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!
I had one tucked away for me at a verizon store in paramus, NJ at a level one store (which received 80 phones as opposed to 40 or less)but found out that they weren’t honoring early upgrade eligibility with this phone. I got really mad and self righteous and considered giving in and switching to AT&T for the damned iPhone, but decided to call VZW and give them one more chance…. My Storm will be here next friday, and i got it at $199 with a $50 dollar rebate which is great considering i thought i was paying full price or at least the 1 year contract price of $269 with mail in rebate). I didn’t even have to pitch a fit or breathe a hint of AT&T. Surprisingly easy!!
No one has any updates from the NYC/Manhattan area? Is it worth me leaving work for an hour to get one?
went in at about 8:00 am in chicagoo (loop) and the last one was sold before me. everything seemed to be running pretty smooth. paid the extra 20 bucks to get it on saturday, since they had to ship it they gave me an instant rebate which was nice.
Any word on whether these work property with Blackberry Enterprise Solution? I understand the early British models had some issues in that regard.
got mine, chicago il. 7:30 am. reserved the night before. dozens of people were turned down.
I got mine as an upgrade with no problems. Never even went into the store before today and walked out with Storm in hand about 40mins later.
Went to the store in Brookline, MA this morning and there was a 3 hour wait. The reps said that they would be getting shipments throughout the day. One of the reps told me I would have to change my plan to a new “storm” plan, but I called customer service and they told me this was not true, and I could stick with my current BB plan. Anyways, played with the phone and like others are saying the keyboard is not great and not too responsive. Pressing buttons such as A and Z or X is quite difficult, and you have to pause in between letters so it can register your input. Also, there is quite a lag when trying to load apps especially videos. Hoping this is just first batch bugs…
Can you get the Advance Device Discount with this phone?
Just got home with my new storm. Was in line at the Verizon Corp. Store on City Line in Philly at 5:30am. Was 7th in line. Employees showed up at 6:30 and informed us there were only 5 units in the store. By 7:30am the manager called a different store and was able to get 10 more units brought to our store by 8:30. Got really lucky. I am an existing customer and used the new every 2 so Im not sure why other stores are only selling their in-store stock to new customers. Anyways, phone is SWEET. Took off work just to play with it. Good luck everyone. Oh yea, someone sold the number 6 spot for $140 at the store I was at once they heard the “extras” were coming.
@Brad
Nope, you will be good to go with BES as long as you have the correct plan on VZW. Vodafone has a stupid system where they pre-provision the devices I believe. No U.S. carriers do that, so you will be fine.
I got my storm at 8 a.m. this morning in NYC there were about only 7 people online when I got there at 7 a.m. When I got out fo the storm with Storm in hand there must of been about 20 people still waiting. So far the phoen is pretty good it does lag a little bit but overall I am loving it so far..
Went over to my local store around 20 to 7:00 this morning and there were about 35 people in line waiting. Some had obviously been there for a while. The store had a nice table out with coffee and what-not.
Around 7:00 a guy came around with a list taking names, numbers and such, saying that they had received 20 in the store and should be getting more later today. Asked if I was new or upgrade and said they would call me later if a unit became available. Wasn’t left with a good feeling about that, but didn’t want to spend the day in line, either.
First thing VZW has managed to do correctly…Anyway, got to stand alone VZ store in MD at 8AM, one other dude in the parking lot. Manager came out, took our info, gave us a numbered ticket/flyer. Manager then went back inside, entered all of our info into the sales queue so the order stayed honest. Opened the doors at 9- probably 25 people in line, everything was orderly and processed quickly. I was number 3, in and out in 20 minutes (after the hour wait). Even used another one of our company’s lines eligible for upgrade with no problem. Asked how many in stock- was told 30 with 30 more arriving via Fed Ex today between 10 and 11.
Visited a store in my area (MA) yesterday to get the skinny and I was lucky enough to play with the store demo unit for 20 min. It kept freezing on me….wouldn’t rotate?? The sure type was anything but sure. It feels like there is bubble wrap sandwiched in-between 2 pieces of glass and it was pretty bulky and no wifi and only 1 GB on OB memory???? I also got to see the Samsung Omnia and WOW!!!!…5 MPG camera, 8 GB onboard, thinner, lighter, TV outs, optical mouse (this thing is awesome) and the touch screen is juat as good as the iPhone plus its got the advantage of being a WinMo device. Sorry iPhone fanatics…just can’t compete with WM here. 4 or 5 of the sales reps told me they plan on going with the Omnia for their company consession lines…I think that may have conviced me the most…..should be available next week
got my storm at 8am on Long Island. Was 3rd in a line of about 100 people. Not sure how much stock there was. I was an upgrading customer. Very poor to hear about only new Customers being allowed to buy in some stores. If that was me I would raise hell, demand ridiculous perks, threaten to report to the BBB for discrimination and if all that didnt prevail, walk acorss the street to the ATT store and pick up a Bold, but alas, I got mine, a little quirky but i love it and with the OS update due OTA today it will be rolling well
GD what store did you go to? I was at 81st and Bway at 6:30. They didn’t open till 8am (after telling me and others last night they were opening at 7am). Finally get inside, and they weren’t selling to upgrades, only new customers. It’s getting shipped to me overnight supposedly. NONE of this info was communicated while we waited on line. Wish I could get back those 2hrs of standing in the cold. Thx for almost nothing VZW. If that’s they plan, at least TELL us so we don’t wait in line for 2hrs.
Showed up at Verizon corp store in Birmingham, AL at 9AM, thinking that was when they opened. Boy was I wrong, they had opened at 5 and there were people there from 4:30.
Took the time to play with it and absolutely loved the screen. Typing was quick and easy, I wasn’t as fast as on my 8830 yet, but I had no errors using the qwerty keyboard. Web browsing was a quantum leap from what I have now as well.
Was told that I could order a Storm from the warehouse and have it shipped overnight for an extra 20 bucks, I did so. Should be in my hands by tomorrow at 10:30AM.
On another note, they mentioned that the warehouse that they sent orders to started the day with 30k storms and was already down to 3k. Glad I got there when I did.
Got to new VZW store at 6:30-3 people already in line. By the time the doors opened at 8am, there were 21 in line.Staff came out and handed out ticket numbers and had some people with “appt times” but still first come-first served. This new store was only allocated 10 phones and more were supposed to be there by mid afternoon. Otherwise, there was a new software update today for the Storm which all phones were updated before they left the store. They did not know what the update changed. Love the phone!!!!!!!1
i think they’re sold out today in manhattan
@Bradon
Good one, Good one…lol
NYC 6th ave and 42nd street disaster!!! i Showed up at 8 am at opening, i was surprised by the long line maybe 100 people. A girl came around taking names and numbers to expedite the process, she said definitely enough for everyone. After an hour or so they start saying we may run out. another 1/2 hour we did run out. But if we order now at the store the $50 MIR will be instant. So i waited, and inside the entire computer system shuts down!!!Even the screens for the different Queues went down. What a disaster. NBC was there, i hope they got this on tape. How could Verizon screw this up, their biggest day in years, maybe ever.
Just got to work after arriving at a Verizon Corp. Store…still without my Storm. While I was lucky enough to “snag” one of the twenty vouchers assuring me a Storm today, the process took over an hour and a half because the computers were overloaded. I left the store empty-handed and will hopefully get back there after work before they give mine to someone else (They’re giving me until 6pm).
@ the geniuses saying, “went to my local store” – it would be beneficial if you stated where your local store is, so others wanting this device in your vicinity also know the status. BG asked all BBerry lovers to share the wealth but sharing knowledge is also goodness.
Cheers!
It’s Friday!
Got mine this morning. Showed up at 8am was 11th in line, waiting 40 minutes to get waited on (even though there was about 12 reps there 6 of which doing nothing which really pissed me off. Got up told my salesman to give me nothing but $29.99 data, and i was pretty much out the door.
I did have a few customers come down to my store looking for Storms as the store I was at was sold out shortly after I left. I know they only had 20 of them.
Went to my Verizon Store this morning at 9AM (Atlanta). I guess they opened up earlier this morning because they were already sold-out. The manager told me that about 100 persons were waiting in line since 5:30AM! Anyway, I got to play with it and it looks fine. Of course, there are some glitches but they will probably release updates really fast.
I was able to order mine. They will ship it overnight for free. They also took off my mail-in rebate right away and bumped my NE2 from $50 to $100. Paid $99.99 for that bad boy and will have it tomorrow, can’t be happier!