I work for a dealer for another carrier, and we do the same warranty repairs that the retail store does- defective phones are sent to the manufacturer for repair, and the customer is given a loaner phone to use the in the meantime. we purchase phones from the same vendor, and our return policy is exactly the same as the retail store, but we can run sales they can't, and give deals on accessories that they can't touch. Plus you don't have to wait in line for 45 minutes to get service here. Plus, I've already heard twice today how glad they were to come in and see me rather than go to the retail store because of how busy (and rude!) they normally are. 😁

peachy,

Thanks for the response. I understand your points about service in your store, However, I've the same question for you as I asked Jeff; Do you mean that your customers have no concerns about bringing their phones into a Verizon store and requesting & receiving tech support or repair service, no questions asked? Have any of your customers reported back to you that they've been given a hard time under those circumstances?

🙂 I would like to comment on that, I live in the Buffalo, NY area. My experience at the store I visit at the Blvd. Mall, @ Niagara Falls Blvd. & Maple rd. has always been quite pleasant. 😁 But, the kiosk in the Walden Galleria Mall in Cheektowaga, NY. They are rude and act like they have no time for anybody. Why is there such a difference between the two. 🙄 👿 I would think that with them being in the same area that they would have the same area manager. Try and run them both the same way. 😢

thats the thing though, sometimes those little kiosks are indirect agents, meaning we authorize them to sell our products but that about it, so chances of them having the same area manager since they are not actual VZW employees are very slim

Perhaps you may be right I am not 100% sure if it's a auth dealer or a kiosk that I went to there are a lot of the there. I will check them out again sometime sweety. 🙂

f38urry said:

Do you mean that your customers have no concerns about bringing their phones into a Verizon store and requesting & receiving tech support or repair service, no questions asked? Have any of your customers reported back to you that they've been given a hard time under those circumstances?

I bought my first VZW phone from a reputable local dealer, and I never had a problem obtaining service at the VZW stores. If it's a VZW phone, and it's under warranty, they'll service it, no questions asked unless you drop it in the toilet.

Agreed, Unlike the carrier I used to work for Verizon stores in our experience look to help the customer first with their issue. rather than looking for a reason to send them packing.

One thing that I always advise customers when dealing with indirect agents is that when you go in there, the only thing you are going to find the same as a store is going to be the calling plans, as for pricing on phone and service agreement terms they have free reign, so just make sure you read before you sign, when it comes to warranty replacements or any kind of replacements I guess it depends on the agent themselves so if you do go thru one just check with them on their policies before signing up...

Actually we have a very good rapport with the VZW stores. We don't send a customer to them if it is something we can do. The VZW stores personnel are very helpful. One of them, which is a kiosk in a major mall is too busy to perform services so we usually send customers to the store in the strip center.
Verizon people are as helpful to people who bought their phone at a dealer as they are the people who have just bought from them.
The difference is the distribution channel.

On the contrary, I beleive they'll be falling over themselves to advertise the fact that we're in the stores. They had a bad experience with T-Mobile, who apparently did this before us on a test-basis.

Epik

My personal feeling is that I dont like many resellers. I am so happy that Circuit City is out of the picture and now im just counting down the days till Radio Shack is done selling us as well. Im not saying this about all resellers, but the majority of the resellers that I have to deal with will sell the customer a phone and then from then on out those same resellers tell those customers that any issues will need to be taken up with a corperate store. Oh yeah, and Radio Shacks "insurance" is a joke. I love it though when a customer comes in a Ericsson T61c or some other garbage that we never sold and tells us that the place they bought it told them to come and see us for service. Im sorry, now im just ranting, but as you can tell, im n...
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Who said Radio Shack was ever going to quit selling Verizon? They never will if they can help it. I know the stores aroung here do about 90% of their total business in wireless. I wish they would go away, because my personal experience has been their employees are a bunch of painfully under-trained jokes, yet because of RS's sucessful advertising campaign they do more business than any other indirect in town (there are no direct stores here, the nearest is 35 miles away.) And for the record, the only issues I send the customers to a corporate store for are warranty issues outside of the 15 day buyer's remorse period. Other than that, I try to handle everything exactly as if I were a corporate store. Radio Shack's little insurance plan ...
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I never said that they have any intention of stopping, or Verizon taking away there option to sell. I just wish it will happen and im sure eventually it will.

Personally, ditto on that. The customers always get stuck with that up-front lump-sum reseller insurance around here, but think about the corporate store first when they have a problem. And the Early Termination Fees around here are something around $475 in our area ($175 of that being the standard ETF from VW).

On the flip side, the indirect market comprises of 3/4 of VW's business, so I can't complain about a steady paycheck.

Epik

Honestly not to knock anyone here but you should never buy from a kiosk. That is never buy from a independant retailer/authorized retailer kiosk. The corporate owned ones are usually ok because the corporate direct stores can and will handle any/all issues that arise. Kiosks can up and vanish overnight. Most people at kiosks could give 2 flying frells about the customer they sell. Again, no offense to those that work in kiosks and do a damn fine job.

If you buy from an independant retailer do it at a storefront. Storefront auth retailers tend to be around for a long time. Do some research in your area before you buy. ASK if they send the phone out for warranty repairs and give you a loaner. IF they offer insurance/replacements check the d...
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Oh. BTW.

No the direct stores in never give customers any issues about a phone they bought at a authorized retailer. The direct store down the way from me is another story. That store is full of mean, nasty people. It puts a blight on VZW. They deliberately give customers the runaround. It's awful.

I guess not all of them can be gems...

Let me add something to that. Mind you, I will be working in one of the new Verizon Corporate stores inside of Circuit City, to which this statement will not apply.

If you were able to see the stock of replacement units at your nearest Verizon corporate-owned store, you would be amazed. We even carry replacement StarTAC units. In most cases, we can have a new phone unit in your hands withing minutes of talking with the customer. I wish I could be so unbusy that you could walk in and our in under ten minutes, sorry, but the actual work time on the problem is relatively short. Indirect resellers can't do that, and honestly, it scares me to think of any that would want to.

Epik

Who in the world told you that the indirect market makes up 3/4 of VW's business? Try more like 15, maybe 20%.

It's a well-circulated figure within our local corporate offices / call center (but not FROM the call center itself).