Verizon — Local services in Weaverville

My husband went in not realizing that it wasn't a verizon store but was instead a "verizon retailer". They sold my husband an iPhone 7 for 660. It is available from apple for 549 and directly from verizon for 449! They rip you off. Go directly to verizon or even Apple! So I contacted the Russell Cellular store and notified them of my intent to return the phone and get our trade in back. April was helpful and confirmed that I could return the phone and that I would be able to get back our trade in (it had been just 4 business hours since the purchase). When we got to the store, the salesperson stated that he didn't know much about business accounts and could we come back the next day. This was unacceptable and we stated that we wanted to complete the transaction in this one trip to the store~ He proceeded to call Russell Cellular support and was on hold for 20 minutes before talking with a representative; of course to no avail. The next call was to another employee who also stated that she didn't know how to handle business transactions. Yet another call and the women walked him thru the transaction. Then comes the nightmare of transferring service back to his old phone....another 25 minutes and he calls Verizon support. I spoke with the Verizon representative and informed her of my problems in getting a seemingly simple return handled and she proceeded to walk the employee thru the process. At one point, the Russell Cellular employee opened the back door, walked out and proceeded to hit something (loud pounding was heard), he walked back in rubbed the knuckles on his right hand and once again type on the keyboard. Finally he gets the old phone reactivated and data transferred. I then ask: can I get a receipt? To which he says (in an "ill" tone): "that's what I'm going to try to do now!" I guess it was the 1.5 hours that we had already spent in the place, and his seemingly not really knowing how, but willing to TRY, that led me to notify him that I would come back for the receipt. At that he says, "if you owe anything, I'll have to pay for it". I said that surely should not be the case and my husband told him to just call him if there was any issue. It was 8:15pm when we walked out. The store was locked and we struggled with the lock to get out and not once did the employee offer to help let us out! Today I called to talk to the manager, Natashia, about this horrible customer service experience and she said that she would talk to the employee to try to verify my account. I notified her that there was another customer in the store who witnessed the events as well as my husband. i also said that I would be returning the otter box case that he had purchased (complete with packaging), and that I did not want to have to pay the $35 restocking fee as the whole transaction had been handled to inefficiently and the employees bad behavior had felt extremely threatening to me personally. Natasha just said that she would call me after she spoke with the employee. I asked that she leave a message as I would be out of contact for the next 5 hours, to which she replied that she would not leave a message and instead insisted on speaking with me. This is not "excellent" customer service, this is horrendous customer service that no one would...

So last Wednesday I went in to this store just to explore my options, as my phone had accidentally cracked leaving me without a phone because I couldn't use the screen, adam the salesman I dealt with that day was great! I ordered the lg v50 thin q with him, he said it would probably be here either Friday or Monday due to the holiday, so Monday rolled around unfortunately it wasn't there said it would be here Tuesday around 1 and would give me a call as soon as it came in. Well today i got a notification saying that my phone had arrived at 11am so after I got off work I proceeded to call them since I didn't receive a call. So when I called and told them what was going on, they went and "checked" and asked who did I go threw to get the phone, i said Adam. Then he said he didnt see it and hopefully it'll be here tmrw and hung up. So going on almost a week without a phone, I called verizon customer service. Proceeded to tell them the issue, and they went ahead and called for me, the representative came back and said that she has the store on the line as well and said they have the phone "now" after i called 15 mins prior and they said they didnt have it. So I asked well why did you guys say it wasnt there, she proceeded to tell me that verizon sometimes gives wrong tracking numbers and I told them that ups was saying it got dropped off at 11am, "well who received the phone" asked alison but i couldnt think of the guys name i guess two names telling her that it started with a c, she goes well I don't know anyone by that name. I said well if its there im coming to get it, so i arrived at the store and walked in. Alison was the one working, greeted me and ask what could she help with, told her i was here to pick up a phone, she asked which phone so I told her. Then she said well I'm dealing with a customer now and i have an appointment in 5 mins so im gonna be a few hours, i told her that I would wait and asked if she was the one on the phone she said yes and proceeded to tell me if it was gonna be hostel then i can just go ahead and leave and come back the next day, I said im not the one being hostel and sat down. Halfway threw with the customers she had she said thats my appointment walking in and youre more then welcome to leave, I said ma'am im gonna wait till you get done. So finally she gets to me, goes back and grabs my phone she tries to apologize for the "confusion" i said there was no confusion other then you calling me a liar saying that my phone wasnt there. She blamed that she was training was the issue, but for these people to call me a liar, and being to lazy to actually take care of a customer was just a spit in my face. If I could leave a negative star i would, but instead they get one star and a loss of a customer! I will NEVER go back to this store for...

Do not do business with this location! Any "Verizon" store labeled as a "Authorized Retailer" is a good way to get scammed. This store is not like a typical Verizon Corporate store, They are out to make their commissions and only that! Their only goal is to get you into a new phone each and every time you go there. Management tells their employees to push new lines or upgrades even if you're only there to make a bill payment! This store does not have the customers needs in best interest, Only their profits! Russell Cellular has sales goals that are unreasonable and cause for a hostile and unfriendly environment for both employees and customers. They claim recent policy changes have made things easier for employees, but the same "punishments" exist if goals aren't met.

Last week I witnessed a customer come into the store asking about a battery for her phone. A battery that would have cost about $10 on Amazon. The employees are coached to tell customers that it can't be fixed and they should upgrade today. I overheard the employee tell this particular customer that she would spend well over $50 on a new battery and that's IF she found one, and began trying to push a upgrade on her. Luckily this customer knew better and promptly left.

If you need to go to a Verizon Store make sure you are dealing with Corporate locations only! The nearest corporate location is on Tunnel Road...