and I had spent many hours already on this seemingly simple transfer of phone service. Verizon was nice enough to issue a credit for the $110 extra $$ the phone cost.

However, in addition, we discovered that despite my instructions to insure only 1 of the phones for $11 per month, all 3 lines had an $11 per month charge for insurance. Now to top it off, m first bill arrives and SURPRISE, I am being charged an additional $20 per line for an "Activation" fee. So I called the store and was told the Manager, would call me back, we will see.

Oh yeah, one more issue. I was given a "promotion" to send back my older ATT IPhones for $100 per phone Visa card, however, they neglected to provide me with the promotional code. This is another $300 in credits...

On December 22nd, 2018 around 730pm I called Verizon Retailer on Artesia to ask if they had promotions going on for the Samsung S9 plus. Per Tiffany (sales person working that night) there was a BOGO promotions for the Samsung S9+. Immediately we headed over to the store to open 2 new lines and qualify for the promotion. Right when we arrive Tiffany continously kept pushing us to get a Google phone and was very persistant that the phones were much better than the S9plus. However, we knew what we wanted and reinforced to her that we wanted two s9 plus. Once again, we asked if they were part of the promotion. She said Yes. That night we put down 500 deposit toward the phone we would finance and therefore have a lower monthly payment. She activated the lines, ported the numbers from Metro and then she charged us 875.78 as the total amount. She then added that verizon would bill us the first two cycles the full price of phone and then credit them on the 3rd month. A practice we are well familiared with since we always upgrade only during promotion periods. Now, this month will be my 3rd monthly cycle and I did not have any credit on my account for the last 2 billing cycles. Upon my concern i called verizon customer service department and explained my case. My case was then scalated to be reviewed. After 2 days i called to follow up on the case. I was told by the representative that it had been denied due to phones not been part of any promotions at the time they were purchased only the Google phones. Right there and then it made perfect sense why Tiffany was very persistent about us getting google phones. I just could not understand WHY would she FAIL to tell us the phones we wanted were not part of the promotion. It is very upsetting to know all she wanted was a good commission that night. She didnt care how she did not once think how that would affect a client. She knew ahead of time and chose not to tell us. Verizon instructed us to go directly into the retail store and ask for the issue to be fixed. Nothing could be done on their end due to being a retailer not part of the coorporate stores. Two days later i walked into the store around 730 and spoke to Herald who informed us Tiffany was no longer working on that store but at the verizon store on Elana street. We CAN'T get a Hold of any manager in the store to Hhelp us with this issue. They put customers together to try to sell phones and accessories.

Highly recommend to go to an actual Verizon store. Much better service more informed of promotions and they do whats right for customers.

MAKE SURE YOU TO READ CONTRACT AND EVERYTHING THEY PROMISE...