Horrible Verizon store experience today- staff told me WP8 may not even release

[dby2011]

Does it really matter if Verizon offers WP8 phones if they still employee rude ****** staff? I went into a Verizon corporate store today (in Akron, OH) to ask if they had official street dates for the WP8 phones and the sales guy laughed and said no one wants those phones and he thinks they will never get released. He was extremely rude and told me Win phones have no apps and no one comes in asking for them and said I should get a droid. I pulled out my Verizon Trophy and said you better watch who you are talking to and walked out.

If ATT didn't have such bad receptioon by my house it would be enough for me to switch.

 

[hgary06]

Staffers are mostly like that. They will only sell Win Phones when the management tells them to. I know some workers.

 

[12Danny123]

Well. Since is likely gonna advertise Wp8. I have a friend who's dad works for Verizon headquarters. He said they are gonna advertise Wp8 very hard. I think he said droid size. he said some stores are gonna wipe out half of their store and half of their stores are gonna a enormous Windows phone section. I think they are getting all the flagship wp8 phones. Not sure I'll ask him. Verizon is very desperate and dead serious about Wp8

 

[thed]

Don't worry, the employees will fall in line if corporate tells them to push WP. Soon you'll be hearing from them that WP is cooler than the iPhone.

 

[squire777]

It's usually like that when you go into a store. I walked into a Rogers Wireless store to play around with the 900 after it was released and the employee had a chuckle, took a few jabs at WP, and then started going on about how Android was "open".

 

[theefman]

Don't worry, the employees will fall in line if corporate tells them to push WP. Soon you'll be hearing from them that WP is cooler than the iPhone.

That was supposed to be the plan with the Lumia 900 but a lot of reports said they got the same old crap. I dont think it will be any different this time.

 

[thed]

That was supposed to be the plan with the Lumia 900 but a lot of reports said they got the same old crap. I dont think it will be any different this time.

That's true, but I think it could be different this time. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I think the carriers are starting to see that there could be a financial benefit to getting some more competition outside of Apple and Android. Only time will tell though.

 

[theefman]

That's true, but I think it could be different this time. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I think the carriers are starting to see that there could be a financial benefit to getting some more competition outside of Apple and Android. Only time will tell though.

It will turn out to be all just talk. They had the opportunity to push WP with the Lumia and other devices and they didnt, and really people are going into stores to ask for ios and android. I dont think either of these things will be different this time around.

 

[Nataku4ca]

speaking of which, i was talking to a friend in asia a couple days ago and he said he thought windowphone was crap, i asked why and he said it keeps crashing, so i went wtf? must be hardware issue, and he said when he brought it to the store the guy in the store told him it's windows thats why it crashes

then i raged... and i think i scared him when i started shouting into the microphone that the guy at the store was an idiot, sent him a couple links and video that shows how windowsphone is used, hopefully he can regain some confidence... still very angry that these sales can spit bs a every corner >:\

was one of their last names Miller and the user bmiller from this forum

don't want to be rude, (and u could be trying to be sarcastic and i just read it wrong)
but, please don't attack forum members that didn't post on the thread...

 

[larrynj]

You'd likely get a similar experience in an AT&T store. First off their job is to sell a plan and they want to do it today. So even if he wasn't ignorant about WP8, which my guess is he was. He certainly would try and steer you towards something you could buy today. Chances are probably pretty slim that you'd come back in 6 weeks.

 

[mlm1950]

Does it really matter if Verizon offers WP8 phones if they still employee rude ****** staff? I went into a Verizon corporate store today (in Akron, OH) to ask if they had official street dates for the WP8 phones and the sales guy laughed and said no one wants those phones and he thinks they will never get released. He was extremely rude and told me Win phones have no apps and no one comes in asking for them and said I should get a droid. I pulled out my Verizon Trophy and said you better watch who you are talking to and walked out.

If ATT didn't have such bad receptioon by my house it would be enough for me to switch.

Man. I sure hope that guy had an extra pair of underwear in his locker that day.

 

[thirdsun]

Of course carriers like to push Android since they can screw up that OS with skins and apps in any way they like. The iPhone, just like WP, is restricted in terms of customization but basically sells itself, so there's no way around it. So if customers won't demand WP8 devices, Microsoft will be in an uncomfortable position with carriers.

As an european I'm just baffled with the US customers dependance on carriers. Subsidized phones with contracts? Sure, we have that too and most people get their phones that way but there's always the option to buy an unlocked phone and stay with your carrier - ****, your contract would even be cheaper without the carrier sponsored phone. I have never changed my carrier in almost 15 years - I do however change phones a lot, likely every year. That means I had to buy an unlocked phone once - after that it's all subsidized, either by selling via eBay or extending the contract.

The situation over there in the United States just feels insane from customer perspective.

 

[HeyCori]

As an european I'm just baffled with the US customers dependance on carriers. Subsidized phones with contracts? Sure, we have that too and most people get their phones that way but there's always the option to buy an unlocked phone and stay with your carrier - ****, your contract would even be cheaper without the carrier sponsored phone. I have never changed my carrier in almost 15 years - I do however change phones a lot, likely every year. That means I had to buy an unlocked phone once - after that it's all subsidized, either by selling via eBay or extending the contract.

The situation over there in the United States just feels insane from customer perspective.

I don't know how you guys distribute frequencies in Europe, but in America the FCC auctions the different spectrums. That also means that when a carrier buys the exclusive rights to a frequency they're not going to share unless they have to.

Big Red (Verizon) and Big Blue (AT&T) use up a ton of spectrum and work very hard to keep users locked in. Luckily they allow smaller, regional carriers to use their spectrum so people can use competing companies like Straight Talk or Virgin Mobile.

But I'm guessing the only reason they do that is so they don't get sued for monopolistic practices.

 

[ncxcstud]

I haven't changed providers in 10 years either. I get a new phone every 2 years or so when my 'contract' is up. I'm not sure how different it is in Europe, but I couldn't fathom buying a phone every year.

I'm not sure what all the hate against 'contracts' are. I like watching DirecTV, I like what they offer, I'm not going to change - lock me in if you must. Same goes for my cell phone, I'm happy with AT&T, they've served me well, being 'tied' to them for 2 years with a good phone doesn't bother me...

Maybe I'm weird, who knows...

 

[jwinch2]

When the Lumia 900 was released I believe there was still some hope on the part of Verizon that BB10 would be coming down the pike sooner rather than later, which would have given them the 3rd party competition that they appear to be looking for. Now, since RIM can't seem to get its thumb out, Verizon and other carriers are probably recognizing that WP is their best chance for a legit 3rd system to give them some leverage against Apple.

 

[power5]

As an european I'm just baffled with the US customers dependance on carriers. Subsidized phones with contracts? Sure, we have that too and most people get their phones that way but there's always the option to buy an unlocked phone and stay with your carrier - ****, your contract would even be cheaper without the carrier sponsored phone. I have never changed my carrier in almost 15 years - I do however change phones a lot, likely every year. That means I had to buy an unlocked phone once - after that it's all subsidized, either by selling via eBay or extending the contract.

The situation over there in the United States just feels insane from customer perspective.

Not sure what is baffling. You say you re-up your contract every year to get a subsidized phone. We do the same thing. I buy a new phone every chance I can. The standard contract is 2 years, but you can upgrade before that usually. If you want you can buy a phone without extending your contract but you pay full price. Then if you want to change with either your subsidized phone, or retail priced phone you can sell either on ebay and buy a new one.

ATT or Verizon will sell you a full priced phone without a problem. They would rather sell you a contract, but that is not the only way to get a phone. You can buy an unlocked phone off ebay and take it into ATT/Verizon and get it activated on your plan.

 

[selfcreation]

when things like that happen , you should e-mail the Manager of the store or send a e-mail to the HQ that manages them.

that agent needs a good whipping.

Even if he was right ( witch hes not ) he should never act like that in front of clients.
not to mention if YOU go back to that store to get a WP im sure hes not the one getting the sale.

 

[thirdsun]

Not sure what is baffling. You say you re-up your contract every year to get a subsidized phone. We do the same thing. I buy a new phone every chance I can. The standard contract is 2 years, but you can upgrade before that usually. If you want you can buy a phone without extending your contract but you pay full price. Then if you want to change with either your subsidized phone, or retail priced phone you can sell either on ebay and buy a new one.

ATT or Verizon will sell you a full priced phone without a problem. They would rather sell you a contract, but that is not the only way to get a phone. You can buy an unlocked phone off ebay and take it into ATT/Verizon and get it activated on your plan.

Ok, sorry, that clears things up - I was under the impression that you are limited to the selection of phones your provider is offering. It always felt like this is the case as people seem so worried about whether their carrier will feature the Lumia or not.

I don't have a problem with contracts though, I just prefer them to be compatible with every device I might choose to buy.

 

[power5]

Ok, sorry, that clears things up - I was under the impression that you are limited to the selection of phones your provider is offering. It always felt like this is the case as people seem so worried about whether their carrier will feature the Lumia or not.

I don't have a problem with contracts though, I just prefer them to be compatible with every device I might choose to buy.

That is true. Some phones will not work on certain carriers. Such as you can buy an ATT phone and put it on T-Mobile, but could only get edge network(2g) if the phone does not use the correct frequency. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA so they can not use a GSM phone.

 

[ImmortalWarrior]

I haven't changed providers in 10 years either. I get a new phone every 2 years or so when my 'contract' is up. I'm not sure how different it is in Europe, but I couldn't fathom buying a phone every year.

I'm not sure what all the hate against 'contracts' are. I like watching DirecTV, I like what they offer, I'm not going to change - lock me in if you must. Same goes for my cell phone, I'm happy with AT&T, they've served me well, being 'tied' to them for 2 years with a good phone doesn't bother me...

Maybe I'm weird, who knows...

Being locked in means you have no clout as a customer. I could call Rogers today and tell them to piss off and cancel my phone, cable and internet unless I get some sort of discount due to being a customer for years. Say, maybe a free HD PVR for my cable.

Can't do that when you are on contract. And it works by the way, you just have to be reasonable. I know people who pay half of what I do and get more from Rogers just because over the course of 10 years they have called and demanded some sort of deal for being a loyal customer, or they walk out and take their money elsewhere.