Clueless (or maybe not) AT&T Staff

[shawnc]

Walked into the AT&T store (Monroeville, PA) today to see if I could pick up a decent pair of headphones for my Pearl (currently use some old standby's with a Seido adapter). A young lady offered to help and when I told her what I was looking for she indicated that none existed but confirmed that with a guy who appeared to be the store manager. He confirmed that they didn't have any, but then in a very smug and condescending tone, wondered why I would bother with a wired headset anyway and proceeded to extol the virtues of a BT headset. Again, all with this superior tone and air. When I pointed out to him that I don't think the Pearl will stream in stereo because of a lack of AD4P support, he ignored my response and assured me that they would work. He strongly suggested two pair of cans.

I don't know if this guy was clueless about such a basic issue with his own product or assumed that I was and tried to pull one over on me. Can't figure out which is worse.

[jeremyckitching]

The Pearl won't stream to Bluetooth headphones, so he must have been clueless. I had an AT&T representative tell my uncle that the Nokia E62 had WiFi capabilities, which it clearly does not.

[shawnc]

Kind of amazing (and scary) to think that a store manager would be clueless about such a basic basic thing.

[ezrunner]

Basic to you perhaps. There are 33 different phones in my AT&T store can't know everything about them all, however i am smart enough to know not to BS an answer and I also know how to find the answer to such questions. It is sad that the store manager didn't know about the Peal and a2dp. I have said it before, some are here for the job and aren't into the newest and latest and greatest as we get paid for rate plan the phone we sell makes little difference as far as commission goes. I certainly agree reps should take more time to know their stuff

[shawnc]

Originally Posted by ezrunner

Basic to you perhaps. There are 33 different phones in my AT&T store can't know everything about them all, however i am smart enough to know not to BS an answer and I also know how to find the answer to such questions. It is sad that the store manager didn't know about the Peal and a2dp. I have said it before, some are here for the job and aren't into the newest and latest and greatest as we get paid for rate plan the phone we sell makes little difference as far as commission goes. I certainly agree reps should take more time to know their stuff

Fair point EZ, and generally I'm one to cut folks some slack. But this guy wasn't passively responding to a question. He asserted something in a very confident manner that was simply false. And it wasn't some obscure fact. For a manager not to know such an important fact about what is likely one of it's top two or three most popular models just strikes me as awfully inept. But like I said, maybe he knew full well what he was talking about and was simply counting on the fact that I was clueless.

[SanFrancisco]

Originally Posted by shawnc

Fair point EZ, and generally I'm one to cut folks some slack. But this guy wasn't passively responding to a question. He asserted something in a very confident manner that was simply false. And it wasn't some obscure fact. For a manager not to know such an important fact about what is likely one of it's top two or three most popular models just strikes me as awfully inept. But like I said, maybe he knew full well what he was talking about and was simply counting on the fact that I was clueless.

I was in a T-Mo store last night, helping a friend sign up for their new @home hotspot service.

The sales rep did NOT act like he knew it all and when I showed him my Pearl [decked out with a colored trackball, Seidio extended battery and a 4Gb chip] he expressed amazement and expressed thanks when I gave him the URL for the trackball color program.

He did not act like he knew it all. In contrast, I see your point. There is a difference between acting like a condescending know-it-all when one does not know it all and those who admit they are not aware of something [hence they do not dispense bad advice] and treat the customer with respect.

A few times I have relied on what sales reps have told me, bought an item, only to get home and find out I was given bad advice. I hate that. E.g., when the Pearl first came out I made a special trip to Radio Shack to get a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter. The sales rep said with authority that the adapter he sold me would work. Got it home, connected to the Pearl, it did not work. A 45 minute round trip to the store wasted.

[shawnc]

My point exactly SF. Arrogance is an ugly trait, and this guy was arrogant!