Official: Rate your Verizon store

[bluenote]

Now that people are beginning to hear about the Pre, this thread is meant to capture a snapshot over the next period of how Verizon stores are selling the Pre. This thread is not meant to bash stores or employees but to provide specifics so as to be of maximum help.

I've created a simple 3 part format. Sticking to the format will increase the odds of your rating being the most helpful, there is also a place for comments at the bottom. Please create a separate post for each store. Please also include the address of the store.


I. Address

II. Rate the store on three areas from 1-5 (1 is poor, 3 is averge, 5 is excellent)

A. Display (ie is it easily accessible and nicely done compared to the other smartphones)?
B. Salesperson knowledge of the Pre/Pixi (ie does he/she know the basics of messaging, phone, email, multitasking)
C. Sales effort (i.e.does the salesperson appear enthusiastic when talking to customers about Palm, does she/he seem to "like" the phone?)

III. Comments

EXAMPLE

I. Address: 1168 Broadway, NYC

II.
A. Display: 5
B. Knowledge:3
C Effort: 1

comments: a young mom and husband fingered the curve and then the mom saw the Palm, exclaimed "palm" and her eyes lit up (I showed her the phone). When the Verizon salesperson came over, the sales person led her to the Droid and was very animated. Finally, they walked over the curve. The salesperson never went to the Palm display at all.

[The_Noah]

Well i just got kicked out of a local Verizon store yesterday XD

[gapost]

Brunswick, GA

Display - 5
Knowledge - 3
Effort - 4

Display for live and activated Pre and Pixie right near front door. Acutally first display you come to. There is another set of activated Pre's and Pixie's on the side of store. Sales person had a Pixie himself and tried to talk my daughter into keeping hers. (She went in to trade the Pixie for a Pre). He said she was wrong when she told him the Pre has a faster processor. But, it was a pretty good experience.

[bluenote]

My idea is that
it could be very useful for sales efforts to put all this information about Verizon stores into a thread.

[etrade18]

Great thread!!! Make the stores accountable and thus we can provide info to PALM!!! Great job OP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tremendous!!



I. Forest Hills nY austin street,


II.
A. Display: 5 Display left corner upon entering music was playing. Nice case to showcase accessories.

B. Knowledge:5
C Effort: 4

The guy who helped me purchase the item spoke highly of the phone and told me about his training session.

[Palmwebos]

This is a very good idea for a thread, I'd like to see some more users insight in this thread.

[sapient2k7]

I think this thread is great, I would like to see more input from the community though.

[donowolf]

I. Address (Verizon Wireless of Denton): 1805 South Loop 288 Denton, TX 76205


II.
A. Display: 3 (Security wires misplaced to prevent slider from functioning correctly)

B. Knowledge: 0 (They at least knew that the Pre/Pixi were "over there")

C. Effort: 0 (Kept advising me of "problems" the phone had, and quoting false information, then pushed the Droid more)


III.
Comments:

• Display: While the location and stock display were ok, the security wire was stuck in such a way that the Pre could not slide open all the way, and the touchscreen was obstructed partly by the mechanism. Better care was taken on the Droid demo(s). While not specifically a complaint, I did notice that the Pre and Pixi were some sort of hyperadvanced versions, as they were able to process tons of apps with zero lag, and found the exact location via GPS within 10 seconds. After purchasing my Pre, I compared the demo to it and found that my phone was far inferior in performance.

• Knowledge: The sales rep(s) (came on multiple days) were offputting and crude with their descriptions on the Pre. None of the techs could manage to get the battery cover off the device, and I had to instruct them on the basic setup and use of the device, as well as how to remove the battery cover properly. A particular tech named Pablo was especially rude, and managed to damage the slider after taking the phone in back. I had them exchange it of course, but the service there is lacking. Additionally, I had to convince them even after buying the Pre that I did not want to exchange it for a Droid still, as I was perfectly happy with the Pre.

• Effort (Tied in with knowledge section): Reps did nothing to try to influence a positive note of any sort for the Pre, even going as far to fabricate issues off the top of their head to dissuade me from interest in the device. It is without a doubt that anyone not dead-set on buying a Pre when entering the store, would leave without one (and likely a Droid).

• Other: In addition to these topics, I tried to get further information regarding the monthly fees with Verizon (switched from AT&T), and was given the basic garble that it would be about 95.00 plus tax. Unfortunately, Denton has imposed a city tax according to them, so in addition to the normal taxes and fees your used to on a phone bill, get ready for two extra lines claiming to be charged from the City of Denton. My first bill was around $112.00 after subtracting the activation fees (450 Min/Unlimited data + Txt/Single line). From my experience with FIOS, however, you can expect to see the tax rates and fees climb MONTHLY.

[Traffic220]

2290 Bridgepointe Parkway
San Mateo, CA 94404
(650) 357-0288

Display 4
Knowledge 4 Guy actually gave me a basic tutorial while activating the phone.
Effort N/A (I went in to buy a pre so no effort was needed.)

Comments: Guy seemed like he knew what he was doing. Kind of a shock since service at this place has been hit and miss over the years. Good knowledge about the pre. Only complaint is the sales people here feel like used car salesmen. (They always give me the feeling they are hiding something.) With that said, overall good service, and despite my "gut" feeling, every question I asked I was given a correct answer to.

[livelife]

Here are the locations:
5195 N Blackstone Ave
Fresno, CA 93710
(559) 224-9222 (They had 10 +Droids on display)(Palm tucked in the corner)
Display -3 Knowledge -2 Effort -2

7723 N Blackstone Ave
Ste 102
Fresno, CA 93720
(559) 451-0556 (Palm was tucked in the corner)
Display -3 Knowledge -0 Effort -2

1398 Shaw Ave
Suite 101
Clovis, CA 93612
(559) 325-1420 (The manager was knowledgeable but the salesmen pulled out his droid and tried to show me why it was better and there was a security device on the bottom that kept setting off the touchstone charger )
Display -3 Knowledge -4 (manager) Effort -3

645 E Shaw Ave
Fashion Fair Mall Ste 140-K3
Fresno, CA 93710
(559) 221-0120 (They had the droid does plate around the palm devices. They ask what do you use a phone for? I said business and pleasure. They said the droid is the best for the internet and the BB was the best for business. I told them I heard about the new Palm Pre Plus on youtube and it rated the best over the droid. The guy didn't know how to get the web on it.)
Display -failure Knowledge -none (knew the made the pilot) Effort -1

Best Buy
665 WEST HERNDON
Clovis, CA 93612
(559) 446-0195

(They have the Pre and Pixi in the corner in an "OLD DISPLAY" area.) We bought one here. However they could not transfer the contacts betweeen a treo 680 and a Palm Pre Plus. So we went across the street to the verizon store. THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ONE AND HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE. but they were able to transfer the #'s)

Display -1 Knowledge -2 Effort -4 He tried and we bought there. Nice guy

755 WEST HERNDON AVENUE , STE 100
Clovis, CA 93612
(559) 323-4718
(I have gone back several times to check on this store as mentioned above that transferred the contacts. ALL DROID every poster!)
Display -none Knowledge -none Effort -They transfered the contacts

[bluenote]

Thanks LiveLife for your efforts.
Could you please repeat your posts and give the ratings for each store? That way, averages could be run if someone wanted to. (May be easier for you to create a separate post for each store)

[playboy]

I. 10400 San Jose BLVD, Jacksonville, FL


II. Rate the store on three areas from 1-5 (1 is poor, 3 is averge, 5 is excellent): 3; Looked like a newly built store; It was a company store


A. Display (ie is it easily accessible and nicely done compared to the other smartphones)?

When you walk into the store the Pixi Plus and Pre Plus are first phones you see on the right. The phones were in plain sight and easily accessible. At least the Pre and Pixi were working. The Droid Eris was messed up.

B. Salesperson knowledge of the Pre/Pixi (ie does he/she know the basics of messaging, phone, email, multitasking):

The sales guy didn't try to push me one way or the other. He really didn't say anything about them. So I walked over to the Droid just to see if the guy would try to push that on me. I was surprised that he didn't push it on me. All he said was that with Android app develop is open so there are apps added to the Android Market that are free b/c developers want you to try them out.

I was thinking to myself, Uh, yeah and WebOs has a very open development platform was well.


C. Sales effort (i.e.does the salesperson appear enthusiastic when talking to customers about Palm, does she/he seem to "like" the phone?

The sales people weren't pushy at all and I like non-pushy salespeople. He wasn't trying to push or pull me away from Palm. They just left me alone to look and decide. The sales force seemed even tempered. Not enthusiastic nor down in the dumps about any of their phones.


III. Comments

Considering what we've heard so far on this forum about Verizon reps, my reps behavior was ok in my opinion.

[bluenote]

Thanks Playboy. Unless I hear otherwise from you, I am assuming you would rate your store in the post above:
Display-3
Salesperson knowledge-3
Salesperson effort-3

[playboy]

Originally Posted by bluenote

Thanks Playboy. Unless I hear otherwise from you, I am assuming you would rate your store in the post above:
Display-3
Salesperson knowledge-3
Salesperson effort-3

Yeah. That sounds right.

[wallflower585]

I. Address

9585 SW Washington Square Road
Tigard, Oregon 97223

II. Rate the store on three areas from 1-5

A. Display 3
B. Salesperson knowledge of the Pre/Pixi 3
C. Sales effort 1

III. Comments

This was a mall kiosk that I visited on Friday, February 5th. The Pre Plus & Pixi Plus were uniformly displayed like all the other phones, and at the time, I was the only person playing around with them. One of the Verizon reps asked if I had any questions, and I asked him how sales of the Pre Plus & Pixi Plus were doing. He told me only 3 handsets had been sold since they came out. He also said that the phones aren't as "easy to use as Android" phones, and that he "steers customers towards the Droid."

What I took away from this brief encounter was that these reps (at the time of my visit) probably had little or no training on webos devices, which would explain the blase attitude this rep had towards them. I mean, if any rep - especially ones who are really into technology - sat down and took the time to play around webos, there's no way they could dismiss it as a strong smartphone contender. No cellphone OS multitasks like webos. None. And that's a key differentiator between the Pre Plus & Pixi Plus amongst Verizon's lineup. The fact that the rep didn't even acknowledge this showed me that it's not the reps fault, but that of Verizon. The rep I spoke to was very friendly but he had zero interest or incentive to sell me on either the Pre Plus or Pixi Plus. And that, to me, is a reflection of corporate, and not the capabilities of these newer Palm phones.

[DougFNJ]

Address:

Stelton Road Piscataway, NJ

Rating:

Display- 5

Salesman Knowledge- 3

Sales effort- 5

Comments:

I was impressed. The display was at the front of the store and located in numerous other areas with a sign on the front window. All were on Touchstones and security equipment was not impeding on the ability to use the phone. Sales reps were ok on knowledge, but its forgiveable as it was very new. They remained focused on the Palm and didn't try to push me in other directions.....overall very good experience.

[jhoove09]

I. Address

South Park Mall
6530 Fairview Rd
Charlotte, NC 28210

II. Rating

A. Display: NA
B. Salesperson knowledge of the Pre/Pixi: 1
C. Sales effort : 1

III. Comments

I was in Charlotte, NC on vacation this weekend when I passed by the Verizon Store in the Southpark Mall. This mall is very upscale and caters to the Charlotte elite. I decided to get some hands on time with the Pre plus as I am a Sprint customer and have never messed with one. The first salesmen to ask me if I needed any help seemed bothered that I wanted to see a Palm product. He told me that this store choose not to carry any Palm products. He said "I would rather get you set up on a platform that works like the Droid." I told him I just wanted to see the Pre plus. He asked if I had used Palm in the past. I told him I've been using Palm for almost 5 years. His response, "well, you've been behind the times for five years then." He went on to tell me about an email from the store's manager that listed the pros and cons of the Pre plus after a hands on test done by the manager. The part of this conversation that sticks out the most to me... Verizon Salesman: "Our manager told us if anyone comes in here looking for a Pre plus, we should just try to sell them a mobile air card and be done with them." Is this how Verizon is planning on marketing all webOS devices in the future. No wonder Palm isn't doing well, they aren't getting any support from their new business partners. In an upscale Mall such as this, I really feel like the Pre Plus would do well. Instead, this Verizon store has chosen to push the Droid and forsake the webOS driven devices. Shameful.

[callmechewy]

I. Address

99W by Dominos
McMinnville, OR 97128

II. Rate the store on three areas from 1-5

A. Display 3
B. Salesperson knowledge of the Pre/Pixi -1 (that's a negative)
C. Sales effort 1

III. Comments
I went in this store multiple times before I bought my Pre, to test it out and get a feel for it. Each time I went in I talked to a different rep, and each time they knew less than I did. None of them knew how to back out of an app, or get into the settings of an app, etc.

I saw quite a few reps walk people right by the Pre to BB's, saying how the BB's are best for business use! And talking about how the internet sucks on it, but it's "doable"...I wanted to scream "THEN SHOW THEM A PRE ******", but he wouldn't even know how to open the slider.

[Palmwebos]

I'd like to see more input about this.

[fussnfeathers]

Four trips, none of them to buy a phone, mind you. I did look, and ask, though. I like to make salespeople trip over themselves for fun.

Green Mountain Plaza
324B Us Route 7 S
Green Mountain Plaza
Rutland, VT 05701

Display 3
Salesperson Knowledge 3-ish. Changed depending on who was there.
Sales Effort 2/3

Comments......

Take the Effort part with a grain of salt. The first time I was in, I was looking for a headset for my 650, which has a 2.5mm stereo jack. The salesman was rather helpful, probably too much, I already had a good idea of what would work, even though they were not Palm products. The manager, though, that girl had zero clue, treated the poor guy like an idiot, pretty much drove me out of the store. Obviously, no sale there.

Second time, I was just killing time, kinda poking at new phones, was actually giving thought to switching, since my family all used Verizon. Save on bills, and all that. Manager from the previous visit had been replaced, thankfully, but the salesman was quite new, kinda got lost when I started asking more technical questions (i.e. beyond "how do you make and end a call" stuff). He at least had the sense to get one of the repair guys to give me a hand. No sale, and I did tell the guy that, but he still answered questions. Good call on his part.

Third time in, I was actually there with my mom. My sis had just given her her old flippy, mom wanted to transfer the number from her old phone to the new old phone. Took a sec, she had to order a new battery as well, we knew that going in, but smooth sailing. They even gave her written instructions on how to do this online, next time, rather than waiting in line for a teenybopper asking multiple times if her text messages coould be saved. Nice.

Fourth time, just after the Pre Plus hit, looking to see if they had any better cases than my generic holster holdover from a couple Treo's ago. They didn't. Didn't have the Pre, either. Or the Droid. Small store in a small town. They could order one, of course. The Sprint store here is about the same. Repairs mainly, didn't have a touchstone, but they did explain that they didn't sell many Pre's. In all fairness, the Sprint store manager offered to pick one up on his way from NY, he rotated between two stores, so it might be a couple of days, but no shipping. Verizon offered about the same (was looking for a second, thought they might have one in back), get a store employee to drive one over from a larger store in Glens Falls. Nah. Not bad, this time, nothing special, but they did offer a passable solution to something they couldn't provide right that second.

Last visit, the salesguy asked to see my Pre, since they hadn't been on the short list, got the chance to show him a quick and dirty tour. He was impressed, thanked me, now he could answer all those questions people were calling with. Hard to sell a phone if you walk past it to another one, even harder if you don't have the phone in the first place to learn on. A for effort for that guy.