I ordered 2 cell phones via AAA website which took me to AAA "Members On The Go" Wireless, which in turn redirected me to WhereIsMyOrder.com website. I ended up calling the order in rather than completing the online form. Dialed 800 number which was rerouted to customer call center in India. First person I spoke w / was very nice but had such a strong accent I couldn't understand him and ended up making excuse for getting off phone and called back hours later to place order. Next person had accent but was understandable and was very nice and answered all of my questions. Helped me decide which plan I should have so a phone for my kids had the restrictions I wanted on it. Their Customer Service website is WhereIsMyOrder.com
Got an email the following day from WheresMyOrder.com saying Verizon needed to contact me to verify information. Contacted Verizon to verify info (I didn't have to give out full SSN, Drivers Lic, or credit card info). Logged into WhereisMyOrder.com and came across (888-843-2485) number to contact with approval number. Used their Live Chat instead to relay the Verizon Approval number given to me.
Normally this stuff would have warning bells going off in my head, but because I ordered these through the official AAA website, I was trusting that it's legit.
Within a day I received an email from the carrier I selected (Verizon) with my new phone numbers which were from a different state. The phone rep placing the order at WhereIsMyOrder.com assured me that my area code would be based upon my zip code and instead I was given an out of state number. The Verizon email containing my new (incorrect) numbers provided contact information if there was any problem. So I contacted Verizon, explained the situation and the Verizon rep changed the numbers, no problem. Then I went to the WhereIsMyOrder website and saw buried on a different tab that changing my phone number could be interpreted by them (WhereIsMyOrder) as a violation of the terms of the purchase and they would be able to charge me fees of $200-250 per phone in violation of my purchase agreement with them.
My husband said this area code 'mistake' could be a ploy to get customers to fix their number, then hit them with the fines in order to make money. I'd like to know how many other people had this happen to know if it's a common occurrence.
I could not speak with a live person at this stage. The 888 number was not given as an option for customer problems. The initial 800 number is ONLY for placing orders and they make sure you know this at the end of that call. The only method they give you afterwards if you have trouble is Live Chat (which I did) or email. I could not get them to commit on Live Chat that they would not fine me for changing my numbers, despite the fact that the error was theirs.
The phones arrived via Fed Ex and the paperwork said to dial *228 to activate (a standard Verizon practice). I did so on the 1st phone and heard a recording that there was a problem with the activation and I should call a Verizon 800 number. That sounds easy enough, except the accompanying paperwork from WhereIsMyOrder explicitly states that I am forbidden to contact my carrier if there is a problem with the activation.instead I must go through them... To ignore this would again be a potential violation of the terms of my purchase and I could be charged as much as $250 per phone for violating the phone purchase agreement. (I bought multiple phones for a family plan, so we're talking a lot of money.) That was the last straw - not being able to contact my carrier if there's a problem with the activation.
I was still within the 14-15 day window (their online vs. Paperwork has discrepancies about rules and return windows - more warning bells.) I returned everything to this shady phone company, coordinated w / Verizon who was awesome by the way, and made sure I documented the tracking number of the return shipment.
I expected them to either lie about receiving the return or make up an excuse on why they couldn't credit me back or worse yet, fine me. Thankfully I was credited back with my full amount of phone/accessory purchase 4 days later. I had to place multiple calls to Verizon to explain everything, provide tracking # to prove the phones were returned, and have them shut the lines down (something the WhereIsMyOrder company was supposed to do, but failed to). Had I not contacted my carrier directly I could have inadvertently gone beyond Verizon's 30 day guarantee and been fined $175 for early termination on each line. Next time I'm going directly to a Verizon store!
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