Complaint Review: Verizon - Nationwide

I wonder how many people simply give up on this scam? I won't be one of them. Here's my story:

I purchased a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (with a new line) for my son at Best Buy on May 24, 2016. The salesperson told me about their promo that was going on where I can get a second GS7 Edge for free. I have always been an Apple guy and didn't really need a new phone but my son talked me into it. I also decided that if I didn't like it that I would just go back to my iPhone. The salesperson (Chase) told me that I needed to go ahead and pay for both phones and that I would get a voucher in the mail in about 45 days that I could take to Verizon and get a refund for the 2nd phone.

Well... After over 90 days and no voucher, I went back to the Best Buy store on Aug. 13, 2016. Of course the original salesperson (Chase) no longer worked there. I explained that I was having problems with my rebate and they said that I would need to go to the Verizon store. I thanked them and went to the Verizon store. When I explained my problem to the Verizon store, they told me that I needed to go back to Best Buy since that is where I purchased the phones. I immediately go back to Best Buy (both stores are only a few blocks away from each other). The manager at Best Buy (JR) gave me a website address (www.vzw.com/digitalrebatecenter.com) and the promo code (S7-APRILPROMO). He said that I was supposed to go there to register for my rebate. The original salesperson never told me that useful information. My son can back me up on that since he was also there. Anyway, I go online to register for my rebate that day (Aug. 13, 2016) and I notice that the window to do so has expired. There was a way to chat (Verizon Wireless Redemption Chat) online and so I chatted with a customer service representative named Esther. She said that since I am a valued customer that she would create the record for me. By the way, the system was very slow and she had to keep apologizing. She said that I would need to email scans of both installment contracts, photos of the original phone boxes (luckily, we still had them), and a copy of the store receipt. These were all to be emailed to: [email protected]. I did that right away. She told me that in 15 days my record would be updated and that the whole process would take 8-10 weeks. I asked her if there is a tracking number or an account number and she said that I should receive one in 15 days.

No rebate yet. Today, Nov. 23, 2016, I called the rebate center to check on the status of my rebate and I speak to Fatima. There were many gaps and delays in the conversation, and the line quality was very poor, so I'm pretty sure I was speaking to someone in a different country. Fatima asked me for my tracking number. I said that I never received a tracking number. She then tried to find my account by asking for my address, phone number, etc. She said that I was not even in the system and they never received any information from me. While we were speaking I attempted to re-email all of the information several times ([email protected]) from several different accounts and each email came back returned. The returned email said that my IP had been blacklisted and also there was some interesting information at the top of those returned emails that said the X-Actual-Recipient was [email protected]. I kept telling Fatima that the emails were being returned and she made sure several times that I was sending them to the correct address. I assured her that the address I was sending to was as she said and then I asked if there was another email address that I could send it to (she said no). I tried to explain to her that she must have been giving me an invalid email address. She told me that I could check it through an email address validation service that I could find on Google and so I did. It seemed to be legit. I then tried to send the email a few more times in different ways; no attachments, directly through gmail.com, etc. and they all came back. I asked her if I could just snail-mail the information (she said no). I asked her if the Verizon store in town would be able to help me if I took my information there (she said yes). This phone call lasted 1 hour.

When I arrived at the Verizon store I was helped by sales associate Ekatrina and the store manager, Tiffany. After going through my story and explaining the phone call with Fatima, they called the rebate center and spoke with Phil and then Ruby. We were given the same information about emailing my contract, receipt, etc. I asked if it would be OK for the Verizon store to email it and they said yes. However, the store manager did not feel comfortable doing that so she refused. I asked her to at least send a test email to the address that they were giving us ([email protected]). Tiffany did finally agree to do that on her phone and the email was returned.

So, basically, the only way that I could get a rebate was to email information to a Verizon email address that did not work. Even going to the Verizon store did not help. Tiffany said that I should check with Best Buy since the rebate was offered there. I told her that I would not go back to Best Buy since I had already been given that run-around. After all, my phone payment (installment) goes to Verizon, not Best Buy. She said that was all she could do. I was adamant and insisted that if she thinks I should go to Best Buy then she should call them up and ask them if that will take care of the problem. She dials the number and we wait on hold for 20 minutes. Just before the Verizon store closed (I was there for 1.5 hours), I was able to give my name and number to the Best Buy associate who finally answered who will give it to the manager who will call me. I guess I will be headed back to Best Buy very soon.