How much does Cingular employees know?

[hfam95]

Went by yesterday and they said that the Kaiser (Cingular version) will be out in June to replace the 8525 at the same price. Do they know something that we dont.

Unfortunately, I have my doubts because the salesKid didn't even know that the 8525 was based on the HTC TYTN. I mentioned the front facing camera and he had the deer in headlights look. I politely said never mind, thank you, and walked out.

[ronfin44]

The vast majority of Cingular employees don't know much more than a phones basic specs, and that's IF they bothered enough to read them. I haven't found one that knew WM6 even existed, and most are clueless on the services too. It took me 3 different people to get the right answer about what "unlimited text" really meant, since my original plan had them charging me for IM's sent via Agile, WHEN I WAS TOLD UNLIMITED DATA WOULD COVER THOSE! However, I can't be angry. It's a part-time job for a lot of them, and they're there to make sales and collect a paycheck. The people on here know more than Cingular does. :)

[peezy]

I totally agree. Ive been dating a cingy store manager for about year. Its pretty funny because she ends up asking me technical questions about her own products, or answers to problems that her IT guy cant figure out, or updates on when WM6 is releasing, etc.

The information on forums like these are lightyears ahead of what average cell phone company employees know. If I EVER had a technical question about my phone or other gadget, the first thing I would do is visit a forum, the last thing I would do is ask the guy to makes $5/hr at the cingy store...

[DeniaL]

I actually turned on a Cingular store manager to this forum and now he's hooked. He's installed various dif. roms and tweaks and whatnot. He actually thought that unlocking his phone would make it NOT work on Cingular network in the beginning...talk about Cingy brainwashing.

[cmartino]

An authorized reseller sales guy actually pointed me towards these forums. He seemed to know his stuff.

[deviusdragger]

Im A Cingular or new att whatever employee. Been one for almost 4 years. And it is true, there are just some employees here who dont give a fuck about phones. They are just here to sell them and not make it part of their lifes like we all have. To them it all seems to boring. But hey these phones arent meant for everyone. And as far as the kaiser it will be out i believe in june, but as far as cingular they most likely will be releasing it sometime in august or late 2007. Maybe even 2008. Depending on all that testing crap they do.

[todd_jg]

Yeah - it's like anything else... some are into it and others are crappy. I have run into some EXCELLENT Cingular reps and some really completely clueless ones. I wil say (and I hope I do not offend anyone here) that it appears that the original blue AT&T reps seem in general to be the most knowledgable - especially in terms of phones and such. Of course, that could just be my experience or my geography, but that has been my experience to date.

I am sure that there are people at each of our jobs (or schools) that just do the minimum to get by and then others that go to the max to do their best all the time. It takes all kinds.

[spiritofseth]

Im a Mobile Data Specialist(title is prolly gonna change soon) in a southern market. most employees dont know a thing about the phones they sell.
in fact Im appalled whenever I meet salespeople. most dont even really know what a megabyte actually is. never mind the difference between WAP and HTML or wtf a rom is.
about the kaiser. I was told to expect it in spetember which seems to make more sense since
A) we have not recieved any info about an expected release date from cingular and should have if it was coming out in june
B) european versions have not yet hit the market and
C) an HTC representative told me him or herself that the expected release date is in september.

it is possible that test versions will ship to us in june but I doubt a sales rep would know that. normally it takes about three months to certify a device.
some people know more than others because they may be friends with some HTC reps like me.
or maybe they are marketing directors
or if theyre really lucky they are QA testers.