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Sister Used Verizon Trade in Program on 6+- Verizon Scammed her- Help!

G

gadgetfreaky

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 28, 2007
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So my sister takes great care of her phones. She also took a picture of the phone before submitting it to Verizon's trade in program for the $650 credit as part of the promotion for her new iphone.

Verizon this morning sent her an email saying it had cracks or deadspots and therefore was only worth $150. She now basically has to pay full price for a phone......I'm flabergasted.

how the heck do we fight this?
 

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I had the same issue with AT&T, i sent in an iPhone 6 16gb and when they received it they quoted me $57 for the trade in, knowing that wasn't supposed to happen i called customer service. they sent me to the department that handled trade ins, once they spoke with the technicians who looked at the phones they told me that the screen had an issue. of course the rep i was speaking with said the phone looked just fine. of course 10 mins later they tell me that hey we will get back to you with 48 hours with an answer.

2 days later i get an email letting me know that they are going to honor the promotion and i have nothing to worry about.

so what i recommend is calling and see what you can do, to be honest looking at your picture it does look like there is a small crack in the lower left part of the display. so that may very well disqualify the device in the program. but just call and see what you can do.
 
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What's the issue on the bottom right (in the picture, not on the phone)? Is that not a crack? Also, this picture doesn't address the dead spot issue, so hard to say what's happening there. The program agreement gives Verizon discretion, but it legally is not unlimited discretion and must be exercised reasonably.

Does the e-mail provide any options? If so, start there. Assuming there really were no cracks or dead spots whatsoever, she should appeal quickly and should escalate this with customer relations (ask for them). If the first person she speaks with doesn't provide satisfaction, she should politely ask for their manager, and so on.
 
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yeah i talked to my sister- that photo makes it look worse than it is- just a small scuff. i'll have her try calling...thanks for the responses folks
 
It's not a scam. They told you before you traded the phone in what kind of condition it needed to be in so she could receive the credit.

I traded in the following:

QTY 2 iPhone 5 for QTY 2 iPhone 7
QTY 1 iPhone 5s for QTY 1 iPhone 7
QTY 1 iPhone 6+ for QTY 1 iPhone 7+
QTY 1 iPhone 6s for QTY 1 iPhone 7+

All 5 phones had some minor scuffs, scratches and dings but no chips, cracks or bends. We just got confirmation of $400 credits for the 5/5s phones and $650 credits for the 6+/6s phones.
 
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Sorry man, that is a crack. Verizon really does not care about scuffs on the sides or the back of the phone. But any cracks lower the price significantly. Here is a close up of the type of crack I see in that pic.

KFNJJ3E.jpg
 
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T5BRICK said:
It's not a scam. They told you before you traded the phone in what kind of condition it needed to be in so she could receive the credit.

I traded in the following:

QTY 2 iPhone 5 for QTY 2 iPhone 7
QTY 1 iPhone 5s for QTY 1 iPhone 7
QTY 1 iPhone 6+ for QTY 1 iPhone 7+
QTY 1 iPhone 6s for QTY 1 iPhone 7+

All 5 phones had some minor scuffs, scratches and dings but no chips, cracks or bends. We just got confirmation of $400 credits for the 5/5s phones and $650 credits for the 6+/6s phones.
Click to expand...

That's been my experience as well. I traded in my wife's 5s at a Verizon store over the summer. I was skeptical because saying that phone was in "fair condition" was arguable. Scuffs all over the back, and there was actually a gap between the screen and body. But...not a single crack. Lots of micro abrasions but no cracks. They took it no problem.

In the OP's sister's case, it's probably worth it to replace the screen if the difference in trade in value is more than a couple hundred bucks. I hate that for her but maybe she can talk someone into giving her the fulll credit.
 
Just threaten to cancel your service and they'll give you the credit although you'd probably have to pay the full price of the iPhone 7 if you did. But they would rather keep giving you the credit than cancel it. Verizon prepaid called Total Wireless from Walmart is 35/month if you need some leverage while fighting it. You could also say you're switching to Sprint for half price or TMobile(more plausible explanation).
 
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bluerazr said:
Sorry man, that is a crack. Verizon really does not care about scuffs on the sides or the back of the phone. But any cracks lower the price significantly. Here is a close up of the type of crack I see in that pic.

KFNJJ3E.jpg
Click to expand...

Agreed. And from my understanding, it's stated the device has to be free of major defects and in good working condition. There is no way the OP's Sisters iPhone should be worth the full $650.00. Verizon actually can send the device back without applying any credit if they so choose. At least they received some value for the iPhone. His sister should be greatful for even a partial credit.
 
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gadgetfreaky said:
So my sister takes great care of her phones. She also took a picture of the phone before submitting it to Verizon's trade in program for the $650 credit as part of the promotion for her new iphone.

Verizon this morning sent her an email saying it had cracks or deadspots and therefore was only worth $150. She now basically has to pay full price for a phone......I'm flabergasted.

how the heck do we fight this?
Click to expand...
Apple has a screen repair service that is $149 for the iPhone 6 plus, which honestly should have been done before it was sent into Verizon for trade-in based on the image in the first post. At this point, I would recommend to politely ask Verizon if they will give you the $650 credit less $149 for the screen repair. This seems fair to me and would be much better than only receiving a $150 trade-in credit. Of course there's no guarantee that they will agree to this, but you can always ask.

Here is a link: https://support.apple.com/iphone/repair/screen-damage
 
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Did you guys not trade the phones into the Verizon store? It seems like a huge risk to be sending them in.

I traded a 6s and 6+ and Verizon emailed me the confirmation of full credit within a few days.
 
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AutoUnion39 said:
Did you guys not trade the phones into the Verizon store? It seems like a huge risk to be sending them in.

I traded a 6s and 6+ and Verizon emailed me the confirmation of full credit within a few days.
Click to expand...

Verizon doesn't accept the iPhones in store. They mail you a prepaid box with packaging supplies and the iPhone is shipped out Via USPS. Tracking is included.
 
T5BRICK said:
I traded in a total of 5 iPhones in the last few months. Every single one of them was dropped off at the Verizon store about 10 miles from my house.
Click to expand...

Strange. My local Verizon stated I had to request the package request from "My Verizon" Account to be sent to My residence and then shipped. They would not take my SE or 6 in store. Perhaps varied policies.
 
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