Any Advice on Replacing Bad Verizon Phone?

[Belle & Ariel]

We have been Verizon customers about 5 years and mostly pleased.
I am very unhappy though with their policy on replacing phones.
We had been with T Mobile over 10 years and when we wanted a new phone could go to Target or Walmart and buy a pay as you go phone, put our sim card in, and we had a new phone on our account.
With Verizon you cannot do this--you have to have a pay as you go phone active for 6 months to make it a plan phone.
My son's phone has gone haywire. The backlight does not shut off when a call ends meaning he has to charge it 2x a day. The star, 0 and pound will not work. All his contacts have disappeared. When a call comes in, the phone rings and then shuts off.
We went to the Verizon store and the girl opened it and said there was no water or physical damage but since we did not get insurance we are out of luck. It will be $300 to buy a new phone or we can extend our contract another 2 years (it now ends Nov. 2013). I wonder how many phones we would have to replace between now and then!!!
We could buy the phone he has as a prepaid at Walmart with airtime loaded for $80. I explained how T Mobile and At&T let you do this and feel Verizon is very greedy charging $300. This is the third phone to go bad through Verizon over the years and we have always extended but I am tired of doing that and cannot understand how they keep customers when they are so behind the competition.
When we switched from T Mobile our bill went up $50 a month. We have better coverage so I am okay with that, but now having so many junk phones that we have to pay so much more than what we would at the competition just infuriates me and makes me want to not buy another overpriced phone or extend my contract.
Any ideas on what to do or someone at Verizon who can help?

 

[pixiewings71]

Go on eBay and buy a new phone, or find anyone else with Verizon who has an old phone they aren't using, any Verizon phone can be activated with his number. Also, be very aware that Verizon has a 1 year return policy for defective phones, unless it got wet (which you say she verified had not happened), DBF had a phone that kept randomly turning off, it turned out the battery was loose so we took it back and he got a brand new phone. Go back!!

 

[starry_solo]

Go on eBay and buy a new phone, or find anyone else with Verizon who has an old phone they aren't using, any Verizon phone can be activated with his number. Also, be very aware that Verizon has a 1 year return policy for defective phones, unless it got wet (which you say she verified had not happened), DBF had a phone that kept randomly turning off, it turned out the battery was loose so we took it back and he got a brand new phone. Go back!!

Go back! I agree. 1 yr warranty on defective phones.

 

[DIS-OH]

I checked with my daughter who is a Verizon Wireless customer service rep (at a Real Verizon store, not at an authorized retailer).

She said:

If phone is less than 1 year old, take it back. It has a 1 year manufacturer's warranty.


If phone is more than a year old, check for a new phone on verizonwireless.com. Prices on website can be lower than in stores. Or, check eBay for a used phone of the same model. Neither of these options should require a contract extension.

She did say the $300 replacement cost sounded too high...but she is in a different area than you are.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

My DH's went bad after about 14 months...we just got another one off eBay. It seemed to be the cheapest option. I think it ended up being under $50.

 

[jahexom]

Also check Facebook buy/sell pages. We have bought phones from that source and they were fine.

 

[debbiemomto4]

My ds touch screen went bad on his phone that was almost 2years old . Took it to Verizon store they said it was the defective ordered us a new one and it shipped to our house not through asurion. Try a different Verizon store or call 611 and ask them.