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

[brmiller1976]

Spiffs alone don't sell phones. If they did, the Palm Pre would have dominated the mobile marketplace (Palm paid a high spiff per phone).

Salespeople are also evaluated on whether there's churn or returns as part of their overall performance evaluation. If someone purchases a phone on the salesperson's advice and returns it a few days later, it dings compensation as well as overall evaluation.

As a result, most salespeople are under pressure to sell a profitable phone that the end user will enjoy AND likely not return. The profit pressure means that iPhone is not always the best sale (due to high subsidy costs), but the "familiarity" of Android means it's safe for a lot of users as well. WP7 had high user satisfaction, but at some carriers (especially Sprint) it had a high return rate.

Microsoft can only truly disrupt if they sell a BETTER phone at a LOWER price with a GREAT experience. They have to get all three right to even be in the game.

 

[twincamfxd]

I went with my aunt to get her first smartphone earlier this year at an at&t store, and despite telling the saleswoman she wants a galaxy s2, 3 times, mainly because she really liked my nexus, this woman kept trying to herd us over to the Apple display. I asked her, what do you use? Surprise, surprise, she went on about how she is an avid apple fan and how she has a mac book, and an I phone 4s and stays on top of all of apples new releases... I told her she shouldn't let that influence customers that know what they want before they come into the store. We left the store and came back later to have another sales associate get the commission. She didn't look happy about it, but we were getting tired of telling her we didn't want an Iphone. I have seen salespeople do the same thing with android phones, because that's what they prefer. I can't wait to see what happens when I go in to get my wp for the first time lol.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[freestaterocker]

Spiffs alone don't sell phones. If they did, the Palm Pre would have dominated the mobile marketplace (Palm paid a high spiff per phone).

Salespeople are also evaluated on whether there's churn or returns as part of their overall performance evaluation. If someone purchases a phone on the salesperson's advice and returns it a few days later, it dings compensation as well as overall evaluation.

As a result, most salespeople are under pressure to sell a profitable phone that the end user will enjoy AND likely not return. The profit pressure means that iPhone is not always the best sale (due to high subsidy costs), but the "familiarity" of Android means it's safe for a lot of users as well. WP7 had high user satisfaction, but at some carriers (especially Sprint) it had a high return rate.

Microsoft can only truly disrupt if they sell a BETTER phone at a LOWER price with a GREAT experience. They have to get all three right to even be in the game.

Yup.

 

[Coreldan]

Here in the US most people don't want to pay $400-$600 for a phone. I though most of you Europeans knew this.

I don't mind being on contract-I get an upgrade every 18 months with ATT.

As far as being out of contract and buying whatever device you want you still have to pay a monthly bill don't you? What are you really saving? Your bill is not cheaper here because you bought your own phone.The only thing about that is you can cancel you service and switch without paying ETF anytime.

But I understood you pay crazy amounts for the actual service?

I pay less than 10€/month for all my calls, texts and data plan. Here in Finland contracts are nothing like in the US. There is barely any discount on the phone even with a 2 year contract, but the actual service contract is truckloads cheaper. How much do you pay a month for those 18 months or whatever?

Not the case everywhere in Europe probably, but here you dont save anything by going with a contract either. Around here it acts mostly as a way to pay the phone away in smaller parts if you cant afford paying it all upfront (like 20€/month for 2 years instead of upfront 600€ etc). So here if you can afford getting the phone upfront, the only difference to a contract is you arn't tied to any carrier for 2 years so it's a more attractive option if you can afford it.

 

[db4williams]

But I understood you pay crazy amounts for the actual service?

I pay less than 10€/month for all my calls, texts and data plan. Here in Finland contracts are nothing like in the US. There is barely any discount on the phone even with a 2 year contract, but the actual service contract is truckloads cheaper. How much do you pay a month for those 18 months or whatever?

Not the case everywhere in Europe probably, but here you dont save anything by going with a contract either. Around here it acts mostly as a way to pay the phone away in smaller parts if you cant afford paying it all upfront (like 20€/month for 2 years instead of upfront 600€ etc). So here if you can afford getting the phone upfront, the only difference to a contract is you arn't tied to any carrier for 2 years so it's a more attractive option if you can afford it.

I pay about $210 for Verizon's share everything plan. I have a HTC Trophy (wife), Droid X (mine), and 2 feature phones (son & daughter) that share 2GB of data on this plan. That price includes a discount that Verizon offers to employees from where I work. My plan is up for renewal for all phones except for the Trophy so guess what we're all getting? I can't wait for the new phones to arrive cause I'm so sick and tired of my lagdroid X. That thing is a pile-o-crap!

 

[Nataku4ca]

But I understood you pay crazy amounts for the actual service?

us, Canadians, have it the hardest I think

about 84(tax included) for shared for two phone on my contract at the moment

the thing is, after asking around, it appears that even if we bring our own phone, the only thing we "may" get is bigger allowance for data (eg. 2GB -> 6GB, this is from Fido) so in essence it makes no difference if we buy the phone out or not... worst of all is... our contracts basically have to be 3 year (i think it generally goes something like this, 1yr = 0CAD off, 2yr = 50CAD off, 3 yr > 400CAD off)

 

[db4williams]

us, Canadians, have it the hardest I think

about 84(tax included) for shared for two phone on my contract at the moment

the thing is, after asking around, it appears that even if we bring our own phone, the only thing we "may" get is bigger allowance for data (eg. 2GB -> 6GB, this is from Fido) so in essence it makes no difference if we buy the phone out or not... worst of all is... our contracts basically have to be 3 year (i think it generally goes something like this, 1yr = 0CAD off, 2yr = 50CAD off, 3 yr > 400CAD off)

Being locked into a contract for 3 years would really suck! 2 years is bad enough!

 

[Coreldan]

Being locked into a contract for 3 years would really suck! 2 years is bad enough!

Im not locked into contracts, but I generally speaking upgrade every 2 years, partially cos as a university student I cant afford upgrading all that often

My N8 turned 2 years old a few days back, now looking at a Lumia 920.

 

[PeadarWagon]

Thankyou Verizon for helping me decide on AT&T

I just went into a Verizon store in Ohio and asked about WP and told him i was very interested. He kind of chuckled at me and said they don't carry many and nobody is interested in the platform. He goes on to say that WP is in the same boat as BB. I didn't even know what to say.

 

[fierywater]

I just don't bother with stores anymore. It's easier to just go online and order whatever I want. And maybe it's OCD, but I prefer that I be the first person to touch my phone. It always bugs me when the reps take off the screen protector when activating the phone. If the screen's going to get accidentally scratched, I want to know that it's 100% my fault.

 

[mlm1950]

I just don't bother with stores anymore. It's easier to just go online and order whatever I want. And maybe it's OCD, but I prefer that I be the first person to touch my phone. It always bugs me when the reps take off the screen protector when activating the phone. If the screen's going to get accidentally scratched, I want to know that it's 100% my fault.

I hate that as well.

 

[metalchick719]

I just went into a Verizon store in Ohio and asked about WP and told him i was very interested. He kind of chuckled at me and said they don't carry many and nobody is interested in the platform. He goes on to say that WP is in the same boat as BB. I didn't even know what to say.

That's really sad and such B.S. Guess the guy doesn't get that WP8 is brand new and BB is on its way out. :dry If the sales associates at your local Verizon store are that bad, then it might be more worth your time to just order a phone online when they're available. I wouldn't put up with that kind of condescending attitude when I KNOW what I want to buy.

 

[theeboredone]

I just don't bother with stores anymore. It's easier to just go online and order whatever I want. And maybe it's OCD, but I prefer that I be the first person to touch my phone. It always bugs me when the reps take off the screen protector when activating the phone. If the screen's going to get accidentally scratched, I want to know that it's 100% my fault.

Ha, well I'm glad all us at Best Buy don't take the screen protector off. We sort of have this paranoid policy of how we handle new phones. Just activate them, and unless they are putting on a screen shield, they can have it and do what they want with it lol.

 

[socialcarpet]

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.

Wait...you really pulled out your phone and said "you better watch who you're talking to"?

I'm sure he was terrified by your display of nerd rage and is cowering in fear behind the counter waiting for Steve Ballmer to arrive and personally kick his ***. :lol:

 

[dogfish54]

Wait...you really pulled out your phone and said "you better watch who you're talking to"?

I'm sure he was terrified by your display of nerd rage and is cowering in fear behind the counter waiting for Steve Ballmer to arrive and personally kick his ***. :lol:

I think it's good that he said 'you better watch who you're talking to. For all that guy knows dby2011 could have been an area manager, secret shopper etc. Chances are the rep didn't care because they are 16 and just trying to get enough money to take a girl to dinner in the hopes that they won't be a virgin at 21 ... but good for you all the same.

Everyone needs to be passionate about WP8 like I am J/K ...

 

[ImmortalWarrior]

Being locked into a contract for 3 years would really suck! 2 years is bad enough!

Rogers doesn't make it so hard anymore. The federal government cracked down on them. Now all contracts go on what they call 'flextab'.

Essentially, you take the subsidy savings, divide that by the number of months on your contract, and that gives you your monthly subsidy.

Take that monthly subsidy, and take however many months you have left on your contract and multiply them.

Do the same with your data subsidy (if you have one, which I can't find any in most offered plans) and add them together to get the cost to cancel early. Add $12.50 for admin fees and that's it. It no longer makes sense to no subsidize your phones woth Rogers.

Slowly but surely its getting better for us up here.

 

[TaliZorah]

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.

It's not hard at all to get unlocked phones in the US. You just won't find any in-store. No issues getting unlocked phones online and it's perfectly legal. Companies just don't advertize it.

 

[brmiller1976]

I just went into a Verizon store in Ohio and asked about WP and told him i was very interested. He kind of chuckled at me and said they don't carry many and nobody is interested in the platform. He goes on to say that WP is in the same boat as BB. I didn't even know what to say.

How about: "Oh, I understand lots of people are asking at the AT&T and T-Mobile stores across the street. Perhaps I should go there to learn more about Windows Phones."

 

[kpxstar9]

one thing you need to remember is that at many corporate vzw locations (mine included) there is very little turnover in the staff. this means that there is a large employee base (myself included) that had to deal with the atrociousness of WM 6 and 6.5 on very sub par handsets. it was a hassle for us to setup the device and the maintenance on the device was just as bad.

that being said, those of us on commission have a quota to meet (obviously). at the same time, we have to make sure the phones that we do sell dont end up getting returned because that money ends up being taken out of our check if it does get returned.

in your case it sounded like the rep you ran into is an idiot and didnt know much about WP8. personally i cant wait to dump my gs3 for the 8x when it finally comes out. dont take it the wrong way if a rep tries to steer you in another direction, he/she may simply have a bad taste in his/her mouth about WM/WP (which a lot of people do), and like i said, they're looking out for their check as well.

 

[brmiller1976]

If store staff annoy you, you can always order a new phone online too. Delivered right to your door or office with a smile.