Verizon — Local services in Old Saybrook

There seems to be a lot of good reviews for this service center but that was not my experience. I was looking to transfer from a different carrier to Verizon purely for the fact that I didn't get great reception at my house. Regret it still today. Moving to Verizon was a nightmare and it started in this center. Working with the staff at this site I was presented a deal that seemed reasonable and was ready to take it. I was transferring 4 lines and in the process I was upgrading 2 phones and getting 2 phones as part of their promotion. While the deal looked solid the execution was abysmal. We all know there are huge supply constraints and phones at this time were not readily available. For me to take advantage of the deal I had to switch right away but Verizon and this store didn't have the phones. So they made me switch just one line and promised they would have the phones by the next week. Well, what happens when you sign up for just one line with Verizion?... you get charged $90/per line (vs the 40 as promised)...and what happens when you take your previous carrier from 4 lines to 3 lines...they charge you more per line. Fast forward the phones did not come in on time and my charges were just increasing. I unlocked my phone from my previous carrier and suggested that Verizon just transfer my lines to my old phones so that I could just get a full switch and stop paying extra per line and this team wouldn't do that claiming that my "old phones" were "too old" despite being on a different carrier. Supply chain challenges are real, can't say I don't understand the issues there...what I can't understand is that Verizon and this store couldn't adjust to the reality of their own phone shortages and instead forced a new customer to pay for their inability to execute on their own program and service. My advice, if you're looking to switch carriers...double think that, the added connecting fee's and switching costs were hundreds of $'s with poor execution and undiscussed added "connecting fees". Not sure why, but it just seems that Verizon hates their...

Beware of undisclosed fees (upfront) on Promotional offers.

This morning I went to the Old Saybrook Verizon store to upgrade our plans. The salesman took care of this request quickly and explained everything including questions I had on my billing statement.

Afterwards, he asked me if I wanted to purchase an iPhone 14 at a $700 discount for $100. At the time of the offer, he neglected to mention that were number of fees included with his new phone, that brings the price to $195 (vs $100). He also tried to sell me insurance and some protection for the screen, which I declined. When requesting an estimate of what the phone bill would look like, I saw a charge for the insurance which I declined. At this point he also tells me there's a $35 activation fee for the phone. Then once he brings out the new phone and activates it, he shows me a charger which I assume (as in the past) was included and tells me it's going to cost me $30. He says if I use the old charger, it would likely damage my phone. Right before he starts to transfer my data to the new phone, he tells me there's going to be a fee of $30 for this "service".

If a company wants to charge fees, that's their prerogative, but it would be helpful for the customer to know this information before you commit to purchasing a new phone. When I mentioned this to the salesman, he told me it was up to me to ask the questions ahead of time and I should just be happy that I was getting such a great deal on the phone. I've been buying iPhones for years and didn't expect there to be fees today when there weren't in the past. For these reasons, I decided to just go back to...

10 STARS!!! Ardiel was an absolute saint!!! My husband and I came in looking for our best option to upgrade both our phones while saving the most. The catch was my husband had a prepaid phone with AT&T and he wanted to keep the same phone number he has had for the last 12 years. I thought for sure only one of us was going to be able to get the upgrade and the other was going to keep the newer of our old phones. To my surprise Ardiel was able to find a way to come up with plan that fit our budget! He merged both of our new phones together under one family plan and even included a free Apple Watch! BONUS!! He seamlessly transferred all of our information from the old phones onto the new phones. He also set us up with the appropriate accessories while staying within our budget. Now in regards to my husband keeping the same phone number that he has had for the last 12 years without being able to remember his PIN numbers and account number with AT&T.... this was a challenge! Ardiel stayed cool calm and collective while staying SUPER friendly through the whole process of porting his phone number. His patience was admirable. My husband owns his own construction company and relies on his phone every minute of the day with clients and his workers constantly contacting him. The fact that Ardiel was able to salvage my husbands original phone number, transferring it to his new Verizon iPhone is magic!! Thank you Ardiel for your help, we look forward to working with you in...