So… I receive a phone call from The Carphone Warehouse in the UK asking if I’d like to switch to them as they have unbeatable deals on ALL mobile cell phones for all networks. The call went something like this…
“Hello sir, I can do you an unbeatable deal on your next phone purchase…”
“I doubt that… I use a PinePhone…”
“Yes sir, we have all the iPhones you could want…”
“Not iPhone, PinePhone… P.I.N.E.P.H.O.N.E…”
“Yes sir, I will see if we have them in stock (30 seconds silence while she googles it) ...yes sir, we have them in stock…”
“You have PinePhones in stock???”
“Yes sir… PinePhone by Pine64… we have those…”
“Really???”
“Yes sir… if you’d like to confirm your payment details we will have it delivered to you by tomorrow afternoon…”
Needless to say, this went on for a few more minutes of her insisting she could get me a PinePhone, even after I told her I was looking on her company website and the PinePhone was no where to be found. Outright lies, told in a bid to get me to sign up to a deal… any deal… so long as she got a sale.
I didn’t see the point in calling her out or complaining, as I bet she is only following company procedures... and I did end up having lots of fun confusing her about how Linux works and wasting her time in the process.
Yeah, OF COURSE they have PinePhones in stock... 
Asking annoying sales persons about exotic hardware they never heard of - I'm also playing this game sometimes, since the late 90's... 
Yes they have no bananas, so why wouldn't they have Pinephones?
Y'all shoulda seen the cable guy trying to show me how to use their services on my Amiga.
An old joke that seems appropriate...
Q: What's the difference between a computer salesman and a used car salesman?
A: The used car salesman knows when he's lying to you.
(06-24-2021, 01:15 PM)Dog House Dave Wrote: “Hello sir, I can do you an unbeatable deal on your next phone purchase…”
“Yes sir, we have all the iPhones you could want…”
“Yes sir, I will see if we have them in stock (30 seconds silence while she googles it) ...yes sir, we have them in stock…”
“Yes sir… PinePhone by Pine64… we have those…”
“Yes sir… if you’d like to confirm your payment details we will have it delivered to you by tomorrow afternoon…”
Why did I read that in an indian accent?
06-25-2021, 01:36 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-25-2021, 01:38 AM by ryo.)
Even if they have them in stock for real, still a better idea to get one from Pine64 directly.
Shops are middlemen in the end, they'll always slap a bit of money on top to make profit.
Unless of course they'd have some reseller contract with Pine64, which honestly I really doubt any store will want to do.
Unlike Android and iOS, a Pinephone (and Librem 5 too) is not a mainstream phone for everyone, and mainstream shops want to sell something as many people as possible want to have.
I'm not sure about foreign countries, but over here we have specialized stores for video games, music CDs, video DVDs, comics, novels etc made by small independent creators that mainstream stores will never want to sell.
It's a booming market, but at the same time niche on all fronts.
I think we have stores like that for hardware as well, though not as widespread.
But those types of stores might be the types of stores Pine64 and Purism (and PC makers like System76) could work out a deal with.
母語は日本語ですが、英語も喋れます（ｒｙ
06-28-2021, 03:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-28-2021, 04:08 PM by Dog House Dave.)
(06-24-2021, 04:53 PM)Zebulon Walton Wrote: An old joke that seems appropriate...
Q: What's the difference between a computer salesman and a used car salesman?
A: The used car salesman knows when he's lying to you.
 ... An't that the truth...
(06-25-2021, 12:29 AM)Trbl Wrote: (06-24-2021, 01:15 PM)Dog House Dave Wrote: “Hello sir, I can do you an unbeatable deal on your next phone purchase…”
“Yes sir, we have all the iPhones you could want…”
“Yes sir, I will see if we have them in stock (30 seconds silence while she googles it) ...yes sir, we have them in stock…”
“Yes sir… PinePhone by Pine64… we have those…”
“Yes sir… if you’d like to confirm your payment details we will have it delivered to you by tomorrow afternoon…”
Why did I read that in an indian accent?
... Well, it's funny you should say that...
(06-25-2021, 01:36 AM)ryo Wrote: I'm not sure about foreign countries, but over here we have specialized stores for video games, music CDs, video DVDs, comics, novels etc made by small independent creators that mainstream stores will never want to sell.
It's a booming market, but at the same time niche on all fronts.
I think we have stores like that for hardware as well, though not as widespread.
But those types of stores might be the types of stores Pine64 and Purism (and PC makers like System76) could work out a deal with.
 ... The Carphone Warehouse are about as mainstream as you can get... probably the largest mobile cell phone retailer in the UK, as well as being one of the oldest (pretty sure they started in the last 80's when phones were so big you needed a car to carry one).
... And I too, am not sure about foreign countries (I'm guessing you are based in Japan ...forgive me if I got that wrong), but over here in the UK we are used to being lied to by retailers, service providers, politicians... well, pretty much everyone really... just so long as they get your money. They'll promise you the world... but once you've signed on the dotted line, you'll more often than not find they sold you a dude and you then have to spend weeks chasing them for what they promised you or your money back.
 ... She had no idea what a PinePhone was, but she wasn't going to let a little detail like that get in the way.
(06-28-2021, 03:09 PM)Dog House Dave Wrote: ... And I too, am not sure about foreign countries (I'm guessing you are based in Japan ...forgive me if I got that wrong), but over here in the UK we are used to being lied to by retailers, service providers, politicians... well, pretty much everyone really... just so long as they get your money. They'll promise you the world... but once you've signed on the dotted line, you'll more often than not find they sold you a dude and you then have to spend weeks chasing them for what they promised you or your money back. Yes, I'm both from and in Japan.
Politicians are those that usually lie to us, but that's the norm in every country anyway.
Other than that, people aren't really liars here, I'd rather say they pretend to know everything about the field they're working in, even if it's clear as day they don't.
A relevant example was when I took my PinePhone to the local SoftBank store because SoftBank USIM didn't work with it, they had no idea where in the settings they had to be, and were especially lost as soon as they went into the "Mobile" settings, but that's because that's in English (so not translated to Japanese yet).
I don't live in Tokyo, so most people here don't know any English apart from "hello", "sorry", and "no English", but despite looking nothing like iOS nor Android, he thought for 2 hours long the phone was running Android, despite already explaining it's Linux, but after that he finally understood.
But after a grand total of 3 hours, he gave up and called the headquarters, and they confirmed that they only support Android and iOS (and flip phones, but those run on a stripped down Android base anyway).
Then he suggested a free SIM so it can be used on every device regardless of OS or IMEI (they lock USIM cards to specific IMEI on top of supporting specific OSs), so he called the HQ again, and they told him that free SIMs are data only, which he genuinely didn't even know.
母語は日本語ですが、英語も喋れます（ｒｙ
(06-25-2021, 01:36 AM)ryo Wrote: Even if they have them in stock for real, still a better idea to get one from Pine64 directly.
Shops are middlemen in the end, they'll always slap a bit of money on top to make profit.
Unless of course they'd have some reseller contract with Pine64, which honestly I really doubt any store will want to do.
Unlike Android and iOS, a Pinephone (and Librem 5 too) is not a mainstream phone for everyone, and mainstream shops want to sell something as many people as possible want to have.
I'm not sure about foreign countries, but over here we have specialized stores for video games, music CDs, video DVDs, comics, novels etc made by small independent creators that mainstream stores will never want to sell.
It's a booming market, but at the same time niche on all fronts.
I think we have stores like that for hardware as well, though not as widespread.
But those types of stores might be the types of stores Pine64 and Purism (and PC makers like System76) could work out a deal with. To be fair in Japan you have small electronics shops which would shame Radio Shack in it's glory days.
(06-30-2021, 05:49 AM)biketool Wrote: To be fair in Japan you have small electronics shops which would shame Radio Shack in it's glory days. Mostly in Akihabara and maybe some other otaku streets as well, but those small electronics shops aren't all that common in comparison.
There are common 2nd hand stores like HARD-OFF ("hard" as in "hardware" and "off" as in "discounted price", just for context), but that's not a small shop at all.
母語は日本語ですが、英語も喋れます（ｒｙ
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