Cellular Sales Verizon Wireless Deceptive Business Practices. Charged excessive fees. Pompano Beach Florida
BUYER BE WARE! THIS STORE IS NOT A VERIZON CORPORATE STORE! My wife and I recently upgraded our old phones at this store. We have been loyal Verizon customers for many years. The associate we worked with seemed knowledgeable and accommodative, so no complaints upon first impression. It was our understanding that we were working with an official Verizon store based on the large "Verizon Wireless" sign prominently displayed above the entrance. To our surprise, we would later learn that it was in fact an "authorized Verizon Retailer" that charges excessive fees for its services in addition to Verizon corporate's standard fees. This was NEVER disclosed to us during our 2+ hour time with the associate, who even graciously offered to put screen protectors on our new iPhones along with assisting us with the transition and setup process. Little did we know that each screen protector ended up costing around $50 each and with the setup of our two new iPhone 15's and an Apple Watch 9, the total bill charged by Cellular Sales came to over $400!! I want to emphasize that none of these additional costs were EVER disclosed to us during the sales process. In fact, it wasn't until AFTER we cleared out our old phones and watch and set up the new devices that we were told we owed these fees. In addition, the associate failed to apply the trade-in discounts we discussed, an issue we are still attempting to correct with Verizon corporate. As it currently stands, we essentially gave them an iPhone, Google Pixel and an Apple Watch 6 for free, which was counter to what we discussed with the associate.
Based on our recent experience, it is clear to us that Cellular Sales engages in misleading sales practices beginning with the large Verizon Wireless sign on the store front that fails to clearly represent itself as "CELLULAR SALES - Authorized Verizon Retailer" and ending with the associate not disclosing the additional fees for its services until the very end.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Jared
USA,United States
Cellular Sales Verizon Wireless Deceptive Business Practices. Charged Excessive Fees.
#4Author of original report
Mon, November 13, 2023
See additional context for further explanation.
Jared
USA,United States
Additional Context
#4Author of original report
Mon, November 13, 2023
To provide further context, we did in fact ask for a breakdown of plan costs, trade-in discounts and any ancillary fees at the beginning of the process. Unfortunately, the associate failed to include Cellular Sales' one-time fees at that time nor did they inform us that we were doing business directly with Cellular Sales and not Verizon Wireless. The implications of this are far reaching. Not only is there an issue with the hiddent one-time fees, but Verizon Corporate's hands are tied when it comes to making any adjustments or correct the trade-in discounts that the associate failed to apply. All interactions regarding our plan/devices have to go through Cellular Sales, something we are not comfortable with given our experience.
As for reading the plan details and additional costs, I wish anyone over the age of 40 good luck in being able to do so on the size screen its was presented on and the numerous pages. We also asked for a receipt, which the associate promised would be emailed to the address on file as soon as possible, somethin that did not happen until we filed a complaint with Verizon Corporate. The point is, the associate knew from the beginning that costs were important to us based on my initial questions but chose not to mention the additional fees as it might have impacted the sale. The sales process wreaks of deception and/or a complete lack of training and if my review makes folks aware of this ahead of time, all the better.
Irv
United StatesIn Other Words....
#4Consumer Comment
Sat, November 11, 2023
In other words, YOU didn't bother to READ any of the documentation provided to you regarding the Terms and Conditions of the Plan(s) you selected, nor did you ask what the cost of the screen protectors were and other costs. You just WENT ALONG with them and now YOU come here to cry and whine about the prices when the COMMON SENSE thing to do was to ASK about the prices and READ the Plan details before YOU AGREED to pay the prices. No, I don't work for them!