Mystery Shopper

Carphone Warehouse

This must be one of The Carphone Warehouse ‘s smallest stores in Scotland, but as far as Glasgow is concerned, this outlet is only one of 12 in the area.
Three steps from the front door and you ‘re already standing at the rear counter, passing tightly-packed display racks on the way, with a good many missing dummy handsets on view. Martin looked at me as I entered but did nothing to engage me but, being in a store of this intimacy, perhaps he knew he didn ‘t have to wait long.
I first asked if he could explain the difference between a tri- and quad-band handset, due to a problem I had in the USA. His simplistic reply was that it would provide coverage in South America.
After further discussion he latched onto my problem in New Mexico, suggesting a quad-band solution. He noticed I had a catalogue and pointed to the features grid, explaining that Motorola ‘s handsets were more likely to be quad-enabled, but the grid would keep me right.
It was pretty much a DIY sales affair. There was no advice offered that my selection of network should be carefully considered as the phone might work fine, but my chosen pre-pay network may not have an agreement, making my purchase a pointless one.
I wasn ‘t offered advice on handset differences, or what I could expect for the £80 to £100 outlay Martin warned me I ‘d have to make. Basically, I had to decide on my own, then return later to allow him to show me my selected model, assuming it was in stock.

Mobile News rating 6th

Carphone Warehouse
Product range JJJ
Product knowledgeJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJ
Questioning abilityJ
Sales ability JJ
Shop appearance JJJ
Total 15

Orange

Situated at the eastern edge
of Argyle Street, this branch was bright with a modern appearance, and the ܘCall Mum ‘ free call promotion POS was everywhere.
There was a respectable range of phones on display, not forgetting their associated accessories  and there were no ܘmissing ‘ items from the portfolio on display. The only downer was the touch-screen video information terminal, which remained blank no matter how hard you pressed it.
Sinead came over to me to discover my requirements and I showed her the offending SPV C600 that let me down. Could she explain why I was left stranded  and how could I solve the problem in time for my next visit?
She wondered aloud whether my handset might not have been correctly enabled for roaming, but I confirmed it was fine in NY. She said my handset was tri-band (GSM 900, 1800 and 1900), suggesting that was all I needed to access US networks  which wasn ‘t strictly true.
Her next attempt was to check if Orange had a roaming agreement in New Mexico, but the online coverage map was so basic it appeared that 99 per cent of North America was covered so I might have been unlucky.
Without an ability to check further, Sinead put my experience down to being just one of those things, and I ‘d probably be OK on my return  which it clearly wouldn ‘t be. As to the store catalogue, it listed 17 handsets on contract or pre-pay that would have got me connected, if only Sinead had taken on board my hints that not all of the USA used GSM 1900.

Mobile News rating 5th

Orange
Product range JJJ
Product knowledgeJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJJ
Questioning abilityJJ
Sales ability J
Shop appearance JJJJ
Total 16

Phones 4U

Almost directly opposite the Orange store was this Phones 4U outlet, and in a great position next to M&S.
The shop sparked with activity and the laminate wooden floor and displays glittered  I couldn ‘t help but notice the 10 (empty) consultation desks arranged along the back wall, but with plenty of space for this and the many display models on bungee cords, it was a comfortable place to transact business.
A young assistant whose name I didn ‘t catch listened to my requirements, and his response was that my UK network probably didn ‘t have a roaming agreement in place so it was just bad luck. On prompting him on the possible difficulty with different ܘbands ‘, my assistant went in search of David, who agreed I probably needed a quad-band phone to ensure compatibility with the Albuquerque network. He recommended the Motorola RAZR V3i at £99, connected to O2.
To his credit, David also said I would be dependent on O2 having a roaming agreement with the foreign network  and I should probably check this before making a purchase decision. I asked that if there was no service on O2, whether I could purchase a USA SIM locally. He agreed, but said that as the phone is sold locked to O2 they don ‘t provide an unlocking service or sell the model SIM-free.
He also pointed out unlocking would invalidate O2 ‘s warranty. Privately, I expect this could be successfully challenged should the phone fail for a reason unrelated to the SIM lock, but Dave did identify the correct handset, and provide all the info required, except whether O2 had roaming service I discovered later it would, by using Cingular Wireless ‘ GSM 850 network there.

Mobile News rating 4th

Phones 4U
Product range JJJ
Product knowledgeJJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJ
Questioning abilityJJJ
Sales ability JJJJ
Shop appearance JJJJ
Total 21

T-Mobile

Following the recent T-Mobile national refurbishment program, the store layout was excellent with the earlier ܘclinical ‘ white lighting being toned down with pink, an obvious nod to the corporate colour scheme.
The phone display area was deceptive  it appeared as just two rows of phones running round the store perimeters, but this allowed in excess of 40 handsets to be displayed to good effect at hand height.
Four staff member were evident working in all sections of the store, and on seeing off his last customer, Iain identified my connectivity issue quickly, saying as a rule of thumb Motorola ‘s newer models would mostly all provide quad-band access, but to make sure I checked first in case I found the exception  like the Motorola L6.
Similarly, roaming issues were well covered, and I received a good explanation of the differences between T-Mobile UK and their USA presence. I was disappointed Iain only looked at the US overview coverage map to confirm suitability, as I subsequently checked T-Mobile ‘s US web site to find the same level of street-level mapping showing cellular coverage as is available for the UK.
It was easy to make the connection between T-Mobile network over there and the fact I wouldn ‘t have a problem as long as I had a quad-band phone. I was passed a copy of the monthly store catalogue and Iain ticked the two phones he thought would be most suitable, while confirming he had both of them in stock.
All in all, a good product range with my assistant ensuring I had all the info required. If Iain had gone to the trouble of handing me a demo phone to try, and explained T-Mobile ‘s great US call rates for roamers, it would have been hard not to mark T-Mobile top.

Mobile News rating =2nd

T-Mobile
Product range JJJJ
Product knowledgeJJJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJJ
Questioning abilityJJJJ
Sales ability JJJJ
Shop appearance JJJJJ
Total 26

Vodafone

James in the Vodafone shop was by my side in moments as I strained to read the descriptive display cards on the ܘPay as You Go ‘ rack as I tried to discover which phones were quad band.
He established at the outset my problem was related to my having a tri-band handset and he recommended Motorola  being an American company  currently having the best range.
I pointed to a pink V3  James explained that the model was only tri-band, the same as my current SPV  I needed the slightly more expensive V3i or PEBL. Confusingly, Vodafone ‘s sales guide has ܘWorks in America ‘ as a feature, provided phones have at least GSM 1900. Perhaps they should qualify this with ܘBut Not Everywhere ‘?
It also mentioned that GSM 850 is only used in South America  oh dear. No such problem with James, although he expressed he ‘d never had this particular query before. GSM 850 was becoming as important as 1900 in certain locations, and he recommended Motorola ‘s PEBL as the most cost-effective solution.
Although I would have to pay £20 for a top-up at the point of sale, I could pay £20 and have an unlock code SMS ‘d to me. I could then use local SIM while abroad, switching to the Vodafone one on my return.
This was just what I needed to hear  a phone operating across all networks (except Japan) and the freedom to use a USA SIM card if necessary.

Mobile News rating =2nd

Vodafone
Product range JJJJ
Product knowledgeJJJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJJ
Questioning abilityJJJJ
Sales ability JJJJJ
Shop appearance JJJJ
Total 26

O2

On the south-side of Argyle Street at the Central Station end was this O2 store.
Much of the front floor space was wasted with a stairway going down to the basement (to which customers were not invited), but the usual display racks for phones and accessories were evident, along with a semi-private area at the rear for consultations with a few desks with terminals for staff to process applications.
Stephen bade me Welcome to O2 and after a few pleasantries I outlined my problem and asked if there was a solution. Once over the possible lack of roaming agreements, a nudge that my tri-band phone wouldn ‘t cope, Stephen understood the problem and steered me towards two of Motorola ‘s offerings that he felt would solve my problem.
With 14 months left on my existing contract, he suggested pre-pay, the V3i in particular, and took me through to one of the consulting desks while deftly grabbing one of the stock phones for a demo. He ran down the features while carefully avoiding the price.
After an opportunity to play with the handset, I was told it could be mine for £99.99, but he had an additional suggestion  the L7, which added a better camera, more memory and access to O2 ‘s i-mode service. He also brought this out and let me compare the two, while keeping me in the dark that it was only £30 more than the V3i until I asked.
His presentation from start to finish was professional and I liked his demo  including the line he hoped I ‘d be buying from him that day¦& I was also given a print out from O2 ‘s web site detailing the roaming call charges I ‘d expect to pay as a PAYG customer.
It ‘s nice being sold to by someone who takes pride in the task  and I had all the information required for my purchase decision.

Mobile News rating 1st

O2
Product range JJJJ
Product knowledgeJJJJJ
Airtime knowledgeJJJJ
Questioning abilityJJJJJ
Sales ability JJJJJ
Shop appearance JJJJ
Total 27

Summary
Some assistants blindly assumed that because my roaming was limited to the USA, there would be no complications  others latched on to ܘMexico ‘ and made similar claims, but for the wrong country. Top marks to our top three stores who ensured there would be coverage. Sinead did attempt to look up the details, but with an A4-sized coverage map of the whole of the USA this was impossible. Along with the issue being pursued was ܘroaming agreements ‘  but what about being on the correct frequency?