My Verizon GN3 Nightmare

[urielsynthesis]

Long-winded post incoming.

I recieved my GN3 by mail on Thursday. I set it up using the SIM that came inside it, and everything including 4G worked fine. The next morning (Friday) I grab it and head off to work, and notice the whole way there that it is acting strangely. The Note will not connect to any network. Mostly it just shows a circle with a line through it, every once in a while flashing a couple of grey bars for no more than a second before returning to the circle. It is also randomly and frequently rebooting itself, even when left alone in a drawer.

During my lunch break I head over to a Verizon store. They try running the SIM through activation on a different phone, then putting it back in my phone, and that doesn't work. They try activating a brand new SIM in another phone before transferring it to my phone, and that doesn't work either. The employee advised that I should exchange the phone, and directs me to some other locations that have it in stock. I called one of these stores, and actually got the the national customer service folks by mistake. They called this other store for me, and I was told that they had phones in stock to swap, but they WOULD NOT hold one for me.

This kind of irked me, and I realized right away that they wanted to sell all of their stock, and to hell with me if I wanted to do an exchange there. I work late so I sent a family member over there to exchange it for me. When she arrived, she was given this story about a master ticket being created for my issue, that it was affecting everyone and there was nothing they could do to help me. They said that it would happen with any other GN3, and that there was a company-wide block on exchanges until some sort of update was released to resolve the problem. They told her she could either return the phone for a refund, or wait for a fix. When I heard about this, I wondered how it is that they couldn't exchange the phone because it would happen with any of them, yet they could continue to sell them to new customers?

When I returned home that night and was reunited with my phone, to my surprised it could connect to 4G and make calls without a problem! So I get up the next morning and head off to work, and you can guess what happened next...

At this point, today Saturday morning, I've come to realize that the phone works only on my home tower that it was activated on. I returned to the nearby store during my lunch break again (the one that was always sold out). They now have a Razr M that they are using to fix this problem on all the Note owners' phones. They run my SIM through it and it doesn't work for me. Out of time, I return to work.

I come home tonight and call Verizon tech support. We get my old SIM from my Galaxy Nexus "reactivated" and put it in the GN3. It works fine of course, but we don't know if it will work when I leave this cell tower. I went out for a drive tonight and the exact same thing happened as soon as I got a few miles away. Exhausted from all of the stress, I return home and call tech support back (the sound of the phone randomly rebooting mocks me the whole way). By now I've tried three different SIMS, and done factory data restores at home and away from home with every SIM. So I ask if the SIM isn't the issue, and the phone isn't the issue, then what ties it to me? Because there are other note owners that are doing just fine while this problem allegedly just follows me around like a ghost. The tech agreed that the phone itself is DOA. They can send me a new phone but it wont arrive until Wednesday, and they will need me to pay for it as collateral until they receive my non-working unit. But here comes the juicy part!

There never was a master ticket as described to my family member by the store rep (the same store that wouldn't hold a phone for me with Verizon corporate on the line). He said that they never put a blackout on phone exchanges (unless, I suppose, the problem really were universal). He points out the 14 day worry free guarantee, and that the stores can lose their franchise privileges for denying an exchange during this period for any reason. I am going to try to find one in stock somewhere tomorrow before I call to accept the mail exchange. The tech tells me to get them on the phone while in the store if I get any pushback, so that they can ask about the existence of this master ticket and educate the store reps about the consequences of violating the 14 day guarantee.

I just hope at this point that I can find a black GN3 somewhere around here tomorrow, and that someone in some Verizon store gives me a reason to raise hell. Whatever happens I will definitely be filing a complaint to the BBB and to Verizon corporate about the store which has been running interference on resolving a Verizon customer's issue, to the point of outright lying to us.

The store that has been lying to me and refusing to help me is in Lynnhaven, Virginia Beach, VA, by the way.

Different stores and tech support reps have told me anecdotally that a number of people are reporting this problem, and I've been astonished to see no mention of it on Verizon's forum, this forum, or any other.

 

[buzzy3970]

Long-winded post incoming.

I recieved my GN3 by mail on Thursday. I set it up using the SIM that came inside it, and everything including 4G worked fine. The next morning (Friday) I grab it and head off to work, and notice the whole way there that it is acting strangely. The Note will not connect to any network. Mostly it just shows a circle with a line through it, every once in a while flashing a couple of grey bars for no more than a second before returning to the circle. It is also randomly and frequently rebooting itself, even when left alone in a drawer.

During my lunch break I head over to a Verizon store. They try running the SIM through activation on a different phone, then putting it back in my phone, and that doesn't work. They try activating a brand new SIM in another phone before transferring it to my phone, and that doesn't work either. The employee advised that I should exchange the phone, and directs me to some other locations that have it in stock. I called one of these stores, and actually got the the national customer service folks by mistake. They called this other store for me, and I was told that they had phones in stock to swap, but they WOULD NOT hold one for me.

This kind of irked me, and I realized right away that they wanted to sell all of their stock, and to hell with me if I wanted to do an exchange there. I work late so I sent a family member over there to exchange it for me. When she arrived, she was given this story about a master ticket being created for my issue, that it was affecting everyone and there was nothing they could do to help me. They said that it would happen with any other GN3, and that there was a company-wide block on exchanges until some sort of update was released to resolve the problem. They told her she could either return the phone for a refund, or wait for a fix. When I heard about this, I wondered how it is that they couldn't exchange the phone because it would happen with any of them, yet they could continue to sell them to new customers?

When I returned home that night and was reunited with my phone, to my surprised it could connect to 4G and make calls without a problem! So I get up the next morning and head off to work, and you can guess what happened next...

At this point, today Saturday morning, I've come to realize that the phone works only on my home tower that it was activated on. I returned to the nearby store during my lunch break again (the one that was always sold out). They now have a Razr M that they are using to fix this problem on all the Note owners' phones. They run my SIM through it and it doesn't work for me. Out of time, I return to work.

I come home tonight and call Verizon tech support. We get my old SIM from my Galaxy Nexus "reactivated" and put it in the GN3. It works fine of course, but we don't know if it will work when I leave this cell tower. I went out for a drive tonight and the exact same thing happened as soon as I got a few miles away. Exhausted from all of the stress, I return home and call tech support back (the sound of the phone randomly rebooting mocks me the whole way). By now I've tried three different SIMS, and done factory data restores at home and away from home with every SIM. So I ask if the SIM isn't the issue, and the phone isn't the issue, then what ties it to me? Because there are other note owners that are doing just fine while this problem allegedly just follows me around like a ghost. The tech agreed that the phone itself is DOA. They can send me a new phone but it wont arrive until Wednesday, and they will need me to pay for it as collateral until they receive my non-working unit. But here comes the juicy part!

There never was a master ticket as described to my family member by the store rep (the same store that wouldn't hold a phone for me with Verizon corporate on the line). He said that they never put a blackout on phone exchanges (unless, I suppose, the problem really were universal). He points out the 14 day worry free guarantee, and that the stores can lose their franchise privileges for denying an exchange during this period for any reason. I am going to try to find one in stock somewhere tomorrow before I call to accept the mail exchange. The tech tells me to get them on the phone while in the store if I get any pushback, so that they can ask about the existence of this master ticket and educate the store reps about the consequences of violating the 14 day guarantee.

I just hope at this point that I can find a black GN3 somewhere around here tomorrow, and that someone in some Verizon store gives me a reason to raise hell. Whatever happens I will definitely be filing a complaint to the BBB and to Verizon corporate about the store which has been running interference on resolving a Verizon customer's issue, to the point of outright lying to us.

The store that has been lying to me and refusing to help me is in Lynnhaven, Virginia Beach, VA, by the way.

Different stores and tech support reps have told me anecdotally that a number of people are reporting this problem, and I've been astonished to see no mention of it on Verizon's forum, this forum, or any other.

Wow that's sad to hear but the customer service rep is correct. You are within your 14 days and well within your rights to get it exchanged that day if they have them in stock. I wish you would have called customer service while you were in the store because they would've called the store and informed them on exchanging it. Been in a similar situation so I understand lol. Hope they don't give you and major problems tomorrow.

Sent from my SM-N900V using AC Forums mobile app

 

[blazin247]

I know it's too late at this point, but if at all possible in the future, buy your phone from Best Buy Mobile. Verizon corporate stores are the absolute worst cell pools of customer service that I've ever seen- and that's because of the managers, not the rep's who are usually just doing what they have to do. Verizon phone support is maybe a quarter of a notch above a cess pool. There are plenty of N3's around this area, so I'm sure you will be able to find a store with one available by calling ahead.

I ran into a bit of a hiccup when I received my phone, and while it was annoying, it was expected for the most part due to the circumstances (keeping unlimited with contract upgrade). I went to get my woman the Note 3 today, and the whole ordeal that went down with both in store and online customer service was probably against a number of Verizon corporate policies, FTC regulations, and was certainly the worst example of pettiness and customer service failure I've ever seen in my life.

With that said, the BBB is a joke. Report them on the Verizon website "Contact Us", and file a complaint with the FTC when the government quits the stupidity. If I were you, I'd even write my state AG and tell them about the ordeal.

 

[urielsynthesis]

Thank you for the advice.

Just for fun I hit up Samsung support chat about this. I got the expected "if it works in one place and not another, it's the network not the device". I of course had explained that the phone doesn't work AT ALL except on one tower, using multiple sims that work fine in other phones. I even told him that if the Galaxy Nexus gets a signal everywhere I go while having such poor radios, then there's no reason why the GN3 won't. lol

 

[blazin247]

I think you are vastly more patient than I. It's not our responsibility to troubleshoot a new phone for Verizon or Samsung. If it doesn't work, they should have given you a new one before you even walked out of the store end of story. We aren't talking about a six month old phone, it's 3 days old FFS.

 

[clevin]

Kudos to you, I would spit on their faces and tell them I am switching to other network when they bs to me.

 

[Grifter9931]

Long-winded post incoming.

I recieved my GN3 by mail on Thursday. I set it up using the SIM that came inside it, and everything including 4G worked fine. The next morning (Friday) I grab it and head off to work, and notice the whole way there that it is acting strangely. The Note will not connect to any network. Mostly it just shows a circle with a line through it, every once in a while flashing a couple of grey bars for no more than a second before returning to the circle. It is also randomly and frequently rebooting itself, even when left alone in a drawer.

During my lunch break I head over to a Verizon store. They try running the SIM through activation on a different phone, then putting it back in my phone, and that doesn't work. They try activating a brand new SIM in another phone before transferring it to my phone, and that doesn't work either. The employee advised that I should exchange the phone, and directs me to some other locations that have it in stock. I called one of these stores, and actually got the the national customer service folks by mistake. They called this other store for me, and I was told that they had phones in stock to swap, but they WOULD NOT hold one for me.

This kind of irked me, and I realized right away that they wanted to sell all of their stock, and to hell with me if I wanted to do an exchange there. I work late so I sent a family member over there to exchange it for me. When she arrived, she was given this story about a master ticket being created for my issue, that it was affecting everyone and there was nothing they could do to help me. They said that it would happen with any other GN3, and that there was a company-wide block on exchanges until some sort of update was released to resolve the problem. They told her she could either return the phone for a refund, or wait for a fix. When I heard about this, I wondered how it is that they couldn't exchange the phone because it would happen with any of them, yet they could continue to sell them to new customers?

When I returned home that night and was reunited with my phone, to my surprised it could connect to 4G and make calls without a problem! So I get up the next morning and head off to work, and you can guess what happened next...

At this point, today Saturday morning, I've come to realize that the phone works only on my home tower that it was activated on. I returned to the nearby store during my lunch break again (the one that was always sold out). They now have a Razr M that they are using to fix this problem on all the Note owners' phones. They run my SIM through it and it doesn't work for me. Out of time, I return to work.

I come home tonight and call Verizon tech support. We get my old SIM from my Galaxy Nexus "reactivated" and put it in the GN3. It works fine of course, but we don't know if it will work when I leave this cell tower. I went out for a drive tonight and the exact same thing happened as soon as I got a few miles away. Exhausted from all of the stress, I return home and call tech support back (the sound of the phone randomly rebooting mocks me the whole way). By now I've tried three different SIMS, and done factory data restores at home and away from home with every SIM. So I ask if the SIM isn't the issue, and the phone isn't the issue, then what ties it to me? Because there are other note owners that are doing just fine while this problem allegedly just follows me around like a ghost. The tech agreed that the phone itself is DOA. They can send me a new phone but it wont arrive until Wednesday, and they will need me to pay for it as collateral until they receive my non-working unit. But here comes the juicy part!

There never was a master ticket as described to my family member by the store rep (the same store that wouldn't hold a phone for me with Verizon corporate on the line). He said that they never put a blackout on phone exchanges (unless, I suppose, the problem really were universal). He points out the 14 day worry free guarantee, and that the stores can lose their franchise privileges for denying an exchange during this period for any reason. I am going to try to find one in stock somewhere tomorrow before I call to accept the mail exchange. The tech tells me to get them on the phone while in the store if I get any pushback, so that they can ask about the existence of this master ticket and educate the store reps about the consequences of violating the 14 day guarantee.

I just hope at this point that I can find a black GN3 somewhere around here tomorrow, and that someone in some Verizon store gives me a reason to raise hell. Whatever happens I will definitely be filing a complaint to the BBB and to Verizon corporate about the store which has been running interference on resolving a Verizon customer's issue, to the point of outright lying to us.

The store that has been lying to me and refusing to help me is in Lynnhaven, Virginia Beach, VA, by the way.

Different stores and tech support reps have told me anecdotally that a number of people are reporting this problem, and I've been astonished to see no mention of it on Verizon's forum, this forum, or any other.

About ten minutes ago that reputation for me being a reasonable and hassle free customer would end and it would be " On like Donkey Kong"... I would take the phone back to the store that gave you the "master ticket" and then call Verizon CS and have them explain to you in the store that entire "master ticket" issue. And they would have record etc, and have them deal with it at that point and then grab a store manager and explain that you will a formal complaint and hopefully they would get their Verizon Authorization suspended or taken away outright.

At least get names and file a formal complaint via Verizon, I wish you luck and hope it is taken care of tomorrow.

 

[anon(4664034)]

I live near there and go to that store too. I prefer the military circle store in Norfolk. Sorry to hear about your hassles.

 

[Beantown Bashers]

This kind of irked me, and I realized right away that they wanted to sell all of their stock, and to hell with me if I wanted to do an exchange there. I work late so I sent a family member over there to exchange it for me. When she arrived, she was given this story about a master ticket being created for my issue, that it was affecting everyone and there was nothing they could do to help me. They said that it would happen with any other GN3, and that there was a company-wide block on exchanges until some sort of update was released to resolve the problem. They told her she could either return the phone for a refund, or wait for a fix. When I heard about this, I wondered how it is that they couldn't exchange the phone because it would happen with any of them, yet they could continue to sell them to new customers?

Someone gave your relative bad information (confused situation with those having activation issues initially, or most likely MANAGER or COWORKER relayed bad information) Most I have run into have a problem with listening to concerns or issues that are raised and think they know it all, which only compounds the problem.

Only option they have when you walked through the door with complaint about the phone and could not resolve it with sim activation/swap was to exchange the PHONE.

I hope you are able to resolve this without more headaches and get to enjoy your phone....it's a really nice phone, sorry to hear your experience has been spoiled.

 

[ScottGeek]

It's sad to hear you had so much trouble... hope things work out for you! The key is to keep pounding on them and raise hell about them not honoring their commitment to the customer. Indeed, I've never walked into any Verizon store and ever had a sense that they were really interested in helping me with anything- beyond taking more money from me.

Given that, the last upgrade I did I went to Best Buy Mobility... easy friendly and helpful is what I came away with- and this was from what people inside Best Buy locally consider the store I went to, to be the worst store .... The 1st real test of Best Buy support came when a couple of months ago when I dropped my Note 2 into the Atlantic Ocean and water killed my phone- I went back to the same Best Buy and no questions asked... they processed my replacement and in couple of days I had a phone again. Yes, I did get their Geek whatever support for my phone (it's the only one that offers full replacement for everything)... The short of it... yes Best Buy has it's own quirks to deal with, but compared with dealing with Verizon lackies... ya. And no I don't have stock in Best Buy nor do I work for them... it's just my honest experience and opinion after dealing with both that Best Buy is a better choice....

~ScottGeek

 

[urielsynthesis]

Thank you again guys for the responses. I called the trouble store first today, despite them being far out of my way, because i wanted to make them resolve this. But they dont have it in stock, so I am going to another store that has it. The store that has it warned me that it might not activate. If another phone doesnt work then I think the problem is now tied to my phone number. I've seen another person on XNA have the same issue with 5 different GN3's in store. In that case I will ask for a temporary number until they can complete a network repair ticket on mine.

 

[yellowcanary73]

We had our credit card number stolen at the store in McKinney Tx. when we used it to purchase my wife 5s. Luckily we caught it before they spent to much it's in the hands of Verizon's and Mastercard fraud depts. So I won't be going back there I'm afraid if the guy was still there I might end up in jail.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[J HighNote]

Uriel, WOW, to be so excited to get such a great device and then have this trauma has to be devastating! Good luck, I hope it works out for you!

 

[urielsynthesis]

I spent about 3 hours at a Verizon store today.

What the store is seeing is that EVERY GN3 is having this issue unless it is a new phone number, or they upgraded from a GS3 specifically. There must have been at least half a dozen other GN3 owners waiting with the same problem.

I was told that one woman was there for 8 hours yesterday trying to get hers fixed. They can swap out the phone for any of these people a dozen times and it will never work on a new phone.

I have to reiterate how bizarre it is see basically no discussion of this online. This problem was truly universal as described above from everything I've seen or heard. It must be a regional thing or it would be a top story on every blog.

Anyway, I was faced with the fact that the only way to have a GN3 on Verizon right now was to change my phone number, so that's what I did. I've had that number for many years but I don't use it for business so it's not a huge deal. I got them to waive my upgrade fee. I still have never asked anyone to give me the 30% discount code credit because maybe I'm too shy for my own good.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[CehowardNote7]

Long-winded post incoming.

I recieved my GN3 by mail on Thursday. I set it up using the SIM that came inside it, and everything including 4G worked fine. The next morning (Friday) I grab it and head off to work, and notice the whole way there that it is acting strangely. The Note will not connect to any network. Mostly it just shows a circle with a line through it, every once in a while flashing a couple of grey bars for no more than a second before returning to the circle. It is also randomly and frequently rebooting itself, even when left alone in a drawer.

snipped for space..

That is facked up..I would report the store, and have the Verizon Rep on the phone find a store in my area that has one, and tell them to hold it. I had to laugh on the "master ticket" yarn.... Whatever you do, don't stray out of the refund-return window..Most lilkely you got a bad unit and or a misstep in the setup...Not only that, they run a dam tight ship on your job. Most of the time if something comes up, I tell the boss, that I am going to need at least 2 hours to do something personal. If they ever refused, I would just say I am taking some "personal time" in which I have 24 hours every year that they cannot refuse..
Back to the Note 3, on my end, I had a experience with Tmobile, however, mine was just the opposite of yours. First, a mistake was made at Tmobile, when I caught on to the mistake, and was on the phone for over an hour, Tmobile came through like gangbusters for me..

Her is the link to my story in another thread..
http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...-tmobile-got-my-note-3-free-warning-long.html

 

[mosimann]

Ok, first post, registered to reply to you and add more to your (now OUR) case.

Got my Note 3 on Thursday, the 10th and was using it straight, no worries until today, Saturday, by 2-3pm. I noticed that the phone started rebooting and the signal was going back and for, between 2-3 bars and no coverage. Stopped at the Verizon store at the Lynhaven Mall and the agent said that the problem was on the Sim card that came with the phone, poor quality, lots of people with the same issue, easy fix, blablabla. Because I didn't purchase the phone at that store, he would have to charge me $20 for a new Sim. No worries, I could simply call Verizon later and get the amount refunded. New Sim installed, phone was re-activated (confirmation message on the screen) and problem continued. Agent didn't know what to do, didn't charge me for the card and recommended to go to a Corporate store. As I was heading to Chesapeake, stopped at the Greenbrier Corporate store (15 miles away).

Getting there, agents "knew" exactly what was going on. Said over 30 people had been there today, all with the same problem. Only new Sims with new phone numbers would work. They said they tried 12 or 13 times without luck and that was the only solution. "Verizon/Samsung are aware of issue and may take up to 72 hours to solve the problem". I really didn't want to return/erase the phone, as it took me at least two days to have it all the way I wanted, my Angry Birds save games ported, etc. Also I couldn't afford to loose my number neither stay another day or two or three without a phone, so I "bought" a NEW Note 2 (had just sold mine old/previous Note2 yesterday). The agents inserts my "old number sim card" on the Note2 and voil?... Everything works fine.

Then, he inserts a "new sim with new number" on my 3-days old Note3... and voil?... Also working fine...

I drive back home (60 miles) and both phones are still up and running. My Note3 with a "temporary number" and the Note2 with my number.

=========

I also thought that this would be a National issue and there would be hundreds/thousands of posts and news agencies all talking about it. Nothing. Nada. Radio silence. ONly thing was your post and HUGE COINCIDENCE... on the same area...

My phone was working fine the whole morning while I was in the area it had been activated on the 10th, Outerbanks/NC. I probably drove on a 40-mile radius area on this 3 days without any problems. Issues started today when I got to VA, same area the PO reported his.

Looks like it's a REGIONAL problem in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area.

I will re-swap the sim cards again and the phone will probably work.

Will keep you posted.

 

[mosimann]

Done. Phone is working.

Removed the Sim from the "new" Note2 with my "old" number and put it back in the Note 3. No problem. Placing/receiving calls, 4G LTE internet up and running. Calling Verizon tomorrow first thing in the morning, as now THEY have to deal with the return of my "temp" Note2 and appologize for costing me 1.5 hour of my life today.

They also need to figure this out, as I'd like to have the phone working on areas out of my home base. A least that's the main reason why I left T-Mobile and ATT and pay almost twice as much. Good coverage.

Let me know how your goes.

 

[LindtChocolate]

Why are people still on Verizon when EVERY other service is cheaper and AT&T is faster? Is it because there is better service in your area with Verizon? They bring our phones and updates late, have horrible customer service, and are full of themselves. What is the point of staying with them can someone elaborate?

 

[dpoverlord]

Why are people still on Verizon when EVERY other service is cheaper and AT&T is faster? Is it because there is better service in your area with Verizon? They bring our phones and updates late, have horrible customer service, and are full of themselves. What is the point of staying with them can someone elaborate?

I agree with everything you are saying. However after traveling the world, Verizon still has the best service if there are "fees" They are always there if you need help, and they have probably imo hands down the best service. I was on a Blackberry and went to the note. I have to admit I am really mad that I had to spend $699 + $60 in fees since I am not "grandfatthered in" with my unlimited data. At least with AT&T you get grandfathered and can still early upgrade.

 

[mosimann]

Why are people still on Verizon when EVERY other service is cheaper and AT&T is faster? Is it because there is better service in your area with Verizon? They bring our phones and updates late, have horrible customer service, and are full of themselves. What is the point of staying with them can someone elaborate?

Probably depends on where you live and the kind of coverage you get/need. I had Tmobile probably until 2007 and moved to ATT (paying more) to have better coverage and faster internet speed. Was better but still not perfect. Moved to Verizon in 2010 (also paying more) for the same reason.

Driving from NC to WV a few times, a couple other friends on the same car, I always had service and sometimes their phones were dead. When my phone was still on 3G, theirs was on Edge/2G.

Of course, that costs me roughly $90/month, when I have friends on Solavei (who???) paying $39 unlimited for voice/data/text and without a contract.