My Experience with Verizon

[jasonon]

I got my first Windows Phone yesterday, and it feels so good! I love everything about it, the OTB experience was fantastic, I had everything (facebook, gmail, xbox live) set up in the first 2 minutes i turned on the phone. But that's not why I'm posting, it's about Verizon and why they won't sell a single WP7 to any average consumer.

So when I first got a sales rep to help me, he was confused why I wanted a windows phone, he pointed me towards android phones like the incredible 2, saying I would like them better. I said no, and he pushed the iphone after that. I kept insisting on WP7 and he finally brought me to where it was on display.

It was neglected over in a corner where nobody would ever notice it. And on top of that, it wasn't charged. It couldn't turn on, Verizon didn't supply the charge cable that they did to every single other phone. Any random consumer would never buy this phone in these conditions. How could they fall in love with the metro tiles if they can't even try them?

The sales rep didn't know anything about the phone, he said he had NEVER used one. He thought it was a skinned Windows mobile 6.x. He personally used the thunderbolt. He told me again about andriod saying there were thousands of apps.

I bought my phone and got out of there. Also I didn't get a xbox game (I don't know how that deal works) and they were out of the cases that I was supposed to get for free with my phone.

Verizon is killing Windows Phone, and I'm sure they don't even care.

A happy WP7 user,

Jason Vance

[George P Global Moderator]

You're not the only one that's had this and not even with verizon, even in AT&T stores it's the same. Hell I've read that people get the same sorta BS in Best Buy. What the hell do the sales people care what you want to buy? If you want a WP device they should try to sell you one not try to get you to buy something else. It's like going into a car dealer saying you want one model and haivng the sales guy trying to sell you a different one you never said you cared about anyways.

It's damn stupid is what it is and MS should deal with this somehow, I dunno, they should setup their own little areas in malls or something to sell the phones and have people try them. That's the best way to do it at this point since they don't have enough MS stores yet. Thank god more and more people buy stuff online now and find info out on their own without depending on what sales reps say in some retail shop.

[capr]

MS really needs to put more money towards this... they need to setup their own places in stores and make sure their phones are getting the attention they deserve.

MS currently doesn't really have the power to stand up to the carriers doing this to their phone, but nokia does. Nokia needs to step up and do their leverage to get the phones out into consumer hands.

Honestly I wish the best for MS, I want them to enter the competition and help raise the bar. hell they give me a free one right now and i will dump my iphone to test out their phone, if i like it, I will advertise it for them.

[jasonon]

Thanks for agreeing, good to know that people understand what's going on with phone sales. I think mall stands are a good idea, and Nokia will definately help them out, but this is going to be a long and dirty war if MS wants to get anywhere.

[neo158]

This just shows the difference between the UK and US, in the UK they are expected to know about all the phones they sell or know where to find the information.

A good example is when I bought my HD7, the O2 rep regretted buying his iPhone and wanted a WP7 device instead. This just shows how much WP7 is respected over here, this could be down to the Apple brainwashing wearing off over here as people begin to realise just how closed the iPhone actually is and begin to look at either Android or WP7.

The O2 store even had the display powered, had leaflets available and had a selection of accessories displayed with the handset. Every network operator phone shop i've been into, Orange, O2, 3, Vodafone and T-Mobile has either a fully powered display or has dummy units for the phones available and on display.

Oh and OP, congrats on buying a Windows Phone!!!

[mArcade]

We need to make sure MS is hearing this. I went ahead and tweeted this to @windowsphone - if everyone here started to tweet these stories to them, maybe they will get the message.

[DeadEndAccount]

I got my first Windows Phone yesterday, and it feels so good! I love everything about it, the OTB experience was fantastic, I had everything (facebook, gmail, xbox live) set up in the first 2 minutes i turned on the phone. But that's not why I'm posting, it's about Verizon and why they won't sell a single WP7 to any average consumer.

So when I first got a sales rep to help me, he was confused why I wanted a windows phone, he pointed me towards android phones like the incredible 2, saying I would like them better. I said no, and he pushed the iphone after that. I kept insisting on WP7 and he finally brought me to where it was on display.

It was neglected over in a corner where nobody would ever notice it. And on top of that, it wasn't charged. It couldn't turn on, Verizon didn't supply the charge cable that they did to every single other phone. Any random consumer would never buy this phone in these conditions. How could they fall in love with the metro tiles if they can't even try them?

The sales rep didn't know anything about the phone, he said he had NEVER used one. He thought it was a skinned Windows mobile 6.x. He personally used the thunderbolt. He told me again about andriod saying there were thousands of apps.

I bought my phone and got out of there. Also I didn't get a xbox game (I don't know how that deal works) and they were out of the cases that I was supposed to get for free with my phone.

Verizon is killing Windows Phone, and I'm sure they don't even care.

Sounds a bit like what Apple experienced before they opened up their own chain of Apple Stores - fanboys pushing their own biases resulting in customers never getting up front advice.

What Microsoft need to do is start selling WP7 devices through their own channels on behalf of AT&T and Verizon so that end users actually get to see the device in action rather than getting the slander-pitch from the sales fanboy more interested in pushing his favourite platform than giving upfront advice. Microsoft need to tell both carriers that they're happy with the network but the employees in the shops are doing an absolutely horrible job - do random audits through out the country, take names and give these names to the said carriers and say, "these people are promoting their own agenda".

Just you wait, the wailing of the fanboys will only get louder as Mango release draws closer - whilst Android fanboys throw away their 6 month old phone just to get a security and modest feature update us Windows Phone 7 users will be sitting there with a smile from ear to ear with our hardware accelerated browser, refreshed GUI and the whole update being free of charge and available to all - regardless of carrier or handset vendor.

This just shows the difference between the UK and US, in the UK they are expected to know about all the phones they sell or know where to find the information.

A good example is when I bought my HD7, the O2 rep regretted buying his iPhone and wanted a WP7 device instead. This just shows how much WP7 is respected over here, this could be down to the Apple brainwashing wearing off over here as people begin to realise just how closed the iPhone actually is and begin to look at either Android or WP7.

The O2 store even had the display powered, had leaflets available and had a selection of accessories displayed with the handset. Every network operator phone shop i've been into, Orange, O2, 3, Vodafone and T-Mobile has either a fully powered display or has dummy units for the phones available and on display.

Oh and OP, congrats on buying a Windows Phone!!!

When people have a look at my phone they ask, "wow, what type of phone is that" and I say, "oh, its a Windows Phone 7" - they have a quick look at can't get over how cool it is.

I'm a Mac user, I love my iMac and MacBook Pro but Microsoft has definitely won me over with the Windows Phone 7 and made even better with the Windows Phone 7 Connector which they provide (no bloat, just a simple synchroniser without all the iTunes pain).

I do disagree with you about the iPhone and closeness - end users don't care about closeness but what they do care about is price and features - when you can save a few hundred and get a comparable spec'ed phone running Windows Phone 7 then why would you purchase an iPhone unless you really, really, really needed to?

[wickedlester]

jasonon I think you can go here and still get your free xbox game.

[George P Global Moderator]

MS is opening more stores, plus their online store sells all the phoens too, but it'll take time. It's no lie that Apples huge retail success is mostly because of it's 200+ retail stores worldwide. Right now I think MS has like, what? 10 in the US? Maybe 11 now.

There's lots of people who still don't know about WP7, and I bet if many walk into a MS store for something else like a PC/laptop or to check out some kinect/Xbox 360 stuff they'll see and finally be able to check out the phones to.

In the end I expect a huge media push with the release of Mango that brings WP up to par with both iOS and Android as far as features go. If anyone looked at the new iOS 5 features then you know what I'm talking about, there's nothing there that MS can't bring with Mango in a few months from now.

[DeadEndAccount]

MS is opening more stores, plus their online store sells all the phoens too, but it'll take time. It's no lie that Apples huge retail success is mostly because of it's 200+ retail stores worldwide. Right now I think MS has like, what? 10 in the US? Maybe 11 now.

But Microsoft, unlike Apple, tends to prefer working with organisations rather than taking it upon themselves but I think they're now realising that they need to take control of the situation just like Apple has done - instead of being at the mercy of some other organisation. They need to go international as well, they don't need to go over board but if they can get some in the major cities then it would be a great step forward - in the case of Australia having a one in each of the major cities (Victoria, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane) but like Intel they're a large but slow moving organisation.

There's lots of people who still don't know about WP7, and I bet if many walk into a MS store for something else like a PC/laptop or to check out some kinect/Xbox 360 stuff they'll see and finally be able to check out the phones to.

In the end I expect a huge media push with the release of Mango that brings WP up to par with both iOS and Android as far as features go. If anyone looked at the new iOS 5 features then you know what I'm talking about, there's nothing there that MS can't bring with Mango in a few months from now.

They should start talking about Mango at the stores - customers need to know that if the feature isn't there today that it will be there in a few months. I know a heap of users who don't even realise they can upgrade the software on their phone - they thought once you bought the phone that was it, they also need to tell Mac users that they can use Windows Phone 7 with their Mac and unlike iOS you aren't forced to use iTunes - have a Mac setup in the shop to show how easy it is. When I said (to some mates who are Mac enthusiasts) Windows Phone 7 could be used with a Mac all I got was, "yeah right" - I showed them just how easy it is and what I got was "wow" and "why doesn't Microsoft say anything about this?" and "why doesn't my carrier say that on their website?" - Mac users might be a small group of people but statistics show time and time again that we're quick to adopt new technology and advocate to friends and family.

[Omen1393]

Although I didn't talk to any sales reps, I visited a Verizon store recently to see what the Trophy looks like, I already own a Focus so I'm not looking to buy a new phone. Anyway, the first thing you see when you walk in the store is a bunch of android phones and an iPad. Farther down on the right side of the store you see about 4 iPhone 4s next to eachother ready for demoing. At first I couldn't find the Trophy, but when I did find it, it was on the left side in the corner of the store where almost nobody goes. Next to the Trophy was the Xperia Play, and a Blackberry. No reps approached me, probably because they know teenagers like me don't really buy phones. But it was a huge let down compared to when I visited an AT&T store near me where it was easy to find the Windows Phones. I overheard a rep there say that she went to a presentation on Windows Phone and thought it seemed pretty cool, but personally she's a blackberry person. She didn't seem too biased there.

[Growled Member]

I went into my local Best BUy recently to look at phones, as my contract is due to end in a couple of months. They wouldn't even talk to me about a Windows Phone. All they could talk about is iPhone first and then Android. When I mentioned WP7 they just looked blank and changed the subject. Microsoft really needs to get on the ball here. The stores and carriers are killing them.

[mArcade]

I went into my local Best BUy recently to look at phones, as my contract is due to end in a couple of months. They wouldn't even talk to me about a Windows Phone. All they could talk about is iPhone first and then Android. When I mentioned WP7 they just looked blank and changed the subject. Microsoft really needs to get on the ball here. The stores and carriers are killing them.

Tweet this thread to @windowsphone. Every thread like this, I tweet to them.

I mean, if a people can bring down an oppressive ruler with tweets, I think we can at least get Microsoft's attention - if they aren't already aware.

[George P Global Moderator]

I went into my local Best BUy recently to look at phones, as my contract is due to end in a couple of months. They wouldn't even talk to me about a Windows Phone. All they could talk about is iPhone first and then Android. When I mentioned WP7 they just looked blank and changed the subject. Microsoft really needs to get on the ball here. The stores and carriers are killing them.

Sounds to me like when your contract is up new mango WPs will be coming out, so on the bright side you'll have good timing at least. Now to just find someone to sell you a damn phone. :p

[BajiRav]

To OP, please take some time to add yourself to this site http://wptattletale.com/retail-locations

[neufuse Veteran]

I hate the verizon store...... ours feels like a prison...

you go in and you have to "check in" before you can even look around, but when you "check in" a sales person shows you around the store, you can't go on your own, its so stupid..... no such thing as "just looking" its basically if you are looking get out, if you want a phone we will tell you what you need after we ask 20 million questions about what you do..... after that we will tell you what phone to buy and drag you to it, and don't dare go anywhere else without us..... and we are NOT a high crime area, the store just acts like this because its so freaking busy..... at any given time there is 20 to 30 people in there shopping....... i never see the place dead....

[mArcade]

That's crazy. Never before heard of anything like that!

[norseman]

I sent feedback to Microsoft - forwarding this page and the other one mentioned on here. If everyone else could do the same, go to: http://feedback.search.microsoft.com/default.aspx?productkey=mssearch&P1=dsatnoresultsweb&P2=search&P3=MSCOM&P4=MSALL&P5=4e55cdafe00c44a596f52d77dbcd9135&P6%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20wp7&P7=Original&P8=&P9=0.0/0.0&P10=0.0&searchtype=searchweb&optl1=1&backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.microsoft.com%3a80%2fresults.aspx%3fmkt%3den-US%26setlang%3den-US%26q%3dsearch%26FORM%3dFEEDTU and tell them about this known problem.

[tsupersonic]

Funny, I went to my Verizon store, and told the rep I was interested in the Trophy. He tried to show me the Trophy and not the Android phones...

[George P Global Moderator]

Funny, I went to my Verizon store, and told the rep I was interested in the Trophy. He tried to show me the Trophy and not the Android phones...

Ya, they're not all like that but the majority are, which is the problem. A few will show you a WP7 device and talk about it, but in most cases those are also people who have used it and or own one as well. The majority have an iPhone or some Android device and will try to sell you one of those, either because they've writen off WP7 as being WM with a new skin (which it's not) or there's a spiff in the mix depending on where you go.