***Official Galaxy Nexus Pre-Release speculation thread**

[Shades.549]

To the people saying that they are upset that sales associate are lying to them when they are told that there are no GNex's in stock when you know they have been delivered in that store.... they're not lying, at least by retail definitions.
In retail stock is defined as merchandise available to sell. If a retail store has something that they can not sell they are told to remove it from stock, so although an item may still be in the store it is not in "stock".

I know it feels like they are being told to lie to the customers, but it's just them making use of a technicality.
On the other hand if the representative says, "we don't have any in the store" when they actually do that would be a lie.
Of course when you are dealing with a representative you are not talking to a cog in the corporate machine that is identical to every other cog in the machine, so you will get the person who will tell you something they are not sell you something and you will get the person who will outright lie to you, and you will get the person who will tell you that they are sold out of something when there is one left of because they are going to buy it themselves.
I don't sell phones, that is unless I get one of the jobs I recently interviewed for, but that is how retail justifies telling people that there is none in stock when they have the product in the store without feeling like they are telling their associates to lie to their customer base.

 

[sgrinavi]

This is what's wrong with America today! The Corporate stance of LYING to their customer base is accepted as normal policy. Then the young kids working for these corporations "learn" that lying is an acceptable practice and continue the cycle. Why would BB want to lie, what would be wrong with saying "yes, we have them in stock but Verizon has asked us not to sell them until they give us the go ahead"? If Verizon doesn't like the response then eff'em...they just lost 1500 retail outlets! I'm sure BB doesn't make much off of these sales anyway, and it would hurt Verizon much more than BB! This way the 3rd party retailers have a little clout and can help keep Verizon in check. Please don't take this as corporation bashing, I totally believe in our enterprise system, but there are bad companies and bad leadership out there making bad decisions...we need honesty and ethics back in the boardroom!

Where did you see that they are being instructed to lie by VZW or BB corporate? They are doing that on their own, they are being told to that it's confidential and that they have no further information with regard to the sales date.

I have not been lied to about anything; when I asked about stock today I received an honest, albeit, nondescript, answer. It sounds to me that specific local managers & CSRs are the ones that are comfortable with telling lies.

 

[JessicaLynne]

I called a radio shack near me and asked about the phone, and hes like umm it has a 5 mp. Camera "not the best", blah blah "not the best", blah blah blah "not the best" i stopped listening after he said that about the camera, he was annoying me...i do wish the camera was better though.

 

[Grendil]

I personally think the phone is being delayed cause not every store got their Nexus shipments yet. I know for a fact that the Northeast region dont have their stock yet, but I'm pretty sure Midwest and South got their's already. So the 12/9 could never even happen because not all the phones are in yet. All the other reasons and theories i've heard so far are just dumb, this one makes the most sense.

Or those orders weren't shipped out to those stores before Verizon decided to stall the launch. We have had heard from a few people that their stores tried to place an order later than others and couldn't, or their orders were cancelled.

 

[Appleanche]

Ok, I've lurked this thread for ages and figured it's time to pop in. I forgot I even had an account here.

What a roller coaster this has been, the worst part is that a lot of us who were waiting for the Bionic have been on a similar journey over the summer.

At this point I just want a phone I can replace my OG Droid with. It's gotten to the point where over the past 6 months I've hardly felt like I own a smartphone my Droid has gotten so bad. I've tried just about every rom on the planet, usually it's fast for a week and then just craps out.

I'm really hoping the 15th is going to be the day but at this point who knows. If it's not I'm afraid I'll have to pick up a Rezound and possibly return it when it comes out, maybe not.

 

[HanSolo]

Guys, I don't know why we're so surprised by the responses we're getting. If you had their job, making a living and supporting your family during very difficult economic times, and some average Joe comes in to ask for the SGN, you're not going to be a "people pleaser" and tell them what they want to hear.

Even if your boss told you "Tell them we don't have any", you're most likely going to do just that. Why give an average Joe a giggle when you don't know him and when he's not going to support you if you lose your job?

There are a lot of people effectively standing in line to take your place if you get fired. Why risk it?

 

[EarlyMon]

To the people saying that they are upset that sales associate are lying to them when they are told that there are no GNex's in stock when you know they have been delivered in that store.... they're not lying, at least by retail definitions.
In retail stock is defined as merchandise available to sell. If a retail store has something that they can not sell they are told to remove it from stock, so although an item may still be in the store it is not in "stock".

I know it feels like they are being told to lie to the customers, but it's just them making use of a technicality.
On the other hand if the representative says, "we don't have any in the store" when they actually do that would be a lie.
Of course when you are dealing with a representative you are not talking to a cog in the corporate machine that is identical to every other cog in the machine, so you will get the person who will tell you something they are not sell you something and you will get the person who will outright lie to you, and you will get the person who will tell you that they are sold out of something when there is one left of because they are going to buy it themselves.
I don't sell phones, that is unless I get one of the jobs I recently interviewed for, but that is how retail justifies telling people that there is none in stock when they have the product in the store without feeling like they are telling their associates to lie to their customer base.

I understand what you're saying and I understand the foundation for it.

But, the fact is that encouraging and allowing a misperception over a deceptive answer to a simple question is not ethical. The customer's innocent definition of stock is clear - a crafty change of it is much like saying, depends on what the meaning of the word, is, is.

So much easier and honest and straightforward when asked if a Nexus is in stock to simply reply - Hey, you know how it is - they don't tell me everything, probably half of what they tell me I can't share and all I can tell you on this is that we have no information to share until the phone launches. You probably have similar policies and stuff where you work.

Or even - We don't have any to sell.

Honest, understandable and no tricky language.

Just my opinion though.

 

[Mooem]

I personally think the phone is being delayed cause not every store got their Nexus shipments yet. I know for a fact that the Northeast region dont have their stock yet, but I'm pretty sure Midwest and South got their's already. So the 12/9 could never even happen because not all the phones are in yet. All the other reasons and theories i've heard so far are just dumb, this one makes the most sense.

That wouldn't stop Verizon from selling a phone if they could through direct fill (online and telesales) with a store release later. They have done that before.

The Google Wallet stuff is possible and in no way "dumb". 11th hour decisions...

 

[Appleanche]

To be fair, if you've ever worked retail you'll understand customers usually don't take no for an answer. Most people who walk in seem to think they are above it all when they enter the doors. If they answered "We have them in stock but we can't sell then" it wouldn't be long till someone throws a fit about that.

Just for example the book store I work at is the only one that carries a really popular regional paper (we pick it up about 30 mins away, nobody else will). We save copies for some of our daily customers and such and when they sell out people will get pissed that we're saving them and ask for us to give them one of the reserved papers. This happened weekly, I'd have to explain why, how the paper ordering business works, etc. I finally just realized it's time to hide the paper and tell them we're sold out.

 

[HanSolo]

A very nice guy from Radio Shack just called me and said that I'm on the list, and he's already gotten 4 other calls about it today. (I'd called earlier and they said they'd get back to me).

He did say that the 15th was the day. I asked him how definite he was, and he said "We got an email directly from Verizon telling us that launch day is the 15th."

Does anyone know if I'd be able to use my loyalty discount at Radio Shack? Or is that only for Verizon stores?

 

[alee0729]

Stopped by my favorite premium retailer on my way out this morning. He tells me "I'm hearing the 13th, but to be frank with you, everything I hear is second hand rumors... you probably know better than me." One of the many reasons he is more likely to get the sale from me than anyone else (unless he doesn't get it on release day).

To pass the time... here's a pano I made around lunchtime from the GSM GNex.

Something to look forward to doing with your phone whenever VZW gets their act together.

 

[jdduncan11]

Really it just comes down to the fact that we want some transparency from these companies. Yes, they don't have to offer us jack **** but it would be nice. And I will agree that they are not technically lying to anyone or telling anybody to lie but what they are doing is empowering employees to lie to their consumer base which isn't the smartest thing IMO.

From someone who was in the management side of retail, at a store level and at the corporate level, "transparency" is not always the best policy. Especially during the holiday season, when people's stress levels are even higher than normal, it just isn't prudent. There is nothing wrong with a sales associate telling a customer "we have no information on that item" or "we don't know when we will be able to sell it". The problem is when you back a sales associate into a corner by saying "do you have them in the back" their only option at that point IS to lie to you. Answering that question with "we don't have any information" is just going to prompt you to ask if they have stock a second time. If they say "yes", they are violating company policy. Not to mention the possible negative results of providing such an answer. Not everyone during the Holiday Season is as reasonable, or as self-controlled, as most of us are. Herer are a few personal experiences that may shed some light on the subject:

Telling customers that we had a particualr item in stock, but were unable to sell it, led to the following situations:

1) Enraged customers (mostly adults) yelling and cursing at sales associates (who were mostly teenagers) because they were unwilling to sell them the product.

2) thieves attempting to break into the stock room because they knew the items were there

3) police needing to be called on multiple occassions because customers were getting so out of hand that it was beyond the employees ability to control

4) Getting to the point where police would not even respond because they were called so frequently, which left the employees to deal with irate customers on their own. And yes, fights over products do happen in retail.

5) all of these sistuation ultimately led to reduced sales because the average customer (you and me) would leave the store as soon as the situation became untenable.

Having said that - this phone is not a Beanie Baby, Tickle Me Elmo, or even a Thomas the Train set (yes -all of those were related to the above situations). That does not mean that a corporate entity looks at it any differerntly though. That is why companies have these policies in place, to protect staff, sales, and the customers themselves. People are much more likely to walk away if you tell them you don't have any information, than if you tell them "we have it, but can't/won't sell it to you". Just my .02 cents

 

[nyg010]

I have one thing to say about all these complaints: Problems start at the source (the execs for this matter), don't start blaming the messengers.

 

[lightsout]

Stopped by my favorite premium retailer on my way out this morning. He tells me "I'm hearing the 13th, but to be frank with you, everything I hear is second hand rumors... you probably know better than me." One of the many reasons he is more likely to get the sale from me than anyone else (unless he doesn't get it on release day).

To pass the time... here's a pano I made around lunchtime from the GSM GNex.

Something to look forward to doing with your phone whenever VZW gets their act together.

Thats awesome, what a sweet feature.

 

[jdduncan11]

To the people saying that they are upset that sales associate are lying to them when they are told that there are no GNex's in stock when you know they have been delivered in that store.... they're not lying, at least by retail definitions.
In retail stock is defined as merchandise available to sell. If a retail store has something that they can not sell they are told to remove it from stock, so although an item may still be in the store it is not in "stock".

I know it feels like they are being told to lie to the customers, but it's just them making use of a technicality.
On the other hand if the representative says, "we don't have any in the store" when they actually do that would be a lie.
Of course when you are dealing with a representative you are not talking to a cog in the corporate machine that is identical to every other cog in the machine, so you will get the person who will tell you something they are not sell you something and you will get the person who will outright lie to you, and you will get the person who will tell you that they are sold out of something when there is one left of because they are going to buy it themselves.
I don't sell phones, that is unless I get one of the jobs I recently interviewed for, but that is how retail justifies telling people that there is none in stock when they have the product in the store without feeling like they are telling their associates to lie to their customer base.

Good point. I worked in retail years ago, and if we were unable to sell an item for whatever reason, it was not often put in the inventory system. The inventory/receiving specialist would take the product from UPS, FedEx, etc... but it would not be put/logged into the system until the day it was available for sale.

 

[sgrinavi]

I called a radio shack near me and asked about the phone, and hes like umm it has a 5 mp. Camera "not the best", blah blah "not the best", blah blah blah "not the best" i stopped listening after he said that about the camera, he was annoying me...i do wish the camera was better though.

The camera is fine, anyone that judges a camera strictly upon how many mega-pixels it can capture is naive.

Not sure if this has been posted yet??

Galaxy Nexus camera: better than you may have heard (gallery) | ZDNet

 

[cole924]

From someone who was in the management side of retail, at a store level and at the corporate level, "transparency" is not always the best policy. Especially during the holiday season, when people's stress levels are even higher than normal, it just isn't prudent. There is nothing wrong with a sales associate telling a customer "we have no information on that item" or "we don't know when we will be able to sell it". The problem is when you back a sales associate into a corner by saying "do you have them in the back" their only option at that point IS to lie to you. Answering that question with "we don't have any information" is just going to prompt you to ask if they have stock a second time. If they say "yes", they are violating company policy. Not to mention the possible negative results of providing such an answer. Not everyone during the Holiday Season is as reasonable, or as self-controlled, as most of us are. Herer are a few personal experiences that may shed some light on the subject:

Telling customers that we had a particualr item in stock, but were unable to sell it, led to the following situations:

1) Enraged customers (mostly adults) yelling and cursing at sales associates (who were mostly teenagers) because they were unwilling to sell them the product.

2) thieves attempting to break into the stock room because they knew the items were there

3) police needing to be called on multiple occassions because customers were getting so out of hand that it was beyond the employees ability to control

4) Getting to the point where police would not even respond because they were called so frequently, which left the employees to deal with irate customers on their own. And yes, fights over products do happen in retail.

5) all of these sistuation ultimately led to reduced sales because the average customer (you and me) would leave the store as soon as the situation became untenable.

Having said that - this phone is not a Beanie Baby, Tickle Me Elmo, or even a Thomas the Train set (yes -all of those were related to the above situations). That does not mean that a corporate entity looks at it any differerntly though. That is why companies have these policies in place, to protect staff, sales, and the customers themselves. People are much more likely to walk away if you tell them you don't have any information, than if you tell them "we have it, but can't/won't sell it to you". Just my .02 cents

To me, you are missing the main point. I'm not asking reps at Verizon to tell me what the big wigs have to tell me.

I want the execs to come down with some type of friendly posting on their website saying "Thank you for being patient.. our target date is: Like you, we are just as excited about this great phone and our relationship with google! Thank you for being great customers and together we will "rule the air".

Something stupid like that. It's a positive spin and it gives us time to stop asking people who don't know the answers.

 

[Sushibagel]

From someone who was in the management side of retail, at a store level and at the corporate level, "transparency" is not always the best policy. Especially during the holiday season, when people's stress levels are even higher than normal, it just isn't prudent. There is nothing wrong with a sales associate telling a customer "we have no information on that item" or "we don't know when we will be able to sell it". The problem is when you back a sales associate into a corner by saying "do you have them in the back" their only option at that point IS to lie to you. Answering that question with "we don't have any information" is just going to prompt you to ask if they have stock a second time. If they say "yes", they are violating company policy. Not to mention the possible negative results of providing such an answer. Not everyone during the Holiday Season is as reasonable, or as self-controlled, as most of us are. Herer are a few personal experiences that may shed some light on the subject:

Telling customers that we had a particualr item in stock, but were unable to sell it, led to the following situations:

1) Enraged customers (mostly adults) yelling and cursing at sales associates (who were mostly teenagers) because they were unwilling to sell them the product.

2) thieves attempting to break into the stock room because they knew the items were there

3) police needing to be called on multiple occassions because customers were getting so out of hand that it was beyond the employees ability to control

4) Getting to the point where police would not even respond because they were called so frequently, which left the employees to deal with irate customers on their own. And yes, fights over products do happen in retail.

5) all of these sistuation ultimately led to reduced sales because the average customer (you and me) would leave the store as soon as the situation became untenable.

Having said that - this phone is not a Beanie Baby, Tickle Me Elmo, or even a Thomas the Train set (yes -all of those were related to the above situations). That does not mean that a corporate entity looks at it any differerntly though. That is why companies have these policies in place, to protect staff, sales, and the customers themselves. People are much more likely to walk away if you tell them you don't have any information, than if you tell them "we have it, but can't/won't sell it to you". Just my .02 cents

I 100% agree with you on your points. But because I personally have no problem with the I have no information comment or an employee just saying I can't say. I've been in retail and have been in their shoes. When talking about transparency I just want Verizon to say: "Hey we are trying to get these phones to you as soon as possible we are having negotiations with Google." I'd be okay with that just give us some info! No info is just annoying. Additionally, when it comes to employees though I think in their memos though best buy for example left too much wiggle room to where employees will take it to themselves to lie rather than simply say "we can't say" or "we don't have any info"

Edit: yes I know you can't 100% control what an Employee will say but just a simple "Don't lie and say XXXXXX" would solve a good amount of that stuff.

 

[EarlyMon]

Having said that - this phone is not a Beanie Baby, Tickle Me Elmo, or even a Thomas the Train set (yes -all of those were related to the above situations). That does not mean that a corporate entity looks at it any differerntly though. That is why companies have these policies in place, to protect staff, sales, and the customers themselves. People are much more likely to walk away if you tell them you don't have any information, than if you tell them "we have it, but can't/won't sell it to you". Just my .02 cents

Exactly.

A retailer's function is not to sell or give away operational details of their business.

A retailer's function is to provide product to customers willing or interesting in buying.

It seems more than perfectly straightforward to say in the simplest terms.

And that approach meets the first rule of retail that I've always heard - KISS.

I think shopping madness makes certain parts of our brains shut down - I really believe that (or maybe it's just me, I don't know so perhaps I ought not generalize) - but I always love it when a salesperson makes it simple and brings me back to reality.

 

[alee0729]

The camera is fine, anyone that judges a camera strictly upon how many mega-pixels it can capture is naive.

The camera is just ok. The iPhone 4S will stomp the GNex in photo quality. The Galaxy Note will as well. Outside it's fine... indoors the pics have heavy handed noise reduction.

The focus speed isn't so great either.

 

[Titanpat57]

ok....

THAT's IT!!



It's high time The Roosevelt made a "new" Hilter Youtube vid rant....enough is enough...

 

[Sports1131]

My guess is that the answer is no, but do Radio Shack/Best Buy/etc. honor any of the discounts you may have on your Verizon account? I have a $100 NE2 credit on my primary line I would like to use.

 

[jdduncan11]

To me, you are missing the main point. I'm not asking reps at Verizon to tell me what the big wigs have to tell me.

I want the execs to come down with some type of friendly posting on their website saying "Thank you for being patient.. our target date is: Like you, we are just as excited about this great phone and our relationship with google! Thank you for being great customers and together we will "rule the air".

Something stupid like that. It's a positive spin and it gives us time to stop asking people who don't know the answers.

I see your point, but the average consumer doesn't see "target date" the same way you or I might. Target date to most people is the same as saying sale/release date. Possibly resulting in the same negative backlash. Target and release dates are ONLY given, if the corporate office is 100% sure they can meet that date. In retail, that is often not possible due to any number of factors.

EDIT: Not to mention the fact that this phone has 3 players involved (Google, Samsung, and Verizon) where the average phone has 2 (the OEM and the Carrier). That just complicates the issue in my opinion.

 

[tdub88]

The Google Wallet stuff is possible and in no way "dumb". 11th hour decisions...

If it's the Google Wallet issue that is holding this up we should blame Google. They are the ones that waited until the last minute to raise a stink about it. Probably thought they had VZW by the short hairs.

Huh, jokes on us, the consumer.

 

[Sushibagel]

The camera is just ok. The iPhone 4S will stomp the GNex in photo quality. The Galaxy Note will as well. Outside it's fine... indoors the pics have heavy handed noise reduction.

The focus speed isn't so great either.

I will take that photo quality any day over my OG!

Remember this is a phone! Not a point and shoot.