[tliedl]

A good example of why Crackberry Rules...
This evening I walked into one of my local Verizon Stores to play with the Storm. I'm standing in the store playing with it (which I thought it was very cool, didn't like typing, I'm very happy with a real keyboard)

Anyway I'm playing with the phone, and a store rep and a another customer are standing next to me talking about her Storm. She was asking questions such as transferring files from her iTunes, cleaning out her inbox's and transferring her pictures, among other things. The rep seemed kinda clueless, he was talking like he memorized a trouble shooting book, but dancing around the questions (if that makes sense).

While I'm over hearing this conversation, I'm thinking of the world of Crackberry and why i'm a Crackberry addict. I almost mentioned to both the rep and the girl that Crackberry is your one stop blackberry information source, and that it would benefit them both, but I didn't wanna **** into a conversation while I was playing with such a cool phone.

I just wanted to say thank you Crackberry!

[sunkast]

I've gone into stores before and wanted to **** into the rep's conversation to help, but I think that would be rude.

[Disturbed_Angel]

I don't feel rude, I do it anyway. Esp when the soon to be addict does not fully understand what the Blackberry can do.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[tech42er]

I try not to interrupt conversations, but I'm happy to serve as an unpaid Verizon and Blackberry rep whenever I walk into a Verizon store.

[amazinglygraceless]

I have done this on several occasions. But only when a store clerk
tells a person looking for info things that are patently false.

Last week there was a woman who was interested in the Curve but the
clerk insisted she needed to buy the Bold because with a Curve
she would not be able to record video (only the Bold could), she
would not be able to stream music, she would not be able to
view YouTube and a bunch of other nonsense.

I recorded a video in the store. Fired up Moodio and YouTube
and in the process got her the phone she needed and saved
her a bunch of money. I walked her through the 4.5 upgrade.

[xliderider]

Last week there was a woman who was interested in the Curve ... got her the phone she needed and saved
her a bunch of money. I walked her through the 4.5 upgrade.

Wow, she must've been cute.

[amazinglygraceless]

Not really. But then again I have been happily married for 17 years
so it would not have mattered. Just didn't want to see her buy
beyond the budget she stated, and certainly not because of wrong
information.

[jerry12]

i hear a lot of faults info in cell phone stores.

[roeod4]

I was in a Verizon store about 2 weeks ago (playing with a storm too) and overheard the rep telling a customer that she needed the $49 BES data plan and bunch of other nonsense. I jumped into the conversation (I have an uncontrollable urge to do this all the time, but I did say excuse me) and started to ask questions and make recommendations. The sales guy was p*ssed, but the customer left happy and I went back to playing with the storm.

The store manager came over a few minutes later and offered me a job.

[tomwiz]

I call bs here. Number 1-Associates make no more money selling BES vs BIS so there would be little incentive to push her that way. and btw-the BES is 44.95 not 49.99

number 2-did you maybe miss a part of the conversation where she works for a large corporation and may need BES?

And the store manager offered you a job for your ability to interupt his sales person and "downsell".

Your full of it

[roeod4]

I call bs here. Number 1-Associates make no more money selling BES vs BIS so there would be little incentive to push her that way. and btw-the BES is 44.95 not 49.99

number 2-did you maybe miss a part of the conversation where she works for a large corporation and may need BES?

And the store manager offered you a job for your ability to interupt his sales person and "downsell".

Your full of it

LOL, your funny.

It had nothing to do with the sales rep making more money, it had to do with the rep not know anything about the data plan or BlackBerries in general. He asked her if she was going to use her company's email and she said yes. He did not ask her what type of email her company was using or how they were going to set it up. This has happened to 3 of the people I work with and I had them all call customer service and get it corrected. I simply asked her more about her email set up and she explained that they actually get their company's email through Gmail. This made it a no brainer that she just needed BIS service and I tried to explain that. The rep was just trying to put her into a VZ BB plan, which includes a regular minute plan and BES service. That is why I said $49 (did my math a little wrong I guess). I said he was mad because I made him look bad, but for all I know he could have secretly been happy because I did his job for him.

I went on to tell her about what upgrading the operating system could do for her and about Crackberry.com and all the support she could get there. We talked for about 15 minutes. This all came up after the rep told her she could buy an "office type" application from Handango for the curve or buy the Storm if she wanted to use word of excel.

The store manager came over and offered me job after everything was done. He explained that their location did not have anyone that really understood or used the smart phones. He said that the only thing they had to go by was the information that Verizon had given them in some training class. He called it confusing and left it at that. I took his card, but also told him I was not looking for anything right now.

[berry me with it]

LOL, your funny.

It had nothing to do with the sales rep making more money, it had to do with the rep not know anything about the data plan or BlackBerries in general. He asked her if she was going to use her company's email and she said yes. He did not ask if her what type of email her company was using or how they were going to set it up. This has happened to 3 of the people I work with and I had them all call customer service and get it corrected. I simply asked her more about her email set up and she explained that they actually get their company's email through Gmail. This made it a no brainer that she just needed BIS service and I tried to explain that. The rep was just trying to put her into a VZ BB plan, which includes a regular minute plan and BES service. That is why I said $49 (did my math a little wrong I guess). I said he was mad because I made him look bad, but for all I know he could have secretly been happy because I did his job for him.

I went on to tell her about what upgrading the operating system could do for her and about Crackberry.com and all the support she could get there. We talked for about 15 minutes. This all came up after the rep told her she could buy an "office type" application from Handango for the curve or buy the Storm if she wanted to use word of excel.

The store manager came over and offered me job after everything was done. He explained that their location did not have anyone that really understood or used the smart phones. He said that the only thing they had to go by was the information that Verizon had given them in some training class. He called it confusing and left it at that. I took his card, but also told him I was not looking for anything right now.

I don't doubt the sales rep had no real knowledge about the blackberry or any other PDA for that matter, and I commend you for sharing helpful information to a fellow blackberry user when the employee didn't have the correct answers.

However, VZW employees have a wealth of information provided to them to learn from and pass along to customers. If this store's employees and manager in particular claimed insufficient "training", they haven't been there long and need to refocus if they want to last. Maybe he was just looking to replace a sub-par sales rep.

[tomwiz]

Verizon's hiring process also doesn't work like this at all. You can't just offer someone a job without reviewing resume, interviewing mutiple times, etc.

[roeod4]

I don't doubt the sales rep had no real knowledge about the blackberry or any other PDA for that matter, and I commend you for sharing helpful information to a fellow blackberry user when the employee didn't have the correct answers.

However, VZW employees have a wealth of information provided to them to learn from and pass along to customers. If this store's employees and manager in particular claimed insufficient "training", they haven't been there long and need to refocus if they want to last. Maybe he was just looking to replace a sub-par sales rep.

That may have been the case. Since this was not the regular store I go to (I was at lunch and just wanted to play with a Storm), I can't really comment on their "normal" level of knowledge. Also, I obviously don't work for Verizon and don't know what they are provided in the way of training, but even at the store down the street from my house (which is not a corporate store) they often "pick my brain" when I come in. I do give those guys credit for wanting to learn though.

Anyway, sorry for starting a thread hi-jack.

Verizon's hiring process also doesn't work like this at all. You can't just offer someone a job without reviewing resume, interviewing mutiple times, etc.

I have no doubt I would have gone through all of that if I had been interested. Then again, you are assuming that this was a corporate store which I am not positive it was. It had a Verizon logo on the front of the building and that is all I can be positive of.