Matching phones, NOT matching service

My wife and I just started a new Verizon account with matching VX8300's. Mine seems to work perfectly. Hers works perfectly most of the time but randomly loses the signal.

Last night we were sitting at our diningroom table where we have a 3-bar signals and totally at random her VX8300 would go into "searching for service" mode and then a few seconds later would be back up with 3 bars. It did this several times, and the whole time there was no change on my unit.

Yesterday she dropped our cat off at the vet and called me from the parking lot - the Verizon tower is right behind the vet building and she had a maximum signal. And in mid-call her phone went into "searching for service". After awhile it was back to full strength and she called me again with no trouble.

What's up with this? Since the problem is random and intermittent will we have any trouble convincing Verizon to exchange the unit?

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You could try dialing *228 option 2 from the phone. I doubt that will work, but it's worth a try. If it doesn't work, I'd take it in to a corporate store. They should be able to swap it under the manufacturer's warranty. They will need to duplicate the problem though so I hope that it loses signal often.

Originally Posted by plnelson

...will we have any trouble convincing Verizon to exchange the unit?

In my own past experience, I've found that within the trial period where you still can return everything with no further obligation, it's very easy to get a phone replaced by reminding them that you don't mind cancelling everything on the spot and trying a different provider. This is a last resort remark... as it might evoke a snappy or hostile response, but if you start to feel like things aren't going your way, it might be the card you want to consider playing.

That will usually work if you go to the store you originally bought the phone. Otherwise, they probably won't care. The only thing that gets hurt when a customer cancels is the commission to the store that set up the account. I think it's funny when people threaten to cancel service in my store when they say they bought the phone online. I just say, "Ok, do you want me to help you cancel the line?" Then they get flustered and have to try to get out of the corner they just put themselves in. It's pure entertainment.

Originally Posted by spum

I think it's funny when people threaten to cancel service in my store when they say they bought the phone online. I just say, "Ok, do you want me to help you cancel the line?" Then they get flustered and have to try to get out of the corner they just put themselves in. It's pure entertainment.

That's mean! ...but I laughed. It's true, you're always at someone else's mercy, and the spums of the world will just laugh at you and make jokes about it later. I hope you bought it from a reputable dealer who will help you fix the problem thereby avoiding all these worst-case scenarios.

Edit: That is to say, if there is a problem at all... swap phones with your wife for a day or two. I've heard of cases where people's phones didn't work right because they were covering the internal antenna with their hand... I know you have a regular antenna but it could possibly be something as simple as how you how the phone? See if you have the same problem with it and go from there.

Originally Posted by Brad729

That's mean! ...but I laughed. It's true, you're always at someone else's mercy, and the spums of the world will just laugh at you and make jokes about it later. I hope you bought it from a reputable dealer who will help you fix the problem thereby avoiding all these worst-case scenarios.

We bought it from VerizonWireless.com, i.e., from Verizon's website. Since we're still in the 15 day grace period we can always send it back in the prepaid FedEx envelope and get a different one, or cancel the whole thing and start over from scratch with Verizon until we get two working VX8300's.

if there is a problem at all... swap phones with your wife for a day or two.

We did that and I had the same problem she did. It's definitely the phone but it's so random and intermittent that I don't have any confidence that they can reproduce it in the store. I'll call the store first (Nashua NH) and find out what their policy is - if there's the slightest doubt they will exchange it I'll call back VerizonWireless.com and dump the problem in their lap. It's not my fault if they don't have a good relationship with their retail stores.

That's the risk you take when you buy online. For some reason unknown to me, getting customer service to respond to a problem from an online order is like pulling teeth. I hope they gave you the envelope to ship the equipment back.

Originally Posted by spum

That's the risk you take when you buy online. For some reason unknown to me, getting customer service to respond to a problem from an online order is like pulling teeth. I hope they gave you the envelope to ship the equipment back.

Just a followup - the local VZW store replaced my wife's 8300 no questions asked. So far her new one seems to work OK.