When is a free phone not a free phone? Probably whenever you don't get the free-phone promise in writing first.
Jill Goldman of Canton says Verizon Wireless pledged a new Droid Razor for her son in March after her son's phone — already a "certified" replacement for new Droid X that malfunctioned less than a year after she bought it in late 2010 — started turning off randomly.
"I was surprised that they would honor my request [for a new phone] but grateful nonetheless," she says.
All it cost her, she assumed, was extending her contact two years. Verizon shipped out the phone, which worked flawlessly, and everyone was happy — until Goldman checked her bill online in early April and noticed a $233 equipment charge. Now, with Goldman's mood somewhat south of "happy," she called Verizon and was told the new phone was marked on her account. The "free" element was not.
Goldman says a manager told her she could have returned the phone within 14 days for a "certified" replacement. Goldman, finished with "certified" phones, said no way. The manager then said it was too late anyway — the 14-day return period had passed. She'd have to pay the bill.
When Goldman contacted The Bottom Line in mid-April, she was suffering from Droid Rage: "I am ready to cancel my account and go to another carrier as well as take legal action."
Well, good luck with that. Canceling a wireless-phone contract is always costly, no matter how you do it.
"Clearly," she says, "it is my word against theirs. I say this without hesitation that there is no way I would have agreed to pay any additional money for a phone. "
Next, Goldman tried the Verizon call center in Wilmington, N.C., which told her the charge was actually for her son's first replacement phone. Verizon sent out a shipping label and Goldman returned the phone. But her account was never credited.
In mid-April, Goldman called Verizon yet again, talked to a different person and received a different explanation. Her electronic signature back in March, ostensibly for the "free" Droid X, actually authorized payment for the phone.
"I told him the only thing I authorized was the extension of my contract by two years," she says.
Already, Goldman had spent almost $700 on two phones — for her son and daughter — that both malfunctioned and were replaced. She didn't want to spend anything more on another phone, new or certified. But Verizon said the $233 charge was final.
"The most frustrating part of all this lies in being unable to speak with the same person each time you call," she says. "Equally frustrating is that it's my word against theirs."
That's why it's so important to never sign an agreement without reading it, understanding it and, if needed, questioning it. Without a notation that the replacement phone was, indeed, free, each subsequent Verizon representative was left to enforce the contract and company policy.
We'll file this one under "misunderstanding." When TBL contacted Verizon, it moved quickly to resolve Goldman's problem. By late April, her account was credited $233. The replacement phone was now, officially, free.
"Truthfully," says Goldman, "I didn't think this was going to end in my favor. I'm amazed and pleased that they honored their pledge regarding customer satisfaction. Thank you for putting a speedy end to this monthlong headache and major source of stress."
Postcript: A Dance-Lesson Refund
Sally Lord of Avon, whose troubles getting a refund from the Steps in Time dance studio in Canton for unused lessons were chronicled in a Bottom Line column in late April, finally got her money back.
Lord says the studio mailed a check for $500 a little more than a week later, ending her efforts of more than a year to get the remainder of $2,295 she spent on 30 pre-paid, discounted ballroom dance lessons. She asked for a refund in March 2011 before taking a single lesson for medical and personal reasons.
A year later, Lord had received only $1,795.
"Since I didn't think I would see any money, I am happy to have the check," says Lord. "I also have definitely learned not to purchase many lessons in advance no matter how much money one can save per lesson."
Unlike a health club, whose members are protected by a Guaranty Fund administered by the state Department of Consumer Protection, a dance studio could move or close and leave its members with nothing.
Buy dance lessons in bulk at your own risk.
