Verizon HTC One (M8): In-Store Experience Not Good

[keri2000]

I had to share my experience from last night's trip to the Verizon store. I am actually thinking about emailing HTC about it.

I walked into the Verizon Store last night and was greeted by the guy up front who checks people in. He asked what I needed help with and I asked if they had the New HTC One,not the 2013 version (I was very clear) in store so I could see it. He replied that it would take at least a month to get it in the store and then pointed to the DROID sign on the wall and said that the new HTC One would be located under the sign when it arrives. I had a sneaking suspicion that he had no clue what he was talking about so I told him that I just wanted to look at the phones without help. I walked right over to the old HTC One and right next to it was the new one. I picked it up and it was dead and not plugged in. So I reached over and grabbed the charger cable out of the old HTC One and plugged in the new one. I stood there for a few minutes waiting for an initial charge so I could turn it on. Turned it on and it was not in Demo mode. It didn't have Wifi set up and nothing was loaded to it so I couldn't test the speakers or watch YouTube or really do anything. Blinkfeed was blank and it was baslically a brick. I did love the crispness of the screen...

Needless to say, I walked out bummed and mentioned to the guy on the way out that they had the phone and he just gave me a blank stare. Lights were definitely off for him. But seriously, what a terrible experience. How the heck do they expect to sell this phone? If I was a corporate guy at HTC, I would be pissed. I mean, a brand new phone that customers can't even play with? HTC can use the business and they won't get it like that. Are other stores out there just as bad? Should I just drop it?

 

[Habiib]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

It's the small details like this that can ruin any chance of a product being sold to a less informed consumer. I had a similar experience a while back when trying to find the Droid DNA.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[VDub2174]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

Are other stores out there just as bad? Should I just drop it?

I wouldn't base all stores off of this experience. I would check out other stores to see if they had a working demo phone.

 

[keri2000]

Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

I had to share my experience from last night's trip to the Verizon store. I
am actually thinking about emailing HTC about it.

I walked into the Verizon Store last night and was greeted by the guy up
front who checks people in. He asked what I needed help with and I asked if
they had the New HTC One, not the 2013 version (I was very clear) in store so I could see it. He replied that it would take at least a month to get it
in the store and then pointed to the DROID sign on the wall and said that
the new HTC One would be located under the sign when it arrives. I had a
sneaking suspicion that he had no clue what he was talking about so I told him that I just wanted to look at the phones without help. I walked right over to the old HTC One and right next to it was the new one. I picked it up and it was dead and not plugged in. So I reached over and grabbed the charger cable out of the old HTC One and plugged in the new one. I stood there for a few minutes waiting for an initial charge so I could turn it on. Turned it on and it was not in Demo mode. It didn't have Wi-Fi set up and nothing was loaded to it so I couldn't test the speakers or watch YouTube or really do anything. Blinkfeed was blank and it was basically a brick. I did love the crispness of the screen...

Needless to say, I walked out bummed and mentioned to the guy on the way out that they had the phone and he just gave me a blank stare. Lights were definitely off for him. But seriously, what a terrible experience. How the heck do they expect to sell this phone? If I was a corporate guy at HTC, I would be pissed. I mean, a brand new phone that customers can't even play
with, not to mention they didn't even know they had the phone? HTC can use the business and they won't get it like that. Are other stores out there just as bad? Should I just drop it?

 

[Golfdriver97]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

I have had plenty of times where I walk into a corporate store (not Verizon, but Sprint) and see the same level of incompetence. Now, I can understand some ignorance, the highly technical, along the lines of 'how do I use ADB to do..' sort of questions, but there should be some basic understanding of say, what the Android versions are.

The part that really confuses me is, they can't be that busy to have no customer traffic flow, where they can research on devices and OS. I am sure they have other things to do too, but that would be work related, so perfectly reasonable to do while working at the store.

 

[DrWu]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

To contrast your experience, I stopped by the Verizon Wireless store in Grapevine Texas on my way home from work yesterday. Not only did every employee in the store know exactly what phone I was talking about they had two of them on display, in demo mode - one in each color. Overall I was pleased with my experience. When I walked in, the check-in dude walked me over to the display where the phone was located (the gun metal grey version) and then pointed to another table where the silver one was located, he told me it would be about 20 minutes before someone could help me. The 20 minutes gave me time to really look over the phone and compare it to the original HTC One and the the One Max that were flanking the new One on either side. Before the 20 minutes were up, they called my name and 10 minutes later I walked out with my new HTC One in gun metal. I love the phone, couldn't be more pleased - well...I would have been more pleased if they had the dot cover for it but all they had were giant otter boxes. I have a generic TPU case on order from Amazon, until then, my One goes commando.

 

[raichur0xx0rz]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

Just a bad employee. If you want to report that, then just call up Verizon and provide them with the store location and state that you had a poor experience, causing them to lose a sale. Or call up the store and talk to a manager, since they may be able to recall which employee it was.

It's annoying to run into uneducated employees, but then again, not all their employees actually care that much about tech, and not all of them will read up on training material...

 

[Dizfunctions]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

I would report the store to Verizon and include HTC in the email, then call Verizon out in it in Twitter while also sending the tweet @htc

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

 

[dpham00]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

Please only create one thread for the same topic.


http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?p=3534268

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[dpham00]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

Sorry for your experience. I have had negative experiences with the Verizon store as well as at a number of other stores.

With regards to the new one, you can order it online with in store pickup. Make sure to use the 30% code "RMN30". You would get an email confirmation when it is ready, so you don't waste your trip

As an added bonus, I ordered my note 3 for in store pickup on release day with 30% off, but when I picked it up, they gave it to me for 70% off. Can't say that it would repeat but if you are buying anyway, might as well get the discount.

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

 

[Almeuit]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

This can happen in stores.. They don't always have the best knowledge.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[calvin35]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

Unfortunately I've seen this kind of thing all to often on the At&t side. If your phone isn't an iPhone or doesn't say Samsung on it many corporate stores don't care. HTC needs to advertise more. Those of us that visit tech sites know all about this phone and we tend to assume that everyone is as excited as us when a new phone comes out that we really want but that's just not the case. I would bet that the vast majority of the buying public doesn't even know this phone exists and the same could probably be said for most android phones not made by Samsung.

 

[mhettrich]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

I had to share my experience from last night's trip to the Verizon store. I am actually thinking about emailing HTC about it.

I walked into the Verizon Store last night and was greeted by the guy up front who checks people in. He asked what I needed help with and I asked if they had the New HTC One,not the 2013 version (I was very clear) in store so I could see it. He replied that it would take at least a month to get it in the store and then pointed to the DROID sign on the wall and said that the new HTC One would be located under the sign when it arrives. I had a sneaking suspicion that he had no clue what he was talking about so I told him that I just wanted to look at the phones without help. I walked right over to the old HTC One and right next to it was the new one. I picked it up and it was dead and not plugged in. So I reached over and grabbed the charger cable out of the old HTC One and plugged in the new one. I stood there for a few minutes waiting for an initial charge so I could turn it on. Turned it on and it was not in Demo mode. It didn't have Wifi set up and nothing was loaded to it so I couldn't test the speakers or watch YouTube or really do anything. Blinkfeed was blank and it was baslically a brick. I did love the crispness of the screen...

Needless to say, I walked out bummed and mentioned to the guy on the way out that they had the phone and he just gave me a blank stare. Lights were definitely off for him. But seriously, what a terrible experience. How the heck do they expect to sell this phone? If I was a corporate guy at HTC, I would be pissed. I mean, a brand new phone that customers can't even play with? HTC can use the business and they won't get it like that. Are other stores out there just as bad? Should I just drop it?

Sadly, this experience is pretty common with people buying at carrier stores. Many of the employees there are not tech junkies like us, and are completely unaware of new phones that are released (to say nothing of their technical knowledge about the phones themselves). This is why I always order online and have it shipped to me, OR as one person mentioned, have it set to store pickup. I like to cut out the middle man as much as possible, I do enough research myself to answer any questions that I may have. It's a shame that such a promising phone is getting this kind of treatment.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

As an employee at a locally owned verizon I can tell you they won't provide us with product details or product training until launch day, if we're lucky the day before. So if that employee had the last few days off he wouldn't have known.

This is done to prevent leaks, sadly I learn about new products and promotions online long before my employer tells me.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[aandrew610]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

i walked right into my local verizon store at 1pm EST and they had there display model up and running of course they didnt know anything about the m8 but it was cool to beable to play around with it for a little bit. Idk but i kinda like the old version better myself

 

[erwaso]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

Some people work at these stores just because it was an open job. Doesn't mean they care about what's in it lol. So sad.

 

[Premium1]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

I had to share my experience from last night's trip to the Verizon store. I am actually thinking about emailing HTC about it.

I walked into the Verizon Store last night and was greeted by the guy up front who checks people in. He asked what I needed help with and I asked if they had the New HTC One,not the 2013 version (I was very clear) in store so I could see it. He replied that it would take at least a month to get it in the store and then pointed to the DROID sign on the wall and said that the new HTC One would be located under the sign when it arrives. I had a sneaking suspicion that he had no clue what he was talking about so I told him that I just wanted to look at the phones without help. I walked right over to the old HTC One and right next to it was the new one. I picked it up and it was dead and not plugged in. So I reached over and grabbed the charger cable out of the old HTC One and plugged in the new one. I stood there for a few minutes waiting for an initial charge so I could turn it on. Turned it on and it was not in Demo mode. It didn't have Wifi set up and nothing was loaded to it so I couldn't test the speakers or watch YouTube or really do anything. Blinkfeed was blank and it was baslically a brick. I did love the crispness of the screen...

Needless to say, I walked out bummed and mentioned to the guy on the way out that they had the phone and he just gave me a blank stare. Lights were definitely off for him. But seriously, what a terrible experience. How the heck do they expect to sell this phone? If I was a corporate guy at HTC, I would be pissed. I mean, a brand new phone that customers can't even play with? HTC can use the business and they won't get it like that. Are other stores out there just as bad? Should I just drop it?

I went to a verizon store last night and they had 2 all up and running, and one had the dot case on. Seems it was just your store and depending on time you went in they simply might not have had enough time to get it all set up and ready/weren't really briefed on it. Happens with a lot of their phones, not just HTC

- - - Updated - - -

i walked right into my local verizon store at 1pm EST and they had there display model up and running of course they didnt know anything about the m8 but it was cool to beable to play around with it for a little bit. Idk but i kinda like the old version better myself

I wish they would have kept the size and look of the old one, removed black bar and placed on screen keys there and rid the ultra pixel camera for a solid 8 or so mp camera. Then it would have been about perfect.

 

[keri2000]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

Please only create one thread for the same topic.


Verizon Store Experience - Not Good - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

Sorry about that. My phone timed out and I didn't think it got posted. :-(

 

[jspring86]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

Sorry for your experience. I have had negative experiences with the Verizon store as well as at a number of other stores.

With regards to the new one, you can order it online with in store pickup. Make sure to use the 30% code "RMN30". You would get an email confirmation when it is ready, so you don't waste your trip

As an added bonus, I ordered my note 3 for in store pickup on release day with 30% off, but when I picked it up, they gave it to me for 70% off. Can't say that it would repeat but if you are buying anyway, might as well get the discount.

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro

I used the discount code, ordered online, and when I went in store to pick it up it still took me 1.5 hours to get the phone in my hands! The guy tried to charge me $199.99 for the phone instead of the $139.99 discount price. I got it sorted but it was disappointing.

 

[dpham00]

Re: Verizon Store Experience - Not Good

I used the discount code, ordered online, and when I went in store to pick it up it still took me 1.5 hours to get the phone in my hands! The guy tried to charge me $199.99 for the phone instead of the $139.99 discount price. I got it sorted but it was disappointing.

Sorry to hear that. When I picked up my note 3 using in store pickup, the wait was around 20 minutes.

But put it this way, at least they can't claim that they don't have any in stock. If you went in without in store pickup, there isn't much you can do if they say they don't have any

dpham00, Android Central Moderator
Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 3 via Tapatalk Pro