Verizon employees clueless?

[netwrkr9]

Judging from the lack of advertising that Verizon has done, I don't think they are too concerned about their employees being up to speed with the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus for the launch tomorrow.

[Tiddlekins]

Originally Posted by netwrkr9

Judging from the lack of advertising that Verizon has done, I don't think they are too concerned about their employees being up to speed with the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus for the launch tomorrow.

This meme is getting tedious. Full page ad in the New York Times, a blitz of radio advertisements, and we're still talking like this.

Get it under control everybody.

[playboy]

Originally Posted by Tiddlekins

This meme is getting tedious. Full page ad in the New York Times, a blitz of radio advertisements, and we're still talking like this.

Get it under control everybody.

Ads localized to individual markets are ok but they don't have the reach that national television ad buys do.

[playboy]

Originally Posted by Complex Pants

Correct me if I am wrong, but with semi major releases, normally employees get informed about such things and receive extra training. Considering Verizon showed up at Palm's CES presentation, I would assume the launch of WebOS devices would fall into that semi major catagory.

Well, that person who posted here in the forum as a Verizon store salesperson said that there is some training taking place on the two WebOs devices. How many stores the training cover is the real question.

[netwrkr9]

Originally Posted by Tiddlekins

This meme is getting tedious. Full page ad in the New York Times, a blitz of radio advertisements, and we're still talking like this.

Get it under control everybody.

How many people under the age of 60 read newspapers? A lot of people listen to internet radio (people most likely to purchase this type of phone). So IMO, compared to launch of the Droid, WEAK!

[danielkx]

I just called my local Verizon store (Portland, OR). They said the phone will be available tomorrow, they will have some in stock, but Verizon doesn't tell them the price until launch day.

Pretty odd, cannot see how giving that kind of info a few days in advance can hurt them. It certainly wouldn't hurt Droid sells since people waiting for the Pre Plus would likely not buy a Droid until the Pre is released.

Oh well.

[playboy]

Originally Posted by netwrkr9

How many people under the age of 60 read newspapers? A lot of people listen to internet radio (people most likely to purchase this type of phone). So IMO, compared to launch of the Droid, WEAK!

It's not weak. It's ANEMIC! I'm kind of disappointed in Palm's and V's advertising efforts for the Plusses.

[bdhu2001]

Originally Posted by Complex Pants

Correct me if I am wrong, but with semi major releases, normally employees get informed about such things and receive extra training. Considering Verizon showed up at Palm's CES presentation, I would assume the launch of WebOS devices would fall into that semi major catagory.

One would think that, but I just came back from SF visiting my kids. We went to brunch and met with my kids friends. After brunch, the guys were talking sports outside and one of the girls pulled out her Pre. She stated she really wanted an iPhone,but she loves the keyboard on the Pre. Unfortunately, she was on her 6th Pre and the people at the Sprint store didn't like to see her coming.

She stated she was about to turn in the one in her hand, even though it looked perfect because she could only hear the phone through her headset, but she could play music.

She showed me the phone and told me it was the 3rd one with the problem. I looked at it and flicked the ringer switch over. Her mouth dropped open and she stated why didn't the Sprint people show me that?

True story. I gave her my phone number and told her about PreCentral. If not for this site, there would have been numerous times that I would have thought I had a problem with my device. Okay nothing as simple as the ringer switch, but even that stumped people are the store where she kept returning her Pre.

Unfortunately, she's also a person who has been telling everyone about how many Pres she's returned due to minor sound glitch. She may not continue the story, but look at how many people she's reached before she ran into another person who actually looked at the screen when she pressed the volume buttons.

Having been a previous VZW customer, I hope they'll do better. But they never knew anything about my Treo 700P and they didn't know anything about Bluetooth when they sold their first Bluetooth Motorolla phone (it was their first bluetooth phone). I know, I was there and I bought it. I had been waiting for VZW to sell a Bluetooth phone so I could pair it with my PDA to use e-mail and surf the web.

I find T/C customer service a lot more knowledgeable than people in the stores. Remember when you're at Carrier's land site it's because you're interested in a phone, if you don't know about the phone you're interested in and they don't know either, they'll probably steer you to another phone.

VZW is hopping to add wifi hotspots and navigation to people picking up their Pres so they may know a little more in the store, but only enough to sell you the device. Not enough to help you with the device or help you make a decision between devices.

[playboy]

Originally Posted by danielkx

I just called my local Verizon store (Portland, OR). They said the phone will be available tomorrow, they will have some in stock, but Verizon doesn't tell them the price until launch day.

Pretty odd, cannot see how giving that kind of info a few days in advance can hurt them. It certainly wouldn't hurt Droid sells since people waiting for the Pre Plus would likely not buy a Droid until the Pre is released.

Oh well.

Well it wouldn't hurt the Droid sells b/c barely anyone knows that the phones are coming out tomorrow.

[Luke35]

Originally Posted by bdhu2001

Okay kiddies. Computers, phones, and everything else doesn't have knowledgeable salespeople anymore. In an effort to make everything cheaper, they pay staff by the hour, not commission.

***

We can't keep touting that we want cheap and reasonable, but then complain when people don't have the knowledge. You have to pay more for knowledge and American society has proven that, with the internet at our finger-tips, the knowledgeable salesperson isn't worth the added cost.

<--- Not "complaining", but isn't there a difference between being knowledgeable about a product as opposed to just knowing what price the product is going to sell for?

[bdhu2001]

Originally Posted by Luke35

<--- Not "complaining", but isn't there a difference between being knowledgeable about a product as opposed to just knowing what price the product is going to sell for?

True, but some of the posters also mentioned going to VZW stores and people not even knowing what the Pre was. However, I do get the distinction and bow to your correct phraseology. Not knowing the price doesn't mean that the person wasn't knowledgeable about the device. In fact, the OP stated that the original rep had a Pre. So either the rep was testing before launch or they had a Sprint version.

[Luke35]

Originally Posted by bdhu2001

the OP stated that the original rep had a Pre. So either the rep was testing before launch or they had a Sprint version.

Actually it was another person in the store who had the Pre and overhead the conversation with the rep. But the rep was very interested in the Pre Plus and excited about the near future release. (I was the OP )

[Dtone]

Verizon has no intention of heavly marketing the Pre/Pixi Plus. There flagship phone was and still is the Droid, the other android phone is next then blackberry. I think Verizon is more interested in the ppl who are already Palm fans, simply keeping them on Verizon or stopping them to switching to Sprint (the few who do). This is a niche phone for Verizon as opposed to a mainstream device for the masses. They didn't devote all that mktg to the Droid to just abandon that to devote more resources to shaky Palm. That said I think Palm can do well on Verizon, through word of mouth and simply being on a network double the size of Sprint. Just cuz your not doing iPhone numbers doesn't mean your not successful.