[gregorylkelly]

Today I went to an AT&T store to check out the Z10 before going to a VZW store to place my order.

I went into the AT&T store and noticed there was not a single mention of the Z10 anywhere. Not on the front windows, no booths inside, not even a single sign above the actual phone. I was immediately rushed by 3 different employees upon entering the store and I asked if they had the Z10 anywhere on display. One of the sales reps said "oh, its over there" and pointed to the far corner of the store. I had to look past about 4 or 5 other phones buried in that same corner before noticing the Z10. There wasn't a sign above the phone and no pricing information. The only reason I knew it was the Z10 was because it said "BlackBerry" on the front of the phone itself. I played with the phone for about 5 minutes without a sales rep coming up to me again. When I put the phone down and walked towards the door, there was not a single word said to me by the employees in the store. It was as if they didn't want to sell me the phone.

Since I liked what I saw of the actual phone, I headed over the my local Verizon store to place my order for Thursday. I know Verizon gets a lot of heat on these forums because of the lack of interest their sales reps have in BlackBerry, but my store is pretty balanced towards customer needs. They certainly don't push BlackBerry, but they always had a BlackBerry stand located in a prime section of the store for all the customers to see (until about 6 months ago). Anyways, I drive up to the Verizon store and immediately realize this is going to be a different experience. On the front window is a big BlackBerry Z10 sign for all to see. I go to the sales rep and say I want to buy the new BlackBerry and he says, "Good choice!" We are talking and another sales rep comes up to us (the store is VERY busy with a 4 or 5 person wait at this point) and starts talking about the Z10 and how he is definitely getting one. My sales rep goes on about how the reviews online make him laugh because they talk about how the Z10 isn't good enough because it doesn't do what an iPhone and Android can do. He goes "Isn't the point of the Z10 to do what BlackBerry people want it to do?" He then goes on to talk about how the reviews say the Z10 does messaging, email, facebook, twitter, pictures, and phone extremely well but doesn't have the stuff people want on their phone. He goes "isn't that what people do on their phones 95% of the time?" He said he was pushing the Z10 to a lot of customers and the staff was excited for its release.

Anyways, the point is that in this one case, the Verizon store was MUCH more excited about the Z10 than the AT&T store was. Hopefully this is the case all over and people can move on from all the stuff going around about how bad AT&T's launch was.

[ctuffy]

Very good to hear. Thanks for posting this.

[mandm1229]

That is good to hear.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 on Verizon Wireless.
BlackBerry By Choice!

[low78]

Thanks very much for telling us of your experience! I would've planted one on that VZW store clerk's face!

Posted via CB10

[Camelhmpz]

If Verizon.com would just get their shipping information together it would be a fine launch. I like the fact they have the Z10 front and center online.

[gregorylkelly]

If Verizon.com would just get their shipping information together it would be a fine launch. I like the fact they have the Z10 front and center online.

I actually ended up not even pre-ordering the phone because of this. Even the sales clerk at the store said he couldn't guarantee when the phone would be shipped and it could take till Monday to get to me. He ended up telling me I would be better off waiting until Thursday morning to try and get it then which I have never heard a sales rep do. He isn't even going to be working Thursday. He gave up a sale in order to get the Z10 in my hands quicker. My mind was blown!

[TgeekB]

Only one store but let's hope it is the norm. I'm an AT&T customer and have a very fair and balanced store near by but am tired of hearing stories of others meeting resistance and ignorance. Let's hope Verizon has their act together.

Posted via CB10

[ErinnM]

Like I've said many times before, Verizon will be the carrier to really be supportive of the BB 10. You can already tell easily. I had a pleasent experience in AT&T with the rep drooling over the phone himself as an iPhone user, but the store was awful. The phone wasn't even out i display yet.

[mrfreeze]

I went to a Verizon store recently and they had a BB specialist there. He already had training on the Z10 and he was in LOVE with it. He stated he plans on getting one ASAP and that he will more than likely recommend to most users. The ATT store had nothing and nobody seemed to really care. I think Verizon is going to push the device more and probably has more of an incentive for the reps to push it.

[HKain7]

I've had great feedback from both carrier stores.

I've had the phone for about a month now, and about 2 weeks ago I was at the mall and went in to the AT&T store and the rep noticed it immediately, he was excited about it and said that he might get it when they come out on AT&T.

After that I walked into the Verizon store and the same thing happened, the Verizon rep noticed it without having to say anything. He then told me that he's in love with the gestures and that a BlackBerry rep has visited them and gave them demos of the phone. Showing them how to use it and such, he even asked me if he could use it and showed it to his fellow employees. He was carrying and iPhone 5 and said that it's just not all that anymore.



Posted via CB10

[gregorylkelly]

BTW, playing with the keyboard in the hub for the few minutes I was playing with the Z10 in the AT&T store was so much fun! I really thought all the hoopla about these two feature were overblown, but it really isn't. Don't get me wrong, I knew they were great features and would impress me, but I thought people were making too big of a fuss about it. Man, playing with the Z10 completely blew me away! The hub was amazing and I wasn't even getting any notifications from it.... When I made a fake text message to just type random thoughts, it just didn't want to stop typing! I can't wail till Thursday!

</ End random rant>

[ErinnM]

I've had great feedback from both carrier stores.

I've had the phone for about a month now, and about 2 weeks ago I was at the mall and went in to the AT&T store and the rep noticed it immediately, he was excited about it and said that he might get it when they come out on AT&T.

After that I walked into the Verizon store and the same thin the Verizon rep noticed it without having to say anything. He then told me that he's in love with the gestures and that a BlackBerry rep has visited them and gave them demos of the phone. Showing them how to use it and such, he even asked me if he could use it and showed it to his fellow employees. He was carrying and iPhone 5 and said that it's just not all that anymore.



Posted via CB10

My rep at ATT wanted to get rid of his iPhone too. He told me he was jealous that I just bought the z10. Lol

[StoopiD_Good]

I got dragged to an ATT store with a friend and and had basically the same experience there.

I walked in and on the right side were all the androids ( I walk over there because there are no signs for the z10) and on that side i have 2 reps ask if i need help. I tell them no I'm just looking right now. Once I walk around the whole store and finally find the z10 (with no sign) tucked in between 2 other phones. I stand there and play with the phone for about 5-10 minutes and no one walks over to me, I actually had to walk past an ATT rep to get to the phone.

Mind you, other than me and my friend that was there get an iphone fixed there was not one other customer in the store.

[HKain7]

My rep at ATT wanted to get rid of his iPhone too. He told me he was jealous that I just bought the z10. Lol

If you think about it, that's a great thing. It means they have interest in the phone and will promote it to customers that walk in. #KeepMoving

Posted via CB10