Verizon NOT Honoring Unlimited Data Plan for Online Orders Not Activated Before 7/7

[AirGear]

Hello everyone,

I hate to start my first post with this, but I want to inform everyone with what I just found out.

I bought a phone on wirefly.com on 7/4 and obviously it wasn't shipped until 7/5. I get it 2 days later and when I activated it on 7/7, everything worked fine...... until I log onto my verizon online account and see that I was placed into the dreaded 2GB TIERED DATA PLAN.

I called Verizon directly and they said it has to be activated before 7/7 and that even though it was ordered before then, it doesn't count. (People who bought phones from Vzw.com directly are fine though cause they activate right away.. so the rep said.)

So this puts potentially a lot of people who ordered during the big cell phone promo weekend of 7/1 extending to 7/6 at risk. I would think that anyone who ordered in 7/1 afternoon online didn't get their phone shipped out until after the holiday weekend on 7/5. And most people won't get their phone until 7/7 or after. Some of you may not know this yet but please check your online account at your desktop to see the full details.

RESOLUTION?????
So how do we resolve this? I mean I could've went to the store directly before 7/7 and got a phone (at a higher price) instead if I had known this. Now we are left without unlimited data and wasted opportunities.

The thing is, there will most likely be a lot of people who ordered online from websites other than verizon's own that are in the same situation between 7/1-7/6. Does Verizon want thousands of angry customers calling and CANCELING their service to go to Sprint or any other provider?

What are everyone's thoughts on this?

 

[tcrews]

It was known you had to have the phone with data activated before the 7th, not just purchased or ordered. Not really much you can do because you weren't grandfathered in. New activations starting on July 7th, 2011 will only have tiered data plans.

Sent from my Viewsonic 10" GTab...CM7 style...

 

[AirGear]

It was known you had to have the phone with data activated before the 7th, not just purchased or ordered. Not really much you can do because you weren't grandfathered in. New activations starting on July 7th, 2011 will only have tiered data plans.

Sent from my Viewsonic 10" GTab...CM7 style...

I understand, but let me explain. The problem is MANY web retailers including wirefly, Amazon, letstalk etc all were selling the $29.99 unlimited plan up until 7/6 as far as I know. The phones usually ships UNactivated and shipping takes a few days.

So they were basically selling something that wasn't going to be available? I mean the tiered plans weren't even shown or listed as an option. How can these companies sell you A and give you B when you get it?

Between 7/1-7/6, I wonder how many Verizon smartphones were sold by those large online retailers?

 

[305rev305]

It was known you had to have the phone with data activated before the 7th, not just purchased or ordered. Not really much you can do because you weren't grandfathered in. New activations starting on July 7th, 2011 will only have tiered data plans.

Sent from my Viewsonic 10" GTab...CM7 style...

I understand, but let me explain. The problem is MANY web retailers including wirefly, Amazon, letstalk etc all were selling the $29.99 unlimited plan up until 7/6 as far as I know. The phones usually ships UNactivated and shipping takes a few days.

So they were basically selling something that wasn't going to be available? I mean the tiered plans weren't even shown or listed as an option. How can these companies sell you A and give you B when you get it?

Between 7/1-7/6, I wonder how many Verizon smartphones were sold by those large online retailers?

Good point. U should explain that to Verizon and hopefully they will understand.

 

[brad92]

Good luck, but I doubt Verizon will do anything. They could care less about you since you didn't order from them (this is based off personal experience).

sent from my ApeX

 

[AirGear]

Good point. U should explain that to Verizon and hopefully they will understand.

Yeah I'm waiting for a call back from them. Between that 5 day period, thousands must have been sold due to the promotions. None of them could ship until 7/5. So there are potentially thousands of angry customers thats going to call when they get their bill.

 

[dezymond]

It was known you had to have the phone with data activated before the 7th, not just purchased or ordered. Not really much you can do because you weren't grandfathered in. New activations starting on July 7th, 2011 will only have tiered data plans.

Sent from my Viewsonic 10" GTab...CM7 style...

I understand, but let me explain. The problem is MANY web retailers including wirefly, Amazon, letstalk etc all were selling the $29.99 unlimited plan up until 7/6 as far as I know. The phones usually ships UNactivated and shipping takes a few days.

So they were basically selling something that wasn't going to be available? I mean the tiered plans weren't even shown or listed as an option. How can these companies sell you A and give you B when you get it?

Between 7/1-7/6, I wonder how many Verizon smartphones were sold by those large online retailers?

If you knew this then the order should've been placed sooner. Verizon honored their word and gave their new customers unlimited plans before the 7th.

You have no reason to be upset with Verizon or any company you bought the phone from online if you were already aware of the possible extra days it takes to get the phone unactivated.

 

[Rento]

I don't see why OP is shocked or mad... I mean, we had like a months notice of this whole tiered thing. OP should of had Japan ship overnight.

Good luck, but I doubt Verizon will do anything. They could care less about you since you didn't order from them (this is based off personal experience).

sent from my ApeX

QFT.
x2.
This.

OP got screwed by the system.

If you knew this then the order should've been placed sooner. Verizon honored their word and gave their new customers unlimited plans before the 7th.

You have no reason to be upset with Verizon or any company you bought the phone from online if you were already aware of the possible extra days it takes to get the phone unactivated.

This made me kinda giggle...

 

[captain howdy]

It was known you had to have the phone with data activated before the 7th, not just purchased or ordered. Not really much you can do because you weren't grandfathered in. New activations starting on July 7th, 2011 will only have tiered data plans.

Sent from my Viewsonic 10" GTab...CM7 style...

I understand, but let me explain. The problem is MANY web retailers including wirefly, Amazon, letstalk etc all were selling the $29.99 unlimited plan up until 7/6 as far as I know. The phones usually ships UNactivated and shipping takes a few days.

So they were basically selling something that wasn't going to be available? I mean the tiered plans weren't even shown or listed as an option. How can these companies sell you A and give you B when you get it?

Between 7/1-7/6, I wonder how many Verizon smartphones were sold by those large online retailers?

Sounds like you need to get a lawyer and go after the company that sold you the phone. the problem you seem to have is with them not Verizon.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using DroidForums

 

[Rento]

Sounds like you need to get a lawyer and go after the company that sold you the phone. the problem you seem to have is with them not Verizon.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using DroidForums

Not even that either... There are things called shipping options. Overnight would have been wise.

Also, lets open up to some conspiracy!!! :icon_ banana:

WireFly knew people would fall into this category as the OP, popular phone, buyers have a short deadline giving more impulse. More impulse equals more revenue regardless of the buyer's outcome as they are/will be SOL. Smart buyers would pay premium for overnight shipping, more revenue!

It's genius marketing.

 

[AirGear]

If you knew this then the order should've been placed sooner. Verizon honored their word and gave their new customers unlimited plans before the 7th.

You have no reason to be upset with Verizon or any company you bought the phone from online if you were already aware of the possible extra days it takes to get the phone unactivated.

Hmm.. when did I say I was mad @ verizon? If anything more at wirefly.

And why are you folks assuming that we all knew this months ahead? Not everyone goes on tech forums everyday. A lot of people actually don't know this and are now trying to research. Not every customer keeps up with what Verizon is going to do in the future. I did not know this until 7/4 when I was on slickdeals looking for discount listings. This was when all the retailers online were still selling the unlimited plan.


Also, the retailers were selling the $29.99 UNLIMITED DATA PLAN up until 7/6, knowing it won't be activated until after 7/7. You guys seriously think there is nothing wrong with that?? :huh:

There was no choice for the tiered data plans or any heads up. So basically they sold people something that wasn't going to be available by the time they received it in the mail.

 

[Beka27]

It was known you had to have the phone with data activated before the 7th, not just purchased or ordered. Not really much you can do because you weren't grandfathered in. New activations starting on July 7th, 2011 will only have tiered data plans.

Sent from my Viewsonic 10" GTab...CM7 style...

I understand, but let me explain. The problem is MANY web retailers including wirefly, Amazon, letstalk etc all were selling the $29.99 unlimited plan up until 7/6 as far as I know. The phones usually ships UNactivated and shipping takes a few days.

So they were basically selling something that wasn't going to be available? I mean the tiered plans weren't even shown or listed as an option. How can these companies sell you A and give you B when you get it?

Between 7/1-7/6, I wonder how many Verizon smartphones were sold by those large online retailers?

They were simply advertising it because that was the CURRENT plan. The unlimited plan was not technically theirs to "sell" because you are still going thru Verizon for your service and contract terms. If you were to glance thru all of the fine print on your 3rd party paperwork, I'd bet you money that somewhere it says (in fancy legal speak): "promotional plans and pricing based on carriers availability".

The fact that the data plan had to be activated by 11:59 on 7/6/11 was VERY well-publicized... Shipping time should have been taken into consideration...

 

[UrbanBounca]

I recently read a thread on HoFo about this exact problem, but they eventually honored the order.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1723709


Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

 

[AirGear]

Not even that either... There are things called shipping options. Overnight would have been wise.

Also, lets open up to some conspiracy!!! :icon_ banana:

WireFly knew people would fall into this category as the OP, popular phone, buyers have a short deadline giving more impulse. More impulse equals more revenue regardless of the buyer's outcome as they are/will be SOL. Smart buyers would pay premium for overnight shipping, more revenue!

It's genius marketing.

I'm not mad at Verizon, but as a result of wirefly's false advertisement, I will most likely end up canceling my account that has been running with verizon for 7 years. I made the purchase based on them listing the unlimited plan as the option. There was no tiered plan option. Now they want to give me something I didn't order.

There was no indication that the phones needs to be activated before 7/7. A lot of you are assuming that I or we knew this ahead of time. We didn't.

This also goes beyond wirefly. Amazon was selling this unlimited plan through out the long weekend as well. So what gives?

 

[305rev305]

If you knew this then the order should've been placed sooner. Verizon honored their word and gave their new customers unlimited plans before the 7th.

You have no reason to be upset with Verizon or any company you bought the phone from online if you were already aware of the possible extra days it takes to get the phone unactivated.

Hmm.. when did I say I was mad @ verizon? If anything more at wirefly.

And why are you folks assuming that we all knew this months ahead? Not everyone goes on tech forums everyday. A lot of people actually don't know this and are now trying to research. Not every customer keeps up with what Verizon is going to do in the future. I did not know this until 7/4 when I was on slickdeals looking for discount listings. This was when all the retailers online were still selling the unlimited plan.


Also, the retailers were selling the $29.99 UNLIMITED DATA PLAN up until 7/6, knowing it won't be activated until after 7/7. You guys seriously think there is nothing wrong with that?? :huh:

There was no choice for the tiered data plans or any heads up. So basically they sold people something that wasn't going to be available by the time they received it in the mail.

U are 100% right. 98% of the people do not use forums so they wouldn't know tiered data will come. If I ordered the phone online and it let me choose unlimited I would expect to get it!!