Verizon Store Visit (Kind of funny)

[PhreePhlyer]

I got my Icon at a corporate store. When I got my 928 day one, I ordered on-line. The 928 took 3 days to deliver, so in the meantime I went to this store to check it out. No one had a clue about this phone. I was pretty ticked off that a corporate store was so clueless. I found the store model to get a better idea of the phones general dimensions, but had no one available to answer any questions I may have had. The only person available kept trying to sell me an S3. I made one trip back, about 6 months later to replace my 928, the battery had overcharged and killed itself. The rep I dealt with was, by his own admission, the only WP aficionado in the store, but was of course, extremely helpful. On the 20th (February, the Icon's first day) I went back to the store to try and solve an issue with the flash. It had stopped working and I thought maybe there's a setting I'm missing. I'd hope the WP-aware rep was there, but, unfortunately not. The rep I got, however, was extremely helpful in trying to solve my problem, it was just he was as clueless about the OS as one can be, and ended up following all the steps I had, and finally came to the same conclusion that my flash had burned out.

I decided to order a replacement 928, but just before we started, he mentioned the new Lumia that just came out that day. He had memorized some of the specs and pointed out some of the differences from my 928. This was astonishing to me. He obviously knew nothing of the WP OS, based on my earlier interaction, but he made the effort to learn about the new product coming to the floor. I was actually pretty impressed. He told me during check out that he is an iPhone guy, but based on the phone specs, was definitely interested in spending more time with the WP phones. He asked me about my experiences with this and other phone OSes. I told him that I was an old Android guy that basically retaliated against the OS based on my wonderful experiences with the (im)famous HTC Thunderbolt (ducking for cover, awaiting a lightning bolt at the mention of that name). I have no actual hate for Android as an OS, but in its stock UI, I find it limiting. I got tired of playing with new ROMs and chasing the next update. My only IOS experience is my son's iPad, and I am not really that impressed. Not sure how other corporate stores are, but this one seems to have some pretty good people, who actually try and do a good job. I wonder if they got complaints last year regarding their floor staff being clueless or maybe a new manager came on board that actually pushed to get the staff knowledgeable, I don't know, come I will keep coming back to Verizon if that continues.

 

[Starrbuck]

I know it's not realistic but I wish people took a more vested interest into their job. When I was working retail, whether it was a fast food joint as a teenager or a manager when I was older, I made sure I knew about all of the items in my place of employment. However this level of work etiquette is clearly not common when it comes to Verizon stores around me. The day before the Icon launched, I went to a few stores before realizing I needed to go to a corporate store to switch over to the EDGE plan. Still none of the people I talked to were aware of the phone launching the next day. So I found my local corporate store to ask about the EDGE plan and upgrading my phone the next day. A part of our conversation went like this:

Rep: What can I help you with today?

Me: I was wondering about switching to the EDGE plan and upgrading to the new Lumia Icon when it launches tomorrow.

Rep: You said you wanted to upgrade to the iPhone?

Me: No, the new Lumia Icon that is supposed to launch tomorrow. The newest Windows Phone.

Rep: Ohhhhh ok yeah, the Microsoft rep was here yesterday telling us about some new phone releasing soon and their plans and I was just like "Sure....whatever".

I'm sorry but if I ever heard one of my employees treating her job like this, I'd take some kind of action.

Sadly this is only one example of my two trips to this store and neither were really great with how dismissive both reps were towards WP.

I agree he should go work at Burger King or somewhere where less care is required.

My phone experience two days before the Icon came out was completely different. Testing him, I asked if they were going to have the new Nokia Lumia (no Icon) in stock, and he said, "You mean the Icon, right?" He then told me they should get "at least" one of each color and to check back on Thursday. When I went in on Thursday they had one white and several blacks, along with a few accessories. We changed to Edge and were in and out in about a half hour. Loving it so far!

 

[anon(7901790)]

So I stopped by a Verizon store today. I was hoping to get an idea what the white/black Icon looked like, even if it was just a display. I walked in and approached two salespeople (SP) sitting behind desks to one side of the store. Here is how the encounter went....

Me: Hi. Just wondering if you might have a Lumia Icon I could look at, even if just a display unit?

SP1: "What?"
SP2: "Never heard of it"

Me: "It's the new Nokia. Nokia Lumia Icon?"

SP1/SP2: Blank looks, shaking heads.

Me: "It had been called the 929 for a while?"

SP1: Never heard of it.
SP2: Nope.

Me: "You're supposed to be getting it on the 20th."

SP1: Looks in the system. Reads me off a recent article on the Icon. "According to Google....Lumia Icon, 20MP camera, quad core processors..."

Me: "It's the 5" version of At&T's 1520."

SP1: "Wow, the specs look pretty impressive on this thing
SP2: "What is it, a Windows Phone?"

Me: "Yes"

SP2: "Oh, then we probably won't get it. Nobody ever wants those big phones, and if they do, they want the Samsung S4. It's the best phone out there."

SP1: Still reading the specs, a bit excited. "Yes, according to the system it will be available on the 20th. But that doesn't mean we'll have any in store on that date"
SP2: Looks bored talking about a Windows Phone.

Me: "Ok. Thanks guys. I'll check back" Walks out.

SP1: Back to reading out the specs and talking to SP2 about them. Sounding excited from the little I catch.

Yeah. The Verizon store reps can be hit or miss. The best service I had was the Verizon store in Sierra Vista, AZ. Sierra Vista just got LTE a couple of years ago (late 2012). When asked the one of the reps says that based on what he's heard, Sierra Vista is about a year behind Tucson. And his prediction was fairly close. They had good management and your conversation probably wouldn't have taken place.

But to be fair to VZW they have several different types of devices to sell, and the upper sales management bubbas are probably telling the stores to push certain products. The ones that will probably make them more money.

The Verizon stores here are ok. Not stupendous and not bad... just OK. I find that when it comes to Nokia/MSFT products to go to our Microsoft Store here in Honolulu. Those guys are really great.

 

[justwar88]

I got that same kind of reaction when I talked to a rep about my 822 right before it came out.. He was like dumb founded that somebody knew the thing was even coming out and told me he never heard of anyone being excited about a windows phone.