Complaint Review: Verizon

Verizon has been running different promo offers for months to gain new Home Internet customers. They are using promo offers in order to convince potential customers to leave their current internet provider and make the switch to Verizon. I decided to try out the service even though my previous internet provider was perfectly fine, I was interested in the promo offer for the Nintendo Switch.

The promo offer is you use Verizon Home Internet, keep your account in good standing, and you will receive an email for redemption after 65 days of service. I was advised to only redeem the promo offer if I intended to keep Verizon as my home internet provider because they can charge you for the full amount of the Nintendo Switch if you cancel service within 180 days. No problem, the service has been good for me.

I received my email from Verizon that it is now time to redeem my promo offer and I have the choice between the Nintendo Switch and a $200 Home Depot Gift Card. I follow the instructions through the email that tell you how to access the "redemption tile" within the app or your account online. I select redeem now, I select Nintendo Switch, I accept the terms and condtions, and then I get an error message stating that:

We're sorry. There was an error when adding this Nintendo Switch or $200 The Home Depot Gift Card promotion to your verizon account. Please try again later.

I know how technology can be sometimes, so my initial thought was okay, maybe the app is having some technical difficulties right now. I'll try it on my computer. Same thing on my computer. Next step that any customer service rep would tell you is try deleting your cache & cookies. So I do that on both my phone and my computer and try both again. Still no luck. I reach out to customer service to trouble shoot with them. Explain all the steps I already had taken, and they ask me to repeat those same trouble shooting steps. Stil not working, so the rep told me that there is a technical issue with the redemption right now and they are working on it. Rep said she would contact me once fixed.

I checked the app and my computer the next day to see if it had been fixed, but I was still getting the same error message. I reach out to customer service again, and this time they give me a completely different solution asking me to wait 3-5 days because the redemption just started so it may not be working in the system. That's strange, then why would I receive an email that it is time to redeem? I say no problem, but I wasn't buying it. I started looking up in the Verizon Community Forum and saw hundreds of similar stories of people struggling to redeem their promo offers for Verizon Home Internet. 

I knew it was a bigger issue than just me at that point so I decided to contact customer service again, this time the customer service rep told me that it was the last day of my redemption period and it was after business hours so they would have to see if they could fix it the next day. I told them that his statement made zero sense because it was the second day of my redemption window and that my "redemption tile" said I had until 9/11/2024 to redeem the offer. His response was, "Fair enough". He then spent several hours going back and forth with me. I asked him to push it through the store if the tile isn't working at that the issue was on them not me. He then placed an order (because Verizon has Nintendo Switch systems for sale in their online store) and promised me I would receive tracking information. He then guilted me that it cost the company $300 to gift me the Nintendo Switch. Seemed like a moot point if the company had advertised they were giving them out if you decided to use their service.

Between all of these calls to customer service, they even had the audacity to try to upsell me on my plan while not finding a solution to why I was unable to claim my promo offer. But it doesn't end there. I saw within the Verizon Community Forum that someone said they fought with Verizon for hours and hours on multiple calls and finally the rep pushed an order through for their Nintendo Switch however they never received it and still haven't. This is not a new issue, nor a unique one because there are hundreds of Verizon customers getting the same run around for the same thing.

I contacted customer service again today because all though the Nintendo Switch order that the placed said it was going to ship on 7/14, it hadn't shipped yet. It also states that it is 2 day shipping. Today is 7/16 and the agent gave me two different reasons in the same setting. He said that the order was released and that they were just waiting on their shipping carrier to send them the tracking information. He said that it could be delayed due to the fact that the Nintendo Switch had a high demand. I let him know that a shipping carrier giving tracking information has nothing to do with the demand for the product. He then back pedaled and said that it hadn't shipped it out yet, but that I should receive it by 8pm today. I again asked if I am to receive it today, then there should be a tracking number. Please give me the tracking number. He then told me it hadn't shipped and that I should reach out tomorrow if I don't get it by 8pm today. I told him I refused to get out of the chat until I received a tracking number and then low and behold he was able to give me a FedEx tracking number. I immeadiately checked to see if the tracking number worked and it showed that they had just shipped out the item today and I will receive it Thursday. I will believe it when I see it. I have been private messaging the folks in the social media comments and community forum who are having the same issue to tell them to keep pushing for their promo offer. Verizon is running their customers around in circles until they either give up on it or forget about it. This is not right and feels like a bait and switch.