Verizon Store gives a hard time when trying to buy a Droid DNA

[mtmjr90]

Not trying to really take sides or hijack this thread, but I buy quite a bit of stuff online for the convenience and ease of delivery. Of course, I use a lot of public transportation and don't own a car either But, are their many advantages to buying a phone at a store anyway?

I can understand if someone is unsure of what to buy, takes a chance to play with the hardware, and wants to go home with a phone all in one trip, but I imagine the OP already had his mind made up.

I always order from the Verizon website because I like the fact that Verizon corporate will stand behind me if there is a problem.

Obviously, online shopping doesn't work if you are buying perishable goods or produce, or have an immediate need, like running out of toilet paper, but, unless it dies or stolen, I would rather just order a phone online and avoid the store experience.

Other than being able to play with the goods or use for tech support if needed, what advantage does the store offer?

For me...impatience Can't speak for the OP though.

 

[croppz]

Some unlucky people here. I was able to call verizon and get my upgrade to the dna 25 days early. First lady tried to tell me that it and the s3 were on the restricted list. Called back and spoke with someone else and had my DNA in 2 days. Oh and I still have unlimited, even with paying the discounted price for the upgrade.

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[paintdrinkingpete]

No. The customer doesn't have a RIGHT.

This "customer is always right" BS is the worst thing to ever happen to retail. It's simply an excuse for customers to abuse staff to get their own way. The customer is not always right. Period. And you do not have a right to buy something if it's against policy. Period.

Also, there's two sides to this. Everyone is jumping all over the sales rep when for all we know his wife behaved like a toddler. Just saying. I could claim to walk into Verizon tomorrow and be helped by a three headed unicorn. Doesn't make it true.

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Really? It's in the best interest of the store to sell a phone outright, let it walk out and be activated on another network?

If it was the last phone there and a Verizon customer walked in and asked for that phone and the store couldn't provide their client with it because some schmo just bought the last one to use with another company, that's in Verizon's best interest?

Ooooookay.

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Please do provide empirical evidence that this is indeed the case. Because having studied Marketing and having worked in retail, customer service and marketing, you are wrong. On aggregate, the benefits from customer retention far outweigh the small losses from giving the customer small concessions.



And again I ask, as I did the store manager who refused to sell me the DNA on these grounds, please show me where in Verizon's policy is says that I cannot (or in the OP's case, his wife cannot) buy a phone full retail.

"The customer is always right" is a good business model to follow if you want to grow your business...it's common sense. Unfortunately, VZW already has a huge business, and while I'm sure they aim as best they can to continue to grow AND keep their current customers coming back, they do have the luxury of adopting policies that they know won't make every customer happy...because they know those policies will earn them more money than the resultant customer loss will cost them. The killing of unlimited data plans is a perfect example: Verizon had to know that a certain number of customers would leave to seek unlimited data elsewhere, but they also knew that those customers they'd be losing were the ones costing them the most by consuming high bandwidth (which is also why threatening to take your service elsewhere isn't always an effective strategy when trying to negotiate). I assure you that they have plenty of market research done that allows them to make decisions knowing full well that 100% customer retention will not be achieved.

The problem with allowing a customer to walk in and buy a phone full retail with no contract presents 2 possible problems that I can think of off the top of my head: 1. salesperson commission. I can only assume that the person selling you the phone losses a commission by not getting you on a contract -- which is why they would probably be so persistent in you getting one, and also why they could care less if you walk out of the store empty handed if you're not willing (and probably not even care if it were to be a "gift" for a another Verizon customer). 2. Warranty and support. I'm sure Verizon has plenty of small print absolving them of their responsibility to provide support on a device once it's activated on another network, but I'm sure it's still a situation they wish to avoid altogether.

Even if Verizon itself doesn't have a policy preventing you from buying a non-contract phone full retail, it doesn't surprise me that a local retail store isn't motivated to sell them. I'm not necessarily taking their side or defending them either, I'm just saying it is a business and they do have the right to refuse service. Stores have their own bottom line to think about -- and they make the bulk of their money selling long-term contracts; the phones themselves are just the eye candy that get customers in the store.

There are plenty of great phones out there that are EASY to buy off contract, although they are mostly GSM (Nexus 4, anyone?), and the fact is that Verizon phones generally don't play well on other carrier's networks anyway, so it's also probably not a situation that salespersons at the stores deal with very often, if at all.

I do sympathize with the OP, but I also don't feel that any consumer rights were necessarily violated and not that surprised by what happened. The only part of the story that really turned me off regarding the treatment you received is about how the wife was given a hard time and they wouldn't sell until the husband came in...although I do have to wonder if at that point the sales person realized that the both of you were willing to be persistent and decided at that point it would be easier to just get you what you wanted and out of the store so they could focus on other customers that would make them money? Who knows?

Bottom line, if you really want to buy a Droid DNA with no contract, ordering online is probably the best way to go.

 

[jreed2560]

So lets be honest here. You buy the DNA, you use it on whichever carrier you choose other than Verizon. Say your phone messes up or has an issue. Who are you going to to get it fixed?

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[jreed2560]

You can't go to AT&T for a warranty replacement, and Verizon isn't going to want to support a phone on AT&Ts network, which is precisely why they don't want to sell it to you. It would be a headache to trouble shoot, and impossible to order the replacement if its needed because they would have to order the phone replacement under an active Verizon mtn.

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[reeneebob]

You can't go to AT&T for a warranty replacement, and Verizon isn't going to want to support a phone on AT&Ts network, which is precisely why they don't want to sell it to you. It would be a headache to trouble shoot, and impossible to order the replacement if its needed because they would have to order the phone replacement under an active Verizon mtn.

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I remember when the i9000M in Canada had a run with bad motherboards. Bell had the phone exclusively and people from other carriers were buying it to unlock because it was the international version. Well for the Bell clients when the recall happened, easy peasy sent in the phone, wait 12 weeks for samsung to decide they don't have enough parts for repair, send us new phones.

The ones who didn't use the phone with Bell?

Samsung told them to take it to the carrier. Since Bell wasn't their carrier... Well... You see where I'm going with this, right?

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[mannw1977]

I had the same issue when the Thunderbolt was released. They gave me a hard time about the outright buy as soon as I opened my mouth about it. I told them if you don't wish to sale the phone outright then why do you list the price. I was nice at the start because I know how it is to deal with people from a sales stand point. As time past I had to cut to the chase and pulled the" give me your corp. # and we'll see how they feel about taking my $. In the market today its ether treat the customers good or they will go someplace else. I understand there are customers that go way to far with an issue like this and need to never return to the business due to the issues they bring everytime they walk in. I'm not one of those hard headed people that need a foot in their exit hole. If you don't wish to sale it outright as listed on the paper next to the phone. Then don't list it so this issue isn't one as stated in this post. I love the DNA by the way