Verizon requiring Gmail message to be sent to their account when purchasing Droid???

[eric815]

I have purchased my Moto Droid last November and my wifes HTC Incredible this past May. During both purchases I noticed the Verizon sales rep wanted me to configure my GMAIL acct and email them a message prior to me completing the sale and leaving the store. For my first Droid, I couldnt remember my password and he was going to setup a new acct for me, but I didnt want that. I finally remembered my password and set it up. But he then wanted the Droid from me so he can email VZW a "test"email. I took it from him and said I would do it as he rambled off the email address. But I really didnt do it. I just motioned the typing and said I sent it to them. Then when I bought my wife's Incredible, again they wanted me to setup GMAIL before I left VZW. The phone was a surprise gift for my wife so I didnt want to set it up yet and I didnt know her password. So I finally set it up with my GMAIL and faked a message to VZW when requested. I then had to wipe the phone later so my wife can setup her GMAIl acct.

My gut feeling is that if I were to send VZW a test email they would either A) sell my GMAIL address to sell to 3rd parties as an active GMAIL acct with an Android phone and profit from me. Or B) use the email as a receipt to collect commission or a spiff for selling a droid.

Can any VZW reps out there explain WHY we are REQUIRED to setup GMAIL acct on the phone prior to leaving the store? It should be my own choice to do so or not. I should nt be forced to do so in the presence of the VZW reps. Also explain WHY we are REQUIRED to EMAIL VZW prior to leaving? Again, that should be MY CHOICE, not VZW. I cant think of anything in this process that would be required for my phone to work. Especially emailing VZW.

I plan to get a Droid X this Thursday, and will do the same faking if I am again required by them. Its BS!

--Eric

 

[1088933]

Huh I've never heard of that- I also bought my Droid in November and they didn't tell me any of that, they just activated it, transfered my contacts (I was coming from Alltel) and that was that

 

[Bazzocco]

well we do it on most phones we sell that are email capable but the droids to my current knowledge do not need this to be done on them. we did it to make sure the email was set up and working on the device. of course this is what i was told by my trainers and my boss and all the other employees so i would assume it was right but who knows.


Ahhhh yes and of course to be able to get into the market place and back up the contacts on the gmail account. Thanks for that zach!

 

[zachflauaus]

I think you're being a little paranoid. VZW wouldn't collect your Gmail address to sell to 3rd parties because 1) It's against policy, 2) If they really wanted to sell your address, they already could have done so through My Account in addition to your billing information and phone number to telemarketers.

They probably want you to set up a Google Account so you get full functionality since it's, you know, a Google phone. See this post: Get Your Gmail Account Ready

 

[Chaos5]

I've only heard/had people set up or have buyer set up a Gmail due to you need one to get the phone running. But e-mailing VZW probably to just see if its getting service?

 

[volcom.airsoft]

Ah. When I got my BlackBerry Tour, they already had my email in their system because I had a Curve (creepy) & made me enter my password twice. Then I was told once I received 2 emails from VZW, I had to forward it to the lady that works @ the desk.

& yeah, BUT, BlackBerrys are different than Androids.

 

[Adiliyo]

i haven't seen anyone forced to do so, but i wouldn't think anything sinister about it, the basic idea would be to make sure everything is setup for non tech savvy users so that their phone "just works" when they leave the store.

i've walked through the setup wizard with the various android handsets with my csr, but they know i know what i'm doing so they never have me test the account, nor would they force or pester me to do it in front of them, i generally set it up so that it's just all done when i leave.

 

[jdbower]

It depends on the store. Last time I bought my Blackberry the store policy was that I had to be able to send and receive an email otherwise I "couldn't" leave the store (I'm guessing if I did there may have been an impact on their commission.

The goal is not a nefarious plan to get money by selling the handful of emails each store receives, it's to make sure the phone is properly activated. It's easier to deal with people at point of sale to ensure things are working correctly than it is to deal with small percentage of angry customers who can't get things working and blame the "idiots" at the store who didn't set things up properly.

 

[tlane01]

This happened to my parents as well. The store rep was "REQUIRED" to send an email. I told her not to worry about it, i had a google apps account for my mothers phone and i'll deal with it later. But she informed us she HAD to either setup a gmail account or sign into one and email verizon. Prolly has to do with Quality Assurance of their reps.

 

[Tifoso]

Another reason to buy online. Quit f'ing with our phones!

 

[zeropcs]

Its pretty simple actually, a rep gets an email from customer service/tech support if the customer calls in with in the first 7 days of upgrading or activating. If the rep sends a test email then you wont call tech support to find out why your email isn't working. VZW is big on reducing calls to care for little things to keep call times down. Just imagine your hold time if everyone who bought a DROID who wasn't familiar with it (ie people who want a DROID because its the thing to buy) called in to care because they couldn't figure out how to set up/send email.