Did you get your Verizon BlackBerry Storm?
We’ve done a quick check at around 10 Verizon corporate stores in the NY/NJ area with most of them reporting lines longer than they have stock for. That means there’s going to be 1.) A ton of pissed off people, and 2.) More pissed off people who won’t get their unit until tomorrow mid-day or possibly Tuesday. We want to know your experience, and if you did manage to snag a Storm (you lucky dog, you), we want to hear your first impressions! We also have reports that some stores are only selling to brand new Verizon customers and not doing any upgrades, which if true, is pretty disgusting. Hit us up in the comments and help out your fellow BlackBerry addicts, ok? If you just got one but there’s no line at your local store and they have some stock left, share the weath! Plus, if you’ve got a major issue you want to report, you can always hit me on the hip!
Tags: BlackBerry, corporate stores, lines, release date, RIM, storm, Verizon
Nanuet NY, over 100 people here an haour after opening. Only 50 units were available. Verizon doing a very good job of handling the issues.
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BONUS!!! Got my STORM this morning in SLC, UT. 14th in line and 3rd out the door. New contract. Been playing with it for the past hour and love it. Not sure what people disliked about the screen but I find the combination great. Look forward a great affair with my phone.
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Local Store in Delaware had only 5 units and 20 people waiting by 7am. Called VZ customer service at 8am sharp and I will have my Storm by 8am. They also gave me the $199 price (flat…no rebate), even though I was only 1 year into my contract.
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I drove by a corporate store this morning. It looked like a ghost town, aside from the rep standing near the door.
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Sorry..I will have it by 8am tomorrow. They will ship out today for Sat. Delivery.
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waited for 3 hours in 16 degree weather for my storm in michigan
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VZW Corporate Store on Rte 3 in Clifton NJ SHADY!
There was about 50 people in line and managers were taking “peoples info” to have them ordered and shipped. When asked how many they had in the store the gentlemen said 20. When asked why dont they just give out 20 tickets and send everyone else home he said “becuase I dont know what everyone is here for” (as if I was waiting in 10 degree weather for a razr!) These tools were only taking shipping orders for existing customers. You had to be a new customer to walk out with one.
Rep had a smug look on his face. Crackberry forums are littered with people who were #5,#6 etc in line and stores only had 2-3. They couldnt tell these people to go home? Way to drop the ball VZW!!!
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I am in Mesa, Arizona. Arrived at our local store at 6:05am. Moderate amount of people in the store. Still not sure I want to make the jump from AT&T to Verizon just to get this crazy phone. Played with it for 30 minutes. It worked just fine, but really difficult to push the right keys on the touchscreen for typing text. It would get some learning.
Decided to wait but as I left the store I asked the manager how many they received to sell and he told me 40. By the number in the store they should be sold out by 9am.
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ordered it online for $50 cheaper. will be interesting to see how long “free overnight shipping” takes in actuality.
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I decided against the Storm after a lot of thought about it last night. I wish I could get the Bold but I can’t go over to AT&T because I dont pay for my bill. I’m going to wait for the Javelin I suppose?
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I just picked up my Storm at the Verizon store in Succasunna NJ. I got there at 7:00am and was about 20th on line. The first few people were there at 4:00am in full winter hunting gear! By 8:00 when they opened, there was about 120 on line. I got mine and was out the door by 9:30. Everything went pretty well, although I didn’t understand why they were giving out water to the people on line. It was freezing! How about some hot coffee? Not many people took them up on the bottled water.
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After hearing about the shortage of Storms and expected long lines, I ordered an upgrade online from my 8830 last night at about 4am EST. It was very easy and just heard that it shipped with a Monday delivery date.
This was a lot easier and pleasant than dealing with the stores and the apparent long lines. Now hopefully Fedex does its thing. Can’t wait.
Good luck everyone.
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Stood for 45 min on 57th street in the cold. Until the store guy came outside and told everyone that they were sold out. When asked if they might get another shippment, he said Dont know.
Got I love my Bold, walked into the AT&T store on the day of, 20 minutes later walked out with the bold.
VERIZON SUX.
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I just posted this over on HoFo:
I just got back from my local VZW corporate store. There were only about 4 people there when they opened the doors (at about 7:20 am).
Apparently they were only handing out what was on hand for new customers, NOT UPGRADES! (great way to do business, piss off your current customers).
The lady behind me in line was pretty pissed when she heard that, and another lady walked out.
Anyways, to make up for it they said they would take the $50 MIR off instantly, and they even bumped my NE2 discount from $50 to $100, so I paid for it, supposedly will get free overnight shipping (wont ship till Tuesday though) and should be here Wednesday. Out the door for $99.99.
Still a pile of crap that they had some phones on hand (only about 10) but were holding them back for new customers only. A VZW rep at a Circuit City yesterday told me that was the case and that it came from “like 4 levels of management up” to sell them that way.
That came straight from a corporate rep in a VZW store inside a Circuit City. And what I saw today at the standalone store pretty much confirmed that.
I asked several times “How many units did you receive?”
One rep said “Uh… I dont know.”
Another said “None.”
The third said “We already sold them all to the people that were on the lists going back to September 30th”
All that is funny too because I went in on 10/15 and they didn’t even have a list, they made one with my name at the top. Then I went back twice after that, the last time being this past wednesday, asking each time if they were doing preorders or anything for the phones and they said no both times. So yah, it really seemed as if they were under some sort of direction to not do upgrades with in stock phones.
I’ve waited through this many delays, I can wait 4 more days.
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Picked my Storm up at 8:00 am this morning. Last week I called the store and they told me they would had out vouchers at the store at 7, went to the door and they said they didn’t open until 8. They came out and started taking names at 7:45 brought us coffee and hot chocolate while we waited!!!! Well worth the wait in the 22 degree cold of lovely Anderson Indiana
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arrived at the Massaepqua - Long Island, NY store at 6am… was third in line. they had a total of 75 units and there def weren’t 75 people waiting by 8am.
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in line at beverly center, LA. Over 100 people here. News crew just arrived!
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Anyone waiting in a storm for a Storm?
-knee slap-
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so i just got back from the verizon store. they were sold out. but, because of that, i got the $50 MIR as an instant and supposedly will receive it tomorrow so not bad i guess. i just want it now.
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Got mine this morning. Woke up at 7:45 got to Verizon by 8:10. Walk right up to the counter and got one, from what my voucher said, I was #10. Already killed the battery and it’s charging as we speak
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I went to my local verizon store in naples florida and was the 9th customer there. Unfortunately they only had six which really pissed me off since i have been waiting for this device since summer.I having them ship me one online which is somewhat nice because they are paying for the overnight shipping and they automaticly took off the mail in rebate so mine was just $199. They said it will arrive the 25th so i guess i will be waiting.
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Got my BB Storm in Knightdale, NC New Corp. store. Arrived around 6am and the store opened @ 8am. I was 2nd in line. The store only had 6 units on hand. About 12 people entered when the store opened.
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Arrived at 8:05 AM in my local store in CT. They had only FIVE (yes, you read right 5!) in stock. I was #13. They tried to process my order in the store, and the systems were so slow, that after an hour and a half, I left… no Blackberry in hand, not even a Blackberry ordered! Very frustrating. But I did get to play with a display unit. Very nice, though at times the QWERTY touchscreen was not reading my intended keystrokes correctly. I do hope to have one in hand by Turkey Day.
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Play with one right now waitn to get mine
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Best Buy sold me one today…VZW was sold out. at opening…go figure.
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