Verizon bait and switch...Best action

I'm facing a bad customer service situation with Verizon. I'm currently on America's Choice plan, but have a legacy feature of free calling to Canada. This means that I can't get a new phone through them as they won't grandfather the feature. In calling to discuss this with them, the North America's choice plan was offered.

Here's the catch. I get a 20% discount through my employer. They said it applied. I bought a phone and a 1 year plan. They screwed up the delivery of the phone and when I finally got it I couldn't activate it. They now say that the discount doesn't apply to the calling plan because it is international. Of course, the employee discount pages do not say this and the employee who sold me the phone said that the discount DOES apply.

Verizon did a classic bait and switch. Their lack of any information about international plans in relation to employer discounts facilitated this. Is there anyone I can call about this? I'm sitting here after a week with a phone that I can't activate and the only thing that the genius supervisor at Verizon could do was say that I return the phone and pretend that it all didn't happen. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can escalate this?

Are there third party agencies I can report this practice to? Any executives at the company who could help? I don't let things like this pass on principle.

Does it say somewhere in your employers discount policy thinger that it only applies to national calls?

NO, on the part of the Verizon site that launces is makes no such distinction.

I fail to see how this situation qualifies as a "bait and switch". Consumer advocates define the "bait and switch" as a business offering a product or service but, being unable to provide that product or service, they substitute another, often more expensive or sometimes lower quality. Your situation sounds to me as if you have refused to accept the new contract, because you disagree with the fact that your discount doesn't apply to the plan you want. This is why they will not activate your phone. That is not "bait and switch", it is simple policy enforcement.

I understand that somehow the sales rep gave you some incorrect information, but you need to understand that only your company's Verizon Business Sales rep will have all of the information regarding your discount programs. The reps at the stores and at customer service do not always know all of the ins and outs of the business discounting agreements. If your company's intranet site doesn't say anything about the North American calling plan, it is most likely not part of the discounting agreement. Remember the old adage, "if it's not listed, it's not included"!