Seemingly the best phone shop with great sales team (Vodafone Shop)

Member Name: iamasadlittleboy

Product:	Vodafone Shop
Date:	15/06/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Honest, fair, quick, haven't tried to miss sell things, good offers

Disadvantages: A lack of things like headphones, over priced acessories

I started using Vodafone's network when i got my W610i (early 2007) having been an O2 user for the 3 or 4 years previous. I went into all the phone shops in Barrow-In-Furness trying to find a nicely priced Sony Ericsson for around £100 maximum, but preferably £60-£80 and found that the shops each had their own idea of which phone I bought.

Phones 4 U were trying to sell me a cheap phone I think it was the w200i or soemthing similar, that failed one of the most important things I wanted. I was after a Camera phone of at least 2.1mp, with M2 capability, it had to be a candy bar, with radio and was able to 3G functions.

Now I know a little bit about phones, I know what I wanted, I know what I effectively needed. I like texting and using the mobile internet system, whilst listening to music, effectively a mobile entertainment type thing, soemthign the W200i (if I remember correctly) wasn't able to provide. Yet I spoke to two different sales people 4 hours apart (it was a long day) and they both pushed for me to get it, obviously on commission for clearing the stock, not the customers needs. Foolishly the sales team didn't push any other alternatives at any point, to say "We'll this is the step up, still in your price range and still a good phone, it add's X Y and Z but the step up in price has to be remembered".

So then I tried next door (it literally is next door) in Carphone Warehouse, where the sales team avoided me altogether. I'll admit this was quite nice, but after 15 mins of oo-ing and arr-ing I decided the store weren't going to help me pick a phone, or advise me of the perks of the networks so it was down to me to read the pro's and con's of each network. I also eyed the K800i a phone I'd previously owned but was way out of my price range so I didn't look too hard for fear of the green monster of envy.

O2 were next, who had useful magazine type books, with a fold out bit in the back, showing what the stock of the shop had regarding features of the phones. An incredibly useful thing for someone like myself, who could then ignore the ones that didn't have what I wanted. Sadly the only phone that interested me in the store was out of stock. It wasn't a Sony but I cant remember what it was, the price was around £97 and it was hugely reduced and boasted some overly bloated memory that made it appealing. But alas with none of them in stock, there was nothing here that I wanted and the staff again failed to point out a resonable alternative. What is it about sales teams not trying to do the clever thing and sell a different model to a customer when they've basically been told what the customer is looking for?

Orange was next and had a nice selection of phones, a decent magazine type thing again that was pushing the newish K850i (which was so far out of my price range I didn't even check it out). The phones on inspection of the Sony's looked tempting in some quarters, with the occasional one filling all the criteria (well 1 of them did), but the pricing structures were there to confuse people, the staff failed to help explain things, and the phone was a garish pink colour, not for me like that. I kept the phone in mind though (I have since forgotten it...) as I checked out the final shop, Vodafones.

Vodafones shop is literally opposite the Orange one and up the road from the O2 one in town. An odd case of 5 phone shops in a 2 minute waling distance, added to the fact Woolworths, Argos and WHSmiths were selling them at the time, the competition must have been huge, and sadly none of them stood out that much against the others with prices or shop side offers.

So inside the Vodafone shop which is quite space, with phones on one wall, accesories in the middle, a help desk and a counter in opposing corners. Quite well laid out and spacey, I stood and looked at all the phones and there was a few that interested me. I also read the offers on the little cards that were provided "unlimted weekend texts if you spend £5 in the week" was the most eye catching offer I'd seen all day then "Unlimited internet use for £1", well hello there my new friend. These were selling points already, the offers were clear and well presented, no confusing customers or misleading them as I felt Orange was guilty of.

So with the offers in mind I then looked harder for a phone I wanted, and came up with a choice between two, then almost magically a store assistant (who was actually very good assisting) came over and asked if I wanted help. Yes! They pointed out that of the two I wanted they both fit in with what I was asking for (something I knew anyway, thats how I'd brought it down to two in the first place), the W610i was slightly cheaper with a worse camera but with some free speakers. I think it was £10 cheaper with a 2.1 mp camera instead of a 2.3mp one (might be wrong). So yoink I'll have that, the store sorted it and bagged it quickly, then I was gone, about £90 less in my bank, but a new phone at least. My first dealing with Vodafone had been a success of the highest order.

By December of last year the phone was dead, and I again had to go phone shopping, with a budget of upto £120 for my birthday and christmas present from my mum (theres a review of the phone, the K770i on here by me) which was eventually bought in the Vodafone shop too I think, it was upgraded to a sim only deal a few weeks later with Phones 4 U who advised me it'd save me money (and it has done).

Though after a few months I'd managed to get myself a proper job, and the niggles of the K770i got worse I was sick of needing to minise things to go to other programs, and the music player didn't like me either. So first I checked with phones for you into turning a Sim only deal into a fully fledged contract to upgrade to a newer Sony that fixed the faults that had annoyed me. The bloke in Phones for you quoted me that an upgrade with the same tarriff I was on was going to be £40, a bit steep to be honest. So the same day I trudged off to the Vodafone shop to see if they could help do it. The woman was again helpful and knew how to do her job, spending 5 minutes on their computer to see how I could do it and keep my number, she came back to me saying I'd need a new number, and I would have to cancel the Sim only deal via writing to Vodafone if I wanted to end that.

She advised that to upgrade to the C902 (another one I've reviewed on here) it would cost me £30 a month on the same tarriff as I was using with a change of numbers and the contract would be for 18 months. Now let me just point something out, thats £90 for a new phone (18 months at £5 a month) and £10 a month (a full 25% of the Phones 4 U quote) saving. I got it there and then trudged back into work and was slightly chuffed with the savings that the Vodafone woman had got me.

When I've been in there since to ask about things like an upgraded memory card and new headphones the shop did what others don't seem to, "We don't do them, try the guy in the market, he might". So to the market it was, for new headphones, and Argos it was for the new memory card so now what was an MP3 playing phone as become a monster of an MP3 playing phone, with over 1000 tracks on it who needs an Ipod?

Overall the staff have always been quick to sort things out and helpful, with out seemingly particularly biased in selling one phone over another for a reward from the management that I felt Phones 4 U were guilty of. They explained things in a simple way, and weren't misleading, I'm smart enough to know about phones and tarriffs something several customers in Orange weren't able to do so.

Recently my mum took her broken phone in to get it repaired (she's with Orange), whilst we were in there a man was in to renew his contract. He was sold a contract that saved him £30 a month on what he was paying, but still a quick look around would have saved him another £20 across the street. He was using 500 minutes and a handful of texts (7 or 8 a month) and was being charged £40 for the "pleasure" of being an orange customer, whilst most other providers (Orange, O2 and I'm sure T-Mobile) would offer better deals on £20 sim only type of deals. My contract is 600 mins, unlimted texts and unlimited internet for £30 quite how the Orange sales person managed to live with her self god only knows.
Orange sales staff have also been angry at my mouth in the past, when a customer on O2 wanted a phone he could use his sim card in, they tried getting him on to an Orange contract instead of selling him an unlocked phone. I (much to their anger) told them Vodafones were unlocked on the whole (know it as I'd bought my phone from them a week earlier). Yes I know it was wrong to say it in the shop, but I have morals.

On the whole the prices seem even through out on the actual hand sets, but the fact is the offers and staff are seemingly better for customers in Vodafone will keep my loyal to them. Though there is room for improvement they are by far the best of the bunch from personal

Summary: Top of the mobile phone table on customer services