[Sean Stanley]

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.

[xboxonthego3]

I visualized this whole thing in a Comic strip out of the newspaper. lol. I don't know why.

[pci2k]

I had a similar situation today in midtown Manhattan. I had to work out a billing issue and talked to one of the reps after I straightened that out. She had no clue.
I told them the Microsoft Store is taking orders. So she said to make sure the phone is supported on Verizon. I told her it's a Verizon exclusive! I walked out of the store shaking my head....

This is one of the main reasons why I like dealing with the Microsoft Store and not Verizon - situations like this!

[Jeremy Lebens]

Haha this is just sad and awesome at the same time. I tried calling a local store yesterday and he had NO IDEA what I was talking about and said that they probably weren't going to ever sell it. I just laughed and hung up.

[AV2RY]

So I'm not the only one went to local store) At first they (2 SP) had no idea what I was talking about, then lady started talking about 928. And dude, I think he didn't know even about 928. When I said I'm using my 928 with T-Mobile sim, he was shocked and gave me that big eyes look. I showed him my phone and Verizons logo)) Anyway he checked something on PC then said they don't have 929. I got bored and left, maybe I'll go to MS store these days))

[admorris#AC]

It sounds like Microsoft and Blackberry are having a "worlds worst marketing" competition.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[explosive0]

Windows phone 8 device failing even before it launches. Never saw this one coming.

[lcw731]

Those reps are programmed to push ***** phones and android sbybot phones. Until the carriers incentivize them to push windows phone its going to continue to be an up hill battle. I was in a At&t store recently, someone came in and sais they wanted a windows phone. Less than 10 minutes later the sales rep (with the help of an in-store apple rep) had this person buying an iPhone

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk

[falconrap]

It's the reps, especially if you go to a franchise and not a corporate owned store. They all hire the lowest common denominator to do these sales. They give them little training and knowledge, and so these guys sell what they know, which is generally either Android or iPhone. They may bend to you, at least the good ones, but the bad ones will actually bad mouth other phones in front of you. It's really pathetic, to be honest. When I went in to have my 822 activated (needed a SIM - came from SIMless Pre 2), the corporate store I was in had well trained reps that listened to their customers needs and tried to guide them on the advantages of the Android, iOS, and WP. One guy was talking to a couple and he pretty much stated the lady's particular needs were best filled with an 822, while the guy would likely be happier with the S3.

The franchise stores are the worst. I may end up going to the MS "store" (really a kiosk in International Plaza in Tampa) to get an Icon when I'm ready to get it. I'd rather not run into one of the idiots that bash WP as I might lose it.

[Garneth]

I had a similarly hilarious time when I went in to an AT&T store recently. I wanted to use enroll in AT&T Next and get a 1520. The girl rep, from what I took of it all, thought of me as an idiotic teenager who knew nothing. She went into the back and got the device, to return with a box that's ripped and damaged, clearly not giving a **** and thinking I wouldn't care either. She then tried to convince me to get a Note 3 instead, because "nobody wants a Windows Phone". Was totally hilarious. I ended up not getting anything and calling the support line and giving them an earful about how poorly they train their staff. Can't wait 'til I'm 18 in June, gonna work at one of these places and be a non-biased hard worker ^-^

[willied]

Sounds about right. The people that work at these stores are generally not tech people, unfortunately. Just people looking for a job. It's a shame, but oh well...

[Garneth]

Sounds about right. The people that work at these stores are generally not tech people, unfortunately. Just people looking for a job. It's a shame, but oh well...

Isn't that unfortunate though? I would think I'd want the person selling me a phone to know a thing or two about phones, not just be an Apple or Samsung drone.

[unstoppablekem]

Sales reps in the US suck with WP. :-/

[UncleGrandpa]

I always buy online whenever possible. The incompetence at the brick and mortars is beyond my patience level. That goes for just about any product I buy these days, including cars. I still prefer to buy cars locally the old fashioned way despite knowing more about the cars I look at than the salesperson does.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[quadtronix]

My upgrade date on VZW is March 1st... I can't wait! Thinking strongly about the Lumia Icon...

:)

[shaskell724]

This is sad. The support for Windows Phone in the U.S. is awful. That is all.

[Sean Stanley]

Agreed. I buy all my phones online. I just was hoping to see the color/size in person before going home to order

[fonefan]

I stopped by the Verizon store today and asked about the Icon. The guy that helped me said, "I gotta admit, it's a very nice phone. " That was right after he stated that it didn't have very many apps, but that Windows phone had come a long way. They had some on display yesterday since the Nokia rep was there to show them the phone.

Posted via the WPC App

[willied]

Luckily I haven't had any truly bad experiences with Verizon and WP, but some of the workers at the local Verizon were saying "Lumina"...but none of them have tried to steer us away from a WP.

[falconrap]

I stopped by the Verizon store today and asked about the Icon. The guy that helped me said, "I gotta admit, it's a very nice phone. " That was right after he stated that it didn't have very many apps, but that Windows phone had come a long way. They had some on display yesterday since the Nokia rep was there to show them the phone.

Posted via the WPC App

The whole app thing is really getting old. It's well past 200,000 now, and the majority of major apps is on there. Most of the time it's just some of the newest games and niche apps that are missing. I don't think that the app thing will be much of an excuse in about 6 months considering the growth we've seen in the last 6. It's kind of getting hard to ignore this platform, and WP 8.1 is going to make it harder.

[shaskell724]

The whole app thing is really getting old. It's well past 200,000 now, and the majority of major apps is on there. Most of the time it's just some of the newest games and niche apps that are missing. I don't think that the app thing will be much of an excuse in about 6 months considering the growth we've seen in the last 6. It's kind of getting hard to ignore this platform, and WP 8.1 is going to make it harder.

Hey.. there might be apps.. but the quality is lacking. The reviews on a lot of apps are not very good. A lot do not work or have issues that are not getting fixed in a timely manner.
I think this is the real problem. MSFT may say that have Spotify or GroupOn... but go look at it. People really dont like them and Spotify doesn't even really work. The last time it was updated was July, 2013......

The quality needs to go up before a real case can be made about the app store, IMO.

[admorris#AC]

The whole app thing is really getting old. It's well past 200,000 now, and the majority of major apps is on there. Most of the time it's just some of the newest games and niche apps that are missing. I don't think that the app thing will be much of an excuse in about 6 months considering the growth we've seen in the last 6. It's kind of getting hard to ignore this platform, and WP 8.1 is going to make it harder.

Don't take this wrong way, because I like where wp is heading, but people having been saying what you said for the last two years..."the apps are coming...just wait and see". I see people saying the same thing about blackberry, although I do believe wp has a much better app selection than BB.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[willied]

Hey.. there might be apps.. but the quality is lacking. The reviews on a lot of apps are not very good. A lot do not work or have issues that are not getting fixed in a timely manner.
I think this is the real problem. MSFT may say that have Spotify or GroupOn... but go look at it. People really dont like them and Spotify doesn't even really work. The last time it was updated was July, 2013......

The quality needs to go up before a real case can be made about the app store, IMO.

That is kind of the unseen problem of the app store. We may have plenty of popular apps, but some of the developers are really half-a**ing it.

Hopefully 8.1 brings an updated app store as well. We need a way to rate reviews and sort them, such as only your language, most helpful first, newest, etc. I also like how Apple's app store has separate ratings for overall and just the latest update.

[Citizen X]

Customer service in most US stores sucks regardless of industry. But what is going on with Windows Phone is astonishing. For YEARS when you walked into at&t all you saw was big iphone banners and a bunch of iphones at the front of the store. The Windows Phone stuff was in a dingy corner in the back. They finally did quite a bit to rectify that situation and moved the Windows Phones up closer to the entrance. But the absolutely cluelessness of the staff coupled with the bias is astonishing.

My parents went in to at&t to get their first smartphones ever. They were immediately steered towards Andriod. It's a joke. I had to make them return their phones and get 1520s. MSFT is losing all kinds of sales for no good reason.

[etad putta]

Customer service in most US stores sucks regardless of industry. But what is going on with Windows Phone is astonishing. For YEARS when you walked into at&t all you saw was big iphone banners and a bunch of iphones at the front of the store. The Windows Phone stuff was in a dingy corner in the back. They finally did quite a bit to rectify that situation and moved the Windows Phones up closer to the entrance. But the absolutely cluelessness of the staff coupled with the bias is astonishing.

My parents went in to at&t to get their first smartphones ever. They were immediately steered towards Andriod. It's a joke. I had to make them return their phones and get 1520s. MSFT is losing all kinds of sales for no good reason.

Maybe they would have been just fine with the phones the sales rep sold them? I assume you paid their restocking fee? Oddly enough we older folk can make decisions on our own.