What a nightmare! First of all, I'm 6 months away from my eligibility for early upgrade. Then I realized on my account that I could transfer my early upgrade from my Xoom to the Droid. Sweet!
*Drives to Verizon Store*
Turns out that transferring the upgrade adds a two year contract on my Xoom, not my new phone, which is not something I want to do. So I cancel my $20/month service on the Xoom (which I was planning to do soon anyways) and leave, feeling dejected at not being able to get my phone.
*Calls Verizon Support*
Explain my predicament, and after talking with the CSR and his supervisor, they give me the following options:
1. Buy at Full Retail Price
2. Buy a "Certified Pre-owned Phone" (less than full retail, but not as low as upgrade, and only the Droid or Droid X)
*Call Verizon Support again*
Same as before, though this time I threaten to cancel my contract. They say an Early Termination Fee of $220 would be charged. I dispute the charge citing a clause in the Customer Agreement regarding an increase in Verizon Surcharges and the "material adverse effect" it has on me, not to mention I had not received written notice as the agreement says I should. They say since I signed my contract at Best Buy, I would need to dispute that claim with them.
*Drives to Best Buy*
Mobile representative: "I don't know what they told you, but we can't do anything like that here. We only upgrade and activate phones." He calls his special Verizon number while I'm there and they say, "You need to call Verizon Support to handle claims like that." I explain everything that's happened, and both of them reiterate everything again. Mobile representative suggests going to the Verizon Store across the street.
*Drives to Verizon Store*
They say they can't do anything about the early upgrade or ETF. They just don't have the authority to change it or waive it in store, and that I would need to call Verizon. He also says that Best Buy has their own contract since they are a third party reseller, and that I should check with them before cancelling.
*Drives to Best Buy*
Mobile representative: "Yeah, Verizon doesn't know what they're talking about, we don't have a separate contract. They just don't like us because we take their business by selling phones cheaper." They produce a sample contract stating specifically that I'm agreeing to the Verizon Customer Agreement.
*Drives to Verizon Store*
Explain to them what Best Buy said, and ask to use their phone to call Verizon Customer Support with them there. I explain everything including the threat to cancel based on the Customer Agreement they breached. She asks what phone I want, I tell her the Thunderbolt. End up on hold for 10-15 minutes while the CSR reviews the notes on my account and speaks with a supervisor. Comes back and says "We'll be shipping you your Thunderbolt and you'll have it on Tuesday". I verify it's the upgrade price, and there are no other activation fees or shipping charges.
*Drives home*
I now have spent 5 hours bouncing around different places, but I finally get the phone I wanted at the price I wanted it.
Topic: The Official Android Thread (Read 180876 times)
