This is where VZW has always had issues

[NikoB]

Corporations are Psychopaths!

What mess? Except for pissing off a few enthusiasts on Android forums, in what sense is this a mess? Ask the average Verizon customer what a Thunderbolt is, and they won't know. I haven't seen anything about delays outside the small population of people on the forums and rumor sites. There are no headlines on CNN's front page saying anything about Verizon.

That said, I agree with you completely that Verizon should communicate much better than they have with their customers. It would definitely create goodwill, and it would only help their business.

But, .

VZW is a psychopath like any other corportation. They don't care about their customers who happen to be so excited about a great phone they have coming out. Like this guy says, from their point of view this isn't a problem, to them we are just some tech geeks that can't get what we want when we want it. He's also right in that if you ask a VZW customer what the TB is they won't know. He's correct in that only because their marketing department has totally missed an opportunity to promote this phone the way Apple promotes it's iPhone. At one point Apple actually had a commercial touting the iPhone's camera having a flash! A FLASH, as though that's some new piece of technology that Apple is leading the market in or something.

Bad customer service and ridiculous decisions in phones was the reason why I left Sprint so I think VZW execs should take it a little more seriously how "a few enthusiasts on Android forums" feel about things because if this phone has great sales numbers when it first comes out it will be mainly because of us "enthusiats" who have been waiting for this phone for some time now. All we want to know is an official release date. Quit being such a tease and so condesending might I add, and spit it the frick out already!!!!

 

[danthman]

...I think VZW execs should take it a little more seriously how "a few enthusiasts on Android forums" feel about things because if this phone has great sales numbers when it first comes out it will be mainly because of us "enthusiats" who have been waiting for this phone for some time now. All we want to know is an official release date. Quit being such a tease and so condesending might I add, and spit it the frick out already!!!!

I don't disagree. The way I see it, Verizon providing even a small amount of information would be an opportunity to create goodwill with enthusiasts. Enthusiasts tend to be very vocal and would provide plenty of free word-of-mouth advertising for Verizon if they think the company has treated them well and the product lives up to expectations.

Whether VZW tells us what's going on or not, though, it's still not a mess

 

[bstmstrxellos]

As much as I want to know more information about the Thunderbolt, I think that Best Buy is blame for all this uproar, not Verizon. If you go back to CES, Verizon not only didn't give a firm date on the Thunderbolt, they said some devices will ship as early as March. Verizon never miss lead anyone about this phone. Verizon probably behind the scenes wanted to release the phone in February, but knew there could be problems (assuming there is any problems) and figured that any problems could be solved by March.

All of us on this forum wanted the phone so bad that when Best Buy said that it would be out on 2/14 we all wanted to believe them and got hyped for the 14th. Now that it's past the 14th and there are lots of disappointed and angry customers, Best Buy is trying to shift the blame to Verizon. If we should be angry at anyone, it should be Best Buy, not Verizon, as they are the ones that failed to deliver on their promised release date.

 

[dispatcher0531]

Doesnt anyone find it odd, that if in fact, the phone was going to be available, then Verizon, as the phone's carrier would have done a pre-order like Best Buy did? Man, did they hang Best Buy out to dry on this one...Best Buy should have contacted all that pre-ordered when they were notified that the phone would be delayed and offered to return their deposits...not in the form of Best Buy Gift Cards...but the way they were paid for...with cash.....Period...End of story...

 

[spooluptheFTL]

Joelist, I disagree with the premise of your post in that it's hard to fault Verizon for this insanity. Best Buy is really the root cause here. They are the ones who started taking pre-orders 2 1/2 weeks ago without any specifics, started advertising the TB in circulars, put out press releases stating they will be the "exclusive national retailer," etc.

Verizon has been completely mum on the public front. All they have done so far is release teaser videos. If you remove Best Buy from the equation, I don't see how we'd all be foaming at the mouth right now.

But really, as bungled as this launch has been thanks to Best Buy, this controversy has a silver lining for Verizon and HTC on the awareness front. The TB is completely overshadowing the much more interestingly-featured (IMO) Atrix if you go by Google Trends.

 

[bkorver]

@spooluptheFTL, I think you just hit the nail on the head. Now all we need is someone to start a "Boycott Best Buy" page and all will be right with the world...

 

[prakash99]

Best Buy did jump the gun but they would not have made an announcement without some official info from VZW. I'm not saying BB is not to blame but I don't agree that VZW is free of any blame.

 

[Edwill86]

people can say it is not about the iph*ne all they want, but i will never believe it. is it a coincidence that the VZ exchange policy changed from 30 days to 14 on iph*ne release day AND the t-bolt is (probably) coming out exactly 14 days later?? i would be willing to bet that Jobs put some sort of gag order on VZW preventing them from releasing or announcing a new device during the exchange period on the iph*ne. this would explain why we have heard nothing even though the 24th is looking to be the release date.

i have 0 proof to back that up, but i don't think anyone has proof to contradict it either.

The new palm pre 2 came out right after the veriphone....but its not a phone ppl actually want.

 

[Joelist]

Joelist, I disagree with the premise of your post in that it's hard to fault Verizon for this insanity. Best Buy is really the root cause here. They are the ones who started taking pre-orders 2 1/2 weeks ago without any specifics, started advertising the TB in circulars, put out press releases stating they will be the "exclusive national retailer," etc.

Verizon has been completely mum on the public front. All they have done so far is release teaser videos. If you remove Best Buy from the equation, I don't see how we'd all be foaming at the mouth right now.

But really, as bungled as this launch has been thanks to Best Buy, this controversy has a silver lining for Verizon and HTC on the awareness front. The TB is completely overshadowing the much more interestingly-featured (IMO) Atrix if you go by Google Trends.

This sounds like you are not reading my posts.

I am saying that VZW is showing ineptitude in PR by not getting out in front of issues like this and speaking. It matters not who caused it - say something. The simple act of making statements and keeping users in the loop builds goodwill and heads off fiascos like this.

 

[spooluptheFTL]

This sounds like you are not reading my posts.

I am saying that VZW is showing ineptitude in PR by not getting out in front of issues like this and speaking. It matters not who caused it - say something. The simple act of making statements and keeping users in the loop builds goodwill and heads off fiascos like this.

I believe they have said all they can, which is, "there is no official launch date as of this time" which actually seems to be true.

So I'm not quite sure what your complaint is.