They didn't know how to sell Windows Phone..

rockstarzzz

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I walked in to the Tottenham Court Road branch in London. Asked sales rep for WP. They weren't sure what they had in stock and the guy had to go in and ask 2 other guys about WTF I was on about. Then one other guy took me to this display and said that's what they've got. No Lumia 920 there. I was still OK. But these display units were locked, on standby, boring. The tile colours were ugliest by default and screen brightness was set to low, time out was set to 30 secs. Annoying for anyone right?

I browsed for a bit, and then I did this! Look how beautiful this is! ;)

22401d1352893118-wp_000013-10-.jpg


I played with Lumia 820 for a bit and in 35 minutes of my browsing time, they sold 1 Lumia 800 and 1 Lumia 900 - I walked out with a happy smile, after making sure the lock screen time out on Lumia 800, 820 and 900 was set to max and screen brightness which was set to low, now was set to high so that live tiles can attract more people ;)

I think, I did God's work! :p
 
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martinmc78

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I walked in to the Tottenham Court Road branch in London. Asked sales rep for WP. They weren't sure what they had in stock and the guy had to go in and ask 2 other guys about WTF I was on about. Then one other guy took me to this display and said that's what they've got. No Lumia 920 there. I was still OK. But these display units were locked, on standby, boring. The tile colours were ugliest by default and screen brightness was set to low, time out was set to 30 secs. Annoying for anyone right?

I browsed for a bit, and then I did this! Look how beautiful this is! ;)

Click to view quoted image


I played with Lumia 820 for a bit and in 35 minutes of my browsing time, they sold 1 Lumia 800 and 1 Lumia 900 - I walked out with a happy smile, after making sure the lock screen time out on Lumia 800, 820 and 900 was set to max and screen brightness which was set to low, now was set to high so that live tiles can attract more people ;)

I think, I did God's work! :p
Really??? Thats interesting. You must have picked the wrong phones4U the Tottenham Court Road branch thats up by Warren Street Station has 8X's in stock along with 820's and one yellow lumia 920 they had 3 white ones as well this morning - the first guy i saw in there asked me what i was after and gave me a full rundown on WP8 stock. Looks like you went in the wrong branch.
 

rockstarzzz

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Really??? Thats interesting. You must have picked the wrong phones4U the Tottenham Court Road branch thats up by Warren Street Station has 8X's in stock along with 820's and one yellow lumia 920 they had 3 white ones as well this morning - the first guy i saw in there asked me what i was after and gave me a full rundown on WP8 stock. Looks like you went in the wrong branch.

This is the one that is right opposite the "we will rock you" ;)

Just outside the tube station. However, after I did this, I spoke to the manager and explained him how he would have disappointed me and I was his 100% sale without a sales pitch, only if he had Lumia 920 in yellow!

Guess what?
I got a call this morning from the manager and he has 2 Lumia 920s in stock and he has saved one for me! ;)
Going there after work to grab that baby!
 

martinmc78

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The one im on about is down the other end of TCR by Warren Street tube - the staff in there are all pretty clued up on WP8 and W8 as its phones4U is part of PC World. Get down there quick enough they may still have the yellow one in stock.
 

a5cent

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Looks like you went in the wrong branch.

nope, he went to the right place! Every place as incompetent as this needs someone like rockstarzz to help out. He should have offered the staff WP8 training as well ! ;-)

If everyone here checked up on their local stores and passed on some WP8 enthusiasm to sales staff, that would make a real difference.
 

fancyabrew

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got mine from an EE shop in Plymouth yesterday. It was the second EE shop I went too as the first one didn't have any. Anyway asked the bloke if they had some in stock and they had black or white. Sat down with him and he plonked his white one on the table, (oh misses) he's been using it for as his phone for a few days The Nokia rep had been in and gave them all phones (sounds like the rep is doing a good job). anyway got the phone and charger for FREE just upgraded my plan to panther so I'm paying only about an extra ?1.50 a month, was very happy!
 

martinmc78

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nope, he went to the right place! Every place as incompetent as this needs someone like rockstarzz to help out. He should have offered the staff WP8 training as well ! ;-)

If everyone here checked up on their local stores and passed on some WP8 enthusiasm to sales staff, that would make a real difference.
When you look at it like that then yes he went to the right place. Although think some of the staff in those shops havent got the mental capacity to understand anything other than iphone - no point talking to sheep all you get in return is BAAAAA!
 

rockstarzzz

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I'm on Three pay as you go so I will end up paying at least ?20 extra each month for next 24 months.

However, they called me and said they've saved me 1 of the 2 Yellow Lumias they've got delivered early i.e. this morning! :D

I am going there to grab my yellow one soon today. But what I'm concerned about is how Phones4U upgrades work. The manager who called me few minutes back said, I can get ?46/month plan for ?36 as he will throw in ?10/month from Phones4U for me AND I can upgrade early after 18 months if I give my Lumia 920 back at 18 months and exchange it for whatever other phone I want, with no early termination fee.

Is THAT true? Because then the deal sounds MUCH sweeter than EE deals and I'm getting Yellow Lumia which doesn't really seem to be a luxury in the UK, esp London where black and red are the only colours available.
 

Pete

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Bought mine at a phones4u shop in Reading, I had no problem at all and the people there knew what they were talking about.

I'd recommend them.
 

rockstarzzz

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The one im on about is down the other end of TCR by Warren Street tube - the staff in there are all pretty clued up on WP8 and W8 as its phones4U is part of PC World. Get down there quick enough they may still have the yellow one in stock.

Thank you SO MUCH for recommending this shop. I went there today and guess what, I now have a yellow nokia lumia. Those people were lovely and super enthusiastic about the phone.

That shop has sold 19 Lumias including mine in 1 week and a few days. They said they get average 4-5 Lumias twice a week. Lumia 920 in that shop is hot cake. They haven't seen a day when Lumias are delivered and not sold out completely the same day. He even went to an extent to say that it sells more than iPhone 5!

Also while my whole contract process took place, they had 3 guys looking for Lumia 920 but since I was having their last one, they had to turn these people away. I also helped swaying away a 50-ish year old N8 user to sway away from the thought of Android and get Lumia 920 instead by letting him play with my brand new yellow toy!

I am super happy so far! Still trying to get my mind around the fact that I am actually holding this baby in my hand!
 
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AZBrowncoat

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It's my experience that generally speaking most retail establishment employees don't have a clue how to sell stuff - whether it's phones or clothes.

Seems like the general rule-of-thumb is put up a display model (maybe) and/or stock the shelf (in the case of Walmart) and merchandise will just 'sell' itself. And for the most part in Walmart's case they are right - if it's toilet paper or light bulbs. However, when it comes to electronics (esp computers and phones) about the only retailer I've seen get it right is an Apple store - put out displays, turn them on, train the employees...there's a reason that Apple makes the most $$$/sq ft in the US at least LINKY.

Unfortunately there is no MS store near me so I have no idea how well they are run but the local AT&T Retail Locations, Best Buy Stores and etc are really a disaster.
 

rockstarzzz

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It's my experience that generally speaking most retail establishment employees don't have a clue how to sell stuff - whether it's phones or clothes.

Seems like the general rule-of-thumb is put up a display model (maybe) and/or stock the shelf (in the case of Walmart) and merchandise will just 'sell' itself. And for the most part in Walmart's case they are right - if it's toilet paper or light bulbs. However, when it comes to electronics (esp computers and phones) about the only retailer I've seen get it right is an Apple store - put out displays, turn them on, train the employees...there's a reason that Apple makes the most $$$/sq ft in the US at least LINKY.

Unfortunately there is no MS store near me so I have no idea how well they are run but the local AT&T Retail Locations, Best Buy Stores and etc are really a disaster.

Yeah definitely!

Turning those devices on attracted a flock on the previously barren land.
 

martinmc78

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Thank you SO MUCH for recommending this shop. I went there today and guess what, I now have a yellow nokia lumia. Those people were lovely and super enthusiastic about the phone.

That shop has sold 19 Lumias including mine in 1 and a few days week. They said they get average 4-5 Lumias twice a week. Lumia 920 in that shop is hot cake. They haven't seen a day when Lumias are delivered and not sold the same day. He even went to an extent to say that it sells more than iPhone 5!

Also while my whole contract process took place, they had 3 guys looking for Lumia 920 but since I was having their last one, they had to turn these people away. I also helped swaying away a 50-ish year old N8 user to sway away from the thought of Android and get Lumia 920 instead by letting him play with my brand new yellow toy!

I am super happy so far! Still trying to get my mind around the fact that I am actually holding this baby in my hand!
Glad i could help. As i said before the guys in there a pretty clued up and enthusiastic about W8 and WP8 think the first time i went in there to enquire about the range was the Monday after the WP8 launch. The first guy i spoke to told me what phones they were getting in and when and told me he had been playing with W8 the last few days had ordered himself a surface RT and couldnt wait to get hands on with the phones. He gave me his business card took my number and said he would let me know as soon as the new WP8 devices started coming in. When they got the 8X's in the following Friday he let me play with one for half an hour moving around tiles, changing the settings, taking photos in the store. He was impressed enough with the 8x to get one himself. It does make a massive difference to the whole upgrade experience when youve got someone as enthusiastic and clued up about a new phone as you are.
 

o4liberty

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I picked mine up at ATT and they were completely clueless on the new window devices. There was no signage in the store and the reps tried to steer me to a Iphone instead! I just hope Microsoft pushes this platform harder.
 

glimited

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I had to go in to an AT&T to sort out an issue with my account a few days after I got the 920 and they had a whole section with a large banner showing WP8. They had a spot for the 920, 8X, and Surface. But only the Surface had a display model. While I was talking to the CSR I asked him about the sales and he said they sold out of all their stock on the 920 so it looks to be doing well. At one point I was making small talk and said I was thinking of getting an iPad Mini but he actually recommended the Surface instead since I had a Windows phone (I told him I came from an iPhone.) So I guess it depends on the locale of the store and the CSR.
 

SinisterDuck

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This is definitely true. When I bought my 920, the AT&T store had a large Windows Phone signage, a few cases, and the staff all seemed to know about the new Lumia. (Most of the customers -- 18 of the 22 -- were there for the Lumia.)

Yesterday (5 days later) I had to take the phone in for a problem (bricked!) and went to a different AT&T store. The CSR had never seen a Lumia, commenting in an "Oh wow" kind of way about how nice the phone was. "It's really heavy," he said. But he didn't know how to do a phone reset. He asked another guy, and he didn't know either. I noticed that store had no WP signage.

Side note: Of the eight or so customers in there, 2 others were there for the for the 920, 1 for a modem/data amplifier and the rest for iPhones. Despite a long display of Android devices, no one was interested.
 

rockstarzzz

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Right, something more to add. Instead of just calling Three to get PAC code, I decided to walk in a Three store myself and ask for that. I did. I was asked the reasons for leaving and I suggested the absence of Lumia 920. To my surprise, instead of even bothering me to offer Lumia 800, 710 or 610 that Three does or trying to persuade me for HTC 8X, the staff offered me 3 months FREE and unlimited (3000 minutes FAP?) for Three to Three calls if I don't take the PAC code and instead grab SGS3 or iPhone 5 instead!

That totally pissed me off, so I've educated them a little on other WP that are actually available on their network in a very friendly way and got my PAC code as I showed him my Yellow Lumia and said "This is the gorgeous phone you aren't selling and hence losing me. Not your fault, but if you do get to feedback to higher ups, please mention lack of phones".

I know it's not Three, it's Nokia that have opted for exclusivity and this sounds off-topic, but I think I am liking the WP-literate reps this time more than what we saw with WP7.

Also, marketing has been awesome with WP, Windows 8 and Surface in London. I've spotted so many adverts in Metro, Tube station tunnels, bill boards and road arts too!
 

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