Verizon BlackBerry Storm Return Rate
Here’s the skinny on this situation… We had heard various return rates on the Verizon BlackBerry Storm from three (actually four, but we’ll discount the last one) extremely credible sources of ours. These ranged from 35-50% in some markets/regions. That is an absurdly high figure, folks. While we trust our sources, we wanted to continue to dig until we wrote up a post on it here. We let a publication quote us on that, because that is what we had heard. No harm, no foul. But we weren’t going to post on it here until we had 100% confirmed it.
Verizon Wireless hit us up and here’s what a Verizon Wireless official had to say: “The Storm has the lowest return rate of any of our PDAs and at this point in its life cycle, it has the lowest return rate of any PDA we currently sell.”
We’ll let you guys do all the talking. Own a Storm? Happy with it? Returned it? Know friends that are happy/returned theirs? Hit us up so we can get some good feedback and your thoughts on this.
I’ve had it for two weeks now and have to adgree with the previous posting that the users that used it for two days probably didn’t really spend much time with it. It’s awesome once you become antiquated. I %100 percent adgree that a few software updates would be wise but overall the apps sofar are seemless like the two other blackberry’s I’ve had. I’m eagerly waiting the apps that are going to be released for this in early 2009. (which I’m sure will be posted here to great discussion)
Which the title of this article got me thinking. I remember the first release of the motorola razor. %50 percent return rate with cingular. $500.00 and it crashed all the time, 10 software updates with standing three years and that device wasn’t a bomb. Or the Iphone,’s very first, leading to their second and still figuring it out 3G launch. Or
the hundreds of releases from various carriers that fall flat on day one & never even make news, I suspect that this is evolution.
Agree that you need to get past the learning curve. Have an BB 8703e from work and Storm as personal phone. Would not think of sending it back. Waiting for next update to fix minor lag issues.
I spoke with a CSR Rep at Verizon as well as one of the handset technicians and I also have been in the business of handling all sorts of devices before and after they come out and I can tell you from first hand experience there has been a significant return rate but no higher than the return rate of the vx9700 when it was first released. There are firmware updates in the works for the 9530 which should help with some of the headaches it has cause. As far a quality and build of the phone its a work in progress, this device was meant to be a ground breaking experience for Rim users but Rim also knew that this was like a baby step for them and already have several other devices in the works for successors for the 9500 & 9530.. Verizons biggest blunder wasn’t in the advertising for this device but in the fact that they released it fully aware of the bugs in order to help their sales for this past quarter.. Bottom line the phone is decent but I have seen a few people turning it in for the Omnia instead..
I purchased the BB Storm a few days after its release. I really like it and will be keeping it.
I played with my friends when he got it. Really hard to type on compared to my iphone. I guess the camera with a flash and ability to send MMS is nice, but still doesn’t make it better than an iphone, an omnia, a G1, a Bold, or any other current phone.
thats a lie i have returned 2 my fiances and my own all i hear about is returns from other people on websites
Had the Storm…Upgraded the software…It is a very good device with some very clunky software that needs much improvement. Returned the device and went back to my Curve. Best advice…if you are a HEAVY email writer, then this is not the device for you. Stick with the keys.
I got my Storm on the 9th and as of today, I am on my 3rd Storm. It is an awesome phone, but like another commenter stated, there is nothing worth changing it out for. I need my BB e-mail services. Just like the iPhone and G1, both of which I had at launch, the Storm needs time to grow. The iPhone still gets updates and the G1 is pitiful.
sold my storm went back to iphone 3g very smooth as butter no one will beat iphone 3g but blackberry is the best by physical keyboard of course my choice is the bold !
Had it for about a week and a half now. Highly anticipated it’s release, reading leaked info for months. Slightly disappointed, but adjusting to it more each day. Best available for Verizon, but would take Bold over this if both on VZW.
How do so many posters just drop their Storm and go to the Bold or iPhone on a whim? Am I missing something or does everyone just happen to be contract free and able to switch carriers?
I think one reviewer said it best: “People find the device difficult to use and confusing. There is a learning curve and if people get past it many do seem to like the device.”
I’m very happy with my Blackberry Storm. Although I’m a fan of Apple products and briefly coveted an iPhone, I decided against it for three reasons: [1] AT&T has lousy wireless service (I need a smartphone that is still a reliable phone) [2] You can’t replace the battery. What’s the point of using lots of cool apps if you run out of juice after two hours? [3] I find the iPhone touch keyboard very difficult to use.
I can understand why Blackberry-users might be turned off by the Storm..there’s no substitute for a physical keyboard. But, for consumers like myself who want the benefits of a smartphone that Apple can’t offer, the Blackberry Storm has fulfilled all my expectations.
Wanted to return it on day 1, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Did the update, did the screw adjustment, now it’s really growing on me. It’s still has more lags here and there than I’d like – accelerometer response is a bit unpredictable, but I’m pretty happy with it now.
I was very happy to get the phone I did thin kabout returning it but I figured VZ/RIM would release fixes for it. The reasons for wanting to return if i did are the following….
Its a $500 dollar phone and the dam touchscreen moves around…I mean that is just plain poor QA, Yes the screen is suppose to move up and down butnot left right or wiggle around while im typing. I have four Storm in my office and all do the same exact thing so its not just my phone. Second the light bleeding thru the dam keys or sides of the touch screen. Im no Ipone Fan but if apple, LG, HTC could figure that out why couldnt RIM….
Im not even going into the OS glitches..3,2MP cam SUCKS!!!!! Compared to my Curve…all that aside im keeping it but i pray to the RIM Gods that this things gets fixed maybe the Storm 2 will be better…This
I had one for a week and coworker had one we both updated our OS and it still wasnt acceptable so they both went back,..not looking for a perfect device or a jesus phone killer..click screen is a joke, too slow cranking out emails, still laggy..no thanks..vzw just covering there ass..
I stalked out the Storm for months before it was released and read every article online I could find. Waited online the first day it came out and returned it a week later. The battery is horrible, the OS is slow, and the touch screen is annoying. I’m happier with my curve.
Do those numbers include exchanges or just flat out returns for money back? VZW may not include exchanges in their “returns” category. I’m on Sprint though and would like to see a variant come my way.
From reading all the comments, looks like your sources are wrong, at least from the power-user standpoint. I would estimate by my quick view of the comments overall that it has lower than a 10% return rate from BGR folks, which is really an AMAZING satisfaction rate, so VZW is right about that.
Bill
I have one and I really like it–from the other comments it seems there’s a learning curve and that initial impressions aren’t the best. Not sure if that’s unique to the Storm or RIM in general, but it took me a few days to get used to typing on it. There are lag issues, but unlike the iPhone the Storm supports multitasking so I would expect a tradeoff. I’m sure performance will continue to improve with firmware updates.
The other day I used Handbrake to transcode a DVD to h.264 and it looked FANTASTIC on the Storm! However, unlike the iPhone I can’t zoom the video to fill the 4:3 screen (would be nice if RIM could add that, and additional multitouch gesture support!)
I absolutely LOVE my Storm. Most of my annoyances were eliminated with the OS update. With time, it will only get better. On the contrary though, my friend has it and has had quite a few problems. It is possible that he got a bad phone because I haven’t had any of the problems he has.
I have the blackberry storm and I love and hate it. The Phone is an excellent concept and an good aplication of the concept, and it will continue to improve it is also a good step in the right direction for Verizon. As other people have said it takes time to get use to and verizon lack handsets of great interest. In addition many people are mostly interested in an iphone comprable but as people have learned with the iphone there are many problems with the iphone that it lacks features of other phones. And while the storm has gotten on my nerves with some of its glitches I have learned to use the phone and like it and would not trade it for anything but a phone that is not available in the US.
Own it, love it, will not return it.
This “return rate” should take into account the returns that resulted in a replacement Storm and the returns that did not. I could truly believe a 15% to 20% return rate for those that returned their Storms for a replacement Storm. However, I do not believe the Verizon reps claims that this is the least returned smartphone in their lineup. Of course he’s going to lie. Verizon will not ever, corroborate any negativity towards anything they do or sell.
Bought a Storm for my wife because she *had* to be on Verizon. I have an iPhone and admittedly wish I could use it on the Verizon network, but went with AT&T because I had to.
Anyway, she got the Storm, and both of us spent the better part of a week trying to make it work. She wanted to sync Outlook and play music mostly. I am a Power User, and I couldn’t figure out the labyrinthine processes to get music on the device or sync with Outlook. Completely frustrating.
She was getting bored watching me scratch my head. I can’t imagine what newbies must’ve experienced. After that first week, I convinced her to *try* the iPhone.
“Yes, I know you’ll have to use AT&T, but the iPhone is *that* good, I think it’ll be worth it”
“You really think so?”
“I do. And if you can’t stand the service, we can always go back, but I think the iPhone makes up for AT&T’s service – I mean, it isn’t *that* bad, just not as good as Verizon”
Well, I probably don’t need to tell you that once she had the iPhone in her hands, it took about two hours before she had this wicked grin on her face…
“It…just works!”
“Yeah, I know… so, who’s your Daddy?”
“You are, dear.”
Storm is better than iPhone if you ask me.
However I would like to see Wi-Fi in the next one.
Tried a couple of times at vow store b4 os update and was extremely disappointed. Bought it and updated it and am pretty happy with it. Didn’t want go leave the network and go to att. Love th iphone 3g but the servi e sucks and have a coworker who has the iphone and he doesn’t even get a signal and work so vzw pays off!
I could understand why this is happening; people just aren’t used to something that’s different.
The click-screen could throw many people off.