Technology

The Bots Made Me Cry

That $400 Verizon credit isn’t coming

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Buying a new phone is as stressful as buying a new car, and nearly as expensive. At least when you buy a car, they don’t try to force you to talk to a bot.

Can you imagine shouting “I said I want a green SUV!” into a phone repeatedly? “Come on! Give me a real person!”

Nearly a year ago, my husband and I stopped in our local Verizon store to get new phones. I was still packing an iPhone 7 Plus but it was acting up. I was offered and accepted a very generous trade-in toward a 13.

Things immediately went wrong.

The guy said he had to verify my screen was intact, and he removed the protective cover. The glass was perfect.

Why oh why did I not insist that he replace the cover he had removed? That was my first mistake.

My second mistake was thinking a phone store would carry phones.

Call me crazy, but I assumed a nice big Verizon store would have plenty of storage space for tiny little phones.

But no.

We had to order them.