In theory, yes.

It doesn't work in practice, though. The main point is that they never face the consequences of what they're doing. They really don't care, usually.

We have them in our company all the time, overlapping, each working on different targets and projects. I can't judge all of it, but when they decide we have to re-organise in a certain way... and then 18 months later the next consulting company says we need to re-organise again, and it turns out that the new organisation is the one we had 18 months ago... you start asking what the money was spent for.

Also, I know which data they work with. I know all these statistics and reports. I know how they're collected and put together. I know how wrong parts of them are and how carefully you have to interpret them. - They only take what's written in the spreadsheet and use it as a base for their decisions. It's sad sometimes. We tell them, but they don't want to hear. Their contract ends in three weeks and re-calculating everything with the new information (or even defining from scratch which information exactly would be needed) doesn't fit their schedule.

That's my small little view on this world, being surrounded by these vampires for ~7 years now.

Please don't throw everyone on the same pile of ****. Yes, some consulting companies are horrendous and incompetent, that doesn't mean we all are.

The reason I'm saying this is because I am a consultant. We work very harsh hours and I honestly we do a good job. Our projects run on time, we have a very strict methodology which is proven through literally hundreds of projects over the past few years.

That being said, I'm not a consultant for a consulting company, I'm a consultant for a software company, dealing mainly with our own software. The point remains though: consultants aren't bad. Bad project management (on either side), however, is disastrous.

Company's do know this information for themselves. But rarely can they have the culture to make changes from within. Its the same reason that top sports people have coaches.

That's not the only way to divide up an organisation into divisions, although it is a common one. It is not necessarily the best way.

We can say "the salesperson said this because they are the lowest of the low and only handed a sales memo", but then we should remind the company management that it's their choice to organise the company that way, and therefore their responsibility when the customer service experience suffers due to it.

You're talking out of both sides of your mouth.

You are admitting that Nokia made a mistake in the N900 release. You saying we "are not wrong to moan about it".

But yet you say "they highly overestimated the intelligence of their customers" essentially calling us dumb moaning trolls whining for our "latest toys".

And THEN you have the gall to accuse US of "hurting the Community".

Well, I'm SO SORRY that I had the NERVE to expect Nokia to be competent in releasing a device I had committed to purchase and I don't just sit here and smile with a s*** eating grin on my face over such a poorly handled device rollout.

I strongly disagree with this.
You are not looking it from a big picture point of view.

Firstly,
How many phones does Nokia have that they have to provide updates for?
Compare that to Apple and the Android...

Secondly,
I am an owner of the N97, from June to October (4 months) they released 3 updates, with one being consider as Major

Thirdly,
For the N900, potentially there will be serveral updates for it before Christmas.

Just remember that if you buy a phone through a network/carrier which puts their own branded firmware on it, you can find the firmware updates are limited to the rate that the network/carrier decides.

I had a Nokia 6120 Classic for a couple of years. Great phone, had a few issues (like mic not working sometimes ). Nokia issued a firmware release quite soon after I got the phone.

But the network, Three, didn't roll out that important fix in the entire 2 years I had the phone. In fact they never rolled out any firmware updates.

That also means I could not install free Symbian software on it either. It wouldn't accept the free application keys.

So, let it be a lesson.... Going through a network operator can mean you don't get all the firmware updates you were expecting, and when that happens, it isn't Nokia's fault. But it might give some people the impression there are no updates being made, which isn't always correct.

Just a comment about Nokia UK and firmware releases: the problem in my understanding is less with nokia than with the grotty proprietry extras stuffed on top which chokes up firmware updates.

This is not the problem. Being unable to release timely updates at all would qualify as an understandably difficult issue to fix quickly, but having them and not releasing them in one country is just the type of BS I find unacceptable.



Nope, unfortunately this isn't it either. From what I've read, ALL updates are delayed in the UK. I found this thread that discusses it. Operator branding, as horrible as it is, is also not an excuse to delay an update for 11 whole months (see link).

Especially in the case of the N97, on which firmware seems to have gone from crap to good, Nokia's marketing department should absolutely be pushing even operators to release updates as soon as possible.



There comes a point when you have to be able to trust a salesperson. For example, if I ask about the resolution, I wouldn't expect him to tell me about competitors' better screens (if any), but he shouldn't tell me it's 1080p. Otherwise, why talk to them at all?

Notably this isn't even a case of one retailer lying to steal another retailer's business. It would be one Nokia department trying to steal the business of another Nokia department, while risking angry customers. I don't care if the guy is on commission - this is something his manager shouldn't allow. PLUS it seems it was the store's official policy. AND the flagship stores are there for branding and customer satisfaction first, direct sales second.

Customer satisfaction is reduced for no reason. They're not saving money on more brittle materials, they're not paying less salespeople and getting long queues, they're just... failing.

I don't think I've ever been treated as poorly by any company as I have been by the Nokia USA customer service people - they should ALL be fired! After owning a Nokia N77, N90, and N95 8G, I foolishly decided I'm like an N900 & preordered one in September. Weekly online status checks always showed the order as "in process" and every two weeks or so, Nokia would place a "pending" hold for $700 on my bank account & after 3 days, the hold would be removed. In November, this blog site started to comment on the "new ordering system" for preorders. I called & was told my order would never ship unless it was cancelled & reordered in the "new format" and all the other stuff about 15% discount - no bluetooth device- increase in extended warranty price, etc. After they cancelled my original order, they declared that they could not enter a new order because my account had been "flagged" as a fraud account. After spending 3 days on the phone with Nokia Sales, my bank, and myself, I was told that I needed to change bank accounts to get the order through (this per their "elevation" of my case).
I did change bank accounts & a new order (178405) was created & a confirmation e-mail was sent to me on Nov. 18.
On Friday, Nov. 20, my new account was hit by a Nokia SA "pending action" hold for $628. On Tuesday, Nov. 24, the hold was removed - I called my bank & was told that the acount & the charge was O:K but that the hold was automatically removed after 3 days if the transaction was not finalized by then. I called Nokia on 11/25 because online status check either showed "Ooops, unable to find that page" or "unable to locate your order" every day since 11/18. Was told that the order was fine, inventory was being shipped, and I should call back on Friday, Nov.27 for shipping details on my N900. Imagine my surprise when I called & was told that my order suddenly could not be" authorized by Nokia" and had been cancelled. Was told I'd have to wait 10 days to 2 weeks & then process a totally new order &, if they could get it through the system, my N900 would be shipped after all the other preorders were filled. Was further told that my order had previously been "elevated" & I could not have any further review done! I have been a T-Mobile customer for many years & remain with them because their customer service people are the best in the world. After this N900 farce, I may never purchase a Nokia product again and plan to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau, State of Michigan Attorney General's office, the U.S. Attorney General's office, the Consumers Protection Agency and ALL cellphone blod sites I can access suggesting false & misleading advertising and possible misconduct in how NokiaUSA appears to be selectively screening who does or doesn't get an N900. I'm sorry Nokia, but if your market share continues to decline, look no further than your customer service representation.