the stores around me direct you to backup assistant 😢

All the stores in the West have removed Cellebrites from the stores. There may be a few here and there, used for escalated scenarios.

They removed them for a few reasons - first, to reduce wait time. You'll have someone wait an hour to transfer contacts (not knowing they can do it from home in three minutes), but someone signing up for new service might wait ten minutes before leaving. Second, the cost of the devices and cables, as well as software updates, aren't free. Third, stores should have been charging $10 all along (it's posted in every store), and if they had been we'd probably be talking about something else right now, as the money from phone book transfers would have paid for costs AND made a profit.

Exactly. The sales and reps and some managers seemed afraid to sell the value of a phone book transfer. I was a CSR and I cannot tell you how often would get a rep saying "I'm not charging MY customer $10 for a PHONEBOOK TRANSFER!" Cool. I guess you don't have to worry about that now. And they wonder why they don't have credit capabilities. In fact, I wouldn't give anyone but a RSM credit authority in retail. We had it as CSRs when I was in retail and I was continually fending off bs requests from reps and even my ASM a few times. I was like, have the ability to give credits. Do it in YOUR code." I heard CSRs no longer have it in my old market.

at my store we don't charge our customers to transfer the phone book and we won't charge them if they have like 10-20 pics but if they have 20 or more we will charge, and you better believe that if someone comes into our store and bought their phone from a different location we are going to charge them everytime.

That's how we were, too, until they took them away from us.

They never learn. Can't see the forest for the trees.

Yeah, I would say that if you have the Cellebrite in your corporate Verizon store, you and your managers better start charging $10 for transfers or you'll find yourself pulled into the "cost savings" wave that originated in the Pacific Northwest and has been moving south and east ever since.

Well, they followed through in the West.

It doesn't. Those customers coming from other carriers will either need to go to an indirect which has a cellebrite and WILL charge the fee or transfer one at a time. Had the sales reps and managers actually charged the fee and made the cellebrites pay for themselves perhaps they would still be in those locations?

Don't you think that is going to discourage new customers that have large phone books? People already want a free phone, than reps have to entice customers to sign a contract to meet sales numbers and etc. Now Verizon is saying "By the way, we need you new service with us (Verizon), but you're going to have to pay another fee to get your contacts into the new phone you just bought from us".

My local Corp store I know still has the Cellebrite. That just kinda sucks for customers wanting to port from other carriers. Reality is people don't want to pay anything more than the (service, phone, and accessories). That's enough. They're already forcing data plans on customers if you want a half decent phone.

Seriously, I sold phones long before there was a cellebrite available to me and I never missed quotas. Sell what you have. The reason most reps don't sell the value of the cellebrite is because they don't believe in that value. When you no longer have the cellebrite because you failed to charge the fee...you will still sell phones.

And believe in that damned little machine's value, too!

Everyone wants something for free. Years ago this was not an option and consumers did not question inputting their contact list. People now expect that they get their numbers and want it free. They fail to realize the bottom line in any business. When something is claimed to be free then you are paying for it somewhere else. Take Verizon out of the equation and place your business in its place. What is your goal? Im assuming its to make money. If your company is losing money updating software and replacing broken machines what would you do? I know I would pull it out of the store. This is just my opinion!!!

In this instance, I am going to call BS on the employees (typically store managers and sales reps). Usually, the customer has no expectation of this even being possible. The lazy rep will use the free phone book transfer as a closing tool. I've even seen some point to the $10 fee clearly posted in the store and say, "...but I am going to waive the fee just for you." Whatever. Just wait.

After all the years, all the phones, and everything related is said and done, at the end of the day the CUSTOMER is ultimately responsible for THEIR OWN contacts and personal data. It's impossible for anyone else to keep track of them, worry about them, or back them up - it's the owner's responsibility, not the carrier's, and not the schmo in the store who copies your contacts once every couple years out of courtesy.

I have witnessed this too. In most cases customers expect the contacts transferred and backed up without their involvement. I for one will be glad to see the cellbrites gone. This will give customers the responsibility to take care of their own contacts if they are so vital to them.