cellphoneseller

I would counter with the fact that even though we don't make the decisions that effect customers and policy in general, we are privy to all the internal communication from Corporate as far as the what/why/how of new policies, devices, etc.

Get a person, in person, at a store. They are more willing to do things for customers than anyone over the phone ever will be. For better phone prices, always go to an indirect retailer since they don't build part of the cost of their salespeople's commission into the cost of the phone. For billing matters, go to a corporate store and just get a manager. When you are face to face, people are much more likely to be helpful. The call centers do occasionally help people out, but they see you as Call # 123123214 of 324235139413049340 and just don't care all the time.

Granted, some managers in stores are just assholes anyways, but based on my experience, in person is much much better.

You're absolutely right! They have these big meetings called "How We Fuck Over Customers" and they make them mandatory. Knowledge is certainly never gained from raw experience, it has to be given in Top Secret Press Release format......

It's actually less planned obsolescence as it is a shortcoming of the sales/purchasing culture. For example:

You bought the Droid "Whatever" on January 1st, 2013. Maybe it's made by HTC. HTC is still developing new technology, new software, new products as fast as possible. The downside is that you are in a 2-year contract (usually) for that "Whatever". So when HTC gets it's new model off the line 2-3 months later, you get that feeling of planned obsolescence, but it's really more due to the fact you feel stuck with the "Whatever" because of your contract and the high fees to break it early to buy the "Whatever 2.0".

People who walk in and tell the manager "Help me out or I'm returning all this crap" generally get the BEST help, haha. Since the people in the stores are usually commission based, that's a big hit. That being said, depending on the store, the phone carrier itself has little buffer margins built in to keep their associates a little more honest. This means that a set number of returns/exchanges/credits per month is acceptable based on % of sales.