Qwest sold me re-mfg phone as new

What is the name of your state? Colorado

As we know, the cell repair department's standard answer to any problem encountered with your cell phone is: "You need a new phone".

About 6 months ago I stopped into a Qwest retail outlet and bought a brand new cell phone to replace my "bad phone" ,for $300. It was in the box with manual,charger, etc. Now the phone is not ringing when dialed, stuck on roaming, etc. I called "service" line at Qwest, and the "tech" determined it was a problem with my phone, not with Qwest (what a surprise).

He said he would send me a re-manufactured phone, same model as mine, and it would take two days to arrive. I then mail my phone back to them. But if they find it was a problem I caused by abuse (dropping,etc) of the phone; I would be billed for the price of a new phone.

I said that was unacceptable. I send them my $300 phone and receive a re-manufactured one in return; with potential of getting billed the price of a new phone. I would then have a "used" phone and be out $600!!

His reply was: "Well, the one you own now is a re-manufactured one anyway." I told him that I now have another problem.....I paid for a new $300 phone, and now find out I was sold a "used" phone, which is not working. He advised me that was the "best he could do". I advised him I was going to take action to resolve the issue.

My question is this:

Is it still illegal to sell customers a product at full retail price, represent the product as new; when the product is actually a used product?

In the past, the answer would be obvious for me. But nothing surprises me now. Is this just another part of the Patriot Act I may have overlooked?

Is is legal now for (big) companies to do this to customers .......because it makes us safer? lol.

Seriously, I would appreciate some opinions here on this rip-off.

FYI...been a Qwest "customer" fifteen years, with 2 landlines,internet and cell service. This is my 6th cell phone purchased in 4 years with the same story. I am tired of it.

Obviously, they can't sell you a remanufactured or used phone as "new". Go back to the retail outlet and demand a NEW phone to replace the one they pawned off on you. Did you find anything on the phone, box, accessories, or manuals that indicated your phone is remanufactured? Maybe the CS guy was just making a stupid comment without any facts. Most of these companies are competing heavily for business, so they should be happy to give you a new phone...the idea being that you will USE the stupid thing and run up lots of extra minutes. I'm surprised you had to pay that much for a phone when most companies either give them away for free (or at the most $50) with a 1 year contract. I think Qwest has been in hot water for a number of unsavory practices in the past few years, so I would think they wouldn't want an investigation into this kind of fraud.

Of course, this is the company that illegally bought out several of my clients (cash payments) to have them use their LD service when I was in the LD business some years ago. So it doesn't surprise me if it is a regular practice.

I did check the phone,box etc. No signs of re-manf, but I am sure they are not going to make it obvious.

I always "buy" my cell phones. Qwest is always trying to "offer you" a more economical plan, phone, or anything that resembles a "change" to your current plan, because that automatically starts a new contract from the beginning.

The $300 was my fault. I got fed up one night while driving and trying to see the dim display on the last phone they sold me. In a fit of passion, I zipped into a mall and paid cash for my current phone. I am still going to follow-up on the re-manf suspicion.

I live in Denver, home of Qwest, and those guys are always up to something. Latest scam is a "notice" included in the bill advising cell customers that "it is possible to drift into a roaming cell at times although you have not left your "home" territory." In other words, they are going to start billing all customers random roaming charges that it is impossible to dispute. It happened to me the very next month.

My cell phone has an option in setup to select "home" (ignores and blocks any roaming access) or "automatic" (seeks best method to keep signal and automatically activates roaming). After seeing the roaming charge, I checked my phone, and discovered that each time my phone is charged, it automatically switches my "home" setting back to "auto". Now, isn't that a coincidence.....

Anyway, after I hung up from Qwest, I had my phone working again in an hour on my own.....another mysterious "settings change" scenario. The next morning, UPS delivers a remanufactured phone from Qwest, including a notice that activating it initiates a service contract of 1-2 years at additional charge, and the same statement about getting billed for full retail price of phone, if my original phone is found to be damaged by me when I return it within 45 days and they inspect it. Included a nice copy of "My Order Confirmation" also. (Which never happened).

Just tired of the way business is conducted these days. It seems you need to have a tape recorder, contract attorney, an opt-out form, and a video recorder with you; for even the most simple purchases of a product or service. Shopping is now a process of "picking your battles" to fight later instead of picking the color you want. I am a "principle" guy and do not accept being ripped off.

Thanks for the comment, Dallas. I will post the outcome on these yo-yos...

The Qwest rip-off continues..

Colorado

As stated earlier, although I told Qwest service tech not to, they sent me a remanf phone via UPS two days later.

About 5pm today, I called the number given inside the package to get a "return authorization number" that is required to return the box.

I explained I had not ordered or authorized them to send the remanf phone and needed the number to mail it back. They told me that they already activated the replacement phone!
(although instructions in the box specifically require you to call a number from a phone that is not your cell phone so they can 1)activate the phone, and 2)have you select either the one year or two year service contract that you must accept in order to activate the remanf phone.

I repeated the facts about specifically telling them not to send the phone in the first place, and wanted to send it back.
I was informed it was now a complicated procedure to cancel the activation of the remanf phone, then re-activate my phone again.

While I was "holding", I placed a call from my cell phone to see if it still worked (it had been "quiet" all day, which is not normal). I got a recording that said "you are not an authorized account customer of the Sprint network". Now I was really mad. So I called my cell phone from another line and got a recording saying "the Qwest customer you called is currently not available". In other words, my cell phone had been cut off all day without my knowledge.(phone looked fine when it was turned on). That caused me to lose close to $1000 in business from missed calls from customers.

When Qwest returned, I was upset and advised them of the damage THEY caused, not me. She kept trying to get me to say I requested them to send it, and should use it, since it was complicated to undo the problem. If I was a business account, they could re-imburse me, but they cannot help me since it is not a business account. Then she transferred me to "Customer Care".

After declining the sales pitch for signing up for a new contract pitch, I told the whole story over again. This rep tried to convince me to keep the phone, too. Then told me it was not possible to switch activation back to my original phone! After I mentioned contacting the FCC, she decided to connect a three-way call between us and the "Customer satisfaction Dept". This third guy on the conversation was the worst one yet.

He spent fifteen minutes trying to "summarize my problem, so they could help me". This included three different versions of amateur psychology used to twist words and facts that stated I had requested the phone to be sent. I corrected all distorted versions and demanded he address the facts and resolve the actual problem they created.

This started fifteen more minutes of trying to convince me to keep the re-manf phone,how lucky I was they sent it, and more attempts to get me to say I authorized it. All of these tricks failed, and I asked again for my phone to be re-activated and how to return the package. He finally advised me that they could not re-activate my phone again, and the only option available was to use the one they sent me, and return my phone to them (I paid for with $300 cash and own).

I advised them I would be cancelling all Qwest service (two land lines, internet, and cell), and would pursue this problem.

I am now "out of business" since I use my cell number and they shut it off by transferring the activation to the phone in box. I also still have the box with phone they sent me.

I've had service with Qwest for at least 15 years, and yes, my phone billed is paid and current.

Any comments would be appreciated.