[aaasingh]

We are a state agency that is 96% blackberry and 4% ios. We are all Z10, q10, & z30 right now with many users looking to transition to the Passport (AT&T) or Classic (Verizon). Our AT&T orders for passports have been processed without any issue (in fact the reaction to phone orders has been very positive, things like "oh I hear that is a great device" "I switched to a passport myself...".
Verizon only handles our orders via a federal ordering email system- you email a order and they respond when its processed. Each time we've attempted to order a Blackberry Classic the response is the same (exactly the same):

We do not carry the Blackberry Classic in our inventory. Please select an applicable device for XXX-XXX-XXXX

We then have to email or call our rep so he can force them to sell us a classic. We've asked if we are ordering with the wrong part number or if there is some confusion that can be fixed. and each time the rep apologizes and says no its in the system your order was correct I don't know why they respond in that way.

My reason for posting this is two fold - 1. if there are others who use the Verizon federal ordering system they should know its takes some pressing in order to get a classic ordered.
2. why??? is this just an innocent mistake or is it some scheme to move people off Blackberry....

I have reported to my BlackBerry rep in hopes they can pressure Verizon to start to processing blackberry classic orders without delay but this has happened to us over and over again since the release.

[Ment]

How long is the estimate for delivery via phone order? Wonder if Verizon is trying to fill other orders and don't want it in the other system until they get more stock.

[aaasingh]

How long is the estimate for delivery via phone order? Wonder if Verizon is trying to fill other orders and don't want it in the other system until they get more stock.

once we get the order processed, the order ships right away. but that may be because we press them. I can try to find out if there is a backlog of some sorts.

[CuriousFellow]

I forward you're comments to my blackberry contacts at mgmt level.


Posted via CB10

[Joyousred52]

I was thrilled to get my BlackBerry Classic at the Verizon store on March 5th. I had been calling them, stopping in and being aa nag. The one I bought was the ONLY one in stock. My question is- why is there no marketing or advertising for the new phones? It's so defeatist from the get go. I turned in my Note 4 to get it. No one saw it before! Loving it but - need the Google apps!

Posted via CB10

[trsbbs]

How many times does it need to be said.
Chens BlackBerry does not care nor does it support consumers.
It only supports enterprise customers.

Advertising is not needed as much in that world. Face to face etc is what Chen thinks will work.

Also how could they even begin to direct advertising when the unit has old specs and an even older look (Classic). It would be a large waste of money.

In order for advertising to work well the product must generate a return.
BlackBerry has been unable to do this for the past two years.





BlackBerry hates America!

[dypkny]

I was thrilled to get my BlackBerry Classic at the Verizon store on March 5th. I had been calling them, stopping in and being aa nag. The one I bought was the ONLY one in stock. My question is- why is there no marketing or advertising for the new phones? It's so defeatist from the get go. I turned in my Note 4 to get it. No one saw it before! Loving it but - need the Google apps!

when you say google apps, do you mean the googleplay store?

Posted via CB10

[AznaroLLC]

Well, that's unfortunate. You should let nothing stand in the way of getting your product out to a customer.

[aaasingh]

just a follow-up for those interested: it appears as thought Verizon has gotten this straightened out. our classic orders over the past week or so have been processed properly.

[nycspaces.]

Hopefully someone rang a bell hard at vzw, kind of amazing how poorly the blackberry channel management has been implemented. There really needs to be high accountability within the bbry ranks.

Thanks for pushing this out hopefully management gets on the ball. Kind of silly to enterprise oriented and not have a major customer be able to buy!

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[Soapm]

I worked for VZ for years and something you should know, VZ isn't actually one company. It's many companies operating under a single name. VZ came to be by buying up many smaller companies like Alltel, Rural Cellular, Vodaphone etc... In fact, in some area's they're only controlling stock holder and not complete owner.

As of the time I left, the company hadn't invested in a single system, they had many systems from many companies with IT patches that made them talk to each other. Not without challenges... It appears the system they use to order isn't speaking correctly to the distribution system and your rep is saying something to the effect of, "but if you look in the warehouse system you can see the phones are there... Order using this other system..."

To add to their problems, they're also outsourcing much of their labor pool in order to break and minimize the grip the east coast union has on their Telecom business and to cut labor cost so they can compete in this "all you can eat" industry. Outsourced labor is generally cheap labor and you get what you pay for.

You should ask your rep for a couple of lines to add to your orders that will clue the person processing the orders what to do (where to look). Short of that, you'll be waiting on a program manager to spearhead another IT patch that will fix the current glitch which could take months if not years (depending on funding, and I don't see BB being high on the funding list)...