September 4th, 2004
It looks like my popping chill pills and eating crow on the Motorola V710 issue were in vain.
Jonathan Zdziarski spoke with Verizon Wireless’ Brenda Raney and got the official word from VZW regarding the crippling of Bluetooth capabilities on the new phone:
Q. Many people feel that Verizon has specifically disabled these features to force them to use your Get-it-Now and PIX Place service.
A. And your point is?
Q. Well, these features are available in phones from many other carriers, and people feel cheated.
A. Verizon does business unlike any other carrier, and we make no apologies for that. … [Those features] don’t work with our business model. Every customer is certainly entitled to their own feelings.
Q. Do you foresee that OBEX/OPP will be enabled anytime in the near future?
A. No.
Q. The average joe can go out and fork over $60 for a TransFlash card, which will allow them to transfer pictures, MP3s, whatever…and at no profit to Verizon…so why not just enable these features on the phone and give the customers a break?
A. That’s where the security issue comes in.
Q. So what would you say to the consumer who paid for this phone and expected to receive [these features]?
A. [When a customer buys a phone] there’s a level of risk. … We never advertised these features…. We have a fifteen day satisfaction guarantee.
Q. When this phone is released to other carriers, will you accept their ESNs if your customers want a fully-functioning phone?
A. We don’t [activate] phones unless they’re ours. If Motorola sells it to another carrier, it may be the a710 or the p710. That’s not our phone.
====
Unfortunately this conversation only confirmed my belief that Verizon’s customers were nothing but cattle to be rounded up.
I second that last sentence.
I take back my previous statements letting Verizon off the hook.
If VZW doesn’t address their “security issues” soon with the v710 and other upcoming Bluetooth products, they will lose my business as a customer. Such callous ignorance and disregard to customer demand is unacceptable.
To Ms. Raney, as well as to Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg:
Let’s get a few things straight here.
I am not a sheep. I AM A CUSTOMER.
You DO NOT decide for me what goods and services I want or need. I DO.
Despite your boasting of better coverage, Verizon Wireless isn’t the only game in town. If your competitors are willing to offer features I want to see in my next mobile phone, they will earn my business.
Offer full Bluetooth capabilities NOW or you will lose customers (beginning with this one). It’s as simple as that.
In the meantime, for those who are SOL and already locked into contracts with the v710, Zdziarski has put together a hacker reward program for anybody who can successfully enable working OBEX and OPP Bluetooth on the phone. I support this effort 100%.
Filed under Gadgetry, Technology |
D.C.'s Quick Posts (via Facebook)
And I thought I had it bad with ICE (Costa Rican Phone Company)!
DC continues his documentation of Verizon’s arrogance. It looks like my popping chill pills and eating crow on the Motorola V710 issue was in vain. Jonathan Zdziarski spoke with Verizon Wireless’ Brenda Raney and got the official word from VZW…
Good info… I will pass this article to my qualcommers at work and get some info from them.
http://www.blackpundit.com
I have found the answer if you don’t like to be treated as cattle, and would like good functionality in a Bluetooth phone. I went to T-Mobile, who has the v600 (not disabled and fully compatible with my Powerbook). I told them my dilemma and that I was locked into a contract with Verizon but would deeply love to get out of it.
They told me that they wanted my business (wow! what a concept to want my business!) and what could they do? I told them I would switch in a minute if they could discount the phone enough to offset the $180 cancellation charge with Verizon. Well, they couldn’t discount the phone *that* much, but they did offer to take $100 off the phone, and then proceeded to offer me the same plan that I had with Verizon for $20 less per month. Plus I don’t have to hack/pay to get high speed internet, IT COMES WITH IT!
So in four months I will have paid the cancellation fee, and by the time a year passes, Verizon will have lost over $1,900.00 from me not being a customer. I added it up, ~$120 per month for my bill, and the approx. $450 in equipment that I returned after reading that they could care less about what I want.
You don’t have to try T-Mobile, I know a lot of carriers in my area are willing to do things like this to help you stick it to Verizon.
Despising the Customer…
It is clear to me that in these times of economic woe, the desperate corporations of America are making a disturbing trend. I see less and less focus on customers. This at a time when they should be happy for any dollar they get.
Case in point: CompUS…