Buying a Telephone

[Mike Taylor]

This is just a small thing that's been irking me about some of my customers at the Big Yellow Price Tag for a few weeks now.

Since when is buying a telephone such a frightening experience for people? Not a cellphone, mind you, but a plain old land line telephone. Except for the addition of Bluetooth for cellphone users, the most common features on a telephone haven't changed in over a decade!

If people would just stop and think about what they actually need, it would make their lives SO much easier.

1. Do you need a corded phone or a cordless?
2. How many handsets do you need?
3. Do you need an answering machine or does your phone service provide you with voice mail?

If a customer would answer these three questions BEFORE they come into the store, they'll find the decision-making process so much easier.

Oh, and one final thing. If it says V-Tech or GE on it, it's probably crap. Spend the extra on a Panasonic and you'll get a good phone that lasts you a long time.

[KiaKat]

My boss just bought a new store phone, thinking that our old system was the reason for the static, dropped calls, and other issues.

Nope. Those were all line issues.

She bought a one-line (w/call waiting) model. We have two lines at the store, and use both on a regular basis. >.<

[Mystic]

It actually makes a lot of sense. Quality isn't there in any products anymore.

For instance, I bought my parents a cordless phone set a couple Christmases ago. A fairly expensive Panasonic multi-handset one at that. Hooked it up, it didn't work properly. Had to call their absolutely useless outsourced tech support line and it was like pulling teeth getting replacement phones. They pissed me off even further by sending us refurbished items in place of the brand new ones I bought. Again, I fought them tooth and nail over this. If I wanted refurbs, I would have saved myself at least $50 and bought refurbs rather than new. They would not budge on this.

Being that it was past the return period since I did my shopping early, I couldn't just send them back. So I basically told the supervisor in a less than nice way that he could take his company, their products and lack of helpful support and shove the fuckers up his ass because Panasonic is never getting my business again.

Moral of the story: even items that seem slightly insignificant these days deserve research on not only the product itself, but the company who makes them. Unless of course, you're into throwing away your money. In which case, I'm more than willing to take it off your hands for a box of rocks.

[MiloMorai]

Gonna have to disagree with you on the Panasonic thing, Mike. I used to replace one with another but the last one had 4 handsets and the battery on every one went out at the same time at the 1 year mark. Been using a V-tech ever since and no problems in 3 years.

[Seraph]

I actually have a GE phone here for my cordless that I accidentally left outside during a massive storm. I was outside when it hit, and left it (stupidly) on the back bannister of the porch. Really bad storm too, rained for 4-5 hours, and wind was around 50 mph for gusts. Remembered it the next day, and found it halfway across the yard, soaked completely. Like, when I picked it up, water poured out of it.

...Still works. Perfectly. I have no idea how, but that little phone won my total respect that day, LOL.

[emax4]

I can see the confusion. They may want just a cordless phone but aren't aware of the other features out there. It's like when you buy something so new that you almost have to sit down and learn it for a few days. If the customer would simply say, "I want a no-frills basic cordless phone", then that's easier. But, a salesperson might try to upsell them on something with more features.

[Pixilated]

Unfortunately a lot of customers barely know what's out there so I'm not surprised they are totally when going out to buy a new phone. Research (even if it's just asking friends and family) helps a lot. When I went to buy my cellphone I was adamant that all I wanted were the absolute basics -- of course, "basics" these days means phone, text, internet, camera, video ...

I'll be disconnecting my landline shortly (due to costs plus really lousy customer service) but am keeping my 20-plus-year-old landline phone because who knows, I might want to set it back up again ... though not with the same company, if at all possible.

I have an even older one (think rotary dial ) which I also hope to set up someday.

[Pagan]

Sometimes, though, the research doesn't help and you have to do trial-and-error.

On my land-line not only do I never have my ringer on, I like to screen my calls. Sometimes, I don't even want to hear the out-going or in-coming message. However, this is something that, when looking at the features online or the box in the store, is never listed.

I finally found one that I like. Lovely little AT&T model for a reasonable price.

[Shalom]

I have an even older one (think rotary dial ) which I also hope to set up someday.

Most of those are dated somewhere on the bottom or inside the case, in case you want to know exactly how old.

(Come to think of it, the WE ones did. You being in Canada probably have an AE phone, I don't know if they dated theirs.)

[Mike Taylor]

Gonna have to disagree with you on the Panasonic thing, Mike. I used to replace one with another but the last one had 4 handsets and the battery on every one went out at the same time at the 1 year mark. Been using a V-tech ever since and no problems in 3 years.

You should see our return rates on V-tech phones. Much higher than other models we sell. GE return rates were so bad that the company dropped them for two years.

[auntiem]

I have an even older one (think rotary dial ) which I also hope to set up someday.

I have an old school land line phone that I keep for when the power goes out since our phone is a cordless and the power always manages to go out when the cell phone needs charging.
IMO - you should always have a non-cordless phone with your emergency supplies.

[Bandit]

Most of those are dated somewhere on the bottom or inside the case, in case you want to know exactly how old.

(Come to think of it, the WE ones did. You being in Canada probably have an AE phone, I don't know if they dated theirs.)

The Northern Electric (precursor to Nortel) did. Can't say I've seen many AE sets here. I have a couple of NE phones here that work as good as the day they came off the line......

...... in 1963 and 1969 respectively.

When they are plugged in and ring, they will wake the dead.

I still have some original 2500 sets at work that came with the building - in 1967. Short of dynamite, you can't kill them.

B

[sld72382]

I love my Panasonic phones, but the next phone I'm going to get is going to be a Uniden (another great brand).

As for V-Tech, well.... I wouldn't trust a phone company that also makes children's toys LOL.

[Seraph]

As for V-Tech, well.... I wouldn't trust a phone company that also makes children's toys LOL.

I was about to say the SAME thing, hahahaha. I remember breaking the little laptop toy I had way back when, and telling my mom to never buy vtech stuff again.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

We had a V-Tech system that hubby bought for his parents and they didn't like (story of his life...lol). I think I finally gave it away on Freecycle.

Right now we have an aging AT&T system with one base w/answering machine and 3 handsets. We are going to have to replace it soon; one of the handsets just won't keep a battery charge anymore and it also shuts off in the middle of a call if you're lucky enough to have it work at all. Not sure which system we'll replace it with. One thing a lot of cordless systems seem to lack these days is a headset jack...unless they're bluetooth, we need that jack...