Thursday, February 03, 2011

On Buying a Verizon iPhone in the Middle of the Night


Well, that could've gone more smoothly.

First, I had logged in as an existing customer and was going through the web site process attempting to upgrade my phone on my line to the iPhone.   The iPhone never showed up in the list of available phones.  After 3AM, Apple showed up in the drop-down menu as a manufacturer, but it was grayed out.

I noticed with interest the Droid Star Wars R2-D2 phone, which was available for only $99 after all discounts.  I wished I didn't have my heart set on the iPhone, because that would be way cool! Which brings me to this, which my friend Jenn sent me on Facebook:



"But I want the iPhone."

Then, I logged in through the link Verizon gave me in my e-mail.  That got me right in, and I went through the screens, but at the screen where it asked for billing and shipping address, I hit a glitch.  Nothing I put in would allow me to continue.  It just kept giving me an error: "Billing and credit card addresses must match."  WTF?  I was stuck.

By then, then poor Melanie was awake due to my grumbling.  She called customer service at my behest, only to get the recording saying their agents weren't available at this ungodly hour, and they wouldn't have any information about the iPhone anyway, and to log into verizonwireless.com for more information.  Thanks.

Then she whipped out her iPad, logged in, and walked right through the order process while I struggled with the same process on my Macbook Air.  My theory is there was a glitch with Firefox at the address screens that didn't affect Safari.

Meanwhile, I couldn't figure out why the price didn't change anywhere in the process, because I was eligible for a New Every Two phone.  I know they discontinued the plan, but it still applies to existing customers and applies to the iPhone, as noted here in their FAQ: http://support.vzw.com/faqs/iphone/iphone_faq.html

Will existing customers be able to redeem their New Every Two credit?
Yes, existing customers will be able to take advantage of their New Every Two credit if eligible, and use it towards the purchase of iPhone 4 (may not be available at all agent locations).
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I sent Verizon an e-mail about both of these issues.  More news as it develops.  The important thing though is I HAVE A CONFIRMATION NUMBER!  :-)  Now let's see if I can get some ZZZZZ's.

2 comments:

Hank Dolben said...

http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20110203/verizon-upholds-tradition-of-bumpy-iphone-launch/

Unknown said...

And why could this same process not have taken place at 8:00 AM?