Sprint setting up 'war rooms' for Pre launch 24
Sat, 30 May 2009 9:33 am EDT 
Anticipating a huge response to the barely-advertised Palm Pre launch, Sprint and Palm are setting up tech support “war rooms” to expedite any tech issues customers. As reported by Forbes, Sprint is bringing in extra employees to help manage the crowds and Palm is dispatching more than 100 representatives (that’s a tenth of Palm’s 1,050 person work force) to Sprint stores, and they’ll be hanging out for two months.
Also on tap will be so-called tech support “situation rooms” for store reps to hit up with live chat should they encounter issues during launch. AT&T took similarly strong steps leading up to the iPhone 3G launch, though Sprint and Palm seem to be going a step further in their hopes to have a successful launch.
Training of Sprint employees will be the key, however, to the success of the Pre launch. While many of our readers are already well-versed in how to work their Pre phones (despite not having even touched one yet), Sprint is planning for everybody else to use the Pre launch as the first full-blown test of their “Ready Now” program. While Ready Now has been online since the fall of last year, this will be the first true large-scale test of the one-on-one training orientation designed to make sure that customers are adequately educated on their new devices. Of course, the end goal of Ready Now is to ensure that customers encounter less uneducated frustration with their new phones and don’t return them, but there's one problem if they're planning for long lines: one-on-one training takes time. Probably lots of time with something as new as the Pre and webOS.
That said, Sprint still has customer service reputation issues to overcome. In just over a week we’ll be able to tell you whether the war rooms and time-consuming Ready Now program are as effective as Sprint intends for them to be. One. Week.
Thanks to patches in our forums for the tip!
24 Comments
Part of me believes Ready Now will be a huge failure for them. This is a huge step in a different direction for a phone more most people.
On the other hand, the very small amount of advertising they'll have means most of the line ups will be folks like us that could care less about using Ready Now.
I'm mostly concerned about stock, I want to have one launch day =)
Excellent points...the general public has no clue about this device.
Shouldn't it be our choice if we want them to teach us about the phone? Just ring me up so I can leave!
I believe it is our choice, but it still takes time for those that choose to do it. And I'm banking on not many people will because those folks don't even know about the Pre. It'll be more of an issue when it's better advertised.
agree
Sprint needs the Palm reps to be there because Sprint customer service reps are about as intelligent as 2 year olds trying to figure out why the square blue block wont go into round hole...
They have no idea what they are doing because they are not trained adequetly on anything. At least not the ones we call into. I have talked to perhaps one compitent one over the phone.
obviously blue blocks never go in round holes, stupid
So this will make the waiting in line even LONGER...not good for customer satisfaction.
For a successful new phone launch, easy access to ample supply is the key. Anything less will leave customers feeling frustrated and dissatisfied. Not good given the highly competitive market.
Goin' to Best Buy first for this reason. The lines (if there are any) will be much fast mainly because they will not have as many on hand to sell and no "Ready Now" program. That and $199.99 vs. $299.99 plus MIR makes it easy.
I just want to go there, pick up the phone and leave.
You don't have to use the ready now service if you choose not too. It is an option for folks who want someone to teach them about their new device. If you just want to walk in have the device activated and walk out, you can with no problem.....
The Ready Now may be REQUIRED before they activate the phone.
I hope not. Best buy is starting to sound good.
they've never done that and they won't start now....
Our local store is going to just sell phones day 1, and then having a class the next week for the idiots who can't figure out tech on their own...pretty good idea, I think
Bottom line: Sprint is not making anticipation a pleasant experience.
Excellent idea -- Sprint will no doubt field questions that shld be answered by Palm. Hope Palm keeps plenty of people ready to answer Sprints questions. And that the Q&A's are appropriately cascaded thru both companies.
You're right...Palm and Sprint are not producing a pleasant or functional launch for a flagship phone of a major carrier. What's the problem?
The people who are on this forum are obviously not going to need the ready now experience, Ready now is for the people who know a little about the device and want some help getting their phone set up hassle free. On launch day there are a few items that we have to go over with the customers but it is really only an option if you want the full experience.
Maybe people should get the phone activated, then come back days later for Ready Now if they want it?
Wouldn't that make it "Ready Later"?
Yes, yes, yes...let's tell Sprint to change it to READY LATER! Very clever.
Hope and pray that Palm finally had the sense to include a feedback loop in this process so they can start squashing all the bugs people find. One big reason to avoid this phone is Palm's miserable track record at "real world" testing of their phones before release. As much as people think this phone will be different, I wouldn't bet a cent on it - early adopters will be beta testers as always. Even moreso, asit's a brand new, untested operating system.
I wish them well and hope they use what they learn to produce a phone and OS down the road worthy of buying. But we've seen this movie before, good they are putting extra attention into usher staffing on the initial week of release.