Update: Apparently the theory posted below isn't correct. More to follow. In the meantime, crossing it out...
Explanation for the Madness Update: The BG just made a great blog post of his hypothesis of what got muddled up during the launch of the BlackBerry Storm. I've been hearing the same story throughout the day from people on both the Verizon and RIM side of the equation, so though not "official" I'm pretty confident in saying this his story is much more than a hypothesis... it's bang on the money. The real question now is did RIM frak up, or Verizon? I've heard Verizon people blame RIM and RIM peeps put the blame on Verizon's techs not paying attention. I'd sure like to know every detail behind the story...
Essentially, the Verizon Storm was set to launch with an OS higher than 4.7.0.65. The boxes handed out at the Verizon media event on Tuesday in NYC (where all those reviewers picked theirs up) actually have stickers on them that show 4.7.0.82. Yet the devices were actually loaded with the .65 OS. Did you purchase a Storm today? Take a look at the sticker on your box. If you peel it off, you'll see one beneath for 4.7.0.82. Right before the Storm was set to ship en mass, a security glitch was caught in the OS that prompted a hault of shipment. With no time to release a newer, updated OS, the Storm's that made the stores for today's launch were simply a limited number of units that were reprovisioned with an older OS, version 4.7.0.65. Yada, yada, yada.. that explains shortages and the revised December 5th availability date along with the not quite silky smooth OS. Suffice to say, you can expect an OS update to storm into town soon.
Though the potentially really bad news is that we've now heard from a few sources that the December 5th availability date is now being pushed back to as late as the 15th! Hopefully there will be at least limited availability between now and then, but this is getting a bit frustrating to say the least! Verizon... or RIM... or both.. how about some sort of announcement to let everyone know what's going on.
Storm Shipping Schedule:
- Orders that were placed on 11/21 by 12pm local time will ship no later than 11/25
- Orders that were placed on 11/21 after 12pm local time through End of day will ship no later than 12/5
- Orders placed on 11/22 will ship no later than 12/15
Click on over to BGR for more details or into the Storm Forums. *
If launch day madness is a sign of a phone's success moving forward, then Verizon should be smiling right now. Despite some not so great reviews, Verizon experienced their own equivalent of an AT&T/iPhone launch today, with customers lined up at locations across the country, not enough devices to meet demand, POS servers going down, call centers being swamped and lots of mixed emotions in the air - customers were either happy they got their Storm or were ready to riot. From Fox News:
A saleswoman said the store had about 60 for sale when it opened its doors. Reuters reported they were all gone by 9 a.m. and that police were called to control angry customers who had waited outside in the cold for hours to buy one. About 30 people were waiting in line at lunchtime just to try out a display model.
We even tried just calling into Verizon to get an extra line added to our account and were told "You'll have to call back later, we can't do anything for you. BlackBerry Storm has us tied up."
To add fuel to the fire, we've now received several reports from Verizon employees (thanks guys and gals!) who have been told by their regional and district managers that any Storms ordered after 2pm EST won't be delivered before December 5th! Update: it's official now. D'oh!!!
I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be in need of a stiff drink tonight. TGIF!!!
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I'm really worried about delivery delays since I ordered my Storm over the phone this morning! I ordered at about 8:15am Los Angeles time, so I'm well ahead of the 2pm NY time deadline. The VZW rep helping me on the phone said that if the phone did not ship today that it would be shipped no later than Monday....but still won't be happy until the phone is in my hands. I'll report back when I receive it!
I just received an email confirmation that my order shipped! I see from FedEx tracking that it left Ontario, California this afternoon at 1:47pm. Wish they would have told me where it was, I could have driven out there and picked it up. Looks like I'll have to wait until Monday!
Does your FedEx tracking say marked for Sat delivery? Mine shipped out today before the deadline and scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I am so excited. People think I am nuts :-).
Nope, mine is marked for 2nd day air, which is kind of a pain in the ass since it says that the expected delivery date is Tuesday - I just noticed this! I'm not sure how it could not get there Monday considering how close Ontario is to Burbank? I'm kind of annoyed that it was sent 2nd day air rather than overnight. Isn't the standard delivery for Verizon FedEx overnight?
Sometimes when they say 2-day they mean it. Sucks! Even though you maybe just miles away. If the phone is at your local FedEx depot before Monday, you could try to find out if you can pick up the package?
Verizon's standard shipping method is O/N yes, I asked and confirmed this with them over and over.
Mine's on the truck now and I should be getting it shortly.
Good luck.
My Storm is in Seattle so I called FedEx to see if I could pick it up at the depot today (about 10 miles from me) instead of waiting until Monday for delivery. I was told that it's still at the airport though and won't be available for pickup before they close today. I'm bummed!
Tis true...I just opened up my email and there was a little from the DM that stated that orders placed today, 11-22 will ship by 12/15. However, keep in mind that Verizon likes to underpromise and overdeliver. Verizon rebate slips say to allow 6-8 weeks, when in actuality you get the rebate in no more than 10 days usually. The dates that are given to employees to relay to customers are very conservative, and most likely the phones will ship before then. That is what happened last year with the Voyager.
I ordered my BB on the 12-2 and they said that it would ship by the 15th. Now does that mean ill get it on the 15th or is there any chance I might get it earlier. Pleas if any one knows get back to me asap. I'm getting antsy. Thank you
After failing to get a Storm at two different Verizon stores (and I'm not happy with the poor customer service I got in the store, btw), I spent 30 minutes on hold to talk to someone on the "VIP" line. After ordering, I was told it would overnight ship on Tuesday, although the customer service rep wouldn't promise delivery on Wednesday.
I was told they'd already sold 10,000 through customer service, and that nothing was available until the next shipment.
Verizon did a great job of getting the message out about their new phone, now if they could just deliever...
I spent all morning trying to order it online. Finally one of those boxes popped up and it was an online agent. I'm asking her/him why can't I access the blackberry section at all or order the phone. She say, "It does that when the phone is out of stock"....... WTF? What happen to the message just saying.. OUT OF STOCK??? Instead of having people sitting there clicking trying to order but getting timed out.
I never liked Verizon.. this situation today didn't help any. I was only going with them to get the Storm. Now they talking about nothing shipping until Dec. 5th.. thats 2 weeks away. Why such a big gap? Why weren't they prepared to sell this Blackberry? I don't get it..
Patience young Skywalker, patience.
Calm down, Grasshopper.
It's OK LIttle Joe, you will get your toy soon enough!
Is our country really in such a state of instanty gratification that when we can't get what we want RIGHT NOW that we have to start pointing the finger at someont and saying that they can't deliver?
Fed Ex delivers the phone; I'm glasd to see that Verizon Wireless is real enough to admit they can not make aguaranteed delivery date FOR ANOTHER COMPANY! LOL
So i played with a demo phone at a local store and gotta say... i'm believin the software update story... it was slow and glitchy.. i woulda thrown the phone at the wall if i owned it... a local authorized dealer (not an actual VZW store) guy put me on the waiting list and assured me that i would get one as soon as he got his 5... which he still hasn't called me about... don't know if he ever got them... but didn't feel like calling to find out... if he doesn't call me tomorrow saying he got them then i'm gonna hold out until i hear news of the software update... but i'm waiting some more on it...
gotta say i REALLY liked the surepress screen... it wasn't too awkward to use... and when typing it was really nice.. i checked the software version in the wireless software update and it was the old version... disappointed by that...
I agree that the demos were horrible if it was not attached to the display it would have gotten thrown against the wall! But i kept in mind that allot of people have been playing with them, they were screwing with settings we would not touch on our own phones and going to every website possible. I think they were slower because of things that have been changed by shoppers that should not have been changed
Your Storm will run 50x better. Got my storm bright and early yesterday and after playing with it for 15 mins decided to uninstall VZ Navigator. The Storm is actually a great phone now! Runs much quicker (although they could lose those transition effects to make it run even quicker).
I can't recommend getting that crap navigator off of this phone, what a difference.
I meant "I can't recommend enough taking off VZ Navigator".
Get rid of it. It helps.
That sounds like a great idea. Can you email me the uninstall process?
Thanks,
call verizon and they will see in the updates page they have that all orders after 2pm are delayed to December 5th. i called and the rep confirmed this.
Don't worry it sucks! hard to navigate, type, and its slow
:(
Probably going to return mine, but I guess there will be one more on the market for you!
i am returning mine too. already switched back to the curve
more posts by Anonymous (not verified) users say how it sucks and they will return theirs, too.
i was on that very line in that very picture. it was the 42nd and 6th store. i was one of the lucky ones who got one. i go on the line around 6:45 with about 25 people in front of me. when the manager came out and told the store was not going to open until 8 instead of 7 AM, people went crazy. later that same manager had to go out and tell people they were sold out. needless to say that guy had a crappy day.
i have to agree, typing is unbelievably slow on the storm but the features are great. i had the chance to check out a bold (the guy next to me had a rogers one) and i liked that, possibly more than the storm. too bad it won't come out on Verizon until next spring...
Now that I've heard some of the Storms were recalled due to an older, buggy OS version I'm nervous that mine has it. Where do I go under to find out my OS version?
p.s. I have no idea why I thought it could be better than my World Edition.... this is a mess.
Now that I've heard some of the Storms were recalled due to an older, buggy OS version I'm nervous that mine has it. Where do I go under to find out my OS version?
p.s. I have no idea why I thought it could be better than my World Edition.... this is a mess.
I went to the store in Chelsea NYC, at 7am, and i left 3 1/2 hours later, heavy one parking ticket and Storm. I had to call Cust Care and wait/talk to someone forever just to note my account eligible for upgrade instead of direct fulfillment. They had about 30 units at opening, and another 20 showed up at 9am via fedex.
Stopped by Verizon today and had the opportunity to play with Storm. The names fits it because it's a dark cloud on Blackberry's reputation. It is definitely is not designed for business use. The touch screen keyboard is inaccurate. Fingernails don't work and most men like myself will have a very difficult time typing on it with our large fingers. I guess AT&T has the right idea since their new version does not give the keyboard that made blackberry the corporate business benchmark.
In Nashua, NH the store I went to sold out of its 50 units practically as the doors opened. They said that they had plenty in the warehouse, and that they would overnight them to customers who bought them.
Personally, I played with their live demo units. I like the feel, and found typing quite easy. But, the OS is definitely slow, taking several seconds for the accelerometer to change orientation, or even to do something simple like call up the Calculator app.
My "new every 2" comes up in January, and I'm comfortable waiting while they tune up the OS and work out the kinks. It feels like they released the thing earlier than it should have been, to make the Christmas season.
I LOVE THE NEW PHONE, THE CLICK SCREEN TAKES SOME GETTING USE TO BUT OVERALL THE BEST PHONE I HAVE BOUGHT IN A WHILE.
Stopped by Verizon today and had the opportunity to play with Storm. The names fits it because it's a dark cloud on Blackberry's reputation. It is definitely is not designed for business use. The touch screen keyboard is inaccurate. Fingernails don't work and most men like myself will have a very difficult time typing on it with our large fingers. I guess AT&T has the right idea since their new version has keyboard that made blackberry the corporate business benchmark.
I was in line at 7:15 am, and told, "sold out." Went to Circuit City 1 hour before it opened, and they came out and said they only got 10, and they were out. HUH? You're not even open yet! I then get on the phone with Verizon and they say, "we didn't expect this." REALLY? You've been hyping this phone for 6 months! I then go to a store that says they'll overnight it to me, (I ordered at 11:27 PT) and I'll have it Saturday. LIE. Called Verizon just now, order not processed, but will ship no later than 11/25. Now I read 12/5? Tell me the damn truth already! I'm about ready to send Verizon packing and get an iPhone. I've held on to the customer service card with Verizon for years, but maybe they're like everyone else. (well, except over priced.)
I was at the store today looking at the new gems and was un-impressed with the speed of the os. An un-named Verizon associate told me that to get the phones out before Thanksgiving, they were shipped with BETA code and to expect frequent updates over the next few weeks. I can't confirm this but I'm waiting until the dust settles on this one. Can anyone confirm the BETA code reports?
Well stopped by my local store in Austin around 11 and of course they had sold out. They said they had 40 in when the doors opened. After demoing one for a while a guy came and let me know that the store was allowing for orders that would be delivered on Wednesday, and with that they bypassed the 50 G.C. and took another 50 bucks off for ordering right then. Either way, 150 for the Storm will work for me. Lets just see if all the hype lives up in the long term test.
Well stopped by my local store in Austin around 11 and of course they had sold out. They said they had 40 in when the doors opened. After demoing one for a while a guy came and let me know that the store was allowing for orders that would be delivered on Wednesday, and with that they bypassed the 50 G.C. and took another 50 bucks off for ordering right then. Either way, 150 for the Storm will work for me. Lets just see if all the hype lives up in the long term test.
So I called in and ordered a phone at 12:30. Gave him my credit card number, picked my calling plan, was given a delivery date of 11/25, and away we go.
Then I come home and read all of the stuff about orders placed after 2PM won't be fulfilled until 12/5. So I call to confirm, and guess what, no record of my order. Where is my credit card number, on some random dude's sticky pad on his desk?
I was lied to, my personal information is not in any system, wow, guess who's been without a contract for months waiting to buy a new phone and guess who's going to buy an iPhone tomorrow with no strings attached?
So much for being a loyal Verizon customer for 9 years...
So after a prolonged 15 minute back and forth with a manager, the conversation ends something like this:
Manager: What do you want me to do, there are no phones?
Me: I don't know, I have been a 100% on-time paying customer for the last 9 years, you tell me what you can do. Make sure the phone shows up Tuesday like I was told 8 hours ago, give me a service credit, I don't know, figure it out.
Manager: There are no phones, I can't do anything.
Me: So you're not going to attempt to do anything to rectify this for my inconvenience?
Manager: I can't do anything. Do you want me to cancel your order?
Me: I'll be going to the AT&T store tomorrow for an iPhone.
Dude, calm down. You're the reason customer rep people are so pissy all the time.
You were likely one of thousands of people who had made an order after the stock was gone. If I was "Manager" I would've done the same...through clenched teeth.
No, not melodramatic. Just a consumer not happy with being lied to. When you're told you're going to receieve a product on a certain date, when you give a faceless voice your credit card number, to only find out it was all a lie, that's not cool.
Look, it's a phone, I don't care if I get it 2 months from now, so long as I was told it would be 2 months when I placed the order. If the dude said "listen, I don't know when it's going to be shipped", then we're not having this discussion. Lying to make a sale is shady.
So you gave some poor shmuck attitude over a situation he has no control over? Did you get the the call center reps name, ID number, and an order number for your original transaction? Probably not because why should you have any responsibility in this right?
Do you think anyone cares that you had service for 9 years? Nope. Well someone cares and it's not a store employee, it's gonna be someone on the phone called retentions. It's their job to keep whiny customers like you happy and bend over backwards giving you the world for free.
I also don't understand why if you wanted a Storm you'd go buy an iPhone? They're pretty different phones you know? You probably just want a shiny new gadget. I'm selling my LG Dare if you want a phone you can touch, email me, I'll get it on my Storm.
How much for the dare?
Actually, yes, I did get the agent's name and extention when I 'placed my order'. My mistake for not getting an order number, yes. It did seem kind of strange, but I figured maybe he'd been having a rough day, I'll just go with it. I thought his confirmation of a delivery date in triplicate was good enough.
But, it doesn't make their actions right. I got an idea. How about you give me your credit card number and I'll write it on a piece of paper on my desk and you can sleep well tonight not knowing where it is. Maybe you'd be OK with that, but I'm not. Did you happen to see that this same company had to fire reps for snooping into the President-elect's phone records?
Again, this all comes down to be honest with the customer. If your computer isn't working, say so. If you will need to process the order later when it starts working again, say so. If you tell me I can't get a product for a month, hey that's cool with me, just say so.
Maybe you're right, the problem really is that no one cares about customer loyalty. I know in my business, the last thing I'm going to do is allow a familiar face to walk out of my place upset.
Yea I called around 10am this morning and tried to order the storm lol. While I was in the middle of my order her computer froze up. She had told me that she would place my order when her computer is back up and that the phone would ship out on the 24th should receive no later then the 27th. So I called back around 1:30pm est to double check to make sure everything was ok with the order "different person then one that did my order" He told me that the computers were froze up still and I would receive a call on Sunday to confirm order. No idea what thats about strange
I heard the customer service area was a scene like that of Wall street during a huge sell off... What about the orders taken before 2pm that the agents computers were froze up? will those people still get there phones? What a nightmare!
they could solve a big part of that problem by making all of the Verizon employees return the phones that they snatched up before us regular folks (loyal customers) could buy one. I'm seriously considering paying my early termination fee and bailing on Verizon altogether.
Verizon Employees cannot buy the phone currently. Their orders will not be processed until the demand for the phone has died down some. Some higher ups may have the phone, but they had them before they ever officially launched.
At the the store I went to several employees had their storms out & commented that they were happy to have it.
Just to let everybody know employee’s orders have been pushed back to January and for customer orders all orders processed to day will ship dec 5th and all orders processed tomorrow wont ship till dec 15th
so hurry up and order now so we can get your phones becuz the ship date keeps getting pushed back further and further and retail stores receive last shipment tomorrow if they get any at all.....
Email if you have?s
firstkaoz@aol.com
SEE YA
I went to a Verizon store in Minnepolis todya about noon thirty. They had plenty and I got one. I really just went in to ask questions but the guy was very helpful and was able to hook me up and get me the new storm. Looked like they had plenty of them.
well i dont know how it happened but i pre ordered at best buy and i got the call to come in. ends up that best buy had only got 5 storms and i was one of the 5 to get one. its definatly a different type of phone and since i have been out of touch with a touch screen in soo long its a little different but i did pay full price for the phone and i do have to admit its pretty awsome. i do appologize for everyone else that couldnt get one that is a shame and for all the people that waited outside its terrible outside. but there is light at the end of the tunnel you def. will dig this phone. (easier said since i have a storm but true)
In total desperation after stopping at 3 stores and calling 2 more, i stopped by Best buy 10 minutes before they opened. Turned out they recieved 4 in total. 3 were spoken for, and they had 1 left. Buggy or not older OS or not i love it.
I was lucky enough to get one through best buy today via preorder. I had to go back later in the day because apparently the first shipment did not have enough. Best Buys customer service was mediocre, but that's of no surprise. Anyway, the OS is apparently the "buggy" one, .65 er whatever. It is a bit retarded at times, I must say, with it actually crashing once. The camera turned on, then the screen got all dumb and unresponsive. Dunno why it happened, I was setting up email. The "buggy" OS is still better than my prior phone, the Samsung sch-i760... Lousy.
As far as the typing, I find it relatively easy. The surepress screen is amazing. It does feel like you're using regular keys minus the physical, individual button feel. I can type relatively fast and accurately in both the qwerty landscape and portrait with multitap. Suretype sucks just because I don't like the two button part. Single hand use is easy with the multitap. It feels like a typical phone. As far as the pressing harder on the outer edge of the screen, I have not noticed any significance what so ever. If you are consistent with your pressure, why does this even matter? Press firmly everywhere...
Lastly, everyone needs to chill about the customer service this, vzw is terrible that. You wanted the phone. You knew the hype behind it... Did you expect ridiculous ease in getting this thing? Yes, someone did mess up with the OS and maybe that did limit the number of units sold. Treat the customer service people respectfully. It is one of the worst places to be in,on the other end with an angry, irrational customer. Yelling at someone telling them to fix a problem they have no control over because they are merely SALESPEOPLE makes you look uneducated and like a pr*ck. You'll probably get better results yelling at a wall. Just sayin'.