I’m honestly not a fan of writing reviews that mess with peoples livelihood so that just tells you how bad our experience was.
We went in to do an early upgrade on my phone and open a new line and device payment. I couldn’t complain about the atmosphere. The employees were welcoming, and overall nice people. The representative we had you could obviously tell she was new. She had to ask someone for help a good bit which you don’t learn unless you’re asking, so no fault there. At one point she asked about something popping up and was told, “just ignore that it’s done on the backend.” So maybe that sums up the training. When we got our bill on the day of business it came out to $312. I questioned at the time why that was so high and got vague answers. “Start up and taxes, you can look at the receipt” IMO I should see the charges prior to them being charged.
Once we got home I sat down and looked over the receipt. We were charged two charges of a redux fee(never told about nor knew what it was) totaling $60. Charged two charges of readygo premium totaling $140. (Again not sure what it was because we were never informed). I looked more into these charges, called the first time and was told those are standard charges. Looked more into after the first call, redux we had to ask for so called again, was told that button may have been pressed by accident and they’ll refund it if I come to the store(gas prices are a little high to be driving 40 minutes for a refund). Called an independent Verizon store in Altoona (220 W plank road to fact check) and was told $70 in set up fee is absurd and they charge a base $40. Call a third time and was told “the premium charge is for my time, if I didn’t charge that I would be working for free”. Now I’m questioning if this button was actually pressed twice on accident or just to add a little more commission.
Return the following morning to speak with a manager, which is where I believe the ball was dropped all together. It was apparent when we came in the manager was already expecting us. Said a simple hello and went straight to “Im not refunding that” without even trying to hear what we had to say. Tried to explain why this was not ethical and had no desire to listen. At one point told us we were lying about things said. Told us she was not refunding anything. We can refund everything else but we will have to pay the restocking fee(which was assumed when we weighed our options) and the set up charge would not be refunded and refused to explain why on the receipt said it could be refunded within 3 days. I wish I could remember why the switch flipped but I can’t. She said okay I will refund these charges but I need you guys to do something for me and never call my store again. (Sorry for calling and questioning fraudulent charges) So we waited patiently for the refund and left.
5 minutes into leaving the store, not even out of the parking lot I get a call from the store. It’s the manager apologizing for how she handled things( great gesture and professional) but then went on to shift the blame to the employee and how she is going to have them let her go. And I believe my exact words were “we’re all human and make mistakes. I just don’t agree with letting someone go because of a miscommunication. If that were the case you should be let go as well but she disagreed she would not be let go over that. By no means do I want anyone fired over this experience if it’s just a fluke. We all have bad days. I’m more skeptical for people that don’t look over their bill or are afraid to speak up. Or older people that don’t understand.
All in all, go to a corporate store or order online. I learned the hard way about independent stores so I hope this saves...
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