So, wanting to be impartial I went to the apple store here in Vegas (yea on vacation) just to see how things went.
While waiting to talk to people the woman behind the register answered 3 phone calls that she answered the same way “No, we do not have any more iPhones” and “Sorry, we do not know when they will be in.”
There were actually three demo units on the counter that people could play with. The question was asked if they should demonstrate how to use the phone by calling someone, and was told “I’m sorry, we are not allowed to use them to make calls”.
Now I was so taken aback by this I had to ask.. “why not?” to which the response was exactly what I expected. “They do not have service activated because too many people would use them to make calls”.
Holly CRAP!!!! Your selling a fracken phones! You better damn well have fully functioning units. Hell, you can demo the internet (because it was on wifii..) They had the nerve to tell someone “See how fast the internet is?” when I asked “is it wifi or edge?” and they could not tell me!!! I pointed out “Uhm, if the phone isn’t activated I am pretty sure it’s wifi” and well that’s just plain misleading to the customer.
BTW, if there is someone that knows how to tell if a phone is currently on wifi or edge, please let me know.
This experience has left me scratching my head. Anyone remember the Nokia 9000il phone. Best phone ever made in it’s day. Those of you that don’t know what I am talking about, rent a copy of “The Saint” to see it in action. I loved this phone, but it died because nobody knew how to sell it. Go into any Pac-Bell wireless store, which became cingular, which is now AT&T (how ironic), and they couldn’t tell you anything about it, and what they did tell you more than likely was a lie.
I sure hope this is not an omen of things to come. Remember even if you have the best product in the world you will never sell it if your sales team are a bunch of uneducated liars.
Keeping my fingers crossed for when I visit the san diego office and as them the same questions.