Do not activate a Vzn iPad 3 on post paid if you think you may change to prepaid

[Garz]

I bought a Vzn iPad 3 on release at Best Buy. They said we'll help you activate. I said great. Less work for me. I was assuming they were going to help me activate on prepaid since I said I wanted the option to switch back and forth between 1 and 2 GB's. Well found after after the fact, they did post paid. Reason is so the store can get a kick back from the activation fee. Let me tell you as soon as I found out I was charged the $35 fee, I had Vzn to credit that.

Now here is the kicker. I wanted to switch to prepaid after first month. Found out I need a new sim card. Customer service told me to go into a store and get one. After two days of customer sevice phone calls/store visits and hours of my time, Vzn failed to give me one. Why? Because they can't activate it so they can't give me a sim card. That is the worst customer service ever. Vzn support on twitter saw my tweets trashing Big Red. The understood that I was frustrated. They actually recommended I go to Apple to get a new sim card. I took their advice. Booked a genius bar appointment and 5 minutes later, I walked out with a new sim card and activated on prepaid. It's sad that Apple could easily help me but the carrier Big Red couldn't.

I had been thinking of switching to Verizon when LTE iPhones hit the market. This left a complete foul taste in my mouth. After this iPad, I will never buy a product that requires me to pay Vzn money. Good LTE coverage, but not worth the headaches and crappy customer service.

I could have posted this in the Verizon forum but new potential iPad users will read this forum much more. If this post saves 1 person on picking the right type of account and all of my headaches, it was well worth writing this.

Rant done

 

[anon(153966)]

...that was a pain. But now knowing what you know, buying and paying for Verizon iPhone's from an Apple shop, shouldn't cause you any issues, right?

 

[brijuhaha]

Vzn support on twitter saw my tweets trashing Big Red. The understood that I was frustrated.

Can you post a link of a scrrenshot of this? i really wanna see, just curious

The only good verizon customer service is the store nearby my house. They do a good job on giving a service. Other verizon stores i visited gave a crappy customer service, seems like they are not really that interested in giving a customer service.

This is just my personal opinion

 

[Premium1]

...that was a pain. But now knowing what you know, buying and paying for Verizon iPhone's from an Apple shop, shouldn't cause you any issues, right?

That would be to logical..... People just like to complain lol

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

...that was a pain. But now knowing what you know, buying and paying for Verizon iPhone's from an Apple shop, shouldn't cause you any issues, right?

Buying carrier related products from Apple is better than buying from the carrier itself, yes. Even buying from Best Buy is better than buying from the carrier. It's just that in this case he basically wasn't told upfront about a $35 dollar fee. So he ended up having to go to what he/anyone else would have wanted to avoid (according to my advice); the carrier.

Just for the heck of it, I'll share how I went ahead and just activated a pre-paid plan right on my iPad for AT&T and used my credit card. I called AT&T and I could have easily just made it post paid onto my already existing account. But I thought twice about it. I figured paying a flat $30 off my credit card was probably a better option. All because I was afraid of something similar as to what happened to Garz.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

Next time read and ask questions. I could never sign up for anything without knowing what exactly I'm signing up for. Seems to me the only person to blame is yourself.

I got the Verizon iPad and did not need any sim card

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2

If you activated it on Verizon, then yes, you needed a sim card. You're using one. Top left corner of your iPad.

 

[Garz]

To top it off, Vzn support was going to mail me a sim. Their twitter support contacted me today stating they can't mail me a sim and my only way to get one is through Apple. Basically if you are prepaid and your sim goes out, Vzn will do nothing to help you. It's sad. That's just how thy care about prepaid customers. I feel for anybody who doesn't have a Apple store near by or I would have been screwed.

Big Red is worthless.

 

[Garz]

That would be to logical..... People just like to complain lol

Having Vzn themselves disconnected to try and help with switching to prepaid and then they leave me dead with no data a refuse to give me a sim is complete BS. I have a right to complain. They are the carrier. They are Vzn. No reason i should of had to onto Apple to get a sim.

 

[Garz]

Next time read and ask questions. I could never sign up for anything without knowing what exactly I'm signing up for. Seems to me the only person to blame is yourself.

I got the Verizon iPad and did not need any sim card

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2

I take it should don't have the new iPad if you don't have a sim or no LTE data. Yes it was my fault letting best buy activate it with me not knowing how they were going to activate it.

 

[Garz]

I did not know the device came with a sim already installed.I do have the Verizon version. $20 for 1gb for the month is not bad.

Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2

Yeah the LTE needs a sim. I'm now on the $20 1GB plan too.

 

[rryoung]

Yours is a very isolated incident. I have had a few issues with my iPad and the sim and mine is on prepaid. I went into the store and both times big red gave me a new sim to fix the issue. They even made sure before I left my iPad was working.

 

[Premium1]

To top it off, Vzn support was going to mail me a sim. Their twitter support contacted me today stating they can't mail me a sim and my only way to get one is through Apple. Basically if you are prepaid and your sim goes out, Vzn will do nothing to help you. It's sad. That's just how thy care about prepaid customers. I feel for anybody who doesn't have a Apple store near by or I would have been screwed.

Big Red is worthless.

Well it is prepaid so you are right they aren't going to care about you since you aren't locked into anything nor should they be...

 

[EmceeGeek]

No matter what, I'll always buy Apple products directly from Apple. However, I had no problem activating my iPad; I did it directly on my iPad. Prepaid, $20 1gb, simple as that! You have to be clear when activating something like this at Best Buy or even VZW itself... they will try to push a contract on you. Nothing is needed when doing a prepaid but your address, name and CC#. Plus you can cancel anytime you want directly from your iPad as well.

 

[Garz]

Well it is prepaid so you are right they aren't going to care about you since you aren't locked into anything nor should they be...

Yeah. Unfortunately if your not locked in, they are no assistance. I've learned how to handle it. Just deal with Apple. Unless my sim ever goes bad, I won't need another. Won't ever go back to post paid. Lesson learned.

 

[Garz]

No matter what, I'll always buy Apple products directly from Apple. However, I had no problem activating my iPad; I did it directly on my iPad. Prepaid, $20 1gb, simple as that! You have to be clear when activating something like this at Best Buy or even VZW itself... they will try to push a contract on you. Nothing is needed when doing a prepaid but your address, name and CC#. Plus you can cancel anytime you want directly from your iPad as well.

I agree. I need to be clear. Lesson learned. Once Apple gave me their excellent customer service, I was activated on prepaid in 2 minutes. The genius guy made sure I was up and going before I left. 5 star customer service by Apple. That's why we pay the big dollars and spend tons with them.

 

[Duvi]

Yeah... I've always disliked Verizon. I still their FiOS though

 

[Hot94Z28]

I have always had good customer service with Verizon. Every time I called them about something it got fixed? When I had T-Mobile that was a different story. Sorry you had a bad encounter with them sounds like best buy was the first to mess with you though.

 

[pkcable]

DAMN I can sure understand your frustration bro! ATT was the exact opposite, and were very accommodating helping me twice with SIM problems on my iPad. I have since decided to just use it via wifi, BUT I have no doubt ATT will quickly help me get the month to month SIM reactivated.

 

[dcsr23#IM]

I'd have to say you had a pretty isolated incident, because I've never had an issue with Verizon, minus hardware support for buying phones used out of contract, they've always helped and even provided the extra sims when necessary. Apple's customer service beats every company hands down.

 

[MRSBROWN2006]

VZ has not treated me perfectly, but they have never come close to doing all that sprint did to me in my 12+yrs of service with them. So VZ can have my money for life, as far as I'm concerned. And I have been with Big Red for almst a yr, so at this point, I'm fairly comforable in saying that. To the OP, thanks for posting b/c I am upgrading to two iphones and an ipad and was unsure of where to activate. So now we'll be sure to let Apple handle all of that.