How a Simple Phone Upgrade Turned Into a Customer Service Comedy Show
There are some errands in life that should be simple. Picking up milk. Mailing a letter. Upgrading your phone. Unfortunately, my recent attempt to trade in my phone and switch back to an iPhone turned into one of those customer service nightmares that makes you wonder if hidden cameras are involved.
A little over a year ago, I made the decision to trade in my trusty iPhone 11 Pro for something with a better camera. As a photographer, I wanted a phone that could take great shots when I didn’t have my Canon camera with me. At the time, I was with Spectrum Mobile. I never had any huge problems with them, but every little issue always seemed to involve way more effort than necessary. You know the type of company. You call with a simple question and somehow end up needing three passwords, two account numbers, and the blood type of your first pet.
Last Year’s Story
When I went into the Spectrum store last year, the salesman convinced me that the Galaxy S25 Ultra had a much better camera than whatever iPhone was current at the time. Since the Galaxy was actually cheaper, I figured he probably wasn’t trying to make a huge commission and maybe he really was giving me honest advice.
Well, let’s just say that the Galaxy and I never really bonded.
My kids hated it because now they couldn’t FaceTime me, and apparently certain text messages simply vanished into the technological Bermuda Triangle. I missed some of my favorite iPhone features too, especially Silent Unknown Callers. Whoever invented that feature deserves some kind of national award. The only thing I really liked about the Galaxy was that it saved photos as JPEG files instead of HEIC. If you’ve ever tried to upload a HEIC file to a website that refuses to cooperate, you know exactly why that matters.
Time To Make A Move
So after a year of pretending I loved the Galaxy, I finally decided it was time to go back to an iPhone. My wife was due for an upgrade too. She was still using an iPhone 11 Pro, which in cell phone years is roughly equivalent to driving a covered wagon.
Off we went to the Spectrum store. That is when the wheels came off the wagon.
When you arrive at the Spectrum store, you have to sign in and wait for your name to be called. I was next in line. Then several people came in after me. One of the employees began circling the store asking people why they were there. At first I thought maybe she was trying to help speed things up. Nope.
I Wonder Why They Were Returning Equipment…lol
Most of the people in the store were there to return equipment, and she was trying to convince every single one of them to leave and drop their equipment off at UPS instead.
Now maybe it’s just me, but if I am returning equipment and closing an account, I want a receipt directly from the company. I do not trust handing expensive equipment to a shipping company and then hoping it somehow magically makes it to its destination. I have seen enough “we have no record of that package” horror stories to know better.
When she finally got to us, we explained that we wanted to upgrade our phones. Her response? “You should probably just go home and order them online. We don’t have much selection here.” I asked if they had the iPhone 17 Pro. She said yes.
Then she added that they only had two colors and once again suggested that we leave.
At this point, I wasn’t sure if we were customers or contestants on some new reality show called Please Exit the Building.
My Turn!!!
Thankfully, they called my name in the middle of her speech and I immediately walked to the counter before she could continue to suggest we go to UPS, FedEx, or perhaps the Pony Express.
The employee helping us was actually much nicer. He explained the promotions, the trade-in values, and how everything worked. He also explained one of the most ridiculous policies I have ever heard.
If they do not have the phone you want in stock, they have to ship it to your house. Then, after it arrives, you have to come back to the store for the activation and trade-in.
The phone must be signed for.
So apparently the process is:
- Stay home all day waiting for the delivery truck.
- Hope they actually show up.
- Drive back to the store.
- Start the process all over again.
And if you think you can just have the phone shipped to the store, think again.
Race to the Store
According to Spectrum, they can put your name on a list and call you if the phone arrives. Then you race to the store like it is Black Friday at an electronics store and hope someone else doesn’t buy it before you get there.
Because apparently buying a phone should feel like competing on a game show. Then came the trade-in value.
Spectrum offered me surprisingly little for my Galaxy S25 Ultra, despite the fact that I bought it from them only a year ago and it had been in a case since day one. It looked practically brand new.
Still, we decided to move forward. The employee brought out two shiny new iPhone 17 Pros and began entering information into the system. Then something very strange happened. He pulled out a mirror. Then he started trying to take pictures of my Galaxy reflected in the mirror. I asked him what he was doing. No answer. I asked again. Still no answer.
And Now For My Next Trick
By the third time, I was starting to wonder if we had somehow wandered into a magician’s act.
It finally turned out that the mirror was apparently part of Spectrum’s trade-in verification system. For the next 15 minutes, he fought with the phone, the mirror, and the computer while muttering that he didn’t know why it wasn’t working. Then he announced that if he skipped that step, my trade-in value would be even lower. I told him there was absolutely no way I was accepting an even lower offer.
So he walked over to the same employee from earlier, who was now sitting behind a desk helping another customer. Which immediately raised the question: if she could help customers all along, why had she spent the last half hour wandering the store trying to make everyone leave? He explained the problem to her. Her solution? Your not going to believe this!!! “Tell them to take the trade-in to UPS.”
Clunky????
She even admitted that Spectrum’s equipment can be “clunky.” Clunky? That was the moment I was done. There was no way I was going to pay full price for two new phones, hand my trade-ins over to a shipping company, and then simply trust that Spectrum would eventually decide my phones were worth what they originally promised.
We got up and walked out. Unfortunately, there are no other Spectrum stores within about 45 minutes of our house. But after that experience, I was not about to try again. Instead, we decided to stop by Verizon. After all, Spectrum uses Verizon’s network anyway.
Franchise Store
We first visited a local Verizon franchise store just five minutes from home. They gave us a price that was only about five dollars more per month than Spectrum. They also had a much larger phone selection. But in the back of my mind, I worried that because it was a franchise store, maybe we should check the corporate store too. So we drove another ten minutes. Best decision we made all day.
The corporate Verizon store matched the franchise store’s pricing, gave me $200 more for my Galaxy trade-in than Spectrum offered, gave my wife more for her old iPhone, transferred everything for us, and treated us like we were actual human beings instead of an inconvenience.
The representative was friendly, patient, and helpful. In other words, basically the exact opposite of our earlier experience.
Customer Service Wins Every Time
Yes, we are paying about ten dollars more per month than we would have with Spectrum. But our rate is locked in for three years, we received much higher trade-in values, and perhaps most importantly, we left the store smiling instead of questioning every life choice that had led us there.
So in the end, Verizon gained two new customers, and Spectrum lost two customers because of one simple thing: customer service still matters.
Sometimes people are willing to pay a little more when they are treated with respect.
Now I want to hear from you. What is the worst customer service experience you have ever had? Bonus points if it involved a mirror, a shipping company, or an employee trying desperately to make you leave the store.