Windows Phone Challenge - anyone get a phone yet?

[john_allen_1911]

I participated in the WPC and was 1st in line at a store very close to MS HQ (it was the official first day, but the store did a run the evening before to kick it off - supposedly why they had no phones. They really had fewer than 100 phones across all the carriers and were giving rain checks for a promotion they knew they were going to be giving away 100 phones per day for at least a week? And they started "early" to get rid of all the phones they had in stock?). As you might imagine, I have yet to receive my HTC Trophy.

I was wondering if anyone has received a phone yet. I was told the store was out of stock of every phone that was an eligible prize in the WPC. It seems weird that there were no phones in the store and there are still no phones available (at least to me). I hate to speculate and be so cynical but maybe there are no phones to give away? Maybe MS is waiting long enough for some loop hole (I believe they are allowed to switch prizes or give me something of "equal" value) in the rules so they can give me a gift certificate instead. I would expect a GC of say $300 and the price of all "new" phones to be more like $500 or $600 so the GC is useless (cheaper to renew a contract and get a phone). Again, I am cynical.

If I check the store website I can order an HTC Trophy and it says I will receive it the next day via FedEx. So they have phones and simply refuse to send one to the store? They are hoping to sell them all in the next week or two and then bait and switch me?

So has anyone out there actually received there phone from the WPC? Which one did you get and from which location?

Thanks,
John

 

[tekhna]

This is going to blow up in their faces. I drove 40 minutes today to give it a try and now they've switched to 25 dollar gift cards for losing instead of phones. I got smoked by Windows Phone, but not in a way that left anybody happy.

Can I challenge them? My Android works with my Mustang's Microsoft Sync. Why doesn't WP7? The challenge is pretty obvious there.

 

[anon(5335877)]

I participated in the WPC and was 1st in line at a store very close to MS HQ (it was the official first day, but the store did a run the evening before to kick it off - supposedly why they had no phones. They really had fewer than 100 phones across all the carriers and were giving rain checks for a promotion they knew they were going to be giving away 100 phones per day for at least a week? And they started "early" to get rid of all the phones they had in stock?). As you might imagine, I have yet to receive my HTC Trophy.

I was wondering if anyone has received a phone yet. I was told the store was out of stock of every phone that was an eligible prize in the WPC. It seems weird that there were no phones in the store and there are still no phones available (at least to me). I hate to speculate and be so cynical but maybe there are no phones to give away? Maybe MS is waiting long enough for some loop hole (I believe they are allowed to switch prizes or give me something of "equal" value) in the rules so they can give me a gift certificate instead. I would expect a GC of say $300 and the price of all "new" phones to be more like $500 or $600 so the GC is useless (cheaper to renew a contract and get a phone). Again, I am cynical.

If I check the store website I can order an HTC Trophy and it says I will receive it the next day via FedEx. So they have phones and simply refuse to send one to the store? They are hoping to sell them all in the next week or two and then bait and switch me?

So has anyone out there actually received there phone from the WPC? Which one did you get and from which location?

Thanks,
John

When did you take the challenge, and have you at least received a confirmation raincheck e-mail?

Some people have already received their phone, though some people have noticed that their information was incorrectly entered into the computer which is why they have not heard anything from the store.

 

[anon(5335877)]

This is going to blow up in their faces. I drove 40 minutes today to give it a try and now they've switched to 25 dollar gift cards for losing instead of phones. Needless to say I will not be getting smoked by Windows Phone any time soon.

This is because this is the second time they've extended the contest.

First contest was $1000 laptop if you win, free Windows Phone if you lose and trade in your old smartphone.

Second contest, rules changed to first 100 per day if you lose you are eligible for free smartphone offer (again with trade in). Next 500 will get $25 GC if you lose. After that, if you lose, you get nothing. At any time during the day if you win, you still get laptop.

Third contest, rules are now $1000 GC if you win, $25 GC if you lose for first 250 people a day.

Did you read the rules beforehand?

 

[tekhna]

This is because this is the second time they've extended the contest.

First contest was $1000 laptop if you win, free Windows Phone if you lose and trade in your old smartphone.

Second contest, rules changed to first 100 per day if you lose you are eligible for free smartphone offer (again with trade in). Next 500 will get $25 GC if you lose. After that, if you lose, you get nothing. At any time during the day if you win, you still get laptop.

Third contest, rules are now $1000 GC if you win, $25 GC if you lose for first 250 people a day.

Did you read the rules beforehand?

Yeah, I did, but then they've changed them so often (as you kindly pointed out) it's kinda hard to keep track of which phase of their marketing gimmick they're in. Lesson learned--no free lunch, don't waste my time.

 

[anon(5335877)]

Yeah, I did, but then they've changed them so often (as you kindly pointed out) it's kinda hard to keep track of which phase of their marketing gimmick they're in. Lesson learned--no free lunch, don't waste my time.

Yeah, kind of sucks to have driven 40 minutes for that.

What also sucks is there's quite a few people who are just planning to sell the device. Not that they can't do that, but at least the phones are getting out into the market.

What's worse is there have been several people who had a raincheck, but no pickup e-mail, and are jumping the line and picking up a device WITHOUT a pickup e-mail.

 

[john_allen_1911]

I did it the first day (according to the official rules) and I was first in line (I had ticket #1). I have received a rain check email and I finally called the store yesterday only to be told it could be "a few weeks." Think about that and then think about the fact that the store had no phones in stock for the first person on the first day. Like I said, this particular store did run the contest the day before as an early promotion or something but if you look at the official rules I was there on day 1 so I am starting to feel like it is a bait and switch.

I was just wondering if I was ever going to get a phone. I figured these forums might have some new users who won a phone through the WPC.

I hope someone here can say for a fact they have a phone that they got from the Microsoft Store for doing the Challenge. The closest I have heard is "people know people" who have received a phone.

 

[anon(5335877)]

I did it the first day (according to the official rules), was first in line (I had ticket #1), and I have received a rain check email. I was just wondering if I was ever going to get a phone. I figured these forums might have some new users who won a phone through the WPC.

I hope someone here can say for a fact they have a phone that they got from the Microsoft Store for doing the challenge. The closest I have heard is that "people know people" who have received a phone.

First day of the first challenge period? Or of the second challenge period? Because I don't think they started handing out numbers until the second challenge period.

First challenge period ran from 3/22-29, and the second challenge period ran from 3/30-4/5.

There's an entire thread going on at SlickDeals, so that's where I'm getting all my information from. The people who did the challenge the earliest (3/22-3/25ish) usually got their phone immediately because they still had stock. People who did it 3/26-3/27 and a few people on 3/28 have been getting pickup e-mails around the dates 4/2-4/6.

They seem to be sending out pickup e-mails in waves. The first wave told people to pick up their phone by 4/5, second wave by 4/6, and the most recent wave by 4/8. If you miss your deadline, you're supposedly put back at the end of the waiting list, though I heard some people were still able to pick up their phone after the deadline, and some people were even luckier and got a Titan II (since some stores are actually saying that they're out of Titan 1's and won't be getting any more)!

I did the challenge on 3/29 at the Mission Viejo store and did get a raincheck e-mail, but no pickup. I chose the Titan, and at least a couple people from the Mission Viejo store have been told by employees that they won't get any more Titans.

I'm trying to be patient though, and maybe I'll end up with a Titan II, or something similar.

 

[john_allen_1911]

I did the "second wave" on day one. This was after they has instituted the rules that only the first 100 people got a phone and then the next 500 got a $25 GC. I was person #1 that day.

The thing that seems like a bait and switch is that if I ordered a phone I would (supposedly) have it in a day - check the Microsoft Store website. So according to the website the phones are available just not to people who got one through the WPC. And, as I said I called yesterday and was told, "a few weeks." Really? The store only gave away as many as 100 HTC Trophies per day (if every person wanted a Verizon phone). That is not that many pieces of product to move.

I also asked if I walked into the store to buy a phone if I would get one. I was told there are no phones. That seemed odd to me because the phone is free with a new contract or eligible contract extensions - so they have no phones for "paying" customers either? But the employee said people could order phones and get them the next day. So I am thinking this is a pretty long line at this point.

Oh well. I will probably just sell it anyway. I would have at least tried WP7 if they got one in my hand the day I waited in line for two hours but now that I have read about all the problems with the Trophy and WP7 in general I will probably stick with Android. MS never should have let me read all the complaints about Outlook sync on these forums.

Also, I was told by the store manager that if I did not pick up my phone in person within 48 hours of getting the email I would not get the phone - not moved to the back of the line. I said I was traveling for business and then I was told I would need to send my old to them within 48 hours and they would ship me my new phone for $5. Do you think they can handle the data transfer? My guess is, "no."

 

[anon(5335877)]

I did the "second wave" on day one. This was after they has instituted the rules that only the first 100 people got a phone and then the next 500 got a $25 GC. I was person #1 that day.

The thing that seems like a bait and switch is that if I ordered a phone I would (supposedly) have it in a day - check the Microsoft Store website. So according to the website the phones are available just not to people who got one through the WPC. And, as I said I called yesterday and was told, "a few weeks." Really? The store only gave away as many as 100 HTC Trophies per day (if every person wanted a Verizon phone). That is not that many pieces of product to move.

I also asked if I walked into the store to buy a phone if I would get one. I was told there are no phones. That seemed odd to me because the phone is free with a new contract or eligible contract extensions - so they have no phones for "paying" customers either? But the employee said people could order phones and get them the next day. So I am thinking this is a pretty long line at this point.

Oh well. I will probably just sell it anyway. I would have at least tried WP7 if they got one in my hand the day I waited in line for two hours but now that I have read about all the problems with the Trophy and WP7 in general I will probably stick with Android. MS never should have let me read all the complaints about Outlook sync on these forums.

Also, I was told by the store manager that if I did not pick up my phone in person within 48 hours of getting the email I would not get the phone - not moved to the back of the line. I said I was traveling for business and then I was told I would need to send my old to them within 48 hours and they would ship me my new phone for $5. Do you think they can handle the data transfer? My guess is, "no."

Definitely not a bait and switch, though I do wonder if they have the phones available for sale on the Microsoft site, why is it taking them forever to get some of these phones to the stores so people can go and pick them up?

As for the comment about 100 per day, that was only during the second challenge. You still have tons of people from the last couple days of the first challenge in front of you. The last two days of the first challenge was massive. Around that time, word got out, and lines were two to three hours long. There were probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 people each day per store on the last two days of the first challenge. Because the response was so enormous, Microsoft extended the promotion twice, albeit with updated rules.

The thing is, I think you should get your Trophy in the next week or so hopefully. I don't think as many people chose that phone compared to the HTC Titan. The line for the Titan is really long.

And as for picking it up within 48 hours, I know that's what people from the very beginning were told by store employees when they got their pickup phone calls. Since then, they've switched to pickup e-mails which give you a date to pick up by or else they can't guarantee stock. There were people who picked up their phone after the given date though, and they didn't seem to have a problem.

I'm a bit disappointed though that Microsoft can't give out consistent information to people waiting. I remember when the stores started giving out rainchecks, employees were giving them wait times from one week all the way up to three months.

 

[john_allen_1911]

I am relaying what I was told and what the guy behind was told (we sat in line together for 2 hours and chatted afterwards). If I miss my pick up window there is no phone for me - period.

As for the "run" on phones. The store was only open regular hours and I when I asked the employee how long people should expect to wait he said the line worked out to about 6 minutes per person in front of you or 10 people per hour. I was first and I did not finish the challenge and enter my info in the computer until just after 10 AM - 30 minutes after the store opened; it was slow, as in on purpose slow. At that pace it was going to take this store the better part of regular business hours to finish the 100 people who would get phones. So even at double that pace, at 11 hours per day, they could have moved 220 phones per day. Even if I account for the paltry 20 stores, we are talking a maximum of 4400 per day - and that is a major over estimate because some people came to try to win the computer (very few folks with new phones were looking to downgrade), the original challenge was slow to build momentum, and they were not moving people along that quickly. Still an amazingly low number of pieces for a giant company to move when they know the contest is going to happen.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get a phone. I agree the Trophy wait list should be shorter because very few people want one. That is why I am proposing the bait and switch scenario. Does HTC even manufacture the Trophy anymore? It is 18 months old and a terrible seller for Verizon. So a rain check will do me no good unless MS has a warehouse full of Trophies. And if it does why haven't they sent them to the stores - the numbers above are pretty small.

Good luck to everyone waiting.

 

[jleebiker]

I got the confirmation email that I would get one when they were in stock again. No ETA on WHEN that will happen. As soon as I hear, I'll update.

 

[Zaisaroni]

I read about it on WPCentral at the end of tge first day of the challenge as I was preparing to sell my 3GS on Craigslist.

I walked into the Mall of America location around 1pm Saturday (2nd day first contest) and left with a Titan. Only phone they were out of at the time was the Radar, lots of T-Mo customers the store staff said.

It was a good experience, once sites like slick deals hot ahold of it, it got out of hand.

 

[john_allen_1911]

I happen to be in the shopping center and stopped by the MS Store. Low and behold they had a huge stack of HTC Trophies.

I asked the first employee about and was very clear that I had not received an email and I was just walking by so I figured I would inquire. He seemed slightly annoyed but grabbed another employee to whom I said the same thing. She said they were sending emails for people from the 4th and 5th so I would just need to be patient.

I politely informed her that I was in on the 29th and was in fact the first person on the 29th. She immediately said to follow her to the help desk area, whipped out a Trophy and some paperwork. I filled it out and said I would be back after I backed up my phone. She indicated on the paperwork I would be back in one hour and I was.

The store sorted me out. Set up my Live and Gmail accounts for me. Gave me a quick run through of the phone and I was off.

So if you live nearby or go the area where the store is, a stop might be worth it.

I had called on Friday and was told, "no email, no phone" but in person there seemed to be more urgency about getting me a phone and on my way.

Hope that helps people.

FYI - I HATE the haptic feedback on the "three buttons" with a passion. Other than that I am still learning so I cannot say how I like it compared to other OSs.

 

[anon(5335877)]

I am relaying what I was told and what the guy behind was told (we sat in line together for 2 hours and chatted afterwards). If I miss my pick up window there is no phone for me - period.

As for the "run" on phones. The store was only open regular hours and I when I asked the employee how long people should expect to wait he said the line worked out to about 6 minutes per person in front of you or 10 people per hour. I was first and I did not finish the challenge and enter my info in the computer until just after 10 AM - 30 minutes after the store opened; it was slow, as in on purpose slow. At that pace it was going to take this store the better part of regular business hours to finish the 100 people who would get phones. So even at double that pace, at 11 hours per day, they could have moved 220 phones per day. Even if I account for the paltry 20 stores, we are talking a maximum of 4400 per day - and that is a major over estimate because some people came to try to win the computer (very few folks with new phones were looking to downgrade), the original challenge was slow to build momentum, and they were not moving people along that quickly. Still an amazingly low number of pieces for a giant company to move when they know the contest is going to happen.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get a phone. I agree the Trophy wait list should be shorter because very few people want one. That is why I am proposing the bait and switch scenario. Does HTC even manufacture the Trophy anymore? It is 18 months old and a terrible seller for Verizon. So a rain check will do me no good unless MS has a warehouse full of Trophies. And if it does why haven't they sent them to the stores - the numbers above are pretty small.

Good luck to everyone waiting.

That was your store though. At Mission Viejo, at least when I was there, they were letting people do the challenges in groups, and there were two people running the challenges.

Anyway, glad you got your Trophy.

 

[GreenScrew]

This is going to blow up in their faces. I drove 40 minutes today to give it a try and now they've switched to 25 dollar gift cards for losing instead of phones. I got smoked by Windows Phone, but not in a way that left anybody happy.

Can I challenge them? My Android works with my Mustang's Microsoft Sync. Why doesn't WP7? The challenge is pretty obvious there.

My HTC Trophy not only works with my 2011 F150's Microsoft Sync, its even supports the Sync texting capabilities! My Droid Incredible couldn't do that....

You've just been smoked!