Shopping for Windows Phone at Verizon - experience

[ealexand#CB]

Well, all that money spent by Microsoft and OEMs to raise awareness of WP8 has made a little dent in the shopping experience at Verizon. I stress "little".

I stopped by my local Verizon store in downtown Naples, FL. The second question out of the sales associate's mouth was "have you seen our new windows phones?". So that's good. But he was little help after that. Good news, they have stock. But later on I got his attention and asked why Best Buy has a lower price on the HTC 8x and I had to physically show him the phone before he realized which one I was talking about. Exact same thing with the sales manager. She had no clue either. They couldn't tell me whether it came with free wireless charging base or not. And seemed generally lost in the conversation. I was using layman's terms. Then the manager got a little upset when i asked if there was any difference between theirs and the one being sold at Best Buy for $99 and if they would price match. They won't.

I wasn't going to buy it from them anyways, but I was still a little let down by their knowledge.

I did overhear another sales associate try to get a woman who "likes droids" to check out windows phone, but she was dead set on the LG intuition. So that should tell you something.

 

[anon(1458)]

Going into my store recently they looked at me like I was crazy when asking about the Windows Phones. One rep didnt even know about the 2 new releases.

 

[migespy]

My VZW experience was frustrating as well. I went in on launch day and no one seemed to know the HTC 8X was supposed to launch the 15th. Finally a manager said he thinks they should get their shipment by 3 pm. I went back to purchase the phone at 3 pm. I told them I wanted to pay full price to keep unlimited data. The entire store seemed to record scratch and everyone stared at me. The sales guy said why would you want to pay that much? I told him to keep unlimited data. He then said I should get the 7GB plan at $70. I told I pay $30 /month for unlimited. He then got his manager and the manager said he can't sell the phone to me unless I upgrade or get a new contract. He said that launch day phones are not allowed to be sold off contract for a few months. I was so frustrated. I just want to give them money and the wouldn't take it. Finally the manager said if I add another line to my family plan as a 2 year contract I could buy the phone and keep unlimited data. I said fine, because at that point I just wanted the phone. Then he told me that if I didn't buy a case the warranty would be void. I said "WHAT!?" I said fine if it stops turning on then Ill just run it over with my car since I can't file a warranty claim but I can file a insurance claim. What a mess!

I ended up cancelling my new phone line he made me sign up for since it was within the 14 day return window, and I had the restocking fee waived. So I got the phone at upgrade price and got to keep my unlimited data. I have never had a company work so hard to NOT take my money.

 

[ealexand#CB]

Wow, the case thing sounds pretty scammy. But i know plenty of people fall for it. My boss' wife got two ATT iphone 5s on launch day and they pretty much forced her to buy 2 hideous otterbox cases at liek $50 each. Totally ruined her new phone.

 

[zhelfrich]

my local vzw store is never the most knwledgeable on anything but the iphone or the galaxy s 3 when i even called one time to ask if they had a razr maxx hd they were like yea we have the maxx but i said no the maxx hd and they were like huh? also i have heard sales reps lie to customers like when the droid 4 came out i had a sales rep tell the gentlemen next to me it had a removable battrey and i was like umm no and she was arguing with me lol.

 

[ealexand#CB]

my local vzw store is never the most knwledgeable on anything but the iphone or the galaxy s 3 when i even called one time to ask if they had a razr maxx hd they were like yea we have the maxx but i said no the maxx hd and they were like huh? also i have heard sales reps lie to customers like when the droid 4 came out i had a sales rep tell the gentlemen next to me it had a removable battrey and i was like umm no and she was arguing with me lol.

So we have learned VZ is basically like Best Buy. Most of the employees don't know a thing about what they're selling but lie to sound good

 

[Joelist]

No you haven't learned anything of the sort. For one thing, do we know if these are corporate stores? If they are then the proper course of action is to call Verizon customer service and lodge complaints against the store personnel for unprofessional conduct. They do listen.

The Verizon in my area (VERY busy area of Chicago) has all the correct promos up and the personnel are pushing the Windows Phones OVER the iPhones and Androids. They said their biggest seller at the moment is the 8X even though it is currently in stock only in black (will change pretty soon).

 

[ealexand#CB]

Don't want to get anyone in trouble at work. These are just my observations

 

[Joelist]

Don't want to get anyone in trouble at work. These are just my observations

If they are doing what you describe then they SHOULD be in trouble at work because they are violating company policies about customer care and also promotion of products.

 

[ny_yankees]

Went to a VZW store near my house, they had no clue what the 8x was or couldnt tell any thing about. One of the associates told me "why do you want a windows phone, they are not good". Then I had to go and explain him the reason why Windows phones work better with dual core and why Lagroid needs a quad core to work. These guys have no clue about Windows phones at all. Horrible experience

 

[Joelist]

Meanwhile all of the Verizon stores in my area are aggressively pushing Windows Phone. I even got to watch one of the sales associates showing people why they don't need a Facebook app in Windows Phone because of the deep integration.

If you run into negative experiences at corporate Verizon stores, file a customer complaint with Verizon. Those associates are violating company policies when they glibly say stuff like it is not good or other such.

 

[pdch]

I went by 2 Verizon stores in the DFW area. Both of them were actively pushing WP8 devices. The first one (closest to me) was out of stock on the 8x but was trying like a car salesman to have me order one through them before I left. I went to the store in Uptown where they still had 2 8xs in stock. They were very knowledgeable about the phone and I bought one of the two sets. They actually sold the second set to a kid who had come in looking at droid sets while I was there, so +1 to that Verizon shop for a new WP customer. Oh, and they were all wearing WP shirts.

One other thing that REALLY impressed me with Verizon was that I had to wait to activate the phone until later in the day (my cell phone IS my business phone). I called the activation line and the girl who handled my activation could not stop talking about the Windows Phones and actually knew quite a bit about WebOS (I just moved from a Pre3). We actually had a great conversation about differences and similarities while waiting for the system to update (my phone hung up during the first try at activation). She also was saying that she hasn't decided herself if she is going to get an 8x or wait to see if Verizon will get the 920. I told her At&t had a 6 month exclusive on the 920, so she said she will have to verify that, and if so, will get an 8x until then.

First experience where I've walked into any mobile store and not been immediately pushed to an Android or Iphone device. Pretty refreshing.

 

[lmatt05]

I have attempted to stay out the stores because i have noticed that it is progessively getting worse at just helping a customer. I went in recently to check out the 8x and got a weird look and then asked why i would want a windows phone.

We had a long conversation about the galaxy s3 and all i got out of it was it's faster at everything and open source but he wouldn't give me any specifics. The whole time he didn't once ask me "what do you use your phone for?" It's ridiculous. I could care less what they're pushing they need to find out what the customer wants and what would work best.

Best part of our conversation was that windows 8 is open source. The rep was really ill informed.

That's my rant.

 

[Joelist]

Again if it is a corporate store then contact Verizon customer service and file a complaint. The attitude you're describing is a violation of company policy and if no one tells corporate they have no way to know.

 

[gavlop]

IM surprised this many people have had this trouble at verizon!!

The day they were released at verizon i went to my store at 10, they told me that they should recieve them at around 3, which is when i returned. i upgraded my phone, same data plan and everything, all smoothly.

They had a representative from HTC at the store as well, helping people out who had questions about the phone. The verizon sales people had about the same knowledge as the representative, 3 of which had ordered the phone themselves! which i thought was very interesting

a few days later when i found out about the best buy pricing, i went back to verizon, telling them that i would return my phone to buy it at the reduced price from best buy. they told me i would have to pay a restocking feel, but instead of having me go through all the trouble, they told me that they would to a price match and took off $65! no problems at all

 

[KeegdnaB42]

I've been into both of my local stores a couple times both to play around with the display models and attempt to get some answers on why my red 8X still hasn't shipped and got shockingly good service at both of them. The one in particular I stopped going to because of an incident over the summer when a rep was overly pushy in trying to sell me a xyboard and actually tried to shame me for not liking android, I went back and they really turned things around. They were all knowledgeable and enthusiastic. At a different store my friend's parents nearly bought 8Xs (although ultimately ended up getting razrs because they were free) and said the experience there was also really good.

 

[gkrew]

I do not go to Verizon stores anymore for phones. I ger mine online for the past 5 years. Store employees are just clueless and no help. My straw was when it took 3 hours in the store to upgrade back when "new every two was still available" and knowing exactly what phone I wanted.

 

[Westiemom]

My husband and I have been with Verizon for years, but now that our daughter is employed by them we are on her account and can no longer purchase our phones in a store. We have to do everything online. I went into a store a few months ago when I was having trouble with my Nexus and they told me they could not help me since it was an employee account - have to call a help line for employee accounts only. That's the only drawback to being on her account so far; if I'm having issues with my phone I like to be able to take it in and have someone I can see help me with it. BTW, she is in QA (quality assurance) so will have to ask her what she thinks about the treatment some of you report and how they handle that - if those were indeed corporate stores.

 

[Square85]

I'm due for an upgrade as of yesterday and went into a Verizon store in Manhattan today to look at the Windows Phone. A woman approached me and I said I was interested in Windows Phones. I got a blank look and then she pointed where they were. I do have to say they were sitting front and center on the display near the entrance; directly across from the iPhone display.

A man came over and obviously knew minimal information on the phone. He was pushing the 8X on me saying it has the better camera, battery and wireless charging. I asked him if the 822 had anything over the 8X and he said its free. He did not mention the removable battery or memory card.

He said the only reason to get the Nokia over the 8X is because it's free. I said thank you and that was it. This guy had limited knowledge for the Windows Phone. He seems to only focus on the 8X.

My wife has decided on the 822 as it's free and she is a big Nokia fan and has the different iPhones for the past five years and wants a change. I'm still undecided.

 

[JoeWang4]

I'm due for an upgrade as of yesterday and went into a Verizon store in Manhattan today to look at the Windows Phone. A woman approached me and I said I was interested in Windows Phones. I got a blank look and then she pointed where they were. I do have to say they were sitting front and center on the display near the entrance; directly across from the iPhone display.

A man came over and obviously knew minimal information on the phone. He was pushing the 8X on me saying it has the better camera, battery and wireless charging. I asked him if the 822 had anything over the 8X and he said its free. He did not mention the removable battery or memory card.

He said the only reason to get the Nokia over the 8X is because it's free. I said thank you and that was it. This guy had limited knowledge for the Windows Phone. He seems to only focus on the 8X.

My wife has decided on the 822 as it's free and she is a big Nokia fan and has the different iPhones for the past five years and wants a change. I'm still undecided.

The HTC 8X may have longer battery life but the L820 (not sure about the 822) also has wireless charging, along with some great Nokia-exclusive apps, and (from what I have experienced), much better customer service. Also, like you said, the expandable storage and removable battery are also great features.