I agree with you that the CSR reps should be treated with respect. With me, they have been very professional and generally have been as helpful as they could have been. Also, it should be kept in mind that they are held hostage to Nokia's ordering system even more than we are: part of their job is to help fix problems, and Nokia's system clearly is not allowing them to do their jobs.


I also agree that it is whiny to complain about release delays, since this is a common issue with consumer product releases. However, I wholly disagree with you when you paint the brush of "whiner" on the folks who are experiencing problems with even placing an order. This is a significant issue where we should not be giving Nokia a free pass. Nokia should not be giving themselves a free pass: because of the hoops some folks are having to go through just to get an order accepted by Nokia's system, Nokia is not only leaving short-term revenue on the table, they could be losing long-term sales as well from the potential customers they failed to convert (and in some cases, customers they frustrated and chased away). Additionally, they are throwing money away (both from a consumer revenue and an operations standpoint) when their CSR reps are wasting man-hours dealing with all of these pre-orders that they know are doomed to failure, while other potential customers are left on hold.


As for me, this has been how my ordering adventure on NokiaUSA transpired:

September 3 - Original on-line pre-order, order confirmation e-mail generated

September 4 - Bank flagged the charge, I called the bank to authorize, and then called Nokia to ask them to try the charge again. Looks like it worked, as the hold showed up on my card

September-November - Saw the regular holds on my card, so I assume that things are okay with my order

Early-mid November - I started reading on this site how Nokia CS was calling pre-order customers, offering a 15% discount on the order due to the BT headset issue (necessitating a cancellation of the original order). I expect a call any day

November 20 (Friday) - I still did not receive a call, so I called Nokia CS. The representative explained the aforementioned BT situation and ordering solution. My order was canceled successfully, but there were problems with the system at the time so they could not place an order for me. The CSR advised me to try again on Monday, and assured me that I would not lose my place on the queue even though I would not have an active order for a couple of days.

November 23 (Monday) - I place the order successfully. I assume it was placed successfully since a confirmation e-mail was generated and a hold was placed on my card

November 25 (Wednesday) - I notice that the hold disappears from my card without replacement or conversion to an actual charge. I call CS, where the rep informs me that the order had been canceled due to authorization failure. I ask how that is possible, since my bank authorized the charge. He explains that the fraud flagging system is very sensitive, and it's possible that my card had been flagged. He suggests that I try the order again with a different card. This time the order fails immediately, again with an "authorization error". At this point, the CSR tells me that there isn't much more they can do for me, other than to try a card with a different person's name. I note the irony that a possible solution to beating the fraud flag is to commit fraud

November 27 (Friday) - Undeterred, I give it another go with speaking with Nokia CS. The CSR rep offered to try the order again, explaining that if the bank actually authorized the charge on an account that was incorrectly flagged by Nokia, it might work the second time. She then prepared the order, and I notice that the total is for a higher amount than my original order. She explained that she could not apply the 15% discount because of the other promotion going on at the time. She did go above and beyond by offering to talk to her supervisor to see what could be done

She calls me back in about an hour, managing to get the 15% discount added to the order. I place the order, only to get the "authorization error" flag again. I offer to call my bank again to see what happened, and the CS rep offers to call me back in about an hour.

I call my bank, and once again, they show that the charge did go through without any problems. I ask them to pre-authorize Nokia On-Line sales, in hopes that might help. I do this for a couple of other cards as well.

November 28 (Saturday) - The CSR I dealt with on Friday was unable to call me back, so I called Nokia CS again. I think I might have reached a supervisor, since he seemed very polished and was very knowledgeable about what was going on. He said that it was not a good idea to try the order again at this point and that it would be best escalate my issue. I ask if I can try to use a card that I preauthorized for Nokia on-line sales and had never been used yet in placing an order with Nokia. He agrees that I could try it, and that he would escalate my issue regardless.

So, another rep called me back in about 20 minutes and prepares the order. Again, we run into the issue of being unable to apply the 15% discount (which still results in a lower price than the current promotion). Additionally, they could no longer guarantee my place on the pre-order queue. I decide not to go through with the order, pending the results of my escalation

Also, interestingly enough. The order that I placed on Monday, November 20 went from being "canceled" to being "in progress". The CSR said to not take that seriously, since they didn't think that the order would actually go through.


So, by my count, I think I'm on my 8th order attempt, still without resolution. I've been using my n800 for a few years now, and I am enthusiastic about maemo and the future of the platform. So, I am not going away. However, I do see how someone new to the platform could get discouraged and walk away after a couple of attempts to order.