Verizon’s generous offer for customers isn’t going as planned | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Verizon (VZ) , one of the largest wireless providers in the U.S., has recently been ramping up its efforts to attract new wireless customers after an unexpected loss.

In Verizon’s first-quarter earnings report of 2025, it revealed that it faced a net loss of 289,000 total postpaid phone customers during the quarter. Analysts at New Street Research said that the loss in customers is Verizon’s “worst result on record.”

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During an earnings call in April, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said that the company’s recent decision to increase prices for its wireless services contributed to the decrease in customers during the quarter.

“We did have a slow start on postpaid phone net adds, largely driven by elevated churn due to recent price ups and pressure from federal government accounts,” said Vestberg.

Since this loss, Verizon has been working harder to win back customers. Earlier this month, it announced a new bundle that offers new and existing customers who have a myPlan mobile account a smartphone, tablet, and smartwatch when they trade in an eligible phone.

Verizon has also been quietly contacting select customers to offer them a new phone line that will be free for 36 months.

Verizon customers flag a major issue with popular deal

In addition, it has even been offering free Amazon gift cards to customers through its myAccess platform.

However, some Verizon customers are claiming in multiple Reddit posts that these Amazon gift cards are disappearing from their accounts when they attempt to obtain them through the Verizon app.

The app usually gives users a countdown timer that shows when the offer will be available to claim. However, when the timer runs out, some customers are reporting receiving error messages when they try to claim the deal, while others say that the offer either disappears or the app crashes.

In one recent Reddit post, a Verizon customer said that the Verizon app “crashed” when they tried to claim a $50 Amazon gift card from the myAccess platform on the app, calling the deal a “scam.”

“I was ready to go and as soon as I hit ‘claim,’ the whole access portion of Verizon’s app crashed,” said Verizon customer in the post.

In the comment section under the post, other Verizon customers relayed similar challenges with obtaining the deal.

“I tapped and said something went wrong and then now I see the $50 gift card is up again, but I have to wait 23 hours,” wrote another customer.

“Wtf? Claimed it as soon as it went live, threw an error, and then disappeared,” said another.

Verizon recently announced major move to keep customers happy

The tech error from Verizon comes after the company announced last week that it will rely on artificial intelligence, leveraging Google Cloud’s AI, to improve the customer service experience. It also extended its customer service hours to have 24/7 availability.

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“The new, personalized experience provides greater transparency and control, giving consumers the ability to easily become a customer, manage upgrades, add new lines, ask billing questions, take advantage of savings and more,” said Verizon in a June 25 press release.

In a recent interview with CNET, Verizon Consumer Group CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath said that customers have emailed him “every day” about their frustrations with customer service, which prompted the company to make the change.

He said that 80% of the time, customers claimed that they were able to get their issue resolved on the first call, while 15% had to call again.

“The last 5% go into a doom loop, and they are the most dissatisfied,” said Sampath. “It’s a very rough journey for them. We see it, and it’s not fair on them.”