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Just tell us the truth

Dear Verizon,

You really seem to miss the level of frustration that exists by not providing the 8.1update. It is not days behind, not even weeks, it’s months behind. Something is obviously going on that you (Verizon) are not telling us (Verizon Windows Customers). It is almost as if you wish to end your participation in the ecosystem entirely. Regardless, you owe us a better explanation that references to company policy and curt “we here ya” styled replies.

It is not as if your customers are being unreasonable, we simply wish to know when you will provide an upgrade. If the answer is never, at least tell us. Trust me, deal with this now, it is not the Nokia/Microsoft brand being hurt – it is Verizon.

As a business, we always stay current with upgrades and demand our vendors provide them in a timely manner. You have failed on this point. Failed! Either report the truthful status of the delinquent upgrade or our entire company will make a change, and not just the Windows phone users.

A very frustrated customer

Comments

evilkingteapot

I understand the frustration with Verizon but I am beginning to think they're not the only one's at fault here. For months I was steaming that there was no Cyan update and in the past Verizon has been painfully slow in getting out updates. In some cases they've even discontinued work on updates they said would be available. Their lack of communication to both the customer service reps and customers does not do Verizon any favors. You would think that someone would just address the problem directly and say "this is why Cyan is not out yet." And for that I say "Verizon, you suck."

But now that Joe Belfiore has come out and tweeted that "MS/Verizon are working on some bug fixes-- VZW taking the quality seriously. We aren't sure how long it will take, but work is underway." I know that everyone loves Joe because he's Mr. Likeable. He always pumps the social media channels but he got where he is because he's good at what he does - interacting with people. What I'm seeing from that statement is that Microsoft is downplaying the severity of the bugs that Verizon may be finding with Cyan. And with Microsoft's history of crap updates, I don't really blame Verizon here. Verizon makes money selling and supporting things that work with Windows Phone. So if MS breaks a bluetooth stack and someone's heart monitor stops working, Verizon will get the flak for it.

If Microsoft/Nokia/whatever you want to call them now is really serious about pushing regular updates to phones like Apple does, than push your providers to allow OTA updates on your schedule. Or here's a better idea - maybe not barrage the hell out of me with Cortana ads when I can't use Cortana. It just makes me mad at the brand. Wait until the software is out before hyping the hell out of it. Maybe someone can ask their 8.1 phone with Cortana if Cyan will ever be ready for release.

There are lots of reasons why I don't think Windows Phone will continue to be a viable platform and am considering switching to a new phone and possibly service provider at the same time. You make Windows Phone 8 incompatible with Windows Phone 7, you require developers to use Windows 8.1 to use a version of Visual Studio that will work with Windows Phone 8............ It just kills me because I think Microsoft has a good platform, but they really need to send someone to Harvard business school to study how Apple does things. If you're going to buy Nokia and go all in then GO ALL **** IN! And I don't mean paying CNN analysts to use Windows Phone as a kickstand for their iPhones.

Tidbits

I just want to say... Apple is a poor comparison. It's a placebo effect.

If you ever join ADC you'll find out some devices and for certain carriers are finished long before others do. The only thing Apple does is wait for ALL of them to be finished before pushing them out.

Alexvrb

But Cortana is available on many models, including VZW's M8. They should advertise it. Further, Mr. Belfiore is being diplomatic. Verizon is being silent. Verizon probably just recently bothered to test the update and kicked it back. AT&T seems to have worked with MS right when they got their hands on the update. We'll be lucky to see it before the year is over.

unknown

Alexvrb,

Att's devices are experiencing bugs with the 8.1 update.

unknown

Tidbits, I thought this to be the case about Apple. But Microsoft is still not agile enough, because if Microsoft waited to release when all devices were updated, and hid from the public that some phones were finished while others were not, then all Windows Phones would be obsolete twice over.

Tidbits

I am not going to say what I said months ago. I wrote it over and over, and tried to get people to do things differently. FCC, BBB, and so forth and so on isn't working.

At this point all I am going to say is:

Look at Europe if you want to change how updates are done. They blame the manufacturers, and we blame the carrier. They have the results we want.

Alexvrb

I'm sure some have had issues. Smartphones often experience bugs. You keep saying this over and over like it means something significant LOL. My dad's old Droid was one issue fixed, another issue introduced, for it's entire update lifecycle. He's had his fair share of hiccups with his previous Galaxy Nexus and his Note 2 has email issues after a recent update. How many times has an iOS update caused any number of bugs, from annoying to crippling? All the time! That has never stopped the updates. Verizon is "taking quality very seriously" with WP 8.1... nudge nudge wink wink *cough*stalling*cough*. I sure as heck don't see them waiting until there's zero bugs on all devices for other smartphones.

At the very least be more open about how long you're sitting on the updates before testing commences, err I mean, how the testing process is going.

footballwizz692004

This is another of those times when it is easy to blame Verizon. I know it is frustrating to not get answers, but never assume that Verizon has the answer and is refusing to give it to you. Asking any representative to give you information that they are not provided with will either lead to "I don't know" or it will lead to rumors without facts. As for Verizon handing down the information, that would be like asking Verizon to look into the future and tell you if you will win the lottery next month. Verizon will not pass down information that either; they do not have, or that they have any reason to believe will change. Providing updates is not something verizon does themselves. The company that creates the update makes a deal with each carrier to sell the updates to them. These legal deals can take a very long time to come to an agreement on, they may even give up if it is seen that no reasonable deal will ever be made.

I cannot speak for Verizon really, this is my understanding of how business's work. To provide something to your customers you must first have this something in your possession. To get this something you must make a deal with the people that do have this something that you want.

footballwizz692004

Before you all tear me apart I apologize in advance. I admit I did not read all of the comments and I may be restating old news. I apologize if I am. And I would also like to say this is not any fault of the customers and I am not saying this should not cause frustration. I do not have a Windows phone so I am not sure what update this is about exactly, but I do understand how poor Verizon's communication can seem in a lot of aspects.

Alexvrb

It's a huge update football. It adds and improves so much stuff it's like having a new phone. I haven't even really cared about previous updates... this is the first one that's gotten me fired up. But I don't think you'll find many asking Verizon to see into the future with any certainty. We're asking them to state what has already occurred, and what is happening now. A guesstimate or some kind of indefinite timeline would be a bonus at this point. The reason they're so quiet is that they have been, uh, moving at a slow pace shall we say. So stating the facts would only make them look bad. Better to remain silent.

footballwizz692004

I see. I wonder if Nokia is the same though. It would be hard for Verizon to say, this will be out in a few months and then have something happen and not be able to get it out by then. That would be worse than staying silent as you said Alex.

theBoringCoder

Do you have a source link, vzwenduser, to something authoritative about AT & T devices "[...]experiencing bugs with the 8.1 update"? Without an authoritative source to back up what you post, it looks like you're trolling, or just pointing the finger back at Microsoft to get the heat off of Verizon.

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