Verizon employee's don't have a clue about pixel phones

[Morty2264]

It's unfortunate when you feel that you are more educated than the sales reps... I've been in this position before, as well. I'm sorry this happened to you, OP.

 

[bhatech]

I'm no fan of carriers but you really expect the Verizon store telling you a phone that you buy from them will work on any carrier? I mean irrespective of whether the sales rep knows anything about these kind of stuff or not but not sure you will have carrier reps telling yeah the phone that we sell will work on any carrier.

 

[pseudoware]

This has been the case with any carrier that sold any new Google/Nexus release.
Verizon is the OG of Nexus ignorance and ineptitude for sure, going back to the fuster cluck that was the Galaxy Nexus, but other carriers have been equally inept with these devices in stores.

 

[firebirder]

Went into a corporate VZW store a few years ago and I mentioned CDMA and they were completely lost. I know it's just a job for most everyone there, but study up a little, take some pride and be knowledgeable about your job. Though it's not only VZW, Best buy phone people are the same.

 

[JHBThree]

Went into a corporate VZW store a few years ago and I mentioned CDMA and they were completely lost. I know it's just a job for most everyone there, but study up a little, take some pride and be knowledgeable about your job. Though it's not only VZW, Best buy phone people are the same.

Internally at the retail level most carriers don't use the technical terms for things like CDMA or EVDO. They use 2G or 3G. They have no reason to be using terms like that because they should never be using them with customers.

 

[sselemanrm]

At my verizon store, they had both models. Pixel 2 looked pretty cool and I played around with it a bit. They had the Pixel 2XL turned off(they said something about battery issues), so I couldn't really get to see how good the screen was. I wonder if that was really the reason it wasn't working. >_>

 

[Ry]

I mean. It's their job to sell you services at Verizon. That is literally where ALL of their commission comes from, not selling phones. Did you honestly think they would admit you could buy their 'exclusive' handset and take it to any other carrier?

Agreed.

 

[Ry]

There job is to sell you on Verizon. To expect them to openly tell you its ok to buy here and use it on sprint is a bit naive IMO.

100%

 

[davidnc]

The first time I walked into a vzw store in 2 years,,was a few days ago. I went to look at the Pixel 2 XL they only had one on display. I wanted to check it out in person.
But,,,,, the battery was dead to weak to even boot up. I mentioned that to them when I walked out of the the store , They didnt even know. The store was pretty empty as well ,just vzw reps standing around doing nothing.
So i was able to hold the XL but that was it.

 

[anon(123856)]

I had a similar experience with a Verizon rep who told me a Nexus 5X would not work on their network. Everything I had read said otherwise. I bought one, popped in the sim from my Verizon phone and was done! Worked just fine as you all know.

 

[Mike Dee]

I had a similar experience with a Verizon rep who told me a Nexus 5X would not work on their network. Everything I had read said otherwise. I bought one, popped in the sim from my Verizon phone and was done! Worked just fine as you all know.

Certain features are not compatible

 

[KWKSLVR]

It's kinda funny. I walked into a Verizon store to check out the Pixel 2s' and had a conversation with 2 sales reps. After showing them the tint on the P2XL and the lack of if on the P2:
"Why do you think the screens are different on both devices?"
"Well, HTC makes the smaller one and LG makes the larger one. The smaller one has a Samsung panel and the larger one has an LG panel"
"But that doesn't make sense. If the smaller one is made by HTC, it would have an HTC panel"
"HTC doesn't make panels, LG does"
"I don't get it, our Google Rep said that HTC makes them both"
"Well, your Google Rep is wrong"
Smug Laughter "What's your source on that"
"Dude, Google, and literally the entire internet".

:-*

 

[Morty2264]

Yeah I don't trust any reps really.. at all. I would rather Google something if I don't know then ask them.

Agreed. I usually walk into a wireless store knowing exactly what I want and won't be swayed otherwise. Or, I have a top two phones I look out for. But sales reps often want to sell you a) what's popular b) what they themselves like c) what will give them the most commission. I'm sure lots of them try to keep their biases out of the workplace; but I sometimes even ask them what device they're using to see what they're thinking when they recommend phones and features to me.

 

[anon(123856)]

Certain features are not compatible

She told me "would not work". As a prepaid customer I already don't get most of Verizon's good stuff. I knew that when I switched to prepaid.

 

[Golfdriver97]

It's not always Verizon employees. I went into my carrier and at the time, I was looking at the Note 5. I'll admit, I am relatively weak with my knowledge of Samsung devices. But I looked over everything, and the rep and I were talking about the device.

She tried talking up the device and it's features and basically went something like this:

Rep: 'It has an stylus'

Me: "I know." and proceeded to show her what it could do.

After several exchanges like this I got the classic: "Feel free to ask me anything else."

After a few minutes, I asked what the battery capacity was on the N5. I wound up needing to check against GSM arena for the answer.


But back to VZW, yes, I agree that them and all carrier reps should probably be spending their downtime drilling through the phones and features.

 

[KrisYYC]

It's been years since I've bought a phone through a carrier store. The only reason I ever go in one is to get a look at a phone in person. Once I've decided I want the phone I either buy it unlocked straight from the manufacturer or from a reputable reseller on eBay.

There isn't much benefit to purchasing a phone through a carrier in Canada anyway. Prices are bad, and the so-called "deals" they offer require you to sign up for a two year contract on an expensive plan.

 

[sulla1965]

You even see this with EBay sellers. Go do a search for an unlocked s7 edge. The G935U is the US unlocked variant. . Works on all networks. Yet every add specifically states, "WILL NOT WORK ON VERIZON OR SPRINT" Most of the time sellers are clueless as to what they're selling.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

I can speak from experience many Verizon reps are idiots, job usually takes a few months to get fully trained in and they have a high turn over rate from their aggressive commission structure and sales requirements.

And even the ones that know the job well, few of them follow tech closely or spend time on websites like this.

 

[Mike Dee]

I can speak from experience many Verizon reps are idiots, job usually takes a few months to get fully trained in and they have a high turn over rate from their aggressive commission structure and sales requirements.

And even the ones that know the job well, few of them follow tech closely or spend time on websites like this.

I think phone store reps used to be better but that was a few years back.

 

[Morty2264]

I think phone store reps used to be better but that was a few years back.

Agreed. A few years ago, I remember having good conversations with sales reps who knew their stuff.