Verizon wireless - went to verizon store but it wasn't a verizon store!!

Author

went to verizon store but it wasn't a verizon store!!

GLG 20

2007-02-17, 4:33 am

I went in to a "Verizon" store to find out some informaiton about my
plan, including new phones and two year deals from Verizon email.

Something seemed wrong with the way the sales person told me about
phones and plans. The prices were different. I was told that when my
new every two was up in two weeks that they could make deals. The
price tags were different. One big difference was that there were no
live phones there, just the dummies.

When I was given a business card on the way out I noticed that the
company was "Go Wireless" and I looked closer at the outside sign and
Verizon was the very big letters and "a premium reseller" was in small
letters.

The last time I had been in that store, it was a real Verizon store.

My question is about having given out the last 4 of my social so they
could get into my information. Did they really need that in the store
or did they just go to the same web site that I use?

Even though it is "clearly" marked outside (in relatively small
letters) I feel that I was duped into thinking that I was in a
corproate store. My fault for not reading the label, I just want to
know about my giving away my personsal information to someone that I
would not have given it to had I realized who owned the store.

Just like Phishing. At least most stores sell other brands so it is
obvious that they are not corporate.

Am I way off base here? I could find no information about Go Wireless
on Murphy Canyon Road in San Diego, CA other than the address.

Thanks for any informaiton.

RBM

2007-02-17, 7:33 am

I wouldn't worry, they're just licensed by Verizon to sell their phones, and
need the SS info to access your account. I wouldn't buy from a "Verizon"
retail store either, as any deals they have seem to require you waiting for
rebates. Check out the phones in any store, then buy on line

"GLG 20" <GLG20@GLG.GLG> wrote in message
news:7g2dt2derdk96qo
rucflgv0ggkbqlhiin0@
4ax.com...
>I went in to a "Verizon" store to find out some informaiton about my
> plan, including new phones and two year deals from Verizon email.
>
> Something seemed wrong with the way the sales person told me about
> phones and plans. The prices were different. I was told that when my
> new every two was up in two weeks that they could make deals. The
> price tags were different. One big difference was that there were no
> live phones there, just the dummies.
>
> When I was given a business card on the way out I noticed that the
> company was "Go Wireless" and I looked closer at the outside sign and
> Verizon was the very big letters and "a premium reseller" was in small
> letters.
>
> The last time I had been in that store, it was a real Verizon store.
>
> My question is about having given out the last 4 of my social so they
> could get into my information. Did they really need that in the store
> or did they just go to the same web site that I use?
>
> Even though it is "clearly" marked outside (in relatively small
> letters) I feel that I was duped into thinking that I was in a
> corproate store. My fault for not reading the label, I just want to
> know about my giving away my personsal information to someone that I
> would not have given it to had I realized who owned the store.
>
> Just like Phishing. At least most stores sell other brands so it is
> obvious that they are not corporate.
>
> Am I way off base here? I could find no information about Go Wireless
> on Murphy Canyon Road in San Diego, CA other than the address.
>
> Thanks for any informaiton.

Martin Kallikak, Jr.

2007-02-17, 7:33 am

"GLG 20" <GLG20@GLG.GLG> wrote in message
news:7g2dt2derdk96qo
rucflgv0ggkbqlhiin0@
4ax.com...
>I went in to a "Verizon" store to find out some informaiton about my
> plan, including new phones and two year deals from Verizon email.
>
> Something seemed wrong with the way the sales person told me about
> phones and plans. The prices were different. I was told that when my
> new every two was up in two weeks that they could make deals. The
> price tags were different. One big difference was that there were no
> live phones there, just the dummies.
>
<snip>

> Just like Phishing. At least most stores sell other brands so it is
> obvious that they are not corporate.
>
> Am I way off base here? I could find no information about Go Wireless
> on Murphy Canyon Road in San Diego, CA other than the address.
>
> Thanks for any informaiton.

Bet you'll be surprised again when you figure out that girls wear makeup and
push-up bras...

Agent_C

2007-02-17, 7:33 am

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:04:21 -0800, GLG 20 <GLG20@GLG.GLG> wrote:

>I went in to a "Verizon" store to find out some informaiton about my
>plan,[...]

Doesn't sound like it... It sounds like you went into an 'Authorized
Dealer'. Look closely at the signage the next time you pass the shop.
I'm sure it says so.

These merchants can be very sleazy and aggressive.

A_C

Drumstick

2007-02-17, 12:33 pm

In article <itCBh.230$2U7.48@newsfe10.lga>, "RBM" <rbm2(remove this)
@optonline.net> says...
> I wouldn't worry, they're just licensed by Verizon to sell their phones, and
> need the SS info to access your account. I wouldn't buy from a "Verizon"
> retail store either, as any deals they have seem to require you waiting for
> rebates. Check out the phones in any store, then buy on line
>
>
>
>
> "GLG 20" <GLG20@GLG.GLG> wrote in message
> news:7g2dt2derdk96qo
rucflgv0ggkbqlhiin0@
4ax.com...
>
>
>
I second this point. That's the way I did my last NE2 and I saved BIG
bucks over going to a store.

Drum--

GLG 20

2007-02-17, 12:33 pm

Thanks for all the answers.

Mainly I was worried about giving out personal info.

Larry

2007-02-17, 10:33 pm

GLG 20 <GLG20@GLG.GLG> wrote in news:7g2dt2derdk96qo
rucflgv0ggkbqlhiin0@

4ax.com:

> The last time I had been in that store, it was a real Verizon store.
>
>

The same is true of the "Verizon Store" in Northwoods Mall in North
Charleston, SC. Verizon got out of the mall and built a stand-alone store
on a vacant lot down the street. The old store was, literally overnight,
taken over to fool the mall customers into thinking it was a Verizon store
by one of the mall resellers who had a kiosk in the hallway. The marque
still says VERIZON in big red VZW logo, but their company name is much
smaller underneath it with the word reseller on the end.

It's a rotten trick. They have nothing to do with Verizon except to resell
their service like the other mall resellers. Very deceitful.

The phones aren't live in this store, because VZW has a crappy signal
inside the mall and when VZW vacated they took the big Cheater Repeater and
its amplified antenna with them to their new store...to get a useable
signal into it...(c;

Larry
--
Vista has been out a week.
Is Service Pack 1 ready yet?

David M. Moore

2007-02-17, 10:33 pm

Drumstick <no_thanks@you.com> wrote in
news:MPG. 20410695a74f64579897
34@newsgroups.bellsouth.net:

> In article <itCBh.230$2U7.48@newsfe10.lga>, "RBM" <rbm2(remove this)
> @optonline.net> says...

[color=darkred]
> I second this point. That's the way I did my last NE2 and I saved BIG
> bucks over going to a store.

And I third it. I just did NE2 online at the end of December. Got a new
Mint Chocolate for exactly $0. Didn't even have to pay sales tax or
shipping, and didn't have to deal with rebates. It was delivered by FedEx
two days later, and I activated online that evening.

David

Todd Allcock

2007-02-18, 4:33 am

At 17 Feb 2007 22:18:52 -0500 Larry wrote:

> The same is true of the "Verizon Store" in Northwoods Mall in North
> Charleston, SC. Verizon got out of the mall and built a stand-alone
store

> on a vacant lot down the street. The old store was, literally overnight,

> taken over to fool the mall customers into thinking it was a Verizon
store

It IS a Verizon store- just not a company-owned one. They sell Verizon
phones and Verizon service, and they have to meet minimum policy
standards set by Verizon. How is that not a "Verizon store?" Is a Big
Mac any more or less of a Big Mac if you buy it from a McDonald's
corporate-owned location or a franchisee?

> by one of the mall resellers who had a kiosk in the hallway. The
marque
> still says VERIZON in big red VZW logo, but their company name is much
> smaller underneath it with the word reseller on the end.

Reusing the McDonald's example, independent McD franchises don't indicate
their "real" owner on the signage at all.

> It's a rotten trick. They have nothing to do with Verizon except to
resell
> their service like the other mall resellers. Very deceitful.

Oh please. It's not like they're buying phones on eBay and selling them
nder a stolen Verizon sign- they have a business relationship with Verizon
to sell Verizon products, akin to a car dealer's relationship with a car
manufacturer. They are a Verizon-authorized retailer.

> The phones aren't live in this store, because VZW has a crappy signal
> inside the mall and when VZW vacated they took the big Cheater Repeater
and
> its amplified antenna with them to their new store...to get a useable
> signal into it...(c;

So, after declaring this store "a rotten trick" you now say they're
actually more honest than a Verizon company store by not misrepresenting
the quality of service?

This one hits a little close to home for me- I was an independent
exclusive Cingular dealer in Kansas City for several years in the late
90's and early aughts. I prided myself on providing lower prices, better
service, and a wider handset selection than Cingular corporate stores (I
used to source handsets outside of Cingular's distribution system to
offer better deals or a better selection. When Cingular- then still SBMS-
first went digital, they offered two TDMA phones. I had four, the two
steaming loads SBMS chose to carry, and two better, cheaper models I
sourced from an independent distributor. (Ahh, the good old days when
any phone worked on any compatible system- no custom firmware or crippled
features!)

Sure, some resellers are pushy and not customer-service oriented, but the
same can be said for some corporate stores. Plus, some indies will often
offer better deals than their corporate cousins, and in the case of GSM
carriers, who are less restrictive of what handsets are allowed on their
network, indies often offer a selection of handsets not offered by the
carrier itself, including interesting, or even radical imports.

Several years ago, for example, I ran across a T-Mo indie that, in
addition to the typical T-Mo offerings, sold a variety of imported
unlocked handsets, including the Panasonic "compact" phone ("compact" as
in a woman's tiny makeup case, complete with mirror in the upper lid!)
and whatever model of Nokia Communicator was current at the time- two
neat "niche" phones that were never released by US carriers. The
Panasonic was probably one of, if not THE, smallest cellphone available
at that time, and the Nokia was one of the original line of PDA phones
before Treos and Blackberries made PDA phones ubiquitous. (If you
remember the clamshell QWERTY-keyboarded phone Val Kilmer used in that
wretched "The Saint" remake a decade ago- that was a Communicator.)

So don't pick on an indie just because it's an indie. Pick on it if
it's a BAD indie. If it's a good one, you'll probably get a better deal
on a new handset from them than from a "real" Verizon store.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

TeddeLI

2007-02-18, 10:33 am

It happens that Todd Allcock formulated :
> At 17 Feb 2007 22:18:52 -0500 Larry wrote:
>
>
>
> store
>
> It IS a Verizon store- just not a company-owned one. They sell Verizon
> phones and Verizon service, and they have to meet minimum policy
> standards set by Verizon. How is that not a "Verizon store?" Is a Big
> Mac any more or less of a Big Mac if you buy it from a McDonald's
> corporate-owned location or a franchisee?
>
>
> Reusing the McDonald's example, independent McD franchises don't indicate
> their "real" owner on the signage at all.
>
>
>
>
> Oh please. It's not like they're buying phones on eBay and selling them
> nder a stolen Verizon sign- they have a business relationship with Verizon
> to sell Verizon products, akin to a car dealer's relationship with a car
> manufacturer. They are a Verizon-authorized retailer.
>
>
>
> So, after declaring this store "a rotten trick" you now say they're
> actually more honest than a Verizon company store by not misrepresenting
> the quality of service?
>
> This one hits a little close to home for me- I was an independent
> exclusive Cingular dealer in Kansas City for several years in the late
> 90's and early aughts. I prided myself on providing lower prices, better
> service, and a wider handset selection than Cingular corporate stores (I
> used to source handsets outside of Cingular's distribution system to
> offer better deals or a better selection. When Cingular- then still SBMS-
> first went digital, they offered two TDMA phones. I had four, the two
> steaming loads SBMS chose to carry, and two better, cheaper models I
> sourced from an independent distributor. (Ahh, the good old days when
> any phone worked on any compatible system- no custom firmware or crippled
> features!)
>
> Sure, some resellers are pushy and not customer-service oriented, but the
> same can be said for some corporate stores. Plus, some indies will often
> offer better deals than their corporate cousins, and in the case of GSM
> carriers, who are less restrictive of what handsets are allowed on their
> network, indies often offer a selection of handsets not offered by the
> carrier itself, including interesting, or even radical imports.
>
> Several years ago, for example, I ran across a T-Mo indie that, in
> addition to the typical T-Mo offerings, sold a variety of imported
> unlocked handsets, including the Panasonic "compact" phone ("compact" as
> in a woman's tiny makeup case, complete with mirror in the upper lid!)
> and whatever model of Nokia Communicator was current at the time- two
> neat "niche" phones that were never released by US carriers. The
> Panasonic was probably one of, if not THE, smallest cellphone available
> at that time, and the Nokia was one of the original line of PDA phones
> before Treos and Blackberries made PDA phones ubiquitous. (If you
> remember the clamshell QWERTY-keyboarded phone Val Kilmer used in that
> wretched "The Saint" remake a decade ago- that was a Communicator.)
>
> So don't pick on an indie just because it's an indie. Pick on it if
> it's a BAD indie. If it's a good one, you'll probably get a better deal
> on a new handset from them than from a "real" Verizon store.

Don't confuse Larry with facts

Larry

2007-02-18, 12:33 pm

Todd Allcock < elecconnec@AmericaOn
Line.com> wrote in news:45d7d1de$0$1634
4
$88260bb3@free.teranews.com:

> How is that not a "Verizon store?

It is NOT a Verizon Wireless OWNED AND OPERATED store and does NOT
represent the company or make any decisions about your service. They do
not represent Verizon management and its decisions about how the company is
to be operated and cannot correct problems with your interface with
Verizon.

Geez...

WalMart is a reseller for HP computers. They have an HP sign, too! But,
the WalMart employees do not represent HP and cannot solve any issues you
have with HP, either! You must contact HP, just like you need someone from
Verizon Wireless to fix things.

Duhh.......

Larry
--
Vista has been out a week.
Is Service Pack 1 ready yet?

Todd Allcock

2007-02-18, 3:33 pm

At 18 Feb 2007 13:18:34 -0500 Larry wrote:

> It is NOT a Verizon Wireless OWNED AND OPERATED store and does NOT
> represent the company or make any decisions about your service. They
do
> not represent Verizon management and its decisions about how the
company is
> to be operated

So? The O&O doesn't make Verizon policy either, they just implement it.

> and cannot correct problems with your interface with
> Verizon.

They can if they care to, just like I did back when I was a Cingular indie.
They have a regional Verizon company rep for that, just like I had with
Cingular. Of course, they'll probably fob you off to the Verizon 1-800#
unless you were their customer originally, or they saw an opportunity to
sell you something.

> Geez...
>
> WalMart is a reseller for HP computers. They have an HP sign, too! But,

> the WalMart employees do not represent HP and cannot solve any issues
you
> have with HP, either!

Depends- their return policy is far more generous than HP's, so they can
solve some problems HP couldn't, like "how do I trade this 60-day old HP
back for the $500 in cash I paid for it?"

> You must contact HP, just like you need someone from
> Verizon Wireless to fix things.
>
> Duhh.......

And the guy behind the counter of the O&O with "Verizon" stiched on his
polo shirt is empowered to solve all of your problems? No, he gets on
the phone with retail CS or gets into your account over the computer, and
does what it lets him do. The indies can do all that as well, if they
have a mind to. It's all about customer service, and their willingness
to employ it.

I suspect your real beef with the indie is that they have less tolerance
than an O&O for you coming in and harrassing their "cute little sales
gals" with lectures and demonstrations about how your 10-mile range
router and Wi-Fi Skype phone is superior to their cellular service...

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Todd Allcock

2007-02-18, 10:33 pm

At 18 Feb 2007 14:08:41 +0000 TeddeLI wrote:

> Don't confuse Larry with facts

To be fair to Larry, there are a lot of callous mone-grubbing indies out
there, but there certainly are some good ones as well. I saw myself as a
customer advocate, personally, because I never forgot that my customers
were MY customers, not Cingular's- and if I though they were getting a
raw deal from Cingular about something, I'd fight tooth and claw with my
Cingular rep to get them satisaction. Part of that was simply my innate
sence of fair play, but mostly it was good business. Unlike a
restaurant, where good service equals repeat business, one-year cellphone
contracts only generate repeat business annually- I needed my my
customers to be happy enough with ME to refer more business MY way- not
just to "Cingular."

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Roughrider50

2007-02-19, 10:33 am

"RBM" <rbm2(remove this)@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:itCBh.230$2U7.48@newsfe10.lga...
>I wouldn't worry, they're just licensed by Verizon to sell their phones,
>and need the SS info to access your account. I wouldn't buy from a
>"Verizon" retail store either, as any deals they have seem to require you
>waiting for rebates. Check out the phones in any store, then buy on line
>

My experience has been just the opposite. Recently I attempted to upgrade to
the VX8300. Being 2 months short of my NE2 deal I agreed to pony up the $50
& ordered online. I sent my order in & left for work. I drive truck & am
gone 1-2 weeks at a time so I had it shipped to my daughters house. Called
her a few days later to see if my phone came. No go. Odd, usually they
arrive in 2 days. Called Verizon & was told it was shipped 4 days earlier &
was transferred to FedEx who informed me they attempted 4 times to deliver &
no one home. They then told me if I wanted my phone I had to drive 75 miles
to their terminal to pick it up. I told him to stick it where the sun don't
shine & would report it lost it transit. Verizon said they'd deal with FedEx
& would send one to the correct address(they sent the first one to my
billing address rather than myshipping address & I wasn't home for
delivery). The rub came when she said I would have to pay $100 & apply for a
rebate rather than the instant rebate you get online. Scratch that idea.
I stopped at "Wireless World" by my daughters house & picked it up there. I
not only received instant gratification on my purchase but the sales lady
talked Verizon into giving me my NE2 plan early so after rebate(Received 2
weeks after submission) I got the phone for free. I also bought their
insurance plan with better coverage & less money than Verizons.
All in all a satisfying experience, better than the online purchase I
attempted..

>
>
>
> "GLG 20" <GLG20@GLG.GLG> wrote in message
> news:7g2dt2derdk96qo
rucflgv0ggkbqlhiin0@
4ax.com...
>
>

The Other Funk

2007-02-19, 10:33 pm

Finding the keyboard operational
Larry entered:

> Duhh.......
>
> Larry
For those who have not yet experianced Larrey's responses,...
Larry is prone to quote out of context and produce the most convoluted
responses in order to point out what he precives as deceptions that Verizon
uses to get money from an uneducated public.
When confronted with facts or asked to provide data to back up his
statements, he will accuse the poster of being a Verion employee ( or at
least a shill) or will quote his "lawyer".

In this instance, whether or not a store is a Verizon O&O or a licensed
dealer of Verizon services, they do represent Verizon. They must be in order
to make the User Agreement valid. i.e. the UA is between the customer and
VzW.
WalMart is a retail seller of HP computers and does not represent HP in any
manner.
Bob

--
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