A woman claims a Verizon employee allegedly scammed her via the “bonus” offering of two Apple Watches — which ballooned her family’s cell phone bill.
The video unveiling the story featured TikTok user Meg (@meganmauk), boasting nearly 216,000 followers on the platform, who claims, “I just got scammed at the Verizon store and my bill is $600.”
She first set the scene: She and her family were on a family business plan and decided to go to the Verizon store about a month prior to upgrade their phones. Meg and her family exchanged their old phones for new ones, and while doing that, a supervisor told the employee to give the content creator’s family two free Apple Watches because of a “promo” they were doing.
However, the creator’s mom was hesitant, believing it was “too good to be true.” The employee assured Meg’s mom that there was no “cell gear attached to them” and the watches were not the “top of the line ones.” Her mom decided to gift the two Apple Watches to Meg. When Meg planned on giving away one of them, she stopped by the Verizon store. She wanted to clarify that there weren’t “any strings attached” to the watches and they were “normal watches” without cellular data charges. At that time, according to Meg, he mom noticed the price increase. But the employee assured her that in 23 months, the price would decrease.
Some time passed after the initial “gifting” of the watches, and then and the content creator’s famly received a whopping $600 phone bill. After getting the bill, the mom headed to the Verizon store to confront them about this. Apparently, the “free” Apple Watches did include cellular service, despite them saying otherwise. Her mom is now left paying for the new Apple Watches until the promo is done. Despite their concerns, the employee reiterated the plan “will go down.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Meg via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment and Verizon via press email regarding the video. The video, posted to the platform, amassed over 818,000 views as of Sunday. In the comments, viewers offered explanations why the bill could be sky-high.
“Sounds like the watches were ‘free’ but the cellular service for them wasn’t,” one viewer explained.
“Verizon only sells Apple Watches with cellular. They are free if you have a trade in; if you don’t then, you have to pay for it,” a second wrote.
“The promos take 2-3 billing cycles and once the promo hits the bill, it gives retroactive credits,” a third commented.
In a follow-up video, Meg recounted what she dubbed the “worst experience of her life.” When the content creator went to the Verizon store, she spotted the same guy who did the phone plan. However, his demeanor was “completely different.” As Meg attempted to return the watches, she still had questions regarding the bill. That’s when another employee chimed in, accusing her of “bullying,” despite not “raising” her voice, not “insulting” the employee, or “call” him a “name.”
The other employee was “extremely rude” to Meg, and she felt like she was the one who was being “bullied.” Ultimately, this led to Meg leaving the store and heading to another location. The other location was more understanding, agreeing that the numbers “weren’t adding up,” validating her concerns.
Commenters for that video had suggestions on what Meg should do, including one commenter who counseled, “Contact consumer affairs in your state. Show the initial paperwork etc. They’ll get on them and correct it faster than dealing with @Verizon on ur own.”