Perfect example of why shopping online is better

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by DenverSteve

For starters, Verizon stores are not mom & pop stores. Next you don't say what phone you have. If it's an iPhone, you can simply go to the Apple store or order it on line. You never have to go into a Verizon store. One shouldn't have to endure upsale tactics especially when you've already told them you only want a phone. In the future save yourself some aggravation - let your son go to buy his new phone. That might make him more likely to protect the one he has.

^ This. Why go to a service provider to buy a phone?

The other day my wife and I did exactly the same thing. We walked into the Verizon store to trade in our old phones. When they started talking about a new plan we just politely said we were going to the Apple store. We got $50 for our very old phones and bought a new one outright for our son, made no changes to our plan that would have involved a two year commitment. They were better able to activate them and transfer all our settings and files than the Verizon store would have been. That’s because it’s all tied to our Apple IDs. All Verizon can do is activate the SIM card.

[rmp]

I've have been thru the same kind of "push" to add more services and extras to bump up the charges by verizon mobile. it is frustrating.

On one occasion they were trying to have us add Road Side Insurance, we already have AAA. So we said, "no thanks.." they kept pushing, it was a new service, so they were trying to signup anyone they could.

The store manager was pushing this, obvioulsy he had incentives coming his way.. So when the sales guy wasn't getting it done, he comes over and he starts his pitch,, by then, we were both (my wife and I) very annoyed. Wasting time is all it was doing.

I held my hand up, and calmly said,, "Look right now, we have not purchased anything, we just want new phones.. We can walk out of here, and find another carrier. I don't want this insurance you're selling, please stop..."

"Well ok but you know there will be that one time when something happens and......"

....sigh.. "yea I'll take my chances with AAA that we've had for 20 years now, with never a complaint"..

But on other occasions I've gone to the same store, and had none of those hard sell pressure tactics.

The time of the month and the time of the year matter too. bonuses and incentives I would assume..

[imwjl]

Definitely nonsense and misunderstanding here. I have to wade into this a lot. We have 700+ employees, our own fleet of phones, and employee purchase plans with two of the carriers.

An actual Verizon store - not a franchise with a Verizon sign in front - almost always has well trained staff and consistency compared to the franchised stores.

There are 3 different Apple stores and probably 3x that Verizon stores where our company locations are and the experience is very consistent with both.

The Apple Stores are Verizon agents and in most cases their staff will advise a better plan when it makes sense. Being the giants with competition nipping at them, it also seems like most all the offers they suggest are weighted heavily toward keeping you as a happy customer vs gouging you. It's only employees mistaking two particular Verizon franchises, BestBuy and one independent Apple seller where we see our staff and some I know experience nonsense.

My lease into phones kid needed a new one last month. On a Sunday afternoon we were 1 mi from Verizon store and 5 from Apple. Apple appointments were booked so we stopped in the nearby Verizon store also busy but no appointment system. The manager suggested we could do it all with the Verizon app to save time. It couldn't have been more straight forward. One of two phones he was carrying got a text right after I had the order done. He asked if we had 1-2 minutes to see if we should stay on our current plan or consider another. He suggested no changes if we do not foresee more data use.

Bad experiences are the exception. Our HR department knows this as IT does. 750 people mostly use smart phones for all their HR and scheduling stuff and a lot of the employees use the discount programs we have with two carriers.

Yes, the shopping online part was better - the topic here - but absolutely no nonsense.

Now I only want tomorrow to come because the new dual fuel range bought with a phone will be here. The wood floor finish is dry, the range will be in, and a week of our possessions in the garage or sun room will be over.

Closer to topic, I realized most of the interaction or the start for the flooring contractor and the new well and pump coming to the cabin were also done online. The been at it since 1942 well company had a charming couple about my age respond, we met on site, and then the rest was text messages and their web site but surprisingly old fashion for payment. She said "You are trust us, we trust you.".

[Paddy1951]

Verizon is NOT a mom and pop conern.

It sells a commodity that is kind of limited, having a relative handful of competitors.

I doubt that most mom & pops would treat you as indifferently as a large communications company.

[PorkPieGuy]

I totally understand this frustration!

With that said, my guess is if these employees don't offer these options, they will either get yelled at, reprimanded, and/or probably fired if they don't.

The whole thing reminds me of car shopping.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Paddy1951

Verizon is NOT a mom and pop conern.

It sells a commodity that is kind of limited, having a relative handful of competitors.

I doubt that most mom & pops would treat you as indifferently as a large communications company.

The treatment from some of the giants such as Verizon is a big part of their edge over the few competition they have.

My past jokes on wanting to be a phone company when I grow up are because I have to deal with a hand full of sites that each have 2 - 4 Internet connections and many voice lines with 3 of the sites having failover to a different provider so they pretty much never go down.

Mom & pop is a tough gamble these days. It's high risk to own a business. Some are stressed just to survive and that probably influences how they behave.

Then let's not forget worldview and gap issues. My mother near 90 points out there was a whole lot of poor service in earlier times when there was less competition or when more barriers to entering business limited competition.

[fingerguy]

Why I shop online?
This is why

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by fingerguy

Why I shop online?
This is why

It was like that 30 years ago. It was like that at Xmas at K-Mart. I remember the store manager on top of the checkout counter brandishing a baseball bat to ward off a mob of angry parents fighting over the last batch of Cabbage Patch Dolls.

[imwjl]

FWIW, ordering a dual fuel range via the COSTCO app worked out great - price and service.

The delivery and setup contractor said they deliver for Home Depot and independents. He said COSTCO is great for them and customers via the price, getting accurate directions from the dealer, hookup kits and the install and take away always included.

I still predict I'll be doing plenty of local specialty grocery shopping, some shoe shopping, bike shops and my neighborhood hardware store the old school ways.

[619TF]

Originally Posted by fingerguy

Why I shop online?
This is why

Yep, that's exactly why I avoid brick and mortar stores for those 6 hours every Friday after Thanksgiving. Other than during those particular times I've never seen anything near that bad, not even close.

[harpspitfire]

i gave up on verizon years ago, pricing was ridiculous, service is nearly non existent , but i can see why the stores are still around, the very informative sales people are well trained explaining what you need, and why the price is so great- LOL

[Cypress Knee]

Ha, I used to be in retail many years ago - before MAP was prevalent. People would come into my store and whisper' "XYZ Competitor has this price for ABC, can you match??" And we would.

Other people would come into the shop, spend an hour trying different product to fit their needs, asking sales staff for opinion on various products, and at the end of the time would say "Can you match the price at ABC?" Answer was always "No". They came in, they requested service, and they got the service price.

What would happen? I was always amused. These were people earning way over six figures. "OMG, ABC is thirty minutes out of the way." "I know, but they are way cheaper than I am." I was always like thinking, "Dude you make 200k a year, that is $100 an hour, go ahead and waste two hours of your life to drive out there just to get a $10 discount."

So I never discounted full service customers. I let them walk. And it was always - "Good Riddance!!!!"

CK

PS- Times have changed. These days the full service customer would just go home in an angry fit and order the product off of Amazon.

[Pura Vida]

Every iPhone I've ordered has been online, and each ordering and activating experience has been flawless. And in my day-to-day ordering, we use Amazon for an increasing amount of shopping, and most of my guitars have been purchased online too. I may never go into a brick and mortar store again.

[Mr. Jelly]

I buy my eye glasses on line. I have been for years and it works great.

[PorkPieGuy]

Originally Posted by fingerguy

Why I shop online?
This is why

I've done the Thanksgiving-day shopping at the one big-box store in my town, and it's NEVER been like this. Crowded? Yes. Chaotic? No.

I don't enjoy it, but I do it for the kiddos. What's really cool is that recently, many stores offer their Thanksgiving/Black Friday stuff online now which is really great...which I guess gets us all back to the main point of shopping online.