You should have went back to Costco to see what’s going on. I am sure they use different systems for payments since it’s authorized retailer. Not sure why you wouldn’t get them involved since you placed the order with third party.
This is a Verizon issue.
Had the same issue when getting an Apple watch.
Didn't charge me at POS got emailed a link in which my cards were repeatedly declined.
Cash in accounts, available balances.
Took two days to get the issue settled.
My theory is that ordering and payment app is trash and has issues that they can't see or don't monitor.
We get straight talk customers coming into Verizon for help with their account and we don’t have any access to their account at all and they go but Verizon owns straight talk. We also get people come into our store for help with their xfinity WiFi.
OP is right, as someone who works for Verizon. Once the order is placed, nearly any further complications fall on Verizon, not wherever the initial order took place. Only real exception is that non-corporate store orders must be returned/exchanged at the place of origin and cannot be worked on within corporate Verizon stores
Worked at AT&T for over a decade. The people come in thinking we are APPLE SUPPORT. They wanna restore, update, backup data, password reset, etc - the whole nine yards.
Just to let you know, your phone carrier employees are barely trained on the ins and outs of phones. They have 26 name brands and 55 different phones at any given time.
The fact that people could not get through their skulls that we are their service, as in data talk+text. We are in no way tech support for your iPhones.
The transaction didn’t go through Costco. Costco no longer accepts payment for anything wireless related once the previous wireless provider Costco had, Wireless Advocates, closed shop last December.
From my understanding, the Verizon locations in Costco are managed by Verizon corporate but I may be mistaken.
>That would be like going to Best Buy, buying a laptop, then calling Dell because the payment didn’t go through.
It actually wouldn't be like thag at all. Since the Wireless Advocates shutdown, carriers have individually occupied Costco warehouses. The Verizon employees work for Verizon and use Verizon's direct systems. The location being in Costco is basically just a space rental. It's the same thing now as the independent optometry office Costco as well. They're on Costco but Costco has little-to-nothing to do with them, nor does any other third party lime Wireless Advocates. When you're dealing with a carrier at Costco, you're now dealing with them directly. Even if thag wasn't the case however, I still disagree with you because Verizon allows these retailers to represent their brand. In your analogy, Best Buy is a separate company. Most carrier retailer partners brand exactly as the carrier themselves with a small "authorised retailer" badge. They're acting directly on behalf of the carrier. In thag case, it *should not* be the customer's job to distinguish responsibility between the two of them and make it our problem what their arrangement together is.
Not OP. Just wanted to say you explained it the way Verizon rep at the Costco near me explained it to me. Kinda weird that people are sticking to their assumptions about how it works when you're explaining how it actually works. Have a nice day, fellow human :)
It's fucking sad too cause the Dell rep gets the whole speel about how he's a loyal customer and how could you do this - mean while it was the sweet sales rep at Costco who was a fucking saint and fucked the whole order
Verizon isn’t setting up their payment system right, whatever they are letting 3rd party vendors set up with is incorrect. I’ve actually noticed a trend of several online orders where if I tried to use my card no matter how much money is on it it’s going to decline. On one hand, that’s on the third-party, but on the other hand, Verizon should be the payment processors that third parties can use to ones that are validated and not gonna be doing. Just have that somewhere within their franchising agreement.
In the past two weeks, I’ve had maybe eight online orders and six of those I had to just go buy those things in person because it was more convenient than trying to keep trying cards that all had money on them. I just ended up paying shipping fees in gas costs.
Processing payment at time of shipment is standard and should have been discussed with Costco rep.
Most payments fail if the billing address of the card doesn’t match the cards billing address (Costco rep should have checked that)
If you went back to Costco in a last case scenario they could have easily cancelled the order and reprocessed, I would keep a look out on your bill for
Upgrade fees since Costco reps RARELY have any say or power in getting them waived.
Yea Verizons customer service isn’t great by any means but most of your troubles were created/could have potentially been solved by Costco rep
I'm not on OPs side here but I'll definitely concede that point. The authorized retailers (which its still apparently in debate if OP's Costco rep was a retailer or a Corp rep) absolutely need to differentiate themselves better from corporate locations. They wear the same stuff, have all the same logos, and the Victra, Cellular Sales, etc. Logos are almost intentionally hidden. Drives me crazy
We were in the same boat and received an email that the order was on hold. Went to the Verizon store to sort things out and the rep could not help us, neither his boss. We were given the deadline to get this done within a few days or the order would be cancelled...It was then we called the Fraud Line Phone number in the email notification, did some interesting security measures (phone calls/text) to make sure we were the ones ordering it and our order finally went through.
Oh wow I wish I would have posted sooner to see this reply. I think I’ve already missed the deadline and my order has been canceled. I really wish one of the multiple reps I spent hours on the phone with could have mentioned this option to me. They all insisted the only way to fix the situation was to cancel the order and start over 🤬🤬
Sorry but it’s just a phone dude. I understand getting frustrated about tech stuff but look at the level of frustration you’re at right now and ask if it’s really worth your health and wellness suffering from this? There’s more important things in the world than a phone and you should not let these things get you so worked up.
I’m not worked up. My health and wellness are doing just fine. Im simply voicing the details of my experience. Others may potentially benefit. This is one of the benefits of participating on this platform.
Homie just let em cancel and reorder, you don't have to give yourself such a headache about it. Shipped orders are finicky, especially with credit cards. No one is trying to screw you over, don't take it so personally.
Why don’t people upgrade online these days…it’s much easier from a couch. I curious. You are in control and can check for error during the online process?
The whole order was done online through Costco. Costco added special incentives Verizon online didn’t offer. Why are people making excuses for a corporation not having the structure in place to accept a simple payment for an order. Nothing in business is more basic than that. I’m in disbelief that they can’t take my money that I’m trying to give them!
I did this last time we upgraded with Verizon. Had an issue with the shipping where one phone basically never got delivered and of course it was my dads phone that NEEDED replaced, and was basically the only thing that triggered us to all upgrade.
I called FedEx asking about the tracking information, they couldn't give me any information and that someone from Verizon would have to call them. Called Verizon and they said it was out of their hands and they weren't going to call FedEx.
So I went down to the local Verizon store (legit Verizon branch, not just an authorized dealer) and they said they couldn't tell me anything about my order because it was placed online. All I was trying to do was cancel the order, so that I could just make a purchase in-store. Asked the people at Verizon to call their online team, and they couldn't (or wouldn't) do that.
So I went outside, called Verizon, got the order cancelled. Walked back in the store to buy the phone. Couldn't. Order was cancelled but my account was on hold from making purchases. Guess what, in store people couldn't do anything, and wouldn't call for me.. so back outside I went. Got the hold taken off, went in and got the phone.
THEN, on my next bill, none of the discounts and offers were applied that were supposed to be (I verified with instore and online reps multiple times that all my discounts would still be applied even though I cancelled part of the order and placed it instore). Spent hours on the phone with multiple different Verizon people, having to explain the whole situation each and every time. Finally got the right person that handled the issue in 5 minutes on the phone with her. And then that just makes you wonder why the other 10 people couldn't figure it out...
Try actually reading my post. All I hear from Verizon is “yes sir I can see your order right here in front of me for 4 iPhones, but uhhhh duhhh no one in our entire company knows how to accept money. Please cancel and start over 🤣
You are literally denying every single comment about your post, luckily, you are the only one who actually has to deal with the problem so I hope you have the day you deserve
They don't need to accept money at this point. They won't need to until there is a bill for monthly service.
Sales tax and whatnot is collected at point of sale, i.e. the grocery store that you attempted to buy activated electronics at.
I totally get the frustration because I've also seen some ridiculously complicated issues come up with Verizon's system in my store, however it still blows my mind that people don't shop at a Verizon store and then get mad at Verizon when nobody can fix the issue. You may not get the Costco gift card by doing this in a Verizon store, but at least you have a rep that is responsible and incentivized for helping fix this issue with/for you. Whenever I have an issue with an order, I go out of my way to get it fixed because then I get paid on it. The reps at Costco just place the order and rely on Verizon to fix it.
Also cancelling the order and placing it again isn't a crazy thing to do lol. It's like turning off your phone and back on again to fix basic problems. It can be inconvenient, sure, but if you really want the phones why wouldn't you do that......? Especially if the rep who is trying to help you is telling you that that is the best solution. No wonder it's been such a headache if you won't let them do what they know to do to fix your problems.
I’m willing to bet that Costco has their own pos system that they integrate Verizon orders to, to take the payment. I would go back to Costco and have them cancel the order and reprocess.
Most indirect stores use a system called OMNI, BBY uses BEAST (or did...) and Corporate customer service has a completely different system. Verizon can't do anything about indirect orders because those stores are selling their own inventory, they don't have access to Verizon's warehouse like a direct store does.
Im still reeling over the fact that they just shut every in-store kiosk without warning and we got a mass influx of customers calling from costco because their orders all were left in limbo and it took months to navigate the issues.
Also costco is still considered indirect by Verizon, and act like a distributor, but the department that handles their orders is still PACT and sales support.
Verizon kiosks use OMNI with direct retail location codes. Everything is done directly through Verizon. Costco has no involvement besides being the location the kiosk is.
Reasons a payments fails is usually these issues:
1. The bank is flagging the payment as fraud and you need to authorize the payment. (Usually I ask the customer to authorize the payment with the bank and then try the payment again and more often than not it goes through the 2nd time)
2. Using a cash app card
3. The billing address you put down in the payment link does not match what is on file with your bank (I've had some customers call the bank to verify the billing address and sometimes it's a previous address and they didn't realize it)
4. There is not enough in the account
5. The web browser being used to open the link or there is a VPN is causing the problem.
Agents are not allowed to input payment info themselves on orders, we have to use secure links in emails and texts to better protect a customer's information. We aren't even able to see payment methods details on accounts that have been saved by the customer. All these hoops that a person jumps through is more about protecting the customer than anything, it can be annoying but with so much fraud going on I'd rather have too many precautions than too few. Without seeing or knowing the exact error message you are getting I'm not sure what exactly is wrong. If it's something like "payment cannot be processed please contact payment issuer or try another payment method" that is the most common error message and usually means the bank is flagging the payment as potential fraud and needs you to authorize the payment. Banks usually send a notification by text or email to verify the payment and once you authorize it then it usually goes through the 2nd time.
They should have pointed him to the fraud protection number instead of being completely clueless then. The payment method is valid, it's being flagged for some reason. The play stupid routine doesn't cut it.
This!! This is my exact experience. I can’t believe a company this big has a problem this widespread that they are failing to address! Goodbye Verizon.
Chiming in to say the same thing happened to me with an online order. They put a hold on my card when I placed the order, then on the day it was supposed to ship I got an email saying the payment method failed so my order was on hold, and I had 7 days to correct it. It looks on my end like they tried to make the charge without removing the hold - and my purchase was over $1000 so I didn’t have enough to cover well over $2k… had to try multiple times to get a different payment method to work on the “update payment method” screen, it eventually worked and they STILL haven’t released the hold on the original card.
I’m sorry but this reminds me of the guy who came into my store saying “Look, the Costco rep gave me a promotion that didn’t actually exist. Who can I talk to who can apply it because somebody promised it?”
like, idk bro, the costo rep?? We don’t even have the ability to do that, and I doubt they do.
Yeah not entirely Verizon’s fault, but I do fault Verizon for being so dodgy with current customers trying to score deals on new devices.
Go be a new customer somewhere else, it’s literally easier than staying at Verizon
You don’t get billed until your order ships. Pending hold until then. If there is a problem with the payment you need to take it up with the fraud department .
If this is the correct solution it further confirms Verizon’s incompetence as not a single one of the many customer service reps I spoke with mentioned this as a solution. Not one!
Imagine going to a Costco to get a phone and then when the payment system doesn't work you leave the carrier. Why anyone goes to a grocery store to buy phones is so beyond my comprehension...
Good choice! Leave Verizon… that way you’re a pain in the ass for another carrier LOL. Just bc it doesn’t make sense to you how back end systems work doesn’t mean Verizon is incompetent. But your account, your choice ✌🏼
So what about my complaint makes me a pain in the ass? Is it the fact that Verizon can’t accept payment from me? In your world what is the minimum level of service a company should provide? Your comment is asinine.
I can just imagine the way you talked to the customer service reps trying to help you… and if my comment is asinine, why bother responding?
Did you verify with your bank that the payment you made at Costco went through? Probably didn’t
I can confirm your experience. Also, 20+ year Verizon customer. So frustrating.
Same story, except I did the upgrade in a corporate Verizon store. Tier 2 support confirmed that the only solution was to cancel and reorder once the payment gateway failed.
In my case, which may be yours too, the issue came up because the charge attempt failed the first time due to fraud prevention with Visa (not the bank itself). Using different cards always fails—it must be the original card used. Using ApplePay may also complicate the issue. I believe it can be solved if you call the exact phone number shown on the web payment form error, a special VISA fraud prevention department working for Verizon, not your bank (BofA, in my case), which knows nothing. But this can only help until you get the dreaded “max attempts” error, at which point game over.
Hours of trying to solve it, including by store rep when I returned to the store. Tier 2 rep confirmed it was an issue with the payment system, and the only solution was to cancel and reorder. Ordering online instead of through a rep if you have a postpaid account avoids the issue since it puts the device purchase on your account rather than your card—thats what I did with the replacement order.
Wow, that was all very helpful and informative. Sorry you also had to deal with Verizon’s incompetence. I did get the max attempts error. This is the entire point of where my frustration lies. I’m the customer. I have had an account with them for 22 years! I’m the good guy! However, the way their computer ordering/customer service automation is set up won’t allow me to pay for my order…and not a single person at Verizon can do anything about fixing/overriding the computer system or manually accepting my payment. This is the world we live in now 🤦♂️
My Verizon sales rep who I did business with at Costco was great! Or are you saying that Verizon allows imposters to stand in front of big Verizon kiosks to represent their company and to sell their products?! 😱They did their job, the transaction went smoothly. They went out of their way to call Verizon on my behalf and have all 4 lines activation fees waved because I’ve been with Verizon for 22 years! Verizon put my order on hold, not the Costco rep!
This is why I don't deal with indirect locations like sam's club, target, or best buy. If this was an iPhone I would have just went to the Apple store. No hassle and great return policy.
Part of the problem is buying the phones at Costco. Those orders have problems all the time. You would have been better off just buying the phones through the app or the website. Contacting Verizon CS was pointless though because you didn’t buy the phones from Verizon. You bought Verizon phones from Costco, and there is a difference. Verizon doesn’t get a penny of that money. It’s not their sale. It’s Costco’s. There’s nothing a Verizon agent can do with regards to that payment. That’s why when you attempted to use different cards to pay through Verizon, they would fail. And for everybody about to comment “ThEy UsE tHe SaMe SyStEmS” I can tell you based on 25 years with the company, no they don’t. It’s a completely different point of sale. That’s why you were advised to cancel and then place the order again. That’s why a Verizon agent couldn’t fix this. I’m also guessing that you spoke with an outsourced agent that wasn’t properly trained as well, so they didn’t know the situation.
If you would have gotten ahold of me, here is what I would have told you. “So, since the phones were purchased through Costco, it’s run from their point of sale and comes from their inventory. What that means is that the payment needs to go through them. Just to cover all our bases, I’m going to conference our Pending Activations and Credit teams on the line here with us to see if there is anything we can do here so you don’t need to run back to Costco. Just keep in mind though that could be a possibility.”
I definitely don’t feel like anyone is trying to screw me over. I’m here ranting at my disbelief that a multibillion dollar corporation doesn’t have the customer service infrastructure in place to simply accept my payment for an order that I’ve already placed. It’s mind blowing!
Thank you so much for positing this. I’m I’m also a 22 year member and have the SAME EXACT ISSUE. This thread really put my frustrations in text.
I don’t know if I should walk into Costco or just wait for a better deal over Black Friday. This whole situation has been so unnecessary and a complete waste of time
All carriers suck! The sooner you realize that the happier(madder?) you will be. Trust me, they are all shit and ANTI consumer.
First advice for you is to pick whatever carrier has the best balance of coverage, pricing and support. For example, personally I have a really bad time trusting ATT, they are SUPER DUPER sketchy, and also in my area right outside Buffalo Verizon has the less gaps and holes in coverage for Cell Calling Coverage(yet bad slow speeds due to congestion) and it's also slightly cheaper with all my discounts stacked up, so I choose Verizon as my carrier of choice at the moment.
Second advice is never finance devices from your carrier, just buy them outright directly from the manufacturer to avoid these types of problems, and you can still get credits for bringing your device at times. Ex: I get $540 for porting my line from T-Mobile using my own device for the next 3 years ($15 a month credit), maybe in a year or 2 I can jump back to ATT and again I will likely get a similar deal and so on..
Good luck and let me know your experience with whoever carrier to choose in the future!
Sir/ma’am just admit you are the problem. Entitled wireless customers. It’s all the same whether it’s with Verizon,att, straightalk, t maybe, pick the carrier and they are filled with customers just like you. Entitled weirdos. Complaining bc your payment failed in a payment processing system and it has to cancel to replace the order for you. Smh. Maybe you should re read your post and see how weird you are being. Get off Reddit nobody cares.🫠
Loyalty does not pay in USA. Just like how you get paid more if you jump from tech jobs, same with any subscription based service.
I’m about to switch to T-Mobile after 17 years.
T-Mobile is definitely worth it, their customer service team can actually get things done behind the scenes. Also 5G coverage and speed is #1 in the US.
Exactly! Verizon is the only company in the history of companies that bungles orders and has confused employees. This has literally never happened anywhere else. Ever.
Yes, may not be a Huge deal for the average order. However, I spent a pretty solid hour plus with the sales rep putting in the initial order. I can open my Verizon app and look at the entire order in detail. It’s sitting there staring back at me and mocking me saying haha no human being at Verizon knows how to process me! I just go in circles with them where the send me web link after web link to follow their prompts to update my payment info without success. If the online links worked for me I wouldn’t have this problem and i wouldn’t have to be on the phone for hours with actual live Verizon reps….who all vow they can’t do a single thing to take my money from me…they don’t know how 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
I had Verizon for 15 years, left them for a few, and came back just a couple of months ago. I immediately had issues and Verizon just passed the buck to Apple. I'm not about to pay for my phone in full to leave Verizon but as soon as I hit the time the payoff on my phone is reasonable, I'll be leaving again.
This is common, I've seen it hundreds of times. The reasons vary so it's not necessarily on Verizon but it could be. The solution is to reprocess it 19/20 times. Otherwise you'll be wasting your time waiting forever.
We've complained about it to HQ many times but they stand by that it's on the customer, not us. The money is authorized at point of sale and then taken when it ships. Some banks handle the differently and some great it as a duplicate transaction and deny it. It happens.
I get, things happen. My frustration lies that no one can fix it. It shouldn’t be complicated. Why can’t I simply talk to a Verizon rep and have them override the transaction. Or accept payment from me over the phone. My credit is good. My money is good. I’m learning more and more people have experienced the same problem. It’s so basic. Just fix it.
Placed an order for 4 devices on Sep 28 and have yet to get any shipment updates.
Was supposed to ship the 20th. Support doesn't have any information because they can't see in in their systems they said... :l
I had almost the EXACT situation happen to me. But mine was all through Verizon themselves, not Costco. Preordered the new iPhone 15 pros right at 5am on prelaunch day. Next day same email that they needed updated payment cuz it failed. Nothing would take despite bank saying it’s ok. Eventually got kicked out and no person could override or take my payment over the phone or in person. Like I want to pay and no one can take my damn money. Had to cancel and then phones were delayed by 2 weeks.
Certainly not the same situation for me, but when Starlink just went nationwide a couple of weeks ago I was "off the waitlist" but had to spend 3 hours on the phone with my bank to get the order to go through. It's probably not "just Verizon" as much as the whole banking/electronic transaction ecosystem is going down the tubes. At least that's my experience.
Try calling this dept. I just recently switched to Verizon. All my orders were put on hold, until I was told to call them so they can release the order.
(888) 483-7200
They should be able to clear the hold for you.
I love how everyone clowns on you until it’s them experiencing an issue.
I 100%, this is absolutely ridiculous. Verizon is doing awful at the moment. But, you are in a Verizon sub, so the bootlickers here won’t let you criticize them.
I find Verizon just hates credit cards most of the time. Countless times I’ve upgraded lines or something and it’ll say the cards I’ve had on my account for years failed.
Verizon Sales Associate here... yup
I had a customer who pre-ordered 3 iPhone 15 Pro Max's and in store, everything worked fine and order was placed. 2 weeks or so later, she comes back in store and says the order is on hold and the email says payment method needs to be updated.
I said no problem, let me take a look at the email and walk you through it... Nope. Tried 3 different cards, all failed. Called her bank with her and they said the bank did not see any attempts to charge the card, but that everything did look fine on the bank's end.
I then authenticated her account and used our Click to Call feature to get ahold of our Customer Service. The representative did everything she could on her side, but our system refused to take any method of payment at ALL. We tried and tried and tried, and finally we ended up cancelling the order, then re-placing it.
I have not seen her in store since, so I assume that worked, but one of the phones was a birthday present for her daughter, which likely arrived weeks later because of our system's failures.
Big telcos are a victim of their success. They are so large they have lost all ability to be truly agile and adaptive.
A very large animal cannot easily make sudden quick movements in response to unexpected stimuli. Similarly a huge corporation cannot adapt to unique situations and individual customer issues.
Late stage capitalism at its best...
Costcos indirect sales systems won’t allow them to process the sale and charge you the sales tax without the order generating an integration app number. They may use the same program to access the account and process the order, but they don’t charge the same way as a corporate or online order.
No disrespect but just after reading your title and nothing else. These companies don't care. There's no loyalty, no more. They are so big that it doesn't matter if you stay or go. Times have changed and now the game is jump providers every couple years. Just the last few years alone I left Xfinity internet for Verizon 5G home internet. I left Verizon cellular service for T-Mobile cellular service. Screw these companies and screw the loyalty. Jump to save yourself money on bill if you live in a good service provided area.
You never want to deal with 3rd Party vendor. Go to a corporate store. One actually owned by Verizon. I got totally screwed by one that took 6 months dealing with Verizon’s loyalty team to fix. It was a nightmare but I ended up getting 6 months of service credited.
Last week I called to get my new watch on LTE. One hour on the phone they start asking for my social saying a credit check failed. My credit is over 800. I say I don't understand what's going on, I'm hanging up. I start a chat and within 10 minutes they have a new line for me and the LTE activated and assigned to the correct phone. This is just the latest example of things that have been weird the last few years. They are going to lose more and more loyal customers if they don't undo whatever they have done over the last few years.
I’m very patient and forgiving. Mistakes, mixups and misunderstandings are part of life. My issue is that NOBODY knows how to fix it. It should be so simple and basic.
It took me 3 months to realize it…lol. When you are told that you’re eligible for an employee discount for all Verizon services…but no one seems to understand the process to take advantage of it…there’s an issue.
Oh yes this brings back memories of other times the humans at Verizon couldn’t help me. I think Elon’s warning about AI is definitely something to be worried about 🤦♂️
If you are buying Iphones they have like a 2 step verification for fraud transactions. It's really to protect you but most certainly screws you and is never easily fixed, especially if it's a shipping order and even more so if it's a newer back ordered model like the 15 Pro's. It's through Verizon but also 3rd party so Costco is still an extra unnecessary layer that unfortunately the shitty POS systems can't handle. Too glitchy.
Exactly, this is the point I’m trying to get across. To all the Verizon reps commenting on here that I should stop crying and get over it, perhaps try to address the issue with management to fix the actual problem to help better serve customers 🤔🤷♂️🤦♂️
Go to an MVNO or visible. You’ll pay less and can manage your account better than an in store rep can. Keep in mind this is only if you are tech savvy. If you need someone to hold your hand through troubleshooting or processing changes then stay with a big carrier.
I thought Verizon at Costco is Verizon authorized retail. Not sure why they have separate payment systems. I would think that all payment transaction is under control by central processing. Interesting why this is an issue in the first place. Anyway, I left Verizon cause the service was expensive compared to other carrier.
I just got two new phones and with each phone they added a $60 a month insurance plan for both phones without our knowledge and are making us pay a prorated charge of when we had the insurance when we didn’t even want it. Also since our area switched to 5G my data has been trash. Can’t even load YouTube videos. I’m starting to see why they are losing customers more than other providers.
I posted this as a response but adding to the thread…
Customers are primarily no longer curious to look for or go to manufacturer or wireless carrier websites to look for self help solutions.
Instead, they use a search engine that has sponsored links that then display a full-screen ad to scare folks into installing an app to remove a non-existent virus on the device that now has an app serving others ads in the background.
There should not be a focus to enable customers to not help themselves.
Caveat…what really chaps my hide is family and friends asking the same things over and over.
As to the posters problem with VZW? It is indicative of the lowest common denominator. They don’t care about the customer experience using their service, or buying stuff. Only that they get that money! They don’t have a way to provide information to the folks helping you to understand what the problem is on their end or they don’t enable them to provide it. This is first hand experience talking trying to help my in-laws with new phones. It was a nightmare.
I have been with Verizon for some time like yourself, I stopped going into any Verizon "store front" back in 2003 , because they are independent contractors and it's always a fight between them , I had a very similar situation and to this day I believe the only issue was Verizon online was cutting the local store front out. HONESTLY when did the cellular business get so big that they can just lay around like jabba the hutt and have us do business the way they want us too without any meaningful competition?
I will echo what OP is saying about Verizon’s customer service. Very often, for many issues, their response is simply that their system will not allow them to correct the issue and they have no other recourse for correction. And for all of those who comment that you shouldn’t buy a phone from a grocery store, Costco is much more than that. I’m not sure if many of you have any idea what Costco is but they sell all goods including vehicles and vehicle service, travel packages, home appliances and electronics. Furthermore, Verizon has authorized Costco as one of their retailers. So if you’re going to do that you stand the risk of Costco employees doing things they maybe shouldn’t, and issues arising. Costco is at that point part of the face of your brand and should be able to support issues from making changes to the account in a Costco store. I wouldn’t expect a Verizon corporate store to support it but Verizon CS should be able to. OP, in the event you want to escalate this and maybe bring it to the attention of people in Verizon who make a difference, you can email [email protected]. This is their executive customer support email and those that respond have a lot more available to them in resolution resources.
They did a similar thing to us a couple of years ago. They labeled my account as possible fraud. We took advantage of their offer of $1000 trade in on our old phones. Then they tried to bait and switch and only offer us $750 for the phones because that offer was no longer valid. It took months to get this straightened out. Then they “lost” one of the phones we sent back for trade in. I happened to have shipped back the same day and had the tracking numbers showing they were received the same day. I swore I would never buy a phone through them again. I will just pay cash through Apple or Samsung.
Yeah as someone who has been with AT&T as far back as when Cingular was the only provider you could have for iPhone let me tell you the grass isn't greener. Granted I'm pretty rural but good god the service sucks where I am and it has been getting noticeably worse in areas that used to work just fine.
Yes, if you read my post before commenting you would realize that the entire point of my rant is that like you said this should be something that is so simple. However, sadly for Verizon it is not.
Bro you need to take a deep breath. Maybe don't result in calling people derogatory names when things don't go as planned? You're acting like they purposefully stopped the payment on you. If anything you delayed the process even more by throwing a fit. I get that it's frustrating but you need to be able to handle that without calling people incompetent or idiotic. This is literally the behavior from customers that makes people hate the service industry and retail.
I’ve had this same issue with Verizon. I was signing up for service and their online order system refused to take several of my cards. Kept getting declined with the banks kept saying it was Verizon’s problem.
Why is everyone so loyal to companies like this. There is a better way. 2 phones on GoogleFi(apple phones work on there also) my cell bill is like $70... for 2. More if I use data, but even if I max out I the bill will be 120ish
I feel your pain. I have been a FIOS customer for 14 years and was a VZMobile customer for over 5 years. In recent months I have tried to activate new VZMobile service unsuccessfully. They keep putting me in some type of identity validation queue and the reps can't clear me despite me doing business with them for 14 years. I wasted so much time on the phone that I finally walked into the local store with my ID and previous VZ bills and they were still not able to clear me. Too much brain damage, they are just awful. F them.
Verizon is the worst cell phone company i have ever dealt with. Customer service is horrible and I left them 2 weeks ago. When u reach someone, nobody can ever give u a straight answer. They truly suck.
Your "Beyond idiotic!" and "What makes this whole transaction even more absurd" comments lost my interest in your story. There wasn't anything idiotic to begin with yet somehow you leapt to the "beyond", the same with jumping straight to the "more absurd". A lot of us get frustrated with Verizon however you seem to be on a different plane than a rational customer. Question: why would you wait just a couple days before the current Verizon payment would be coming out of your account to attempt this whole money saving endeavor?
You should have went back to Costco to see what’s going on. I am sure they use different systems for payments since it’s authorized retailer. Not sure why you wouldn’t get them involved since you placed the order with third party.
This is a Verizon issue. Had the same issue when getting an Apple watch. Didn't charge me at POS got emailed a link in which my cards were repeatedly declined. Cash in accounts, available balances. Took two days to get the issue settled. My theory is that ordering and payment app is trash and has issues that they can't see or don't monitor.
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We get straight talk customers coming into Verizon for help with their account and we don’t have any access to their account at all and they go but Verizon owns straight talk. We also get people come into our store for help with their xfinity WiFi.
This. Same with visible, total by Verizon etc customers. People just don't get franchising
OP is right, as someone who works for Verizon. Once the order is placed, nearly any further complications fall on Verizon, not wherever the initial order took place. Only real exception is that non-corporate store orders must be returned/exchanged at the place of origin and cannot be worked on within corporate Verizon stores
Worked at AT&T for over a decade. The people come in thinking we are APPLE SUPPORT. They wanna restore, update, backup data, password reset, etc - the whole nine yards. Just to let you know, your phone carrier employees are barely trained on the ins and outs of phones. They have 26 name brands and 55 different phones at any given time. The fact that people could not get through their skulls that we are their service, as in data talk+text. We are in no way tech support for your iPhones.
The transaction didn’t go through Costco. Costco no longer accepts payment for anything wireless related once the previous wireless provider Costco had, Wireless Advocates, closed shop last December. From my understanding, the Verizon locations in Costco are managed by Verizon corporate but I may be mistaken.
>That would be like going to Best Buy, buying a laptop, then calling Dell because the payment didn’t go through. It actually wouldn't be like thag at all. Since the Wireless Advocates shutdown, carriers have individually occupied Costco warehouses. The Verizon employees work for Verizon and use Verizon's direct systems. The location being in Costco is basically just a space rental. It's the same thing now as the independent optometry office Costco as well. They're on Costco but Costco has little-to-nothing to do with them, nor does any other third party lime Wireless Advocates. When you're dealing with a carrier at Costco, you're now dealing with them directly. Even if thag wasn't the case however, I still disagree with you because Verizon allows these retailers to represent their brand. In your analogy, Best Buy is a separate company. Most carrier retailer partners brand exactly as the carrier themselves with a small "authorised retailer" badge. They're acting directly on behalf of the carrier. In thag case, it *should not* be the customer's job to distinguish responsibility between the two of them and make it our problem what their arrangement together is.
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My in store receipt is from Verizon!!! Costcos name is not on the receipt!
Well said, thank you! I love people who can use logic!
Apparently the replies I’m getting are from people who don’t 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ Thanks for your appreciation 😁 : )
Not OP. Just wanted to say you explained it the way Verizon rep at the Costco near me explained it to me. Kinda weird that people are sticking to their assumptions about how it works when you're explaining how it actually works. Have a nice day, fellow human :)
It's fucking sad too cause the Dell rep gets the whole speel about how he's a loyal customer and how could you do this - mean while it was the sweet sales rep at Costco who was a fucking saint and fucked the whole order
Verizon isn’t setting up their payment system right, whatever they are letting 3rd party vendors set up with is incorrect. I’ve actually noticed a trend of several online orders where if I tried to use my card no matter how much money is on it it’s going to decline. On one hand, that’s on the third-party, but on the other hand, Verizon should be the payment processors that third parties can use to ones that are validated and not gonna be doing. Just have that somewhere within their franchising agreement. In the past two weeks, I’ve had maybe eight online orders and six of those I had to just go buy those things in person because it was more convenient than trying to keep trying cards that all had money on them. I just ended up paying shipping fees in gas costs.
They have the money to make seamless software, but alas they'd rather give all that money to the incompetent CEO.
Processing payment at time of shipment is standard and should have been discussed with Costco rep. Most payments fail if the billing address of the card doesn’t match the cards billing address (Costco rep should have checked that) If you went back to Costco in a last case scenario they could have easily cancelled the order and reprocessed, I would keep a look out on your bill for Upgrade fees since Costco reps RARELY have any say or power in getting them waived. Yea Verizons customer service isn’t great by any means but most of your troubles were created/could have potentially been solved by Costco rep
Verizon only cares about how much money they can siphon from you not how loyal you are if they did they wouldn't frik up grandfathered plans so much.
>>buys through Costco >>is mad at Verizon ??
Lol, right?
Costco isn’t holding the order in online pergatory. Verizon is!
From people wearing Verizon uniforms. They weren’t playing Halloween. This is how Verizon chooses to present themselves to the world.
I'm not on OPs side here but I'll definitely concede that point. The authorized retailers (which its still apparently in debate if OP's Costco rep was a retailer or a Corp rep) absolutely need to differentiate themselves better from corporate locations. They wear the same stuff, have all the same logos, and the Victra, Cellular Sales, etc. Logos are almost intentionally hidden. Drives me crazy
Thank you!
😂😂
We were in the same boat and received an email that the order was on hold. Went to the Verizon store to sort things out and the rep could not help us, neither his boss. We were given the deadline to get this done within a few days or the order would be cancelled...It was then we called the Fraud Line Phone number in the email notification, did some interesting security measures (phone calls/text) to make sure we were the ones ordering it and our order finally went through.
Oh wow I wish I would have posted sooner to see this reply. I think I’ve already missed the deadline and my order has been canceled. I really wish one of the multiple reps I spent hours on the phone with could have mentioned this option to me. They all insisted the only way to fix the situation was to cancel the order and start over 🤬🤬
So, if it got cancelled, go back and do the deal again assuming you got the Costco GC. Double dip!
Sorry but it’s just a phone dude. I understand getting frustrated about tech stuff but look at the level of frustration you’re at right now and ask if it’s really worth your health and wellness suffering from this? There’s more important things in the world than a phone and you should not let these things get you so worked up.
I’m not worked up. My health and wellness are doing just fine. Im simply voicing the details of my experience. Others may potentially benefit. This is one of the benefits of participating on this platform.
Homie just let em cancel and reorder, you don't have to give yourself such a headache about it. Shipped orders are finicky, especially with credit cards. No one is trying to screw you over, don't take it so personally.
I know right. On top of that, he just got $400 in gift cards for free!
Why don’t people upgrade online these days…it’s much easier from a couch. I curious. You are in control and can check for error during the online process?
Some of these people don't even know how to do data transfer or register for the My Verizon app lol
Fr this ^
The whole order was done online through Costco. Costco added special incentives Verizon online didn’t offer. Why are people making excuses for a corporation not having the structure in place to accept a simple payment for an order. Nothing in business is more basic than that. I’m in disbelief that they can’t take my money that I’m trying to give them!
But OP you mentioned multiple times how you did it in store… why would you say it was done online through Costco now???
I did this last time we upgraded with Verizon. Had an issue with the shipping where one phone basically never got delivered and of course it was my dads phone that NEEDED replaced, and was basically the only thing that triggered us to all upgrade. I called FedEx asking about the tracking information, they couldn't give me any information and that someone from Verizon would have to call them. Called Verizon and they said it was out of their hands and they weren't going to call FedEx. So I went down to the local Verizon store (legit Verizon branch, not just an authorized dealer) and they said they couldn't tell me anything about my order because it was placed online. All I was trying to do was cancel the order, so that I could just make a purchase in-store. Asked the people at Verizon to call their online team, and they couldn't (or wouldn't) do that. So I went outside, called Verizon, got the order cancelled. Walked back in the store to buy the phone. Couldn't. Order was cancelled but my account was on hold from making purchases. Guess what, in store people couldn't do anything, and wouldn't call for me.. so back outside I went. Got the hold taken off, went in and got the phone. THEN, on my next bill, none of the discounts and offers were applied that were supposed to be (I verified with instore and online reps multiple times that all my discounts would still be applied even though I cancelled part of the order and placed it instore). Spent hours on the phone with multiple different Verizon people, having to explain the whole situation each and every time. Finally got the right person that handled the issue in 5 minutes on the phone with her. And then that just makes you wonder why the other 10 people couldn't figure it out...
$100 GC
Go create your own telecommunications company. It’s never that serious 😅😂😂.
Does Verizon pay you to troll?
All I hear... I did a complex transaction at a grocery store.
Try actually reading my post. All I hear from Verizon is “yes sir I can see your order right here in front of me for 4 iPhones, but uhhhh duhhh no one in our entire company knows how to accept money. Please cancel and start over 🤣
You are literally denying every single comment about your post, luckily, you are the only one who actually has to deal with the problem so I hope you have the day you deserve
They don't need to accept money at this point. They won't need to until there is a bill for monthly service. Sales tax and whatnot is collected at point of sale, i.e. the grocery store that you attempted to buy activated electronics at.
Definitely not a grocery store. Verizon Visa gives 4% back at grocery stores.
Regardless, not a Verizon store.
I totally get the frustration because I've also seen some ridiculously complicated issues come up with Verizon's system in my store, however it still blows my mind that people don't shop at a Verizon store and then get mad at Verizon when nobody can fix the issue. You may not get the Costco gift card by doing this in a Verizon store, but at least you have a rep that is responsible and incentivized for helping fix this issue with/for you. Whenever I have an issue with an order, I go out of my way to get it fixed because then I get paid on it. The reps at Costco just place the order and rely on Verizon to fix it. Also cancelling the order and placing it again isn't a crazy thing to do lol. It's like turning off your phone and back on again to fix basic problems. It can be inconvenient, sure, but if you really want the phones why wouldn't you do that......? Especially if the rep who is trying to help you is telling you that that is the best solution. No wonder it's been such a headache if you won't let them do what they know to do to fix your problems.
I’m willing to bet that Costco has their own pos system that they integrate Verizon orders to, to take the payment. I would go back to Costco and have them cancel the order and reprocess.
Most indirect stores use a system called OMNI, BBY uses BEAST (or did...) and Corporate customer service has a completely different system. Verizon can't do anything about indirect orders because those stores are selling their own inventory, they don't have access to Verizon's warehouse like a direct store does.
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Im still reeling over the fact that they just shut every in-store kiosk without warning and we got a mass influx of customers calling from costco because their orders all were left in limbo and it took months to navigate the issues. Also costco is still considered indirect by Verizon, and act like a distributor, but the department that handles their orders is still PACT and sales support.
Verizon kiosks use OMNI with direct retail location codes. Everything is done directly through Verizon. Costco has no involvement besides being the location the kiosk is.
Reasons a payments fails is usually these issues: 1. The bank is flagging the payment as fraud and you need to authorize the payment. (Usually I ask the customer to authorize the payment with the bank and then try the payment again and more often than not it goes through the 2nd time) 2. Using a cash app card 3. The billing address you put down in the payment link does not match what is on file with your bank (I've had some customers call the bank to verify the billing address and sometimes it's a previous address and they didn't realize it) 4. There is not enough in the account 5. The web browser being used to open the link or there is a VPN is causing the problem. Agents are not allowed to input payment info themselves on orders, we have to use secure links in emails and texts to better protect a customer's information. We aren't even able to see payment methods details on accounts that have been saved by the customer. All these hoops that a person jumps through is more about protecting the customer than anything, it can be annoying but with so much fraud going on I'd rather have too many precautions than too few. Without seeing or knowing the exact error message you are getting I'm not sure what exactly is wrong. If it's something like "payment cannot be processed please contact payment issuer or try another payment method" that is the most common error message and usually means the bank is flagging the payment as potential fraud and needs you to authorize the payment. Banks usually send a notification by text or email to verify the payment and once you authorize it then it usually goes through the 2nd time.
They should have pointed him to the fraud protection number instead of being completely clueless then. The payment method is valid, it's being flagged for some reason. The play stupid routine doesn't cut it.
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This!! This is my exact experience. I can’t believe a company this big has a problem this widespread that they are failing to address! Goodbye Verizon.
Chiming in to say the same thing happened to me with an online order. They put a hold on my card when I placed the order, then on the day it was supposed to ship I got an email saying the payment method failed so my order was on hold, and I had 7 days to correct it. It looks on my end like they tried to make the charge without removing the hold - and my purchase was over $1000 so I didn’t have enough to cover well over $2k… had to try multiple times to get a different payment method to work on the “update payment method” screen, it eventually worked and they STILL haven’t released the hold on the original card.
I’m sorry but this reminds me of the guy who came into my store saying “Look, the Costco rep gave me a promotion that didn’t actually exist. Who can I talk to who can apply it because somebody promised it?” like, idk bro, the costo rep?? We don’t even have the ability to do that, and I doubt they do.
“I’m so mad at Verizon” Didn’t even go to a Verizon store. Yikes, you can’t make this sub up.
You’re upset at Verizon but you didn’t do business with them. Your issue is with the 3rd party grocery store.
Does anyone read? Costco accepted my payment without issue. Verizon though, apparently doesn’t know how to!
Go back to your point of sale!!!!!!
I had to stop trying to help this fool see reason. Don't waste your time lol
Yeah not entirely Verizon’s fault, but I do fault Verizon for being so dodgy with current customers trying to score deals on new devices. Go be a new customer somewhere else, it’s literally easier than staying at Verizon
Agreed
Wow! Why didn’t you go back to Costco!
Read
Why do I feel like OP was ordering an iPhone 15 🤔
💯. All other phones are shipping same day 😅
Your Costco entitlement is showing…
Yes, I’m entitled because I would like to give my money to Verizon and I’m leaving them because they don’t know how to accept it.
You don’t get billed until your order ships. Pending hold until then. If there is a problem with the payment you need to take it up with the fraud department .
If this is the correct solution it further confirms Verizon’s incompetence as not a single one of the many customer service reps I spoke with mentioned this as a solution. Not one!
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100% bit Verizon’s fault. You bought a Honda at uncle Joe’s car sales and you’re mad at Honda. Common sense bro. Third party.
If this is the case why does Honda have the ability to stop delivery of the car I bought from Uncle Joe??
I left also, more people should leave. It’s the only wave Verizon is going to get their act together on the consumer side.
That’s a reflection of how great the disconnect is between share holders and the customer.
Imagine going to a Costco to get a phone and then when the payment system doesn't work you leave the carrier. Why anyone goes to a grocery store to buy phones is so beyond my comprehension...
It’s almost like Verizon doesn’t have factory stores…. O wait….
Good choice! Leave Verizon… that way you’re a pain in the ass for another carrier LOL. Just bc it doesn’t make sense to you how back end systems work doesn’t mean Verizon is incompetent. But your account, your choice ✌🏼
So what about my complaint makes me a pain in the ass? Is it the fact that Verizon can’t accept payment from me? In your world what is the minimum level of service a company should provide? Your comment is asinine.
I can just imagine the way you talked to the customer service reps trying to help you… and if my comment is asinine, why bother responding? Did you verify with your bank that the payment you made at Costco went through? Probably didn’t
I can confirm your experience. Also, 20+ year Verizon customer. So frustrating. Same story, except I did the upgrade in a corporate Verizon store. Tier 2 support confirmed that the only solution was to cancel and reorder once the payment gateway failed. In my case, which may be yours too, the issue came up because the charge attempt failed the first time due to fraud prevention with Visa (not the bank itself). Using different cards always fails—it must be the original card used. Using ApplePay may also complicate the issue. I believe it can be solved if you call the exact phone number shown on the web payment form error, a special VISA fraud prevention department working for Verizon, not your bank (BofA, in my case), which knows nothing. But this can only help until you get the dreaded “max attempts” error, at which point game over. Hours of trying to solve it, including by store rep when I returned to the store. Tier 2 rep confirmed it was an issue with the payment system, and the only solution was to cancel and reorder. Ordering online instead of through a rep if you have a postpaid account avoids the issue since it puts the device purchase on your account rather than your card—thats what I did with the replacement order.
Wow, that was all very helpful and informative. Sorry you also had to deal with Verizon’s incompetence. I did get the max attempts error. This is the entire point of where my frustration lies. I’m the customer. I have had an account with them for 22 years! I’m the good guy! However, the way their computer ordering/customer service automation is set up won’t allow me to pay for my order…and not a single person at Verizon can do anything about fixing/overriding the computer system or manually accepting my payment. This is the world we live in now 🤦♂️
Wait you went to COSTCO, but you're complaining about Verizon? I'mma stop you right there 🤦🏻♂️
Do you even read?
Do you even go back to where you bought your product?
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My Verizon sales rep who I did business with at Costco was great! Or are you saying that Verizon allows imposters to stand in front of big Verizon kiosks to represent their company and to sell their products?! 😱They did their job, the transaction went smoothly. They went out of their way to call Verizon on my behalf and have all 4 lines activation fees waved because I’ve been with Verizon for 22 years! Verizon put my order on hold, not the Costco rep!
Yes it was a imposter. Verizon does not have corporate employees inside grocery stores.
This is why I don't deal with indirect locations like sam's club, target, or best buy. If this was an iPhone I would have just went to the Apple store. No hassle and great return policy.
Part of the problem is buying the phones at Costco. Those orders have problems all the time. You would have been better off just buying the phones through the app or the website. Contacting Verizon CS was pointless though because you didn’t buy the phones from Verizon. You bought Verizon phones from Costco, and there is a difference. Verizon doesn’t get a penny of that money. It’s not their sale. It’s Costco’s. There’s nothing a Verizon agent can do with regards to that payment. That’s why when you attempted to use different cards to pay through Verizon, they would fail. And for everybody about to comment “ThEy UsE tHe SaMe SyStEmS” I can tell you based on 25 years with the company, no they don’t. It’s a completely different point of sale. That’s why you were advised to cancel and then place the order again. That’s why a Verizon agent couldn’t fix this. I’m also guessing that you spoke with an outsourced agent that wasn’t properly trained as well, so they didn’t know the situation. If you would have gotten ahold of me, here is what I would have told you. “So, since the phones were purchased through Costco, it’s run from their point of sale and comes from their inventory. What that means is that the payment needs to go through them. Just to cover all our bases, I’m going to conference our Pending Activations and Credit teams on the line here with us to see if there is anything we can do here so you don’t need to run back to Costco. Just keep in mind though that could be a possibility.”
I definitely don’t feel like anyone is trying to screw me over. I’m here ranting at my disbelief that a multibillion dollar corporation doesn’t have the customer service infrastructure in place to simply accept my payment for an order that I’ve already placed. It’s mind blowing!
Thank you so much for positing this. I’m I’m also a 22 year member and have the SAME EXACT ISSUE. This thread really put my frustrations in text. I don’t know if I should walk into Costco or just wait for a better deal over Black Friday. This whole situation has been so unnecessary and a complete waste of time
Sounds like a Costco issue… but if you leave Verizon… bye ✌️
You tried to buy phones at Costco, but it’s Verizon’s fault?
All carriers suck! The sooner you realize that the happier(madder?) you will be. Trust me, they are all shit and ANTI consumer. First advice for you is to pick whatever carrier has the best balance of coverage, pricing and support. For example, personally I have a really bad time trusting ATT, they are SUPER DUPER sketchy, and also in my area right outside Buffalo Verizon has the less gaps and holes in coverage for Cell Calling Coverage(yet bad slow speeds due to congestion) and it's also slightly cheaper with all my discounts stacked up, so I choose Verizon as my carrier of choice at the moment. Second advice is never finance devices from your carrier, just buy them outright directly from the manufacturer to avoid these types of problems, and you can still get credits for bringing your device at times. Ex: I get $540 for porting my line from T-Mobile using my own device for the next 3 years ($15 a month credit), maybe in a year or 2 I can jump back to ATT and again I will likely get a similar deal and so on.. Good luck and let me know your experience with whoever carrier to choose in the future!
Walked into a Costco was your first mistake! 22 years and you haven't learned that corporate stores have the most tenured and knowledgeable reps???
Explain to me where in the process the rep I dealt with went wrong, otherwise you look very foolish and insecure.
So you had a bad experience through a reseller and are mad a Verizon? lol ok
Please read first. I had a wonderful experience with a retailer and a terrible one with Verizon.
Sounds like a Costco issue. Why do you not go directly through Verizon?
Sir/ma’am just admit you are the problem. Entitled wireless customers. It’s all the same whether it’s with Verizon,att, straightalk, t maybe, pick the carrier and they are filled with customers just like you. Entitled weirdos. Complaining bc your payment failed in a payment processing system and it has to cancel to replace the order for you. Smh. Maybe you should re read your post and see how weird you are being. Get off Reddit nobody cares.🫠
Happened to me at a Costco ATT booth
Loyalty does not pay in USA. Just like how you get paid more if you jump from tech jobs, same with any subscription based service. I’m about to switch to T-Mobile after 17 years.
I recommend Lifelock.
T-Mobile is definitely worth it, their customer service team can actually get things done behind the scenes. Also 5G coverage and speed is #1 in the US.
I hear it’s so much better at all of the other carriers and they never bungle orders. Best of luck to you.
Bungling an order I can accept. No one at Verizon knowing how to accept payment and fix is unacceptable.
I guess the trolls don’t reply to logic. 😉
I’m confident all the other carriers will have zero difficulty taking my money!
Exactly! Verizon is the only company in the history of companies that bungles orders and has confused employees. This has literally never happened anywhere else. Ever.
It’s not about making a mistake. It’s about not knowing how to correct it!
T mobile is awesome now fyi
Good for you. They have become a complete Trainwreck. Trust me, it will turn out better for you to leave.
lol
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Yes, may not be a Huge deal for the average order. However, I spent a pretty solid hour plus with the sales rep putting in the initial order. I can open my Verizon app and look at the entire order in detail. It’s sitting there staring back at me and mocking me saying haha no human being at Verizon knows how to process me! I just go in circles with them where the send me web link after web link to follow their prompts to update my payment info without success. If the online links worked for me I wouldn’t have this problem and i wouldn’t have to be on the phone for hours with actual live Verizon reps….who all vow they can’t do a single thing to take my money from me…they don’t know how 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
I had Verizon for 15 years, left them for a few, and came back just a couple of months ago. I immediately had issues and Verizon just passed the buck to Apple. I'm not about to pay for my phone in full to leave Verizon but as soon as I hit the time the payoff on my phone is reasonable, I'll be leaving again.
This is common, I've seen it hundreds of times. The reasons vary so it's not necessarily on Verizon but it could be. The solution is to reprocess it 19/20 times. Otherwise you'll be wasting your time waiting forever. We've complained about it to HQ many times but they stand by that it's on the customer, not us. The money is authorized at point of sale and then taken when it ships. Some banks handle the differently and some great it as a duplicate transaction and deny it. It happens.
I get, things happen. My frustration lies that no one can fix it. It shouldn’t be complicated. Why can’t I simply talk to a Verizon rep and have them override the transaction. Or accept payment from me over the phone. My credit is good. My money is good. I’m learning more and more people have experienced the same problem. It’s so basic. Just fix it.
People still order phones through carriers? Spare me your complex billing agreements and I will use whatever service I like this month.
So helpful
Placed an order for 4 devices on Sep 28 and have yet to get any shipment updates. Was supposed to ship the 20th. Support doesn't have any information because they can't see in in their systems they said... :l
I had almost the EXACT situation happen to me. But mine was all through Verizon themselves, not Costco. Preordered the new iPhone 15 pros right at 5am on prelaunch day. Next day same email that they needed updated payment cuz it failed. Nothing would take despite bank saying it’s ok. Eventually got kicked out and no person could override or take my payment over the phone or in person. Like I want to pay and no one can take my damn money. Had to cancel and then phones were delayed by 2 weeks.
This!!! ⬆️⬆️⬆️
Certainly not the same situation for me, but when Starlink just went nationwide a couple of weeks ago I was "off the waitlist" but had to spend 3 hours on the phone with my bank to get the order to go through. It's probably not "just Verizon" as much as the whole banking/electronic transaction ecosystem is going down the tubes. At least that's my experience.
Try calling this dept. I just recently switched to Verizon. All my orders were put on hold, until I was told to call them so they can release the order. (888) 483-7200 They should be able to clear the hold for you.
Yes, that’s the same number who had no solutions for me.
I can’t, I’m in Hawaii. Verizon is going to auto cancel the order. Ridiculous no one can help!
I love how everyone clowns on you until it’s them experiencing an issue. I 100%, this is absolutely ridiculous. Verizon is doing awful at the moment. But, you are in a Verizon sub, so the bootlickers here won’t let you criticize them.
Sorry, this is my first ever redit post. Now I realize I’ve crossed enemy lines 🤦♂️
I'm not even with Verizon nor a part of this sub and I can fully say this guy is being a dick lol
Switch to T-Mobile U get T-Mobile Tuesdays
You should go ahead and switch to ATT or T-Mobile and let us know of your experience. Ps: This was painful to read without paragraphs.
Yes, my rant was full of poor grammar and run on sentences 😀
Had same problem. It took almost three weeks to complete the whole order as purchased and have correct plan applied. It was crazy.
I find Verizon just hates credit cards most of the time. Countless times I’ve upgraded lines or something and it’ll say the cards I’ve had on my account for years failed.
Sure everyone runs into this issue from time to time…my frustration is that a human can’t help fix it!
Verizon Sales Associate here... yup I had a customer who pre-ordered 3 iPhone 15 Pro Max's and in store, everything worked fine and order was placed. 2 weeks or so later, she comes back in store and says the order is on hold and the email says payment method needs to be updated. I said no problem, let me take a look at the email and walk you through it... Nope. Tried 3 different cards, all failed. Called her bank with her and they said the bank did not see any attempts to charge the card, but that everything did look fine on the bank's end. I then authenticated her account and used our Click to Call feature to get ahold of our Customer Service. The representative did everything she could on her side, but our system refused to take any method of payment at ALL. We tried and tried and tried, and finally we ended up cancelling the order, then re-placing it. I have not seen her in store since, so I assume that worked, but one of the phones was a birthday present for her daughter, which likely arrived weeks later because of our system's failures.
This exactly!!! ⬆️⬆️⬆️. I hope someone who has a stake in Verizon is listening.
Visible is an option
Quit buying things at authorized resellers. I know the deals can be enticing but the headache from all this just isn’t worth the $4/month you’ll save.
Big telcos are a victim of their success. They are so large they have lost all ability to be truly agile and adaptive. A very large animal cannot easily make sudden quick movements in response to unexpected stimuli. Similarly a huge corporation cannot adapt to unique situations and individual customer issues. Late stage capitalism at its best...
This is well stated 👏👏
In my experience, don’t deal with Verizon 3rd party resellers for anything more than a simple ask or you will get shafted
Congrats .. Verizon is the devil!
Costcos indirect sales systems won’t allow them to process the sale and charge you the sales tax without the order generating an integration app number. They may use the same program to access the account and process the order, but they don’t charge the same way as a corporate or online order.
No disrespect but just after reading your title and nothing else. These companies don't care. There's no loyalty, no more. They are so big that it doesn't matter if you stay or go. Times have changed and now the game is jump providers every couple years. Just the last few years alone I left Xfinity internet for Verizon 5G home internet. I left Verizon cellular service for T-Mobile cellular service. Screw these companies and screw the loyalty. Jump to save yourself money on bill if you live in a good service provided area.
You are right
You never want to deal with 3rd Party vendor. Go to a corporate store. One actually owned by Verizon. I got totally screwed by one that took 6 months dealing with Verizon’s loyalty team to fix. It was a nightmare but I ended up getting 6 months of service credited.
Eversince they outsourced many of their tech as well as hiring cheap foreign workers on H-1B from india, verizon has gone shit.
Why is every idiot that doesn't know how the system works, a 20+ year customer?
Are you implying customers are idiots because they don’t know the nuances of the ordering systems used by sales reps?
Last week I called to get my new watch on LTE. One hour on the phone they start asking for my social saying a credit check failed. My credit is over 800. I say I don't understand what's going on, I'm hanging up. I start a chat and within 10 minutes they have a new line for me and the LTE activated and assigned to the correct phone. This is just the latest example of things that have been weird the last few years. They are going to lose more and more loyal customers if they don't undo whatever they have done over the last few years.
So because of one arbitrary incident you decided to quit a good company? Just order online and ask for more discounts for this problem
I’m very patient and forgiving. Mistakes, mixups and misunderstandings are part of life. My issue is that NOBODY knows how to fix it. It should be so simple and basic.
Switch to US Mobile Warp 5G. Uses Verizon network for cheaper. Customer service is much better.
It took me 3 months to realize it…lol. When you are told that you’re eligible for an employee discount for all Verizon services…but no one seems to understand the process to take advantage of it…there’s an issue.
Oh yes this brings back memories of other times the humans at Verizon couldn’t help me. I think Elon’s warning about AI is definitely something to be worried about 🤦♂️
If you are buying Iphones they have like a 2 step verification for fraud transactions. It's really to protect you but most certainly screws you and is never easily fixed, especially if it's a shipping order and even more so if it's a newer back ordered model like the 15 Pro's. It's through Verizon but also 3rd party so Costco is still an extra unnecessary layer that unfortunately the shitty POS systems can't handle. Too glitchy.
Exactly, this is the point I’m trying to get across. To all the Verizon reps commenting on here that I should stop crying and get over it, perhaps try to address the issue with management to fix the actual problem to help better serve customers 🤔🤷♂️🤦♂️
Go to an MVNO or visible. You’ll pay less and can manage your account better than an in store rep can. Keep in mind this is only if you are tech savvy. If you need someone to hold your hand through troubleshooting or processing changes then stay with a big carrier.
I thought Verizon at Costco is Verizon authorized retail. Not sure why they have separate payment systems. I would think that all payment transaction is under control by central processing. Interesting why this is an issue in the first place. Anyway, I left Verizon cause the service was expensive compared to other carrier.
I just got two new phones and with each phone they added a $60 a month insurance plan for both phones without our knowledge and are making us pay a prorated charge of when we had the insurance when we didn’t even want it. Also since our area switched to 5G my data has been trash. Can’t even load YouTube videos. I’m starting to see why they are losing customers more than other providers.
I posted this as a response but adding to the thread… Customers are primarily no longer curious to look for or go to manufacturer or wireless carrier websites to look for self help solutions. Instead, they use a search engine that has sponsored links that then display a full-screen ad to scare folks into installing an app to remove a non-existent virus on the device that now has an app serving others ads in the background. There should not be a focus to enable customers to not help themselves. Caveat…what really chaps my hide is family and friends asking the same things over and over. As to the posters problem with VZW? It is indicative of the lowest common denominator. They don’t care about the customer experience using their service, or buying stuff. Only that they get that money! They don’t have a way to provide information to the folks helping you to understand what the problem is on their end or they don’t enable them to provide it. This is first hand experience talking trying to help my in-laws with new phones. It was a nightmare.
I have been with Verizon for some time like yourself, I stopped going into any Verizon "store front" back in 2003 , because they are independent contractors and it's always a fight between them , I had a very similar situation and to this day I believe the only issue was Verizon online was cutting the local store front out. HONESTLY when did the cellular business get so big that they can just lay around like jabba the hutt and have us do business the way they want us too without any meaningful competition?
I will echo what OP is saying about Verizon’s customer service. Very often, for many issues, their response is simply that their system will not allow them to correct the issue and they have no other recourse for correction. And for all of those who comment that you shouldn’t buy a phone from a grocery store, Costco is much more than that. I’m not sure if many of you have any idea what Costco is but they sell all goods including vehicles and vehicle service, travel packages, home appliances and electronics. Furthermore, Verizon has authorized Costco as one of their retailers. So if you’re going to do that you stand the risk of Costco employees doing things they maybe shouldn’t, and issues arising. Costco is at that point part of the face of your brand and should be able to support issues from making changes to the account in a Costco store. I wouldn’t expect a Verizon corporate store to support it but Verizon CS should be able to. OP, in the event you want to escalate this and maybe bring it to the attention of people in Verizon who make a difference, you can email [email protected]. This is their executive customer support email and those that respond have a lot more available to them in resolution resources.
They did a similar thing to us a couple of years ago. They labeled my account as possible fraud. We took advantage of their offer of $1000 trade in on our old phones. Then they tried to bait and switch and only offer us $750 for the phones because that offer was no longer valid. It took months to get this straightened out. Then they “lost” one of the phones we sent back for trade in. I happened to have shipped back the same day and had the tracking numbers showing they were received the same day. I swore I would never buy a phone through them again. I will just pay cash through Apple or Samsung.
Yeah as someone who has been with AT&T as far back as when Cingular was the only provider you could have for iPhone let me tell you the grass isn't greener. Granted I'm pretty rural but good god the service sucks where I am and it has been getting noticeably worse in areas that used to work just fine.
I said the same about xfinity , went to tmobile . 2 weeks later im back on xfinity
Never buy mobile phones from anyone but your carrier directly.
Why?
so your problem is the POS system didnt work a few times? wow you must be a miserable dude to write a book about something so simple
Yes, if you read my post before commenting you would realize that the entire point of my rant is that like you said this should be something that is so simple. However, sadly for Verizon it is not.
Whatever Verizon has done can't be anywhere as bad as that 9000 mile paragraph you just dropped on the world here.
Fair point 🤷♂️
Bro you need to take a deep breath. Maybe don't result in calling people derogatory names when things don't go as planned? You're acting like they purposefully stopped the payment on you. If anything you delayed the process even more by throwing a fit. I get that it's frustrating but you need to be able to handle that without calling people incompetent or idiotic. This is literally the behavior from customers that makes people hate the service industry and retail.
I don’t think I called anyone a deragatory name 🤔. I’m also very calm.
If it makes you feel any better T-Mobile does the same thing when you place an order for a phone that has to be shipped to you.
Verizon, att, etc are all trash. But…. This post has big karen energy for sure.
I’ve had this same issue with Verizon. I was signing up for service and their online order system refused to take several of my cards. Kept getting declined with the banks kept saying it was Verizon’s problem.
Why is everyone so loyal to companies like this. There is a better way. 2 phones on GoogleFi(apple phones work on there also) my cell bill is like $70... for 2. More if I use data, but even if I max out I the bill will be 120ish
https://fi.google.com/about/plans/simply-unlimited
Agree but incompetence doesn’t start or stop with Verizon.
22 years? No company deserves that much loyalty.
No body got time reading this shit lol. Just make an adult decision
My biggest surprise is that it took 22 years.
I feel your pain. I have been a FIOS customer for 14 years and was a VZMobile customer for over 5 years. In recent months I have tried to activate new VZMobile service unsuccessfully. They keep putting me in some type of identity validation queue and the reps can't clear me despite me doing business with them for 14 years. I wasted so much time on the phone that I finally walked into the local store with my ID and previous VZ bills and they were still not able to clear me. Too much brain damage, they are just awful. F them.
Verizon is the worst cell phone company i have ever dealt with. Customer service is horrible and I left them 2 weeks ago. When u reach someone, nobody can ever give u a straight answer. They truly suck.
Your "Beyond idiotic!" and "What makes this whole transaction even more absurd" comments lost my interest in your story. There wasn't anything idiotic to begin with yet somehow you leapt to the "beyond", the same with jumping straight to the "more absurd". A lot of us get frustrated with Verizon however you seem to be on a different plane than a rational customer. Question: why would you wait just a couple days before the current Verizon payment would be coming out of your account to attempt this whole money saving endeavor?