U.S. Cellular saleswoman almost laughed at me when I said I liked WP

[SwimSwim]

I agree she wasn't professional at all, but is your opinion somehow more accurate than hers?

I think he's more upset about how a women trying to sell him a product, is belittling his opinion. Honestly, that's not what you do when you're trying to nab up a customer. She was just plain rude, and rude doesn't work in the customer service business.

 

[fatclue_98]

I think he's more upset about how a women trying to sell him a product, is belittling his opinion. Honestly, that's not what you do when you're trying to nab up a customer. She was just plain rude, and rude doesn't work in the customer service business.

Rude and condescending are not the same. Based on the OP's description of the events, it was more of the latter. Neither of us were there so we'll let the OP decide.

 

[inteller]

The OP's problem is he was seeking out service at a two-bit wannabe regional carrier that will soon be bought up and sold off of its parts. That **** company doesn't even provide service where it is headquartered...the bums sold their home spectrum to ATT.

 

[Jas00555]

Rude and condescending are not the same. Based on the OP's description of the events, it was more of the latter. Neither of us were there so we'll let the OP decide.

I wouldn't go as far as condescending, but she did have a "I'm right, you're wrong, know-it-all" personality, the same way I'd imagine that sales lady at Sams was in an earlier post. I guess maybe big-headed would be the best way to describe it

Either way, yes, she was unprofessional.

 

[tgp]

Either way, yes, she was unprofessional.

I think this is the bottom line here. I work in retail a little in my job, and we have the motto that the customer is always right (Note: in reality they ARE NOT always right!) We need to make them feel that they are though. She was very unprofessional.

This forum has a few threads with users complaining about how the carriers' sales personnel are pushing Android or iPhones and steering customers away from WP. Jas00555, your response was actually more mild than most. Others have said things like "The sales person was so stupid and I'm so much smarter because I know which phone is the best!" Basically it's one opinion against another.

Out of 100 smartphones sold, 80 are Androids, 13 are iPhones, 4 are WPs, and the other 3 are miscellaneous others. Obviously this varies by location & carrier, but worldwide this is how it plays out. Why don't sales people push WP? If a new, unknowledgeable customer walks in they could be sold any phone. Do WPs have a higher return rate? Lower profit margin? Lower SPIFFs?

 

[eugie]

I don't know but sometimes they like blackberry than windowsphone. It's Microsoft fault they don't installed windows 8 On smartphones as long as windows 8 OS can run on touch screen..

 

[stephen_az]

Well, I recently went to U.S. Cellular for reasons I explained in another thread. Anyway, I was asking about the information like how much the plan would cost and yadda yadda. I asked her when they were getting the iPhone (for my family) and she said in a couple of weeks. So, then I was like "ok, well I don't have an iPhone, I have a Windows Phone, are you guys getting any of them for the holidays?"

She said *EXACT QUOTE* "well, I don't really follow Windows at all because I really don't care, like we don't sell a lot at all."

The rest of the conversations went like this (some facts from me may have been fudged a little while talking to her (

"Really? I'm surprised, they're selling like crazy over at AT&T, they have an entire fancy display set up and everything for Nokia. What Windows Phones do you guys have?"

"Well, we really only have one, and it rarely sells *shows me the Samsung Ativ*"

"oh, that explains why, that phone doesn't even sell a lot among Windows Phones, it's one of the lower-end ones. All of the ones I see are Nokias"

"Well, we would sell Nokia phones, but this phone doesn't sell a lot, so we probably won't support much in Windows" DOES NO ONE SEE THE CHICKEN AND EGG THING GOING ON HERE "I'm honestly surprised you like Windows, you're probably one of the 3 in America"

"Well, I'm pretty sure there's several million according to AT&T, but no, I have a W8 PC and an Xbox, it just works for me"

"HAHA that's funny"

she then goes on to tell me about the plans and stuff. Honestly, if she wasn't saving us money by waiving all of our activation fees, I wouldn't had to destroy the dang building Red Faction: Guerilla style.

If you don't know what I mean by that last part, watch this Red Faction Guerrilla building collapse - YouTube

...so why would you go into someplace that really only does sell one WP device (technically two online) and strike up a conversation about WP? What were you expecting the person would say? Oh yes, those phones we do not sell are really nice. Would you walk into an Italian restaurant and ask them about that great Thai food you can get across the street? Actually, given their place in the US market, it would be more akin to walking into a Hyundai dealer to talk about BMW or Lexus. At the best of times I find the someone in a store wasn't nice to be tedious, particularly since unless a person has an eidetic memory, they are filtering what was actually said. In this case though, you are talking about a low end carrier that only sells one lousy model. Seriously, what do you expect the sales people to say?

 

[SwimSwim]

I don't know but sometimes they like blackberry than windowsphone. It's Microsoft fault they don't installed windows 8 On smartphones as long as windows 8 OS can run on touch screen..

Umm, do you wish to clarify? I'm having a spot of trouble understanding...

 

[Jas00555]

...so why would you go into someplace that really only does sell one WP device (technically two online) and strike up a conversation about WP? What were you expecting the person would say? Oh yes, those phones we do not sell are really nice. Would you walk into an Italian restaurant and ask them about that great Thai food you can get across the street? Actually, given their place in the US market, it would be more akin to walking into a Hyundai dealer to talk about BMW or Lexus. At the best of times I find the someone in a store wasn't nice to be tedious, particularly since unless a person has an eidetic memory, they are filtering what was actually said. In this case though, you are talking about a low end carrier that only sells one lousy model. Seriously, what do you expect the sales people to say?

I think you need to reread what I actually wrote instead of filtering things out (ironic huh?). I specifically asked her if they were getting any NEW MODELS for the HOLIDAYS, since they were getting the iPhone for the holidays and that is when it started.

 

[eugie]

Umm, do you wish to clarify? I'm having a spot of trouble understanding...

i mean it should be Windows 8 OS installed to any smartphone devices.

 

[goodintentions]

I think this is the bottom line here. I work in retail a little in my job, and we have the motto that the customer is always right (Note: in reality they ARE NOT always right!) We need to make them feel that they are though. She was very unprofessional.

This forum has a few threads with users complaining about how the carriers' sales personnel are pushing Android or iPhones and steering customers away from WP. Jas00555, your response was actually more mild than most. Others have said things like "The sales person was so stupid and I'm so much smarter because I know which phone is the best!" Basically it's one opinion against another.

Out of 100 smartphones sold, 80 are Androids, 13 are iPhones, 4 are WPs, and the other 3 are miscellaneous others. Obviously this varies by location & carrier, but worldwide this is how it plays out. Why don't sales people push WP? If a new, unknowledgeable customer walks in they could be sold any phone. Do WPs have a higher return rate? Lower profit margin? Lower SPIFFs?

I think sales people push what they know. I'm a tech enthusiast, so I like to visit electronic stores whenever I can. 20 seconds of talking to a sales rep should give me an idea of what phone they have. The ones with iphone will try to push for the iphone and the ones with android phones will push for android phones. I have yet to find a sales rep with a windows phone.

It's not fair, but that's how it is. I dare say my Lumia 810, which I got just a few days ago to replace my S3, feels way better than my S3. I've been developing for android for a few years, and no matter how much updates they roll out android still feels half-baked. Don't believe me? Put the surface RT and the latest galaxy tab right next to each other and see for yourself. Or put the Lumia 8xx or 9xx right next to the S3 or S4 and see for yourself. Android always feels half-baked compared to windows and windows phone.

But normal people don't know this and probably can't tell the difference. It's like the so-called retina display. Why on earth would I want to pay extra cash for a super HD display that is only 3 inches? I know tech enthusiasts and iDiots love to tout the so-called retina display. But let's admit it, it's a fad created by the marketing company called Apple. It has no real world application.

I'm saying this because I once upon a time had the iphone 4. After realizing just how limited the iphone was, I moved to android. The problem with android is the lag, battery drain, and just the feeling of being half cooked. No matter how many updates they send out, the thing still felt like half-baked.

MS has a lousy marketing team, though. That's probably why windows phone and windows tablets are doing lousy even though they are great products.

 

[alv3st3r]

i mean it should be Windows 8 OS installed to any smartphone devices.

Why not Windows 7?

 

[onysi]

I don't know about u guys but I just bluntly say I use windows phone and I'm not a fan off apple products. Then I'd get dirty looks lol

 

[spaulagain]

I don't know but sometimes they like blackberry than windowsphone. It's Microsoft fault they don't installed windows 8 On smartphones as long as windows 8 OS can run on touch screen..

You speak English troll?

 

[thomas wojcik]

If we hate those that won't support windows phone then logic would say we must all love those that are the number one US windows phone seller.....Latest Windows Phone stats teased by AdDuplex's Mendelevich

 

[eugie]

Windowsphone is good operating system and there will be more updates to come that can change whole OS with new one or adds more features via OTA updates. Windowsphone has a brighter future since Microsoft and Nokia combined. And there will be more smartphones manufacturer will support windowsphone OS like HTC, Samsung, huawie etc....

 

[N_LaRUE]

I keep hearing more and more stories like this.

It would appear that stores/carriers are becoming part of the issue surrounding WP take up. I know that this has been an issue but it appears that it's still going strong and the ignorance is getting worse. I think some sort of learning/training centre by MS is going to be required to get sales people more in tune with WP and I believe that maybe some better incentives for the stores when they sell WP.

I know throwing money around isn't the only way to do things but considering their current system isn't working that well, especially in the US, I think they need to start tackling the problem from a different angle. Getting ignorant and biased sales people supporting it or at least having some ability to recommend the phone would be good.

 

[Zeaneal Nicky]

red one in glory

 

[nohra]

How many of these salespeople probably haven't used a Windows Phone since pre-7.8? I got through WP7, with all it's short comings, and now I'm loving WP8.

We went into ATT a few years ago not having a smartphone and walked out with a Quantum WP7. The salesperson found we didn't want iPhone and didn't want Android, and showed us all the WPs. We didn't even know there was a such thing as Windows Phone!

MS needs to get WP into the hands of salespeople and get them to honestly try it. Windows Phone isn't perfect, but it is great! People just get too locked into the iPhone-or-Android mentality.

 

[goodintentions]

Y

How many of these salespeople probably haven't used a Windows Phone since pre-7.8? I got through WP7, with all it's short comings, and now I'm loving WP8.

We went into ATT a few years ago not having a smartphone and walked out with a Quantum WP7. The salesperson found we didn't want iPhone and didn't want Android, and showed us all the WPs. We didn't even know there was a such thing as Windows Phone!

MS needs to get WP into the hands of salespeople and get them to honestly try it. Windows Phone isn't perfect, but it is great! People just get too locked into the iPhone-or-Android mentality.

MS has a lousy marketing department.