When David’s phone broke, he bought a stopgap device from Verizon, emphatically telling the salesperson he didn’t want to renew his contract.

Verizon apparently took that to mean “I want a contract!” So now David’s stuck with a weak phone, and can’t get an upgrade discount until 2011. He tells his story:

I have been a happy Verizon Wireless customer for the last few years. That was until just a few months ago.

In my area verizon is by far the best service available. I run my own computer repair business in the city I live in. My business uses google apps for email, scheduling, and logging info on a day to day basis. I heard about the Motorola “sholes” earlier in the year. I knew my 2 year contract was coming up and planned to upgrade when that phone came out. On to my problem.

I was on vacation visiting friends and family in Kansas City in late August early September. When I was there my current phone stopped working. It was an HTC xv6800 which overall I was very happy with. The screen just stopped turning on but I could answer the phone when it rang. I figured I would go to a Verizon store and see if it could be repaired or if I could get a loner phone for the next month or two to get by until the droid launched. I talked to a rep at a Verizon store and he said they didn’t do loners but I could get a new phone. I told him I didn’t want to renew my contract at that time and would be fine just purchasing a phone for the time being. I made sure to stress the point I wanted to upgrade in a few months and he guaranteed me that I would be able to. He said the most comparable phone was the Samsung Omnia which I wasn’t horribly excited about since it did not have a full keyboard. I agreed, figuring it would be OK for a couple months.

Apparently the rep went ahead and renewed my contract at this time without my signing or agreeing to anything. I have rechecked all the paperwork that I received and none of it said anything about renewing a contract. I’ve contacted Verizon support and they have essentially told me there is nothing they can do to remedy the problem and that I just have to wait until 2011 to switch phones. So now I have a phone I never wanted, and a contract that I didn’t sign up for. I’m frustrated to say the least. Is there any course of action for me or am I just stuck with a less than ideal situation?

This definitely cause for an Executive Email Carpet Bomb. If you’ve managed to reset your cell phone contract, please tell us how you did it in comments.

(Photo: Louis Abate)

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