We got a smart phone for my daughter two months ago. The only reason we got it was because the Verizon representative assured us that the 4-GB/month data plan would work in Canada, where my daughter goes to university.

The data plan does not work in Canada.

So now we’re stuck with paying $1,680 over the remaining length of the contract for a phone that she can only use when at home over the summer, or paying a $350 early termination fee.

We found out about the problem a month and eight days after getting the phone, when we went to Canada for the first time this summer. We racked up $50 worth of data charges in just a few hours. When we talked to Verizon they told us that a month and eight days was too late to return the phone without paying penalties.

I understand and respect the financial logic behind two year contracts and early termination fees, but what I object to is being sold an expensive phone that does not do what we were promised. We tested the functionality at the earliest practical date, and it did not work. Before getting the phone we double/triple/quadruple checked with the Verizon salesperson that the 4-GB/month data plan would work in Canada because that was critical – without that a smart phone made no sense. They double/triple/quadruple verified that it would work. But it doesn’t.

I’m not done arguing with Verizon, but they are being intransigent and I’m not sure what options I have. I talked to them last weekend, got promised a callback, and never got it. I think they are hoping we will give up and go away. But I’m not going to. So, I thought I’d just share my dissatisfaction. I dislike the asymmetry of power where they can lie to us and then claim that there is nothing that they can do to fix the problem which they created.

I want to give them back the phone, eat the $100 that we paid for it, cancel the contract, and call it fair.