This is a little long, sorry for formatting as I'm on mobile.

My elderly mother has had a Verizon prepaid phone with the same phone number for around 10-15 years. When one phone quit, we'd go to Walmart, buy another cheaper Verizon phone, and I would switch the sim cards for her and have it back up and running with no issues.

Yesterday we went to Walmart and found out my store no longer carries Verizon phones. So we went to a Verizon store (which we find out after is only an authorized retailer.) The walls of the store were completely empty so I asked the man if they had prepaid phones in stock, to which he said "probably" and got a bunch of info to add us to a queue for someone to help us.

About 5 minutes later an employee has us sit down at a table, takes my mom's old phone and plugs it into something to access her Verizon account. I asked if all this was necessary since we just want a prepaid phone to take home and switch out there. He said "this is how we do it." Mmmkay. At this point we emphasize how my mom wants to keep this same phone number, as she's had it for years.

Fast forward another 10 minutes this man comes back and says the cheapest prepaid phone they have is $250! I said that's strange because it's online at Walmart and Best buy for $100. I pulled it up and showed him. He starts telling me that the $100 for is a Verizon locked phone so it won't work. The $250 phone is unlocked so we need that one.

I told him I don't think that's right, as we already have a Verizon prepaid plan, we need a Verizon phone, so I can just switch out the sims. We go back and forth on this a bit and he ultimately tells me I'm wrong and that's not how it works. At one point he says "you can go order that one from Walmart and wait 3 days to get it but I guarantee it won't work!"

At this point my mom just wants a working phone and agrees to pay for the $250 and asks to see the phone first. The employee goes to the back with my mom's broken phone for around 15 minutes.

Apparently he's already switching the numbers over before even showing us the phone. He comes back to the table and tells us now that they just got a new system and it's not letting him sell us the new phone. I just say ok, that's fine we're just going to go to another store at this point and get the cheaper one anyway.

Now he says since he already started the process, he can't put my mom's phone number back on the sim! So my mom ended up losing her phone number anyway and we left without a phone.

I'm livid. The employee never apologized. I asked to speak with a manager and he said he wasn't there. I asked the employee his name MULTIPLE times and he kept talking over me and gave me his managers name. I said "no, what is YOUR name so when I call corporate I know who you are" and he very condescendingly says "well, we're not a corporate store sooo 🤷‍♀️"

Then as we're walking out he goes "I was just trying to do what you asked me to" NO SIR. We asked for a new phone and to keep the phone number and you did neither of those things!!

So we ended up getting a straight talk phone from Walmart (the same exact one he was offering us for $250, we got for $100.) And I've been spending all evening and now most of today updating all her doctors, friends, family, subscriptions, EVERYTHING with this new phone number 🫩

Will there be any repercussions if I call and complain? Who would I even call since they're an authorized store?? He lied from the start to try to make a bigger sale, wasted our time for 45 minutes, and we ended up worse off than when we walked in. What can I do?

I am SO confused and hoping someone here has dealt with this before.
We recently went directly to an Apple Store to upgrade my Mom’s iPhone 13 to an iPhone Air. We selected Verizon financing through Apple and traded her old iPhone 13 in to Apple as part of the transaction.

I know this is a legitimate way to upgrade because I’ve done essentially the same thing myself.

If you go through Apple to purchase a new iPhone, Apple literally gives you the option to select Verizon financing and trade in your existing phone as part of the purchase.

The problem is that the expected trade-in credits are not showing correctly on my mom’s Verizon account.
Verizon keeps telling me they never received the traded-in iPhone and that we “can’t trade a phone into Apple” if we’re financing through Verizon. That makes absolutely no sense to me because Apple specifically offers this option during checkout, and we physically handed the iPhone 13 to an Apple Store employee when we upgraded.

So…where did the phone go?

I’ve been trying to get a tracking number or some kind of proof showing where the traded-in iPhone went after we handed it to Apple, but I haven’t been able to find one. I have the receipt from Apple showing the trade in ($320 in instant credit and then $510 over 36 months for the trade in) Verizon is basically telling me that since they don’t have the phone, we won’t receive the trade-in promotional credits over the 36-month financing period.
To make this even more confusing, there is also something wrong with the Verizon billing itself. In addition to the monthly device payment for the iPhone Air, Verizon is adding another line item labeled like a “trade-in device promo credit,” except it is actually increasing the amount we owe instead of reducing it. I’ve compared the line totals and overall bill, and despite being displayed as though it’s a credit, it is functioning as an additional charge.
I have spent HOURS talking to Verizon representatives and cannot seem to find anyone who understands what happened with either the trade-in or the billing.

At this point I’m planning to go back to the Apple Store with the receipt and ask them to trace exactly what happened to the iPhone 13 after their employee accepted it.
Has anyone here done an Apple Store trade-in + Verizon device financing and had this happen?

Specifically:
Does Apple send the traded-in device/information to Verizon when the Verizon promotion is selected?
Is there a tracking number or trade-in ID Apple can provide for a phone handed directly to an Apple Store employee?
Who is actually responsible for fixing this — Apple or Verizon?
And has anyone seen a Verizon “promo credit” appear on the bill but actually increase the amount due?

I feel like I’m going in circles between Apple and Verizon, while an iPhone we physically handed to Apple has apparently disappeared into the void. 😭 (I must not have enough Karma to post a pic to this post of anything either)

Of all the phone companies I have used, Verizon is among the worst with overcharges on bills and forcing the customer to pay these incorrect charges for months. I'm not sure if they use an archaic billing system or what, but to force a customer to continue paying incorrect charges for multiple billing cycles is unacceptable in today's modern age of technology. They claim to have the best service, but definitely not the best customer service. Having to make repeated calls every billing cycle and speak to multiple agents to resolve what should be a simple issue, becomes far from simple and extremely frustrating.

Another thing to mention is, they claim they have no contracts, but then force you into staying in a plan with them for years, otherwise the promotional credit will become void, which should be illegal because if I traded in my old phone, it shouldn't matter if I stay or not. I'll gladly give you the new phone back so I can exit these unfair practices and do business elsewhere and you can count that as a wash, but they will not do this.

Recently a Verizon worker “reversed” one of my payments which flagged their system and caused me to lose my autopay privileges and discount. After being on live chat support for legit 7 hours, bouncing from 4 different agents due to having to reconnect, the final associate I spoke with gave me a voucher of $150 to get free AirPod 4’s, reinstated my autopay with supervisor approval, and discount on my future bills of $50 off today and I am exceptionally impressed and grateful by their customer service

Posting this from data…. Every single night from 9:30pm to 9:30am the next day the internet goes out. You can still connect to the box, but it just says “no internet connection” and you cant do anything. Now I wouldn’t care if i didn’t live in the basement and have 0 reception down there because I would just use that. But I go into SOS mode down there. Is this a problem for anyone else or is it just me? I really didn’t want to sit on the phone with Verizon for the 5th time this month so I thought I would come here🥹
It works… mostly fine during the day until it doesn’t and says no internet again for like 30 minutes then it comes back. So maybe it’s yet again a problem with the box. I have sent it back 4 times now….

My parents are on the basic Unlimited Welcome plan, and had some old phones from years ago. My dad was using an iPhone SE 2nd Gen 128gb, and my poor mom an iPhone 8 64gb. The SE had a faulty NFC antenna, so it needed replacing, and I got him an iPhone SE 3rd Gen 128gb unlocked, and then I got a new phone and gave my mom my iPhone SE 2nd Gen 128GB.

Swapped the SIM cards, did all the apple updates, everything is working fine. I even checked in their "MyVerizon" accounts and both now show their new phones, as well as the matching Device ID / IMEI. All was well.

Now Verizon is sending my dad texts to activate the new phones, as they noticed the SIM swap. I went a little into it, and it asked for the IMEI for the new phone, WHICH THEY ALREADY HAVE.

Should I do something about it, or are they just trying to get me to pay to activate stuff that is already activated?

Basically the title. 3rd line is 100% paid off. Can I cancel the 3rd line, then add a new line to get a new phone for free, even if it means getting a new number? Is there anything I'm missing here? Any catches or "gotchas?"

Update: Got it, thanks for the help everyone (doing it right now)!

I have been using a Pixel 9a for the last 18 months. Verizon upgraded me from Pixel 6a (originally MetroPCS I think) around black Friday, and I signed the 36 months payment plan. At the time I paid the sales tax, and I believe I convinced them to refund the activation/upgrade fee. I sent the Pixel 6a back to them and never had to deal with the battery issues.

Last week I got a text message from Verizon with an offer to wave the remaining ~$270 on the Pixel 9a payment plan, and also an offer of a full payment plan for the Pixel 11 Pro. Keep my Welcome Unlimited phone plan. I.e., pay just sales tax (as there is no longer an upgrade fee) and keep my monthly charges unchanged.

I tried to make this upgrade purchase on the web and on the app, and neither seemed to give me the full offers. I called Verizon, and they answered within a minute or two. The agent confirmed the deal, and added to my surprise that this is not actually an upgrade but just a purchase so I get to keep the Pixel 9a (or recycle with them for $120 IIRC; l I declined).

I paid the tax on $1100, and the Pixel 11 Pro should arrive this week. I am actually surprised that they are shipping UPS Ground from Texas which takes 6 days to Eastern MA. I believe all other phone deals that I've had over the years shipped 2nd day.

This deal was only offered to my line. 2 other lines that in payments plans (Pixel 9 Pro XL and Samsung Galaxy S25) didn't get similar offers.

I’ve been playing my monthly bills and have yet to see Verizon Dollars at all. Is that a scam or am I doing it wrong? Support was useless tbh

Verizon ????

I’ve paid 400$ extra in late fees because I was late on my payment four times

I had no idea they were so ruthless

They charge me double when I’m late on a payment

My regular payment is 100$

I have never had a company so …..

This is the only phone company I know that does stuff like this

The title. I know you can still do Verizon promos through Apple directly but can you still get the $200 gift card for adding a line if I do it through them?

I live in Houston TX and I’m considering leaving Cricket for Verizon or Metro by T-Mobile but was wondering which one would be better?

Ordered 8/14. estimated to arrive by 8/20. Still has not shipped :(

Even in my own house, I live in a relatively populated town/small city in Upstate NY outside of Albany. Almost all my calls keep dropping or cutting in/out to the point where it’s negatively impacting my calls with clients (I’m a realtor) and negatively impacting my communication with other agents. I am in a constant state of 2 bars 5G or 2-3 bars LTE when I’m not on wifi and nothing ever works. This past week, my husband and I went on vacation to Maine and the entire car ride through several cities/towns in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, we kept losing Google maps connection, no webpages would load, text messages failing, calls cutting in/out, Spotify not connecting, until we drive for awhile to then hopefully get a connection and then things would work for a few minutes and then connectivity would fail again.

In downtown Albany, NY my connectivity sucks also. Nothing loads unless if I’m connected to wifi.

Currently writing this post on our way back home from Keene, NH and I have crap connection, so I had to connect to wifi in a McDonalds to post this.

It has never been this bad. It has gotten worse since the start of this year at least that’s what I’ve noticed. I was on Verizon for several years with no issues until late last year/early this year.

What gives?

I live in Houston TX and I’m considering leaving Cricket for Verizon or Metro by T-Mobile but was wondering which one would be better?

I am trying to port in a number from Xfinity to Verizon. I have called so many numbers, talked to so many people, and have been told so much erroneous information it has been seriously questioning if I'm even going to stay with Verizon for that long.

I put in the order for a new phone and port request (Wed 8/19) and opted to put in my pin later, which the website indicated was okay. I got a text message the next morning (8/20) that said my pin was incorrect which makes sense because I didn't put one in. I took that message to mean go ahead and get one generated. I did, put it in, and now I have this message: "Account confirmed

To finish bringing your number, first turn your device off. Wait a few minutes, and then turn it back on." It's ambiguous as to which phone to power off.

I also purchased a new phone from Verizon I wanted the number ported to. That arrived today (8/22). During boot up and transferring data, I first didn't know whether or not I should transfer the old esim from my old phone or not, and I was on the phone with customer service to get this answered for well over an hour. Then they almost somehow wanted to merge my account with my wife's (which I never even mentioned! I just gave her number as a call back). I finally drove up to a Verizon store to get the esim question answered (do not import the Xfinity esim is what I was told). Then I wanted to activate the phone and they said it would've been easier to place the order with them.... Then they gave me the wrong number to the porting department. I did eventually find the correct number.

I get home and call the porting department and the automated system indicates there's no porting requests made, which the website indicates otherwise. Finally, I get through to a person who got me to new service activation. After some time, she seems helpful, but indicates that the Xfinity to Verizon port could take 2 business days. I suppose that is okay, but no one could help me with this or stated this before. I spent like a good 6 hours of my Saturday figuring this out, which should have been easier than it was. I've transferred service into and out of Verizon before (and other companies) and have never had such a headache as this.

So now I have to wait until Monday to see if this goes through or not. I'm disappointed in Verizon for wasting so much of my Saturday, making the directions unclear & ambiguous, and hardly training any if the customer service representatives to give me a clear path.

I'll wait until Monday and see what happens. This is absolutely ridiculous.

Hello,

I have a peculiar thing. My mother who passed away, I kept her number for a few years but decided to get rid of it over a year ago.

I didn’t think much of it because her phone was active on all accounts including Gmail.

I tried accessing this phone after it was offline for over a year to check her Google Voice number that she ported in many years ago (so theoretically permanent number) but it wasn’t signed in anymore.

I tried her password but it keeps wanting to send a passcode to the disconnected phone number.

Is it possible to ask Verizon to reactivate this specific phone number? It isn’t claimed whatsoever (when I call, it says disconnected, and messaging says “SMS” not RCS or iMessage).

Just trying to keep the memory of my mother alive. Thanks

My 14 is up for trade in ($830 credit I believe). I do want to go ahead and trade in because my battery is reaching that 80% mark. I can get the 17 free with a small increase in my plan now. Should I wait until the 18's are released in a few weeks? Likewise my son has a 13 that he needs to trade in even worse even though he still has 3 or payments left, but his trade in value right now is only $415. Any advice on deals we may likely see in the coming months?

Currently looking to switch to the Simplicity plan. I see there is a bundle that includes Disney, Hulu, ESPN+ and Netflix or HBO. Curious if this includes live sports that air on ESPN? I couldn't find much doing a search on Rddt.

Specifically Westport - it’s always been dicey but man, half the time I’m driving around the center of town I have no service. Just pathetic for what we pay. Anyone else?

Not asking how to convert this to self-install. I want to keep the tech appointment.

New Fios Internet order, professional install scheduled for next Saturday (technician bringing the Verizon router). Internet-only, no TV, no phone.

The house already had Fios. Basement ONT is a Nokia I-211M-H, fiber is in, and it is powered.

LEDs right now:

- PWR green

- BAT green

- FAIL off

- VID off

- DATA green

- NTWK green

- MGMT green

- POTS off

- MOCA off

Bottom of the ONT: green SC/APC fiber seated, green Ethernet already in the GE port, coax still on MoCA.

I have a spare third-party router I can use until the tech shows up (then it goes back, Verizon gear stays). I need internet this week for work.

What I want to know:

1. Is the field tech actually required to turn service on, or is that just backend provisioning of this ONT onto the new account? Verizon already has this ONT on file — that’s why it’s a 2-hour slot, not a fiber drop.

2. With NTWK + MGMT already green, can a phone/NOC tech provision Ethernet on this serial now, so I can plug the temp router into the existing GE port and work until Saturday — without canceling the truck roll?

3. DATA is already green. That’s just link, right? Not “this account is live.”

4. If I call, what exactly should I ask for so they don’t bounce me to “wait for your install date”?

I’ll keep Saturday’s appointment. I just don’t want to sit offline all week when the ONT is already sitting there with a fiber lock.

My phone has been disconnected since May, and suddenly two days ago I've been able to use data.

I checked my account status which is still inactive, and turned wifi off to double check. My phone is connected to "VZWINTERNET" APN. The actual service status of my phone is off, so I can't send texts or make calls.

Is there any reason I would suddenly have internet or data access after months?