I tried to buy a T2 3 times today, but Verizon store employees were too clueless.

[Snareman]

I went with my mom to buy a phone this morning. She got the last white T2 that my local Verizon store had. I decided I also wanted the white soft touch one so I called around trying to find another store with one in stock. I called the store about 20min north.

The Conversation went like this:
Me: Do you have the Turbo 2 in white soft touch?
V Rep: (Looks and comes back after 8 minutes on hold) Yes. We have several.
Me: Can you make sure there are a bunch before I drive up there and you sell out.
Rep: (Double checks and comes back) Yes, we have several in both white and blue
-- That should have been a clue to me right there since they don't come in blue soft touch
Me: Ok. I'll be right over

I get to the store and turns out they have no T2's in white. Seems that she was looking at the Maxx2. I leave really annoyed.

So, I call around some more and get the store that is 40min south of that store and have this conversation:

Me: Do you have the V2 in white soft touch?
Rep: (after checking) yes, we have one left.
Me: The Turbo2?
Rep: Yes
Me: I know this is going to sound like a dumb question, but I just went through this with this other store where they told me they had the T2 in stock and when I got there they had apparently been looking at the Maxx2. Can you verify one more time that you indeed have the Turbo2?
Rep: Yes, white Turbo2 soft touch 32gb.
Me: Ok, hold it for me and I'll be right down.

I get there and meet the guy I talked to who has this uncomfortable look on his face and reports "I'm sorry. It was the Maxx2 I was looking at. The boxes and SKU's are very similar."

"Are you kidding me!?!? I even explained it to you so I wouldn't have done an extra hour of driving just for you to make the same mistake. Absolutely amazing." :-\ He did at least give me a $40 credit and free overnight shipping so I'll have it Monday, except that I won't be home to sign for it..

Incidentally, between those two calls I told my phone "Call Verizon Middletown" and a number for a V store in middletown shows up so I press dial. The rep tells me that they don't have any either and then mentions some other stores that I don't recognize. I ask him where he is. "Middletown" he replies. "Dumb question, but in what state?" I ask. Delaware. Oops. I'm in Ohio. Apparently my phone missed that minor point when looking for the middletown store.

 

[dpham00]

Whoa. Crazy. At least they gave you something.

 

[PowrDroid]

Your story sounds about par for the course. I learned this when I was buying Turbos last winter. I always ask for the manager. Another thing you can do is ask them to take a picture of the phone's box with UPC code and text it to you. If they can't handle that little chore, well, that says tons about their competency.

 

[Snareman]

Well, I was giving them credit thinking that they could read the difference in the English words Turbo and Maxx. Seemed like a reasonably simple task even for a Verizon sales rep. Guess I overestimated them.

 

[doogald]

I've given up on in-store purchases for new devices and only buy online now.

 

[Snareman]

But in this Amazon Prime world I wanted a shiny new phone today! Who's got time to wait for that big brown truck? Alas, I am forlorn... :'(

 

[BlueLions81]

Snareman, I would've taken that as a sign not to buy it.

Sent from my XT1080

 

[MizWylie]

Well, I was giving them credit thinking that they could read the difference in the English words Turbo and Maxx. Seemed like a reasonably simple task even for a Verizon sales rep. Guess I overestimated them.

Oh god. Thanks for making my day. That's how I felt when the Note 5 came out and was on the phone with a teenager from the Best Buy store...who I met later that day. Apparently there's no apparent difference between black sapphire and frost white.

 

[Snareman]

Snareman, I would've taken that as a sign not to buy it.

Sent from my XT1080

Well, I'll just have to trust that the people at Motorola assembling the phone were able to read which innards to put in the phone. Hopefully I don't get a Turbo 2 body with Maxx2 organs. Hopefully they are more on top of things than 2 Verizon sales reps that made the same mistake in an hour.

 

[Snareman]

Oh god. Thanks for making my day. That's how I felt when the Note 5 came out and was on the phone with a teenager from the Best Buy store...who I met later that day. Apparently there's no apparent difference between black sapphire and frost white.

Its apparently not as black and white of a difference as you might think.

 

[jasperjuice]

I've given up on in-store purchases for new devices and only buy online now.

Me too. My experience on Halloween buying the T2 in soft black was horrible. Did my homework on the Verizon website and with customer service, since I was switching plans. Had everything set in my account so all I had to do was walk in the store and get phone. 4 hours later and 2 calls from me and 4 calls from store I finally left the store with my phone. The store still screwed up my plan. As soon as I added the data widget it showed I was over my data limit for the month. Had to call Verizon again to get that straight. Should not have been that difficult to get a phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Snareman]

Me too. My experience on Halloween buying the T2 in soft black was horrible. Did my homework on the Verizon website and with customer service, since I was switching plans. Had everything set in my account so all I had to do was walk in the store and get phone. 4 hours later and 2 calls from me and 4 calls from store I finally left the store with my phone. The store still screwed up my plan. As soon as I added the data widget it showed I was over my data limit for the month. Had to call Verizon again to get that straight. Should not have been that difficult to get a phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

The experience with getting my moms T2 was at least good. Seemed to have a knowledgeable rep that I could speak with intelligently about the phones and OS and didn't screw anything up but your experience isn't surprising. When I got my original turbo they told me that they couldn't keep my unlimited plan. Took three calls to customer service before I got it worked out.

Is the adata widget already on the phone or did you download that app? I'm unlimited but I'm still sometimes curious how much I'm using.

 

[dpham00]

The data widget should be built in...it is the my Verizon app/widget

 

[Joe the Insider]

Your story sounds about par for the course. I learned this when I was buying Turbos last winter. I always ask for the manager. Another thing you can do is ask them to take a picture of the phone's box with UPC code and text it to you. If they can't handle that little chore, well, that says tons about their competency.

<mod edit> Did it ever occur that people lose their jobs for doing "those little chores"? Verizon has policies in place and employees aren't going to risk their job for someone who is so lazy that they can't just go to the store.

 

[YAYTech]

<mod edit> Did it ever occur that people lose their jobs for doing "those little chores"? Verizon has policies in place and employees aren't going to risk their job for someone who is so lazy that they can't just go to the store.

The "texting the UPC" might not be kosher, but asking for accurate information about what's in stock isn't being lazy, it's saving a lot of time, energy, gas, etc. Especially when the store isn't around the corner. For me, it's a 30 mile drive one-way. Employees ought to be detail-oriented enough to be able to tell if a box says "Maxx 2" vs "Turbo 2".

 

[Joe the Insider]

Well, not every employee is clueless. My store, Everyone is on point.

 

[YAYTech]

Well, not every employee is clueless. My store, Everyone is on point.

That's good, but it doesn't make the OP's post about his experience with several other stores invalid.

 

[Joe the Insider]

That's good, but it doesn't make the OP's post about his experience with several other stores invalid.

Also, There's In store pick up through the site. The site would tell you if it's in Stock or not. You could also just order it on the site and have it shipped next day at no additional cost if distance is an issue.

Sorry if I'm coming off like a jerk, But im sick of people thinking Verizon employees are incompetent. Keep in mind, solutions specialist are the ones you want info from, there's other positions in stores like our greeters that don't know sku info.

 

[Snareman]

I wasn't looking for any special treatment. I was already out and driving around from the first store so I couldn't really go to the website. All I was asking was for the employees to correctly read the boxes and let me know if they had the phone in stock. I believe the guy at the second store, who I made a big point to on the phone about my experience at the first store, had a tag on that read "Solutions Manager". I know the word manager was definitely on it.

I'm certainly not saying that all store employees are incompetent as I had a great experience at my local store when I went with my mom to buy her phone that morning, but the fact that people at two other stores made the exact same mistake despite me having them both double check it was pretty darn frustrating with the extra hour and a half of driving that is caused me to do.

I think that's the kind of stuff that gives the reps a bad rap. When the LG g2 came out I went into the store and the rep had never even heard of it. Didn't even know they had it in the store. I taught her about the phone

 

[YAYTech]

Also, There's In store pick up through the site. The site would tell you if it's in Stock or not. You could also just order it on the site and have it shipped next day at no additional cost if distance is an issue.

Sorry if I'm coming off like a jerk, But im sick of people thinking Verizon employees are incompetent. Keep in mind, solutions specialist are the ones you want info from, there's other positions in stores like our greeters that don't know sku info.

I didn't realize the site would show inventory, that's good to know, and a good site feature. Would be nice if it showed inventory (quantity), so if you weren't quite ready to claim it via the website, and were worried it would be sold before you got there, you could decide which store to go to based on inventory. I'm also wondering if the inventory is completely accurate. As of a couple days ago, the store north of me said they had a Droid Mini in stock (my wife's been shopping & wants a really small smartphone), and the website says they don't. They could've sold it in the last couple days, but it makes me wonder.

The average customer isn't going to have a clue that they should ask for a "solution specialist". They call or walk in, someone says "how can we help you", and they ask their question and expect to be either given good info, or directed to someone who can give good info if the first person can't give it. It's somewhat unfair that some folks paint every Verizon worker as "incompetent" after a bad experience one or two times at one or two stores, but from the customer's point of view the business and its employees have failed to provide proper service, so I can't blame them for being upset.

To some degree it "just happens", but to some degree it may be that some stores aren't managed as well, or employees trained as well, etc. And I'm sure there are times when the customer didn't communicate their needs well, so the employee had no chance of actually being helpful like they needed to. I think most people who have worked retail and/or service jobs can relate funny stories like that. I know I do...