Verizon Phone Adventure

My current Treo is too old, it’s mostly the battery.  I’ve been struggling with getting a new phone ever since the iPhone came out.  My struggle is it’s the best phone and I’ve been waiting for it to come to Verizon.  I’m still waiting but I’m really sick of waiting.  I like the Palm Pre better than the Droid but I’m worried it’s a dying breed.  Who buys a company that’s on their way out?

I know I like the Palm Pre look, design, feel and they have a great OS.  The Droid I don’t like any of those things except that it’s Google and they are dominating the marketplace.  Plus they have a bigger applications catalog that is getting bigger every day and it integrates with all things Google.  Who doesn’t use Gmail or a ton of other things Google has?

I think I’d buy the Nexus One if it was on Verizon.  I’m just so sick of waiting for the phone I want.

This weekend I went into Verizon. I had two goals in mind: 1. put my cousin on my family share plan and 2. get a new phone (either the Pre or the Droid).  I also had another secondary goal of porting my dad’s number as another family share line.  If you can’t tell I’m a fan of family share plans.

I go into Verizon and usually there is a decent wait whenever I’m there but not this time.  I look at the phones for a few minutes and the sales person calls me.  I go over an tell her first I would like to get my cousin (who met me there) to have her name on my other line and set up the phone she has with the number.  Sounds easy enough right?  Well the saleswoman goes on to accidentally put my phone number on my cousin’s phone.  She easily puts the correct number on my cousin’s phone, so my cousin is all set.

Now the first problem arises. She can’t seem to figure out how to get my number back on my relic of a phone I have.  I spent the next 45 minutes working my Treo for her.  It seems she can’t figure out how to work the Treo.  We had the saleswoman on the phone with Verizon while she relayed to me what Verizon said to do.  I would do it on the phone and over and over again it would say call Verizon.  Annoying, yes.  Big mistake, yes.  Whatever, let’s move on right.

I look at the saleswoman and I say, “sell me a phone”.  That’s exactly what I said word for word.  By this point she has looked at my account and confirmed that one of my lines is due to for a phone upgrade.  I’m thinking great, I can’t decide between these two phones so sell me one.  I was told I was speaking to the sales person.  What do you think her response is?

Something along the lines of, “Oh, I don’t know.  I don’t want to sell you something you don’t like.”

I responded with, “Don’t I get 30 days to try a phone out?”

She says, “Yeah, but there is a $35 restocking fee if you don’t like the phone.”

I come back with, “I don’t care about the $35, I just want you to sell me a phone.  What’s the best phone?”

The saleswoman turns to the other saleslady next to her who replies with, “Droid.”

I say, “Great.  Thank you.  Why is it the best?” I get crickets.

Annoyed of being there for an hour and not getting what I thought was a simple question answered, I resolve to buy the Droid.  The saleswoman is like great and starts at the computer to get things going.  Then she stops and says, “oh your date to upgrade is February 14th.  You have to wait 10 days.”

I’m floored now.  She told me I could upgrade in the beginning.  I’ve talked to Verizon about it before and was told that you can upgrade within a couple of weeks within the actual date.  I question it briefly but I’m sick of being there at this point.  I looked at her and said, “so I can’t buy a new phone, extend my contract for another 2 years?  That means I’m not going to port over another number now and I’m not going to get a phone for that line.  So, that’s 2 phones and 2 2-year contracts that aren’t happening, right?”

Her reply is, “I guess so.”

“Thanks.  Bye.”

I raised my hand.  I asked to be sold a phone.  I wanted to spend money.  I’m guessing they make commissions.  In the end, my saleswoman provided me with no service.  In fact, she didn’t even apologize for the mistake that cost me over a half hour of my time.  She didn’t go out of her way or even try to help.  I left.  I was sick of being the perfect prospect.

Tagged as: cell phone, Sales, Verizon