Wednesday, September 18, 2013

the cell phone saga continues.

Day 2 without a phone.  I'm not happy. 

So yesterday, I went to the store where I bought the phone.  They took the battery out and put it back in.  Which I had already done three times, but they gotta do what they gotta do.  They then looked all over the phone to make sure that I hadn't been throwing it at people, letting the dog chew on it, using it to hammer nails, etc... nope.  passed inspection.  They confirmed, that yes indeed, there was something defective with the phone itself.  Which is what I told them, but yeah... I understand they had to do their inspection thing... I'm not unreasonable after all.  Well, I'm a little unreasonable, but I was feeling generous. 

They clicked on the computer, and confirmed that I had bought the phone, there, on August 3.  Which is less than 2 months ago.  They also confirmed that I had bought their insurance, and paid for it, just in case of this sort of thing.  But, they informed me, that it was still under the manufacturers warrantee.  That's fine with me. 

They can, of course, replace it.  For a fee of $16.73 shipping and handling. 

OK.  So, you sold me a piece of ****, and you're gonna charge me more to make it right?  Now, this is where I start feeling 'unreasonable' welling up.   

First, you sold me a piece of  ****.  Any legitimate business has a return or exchange policy.  Unless, of course, you're talking consumer electronics. 

Second, you have at least 50 of those phones sitting right there.  Why does anything have to be shipped anywhere?

Third, Even if it does have to be shipped somewhere,  I used to sell on ebay, and I've shipped sets of china through the mail for less than $16.00.

Well, since it's the manufacturers problem, they have to replace it... however, if I want I can drive 20 miles to the 'corporate' store and get a replacement phone immediately.  For $37.00. 

Fine.  What the **** ever.  Just ship it to me.  Do you need my mailing address?

Oh no... they ship it to the store.  I will still have to come in on Thursday, some time after noon, to pick it up. 

So, I'm paying for shipping, and you're not actually shipping anything?  Because, while I can't prove it, I've worked in enough warehouses and such that I'm pretty sure what happens is that they send an e-mail/fax to the company, and they get a store credit to release one of the phones they already have on hand.  Which should take about 15 minutes, not two days. So I strongly suspect that I'm paying shipping, on something that isn't being shipped. Well, unless you consider the schmuck at the counter in front of me walking to the back room, picking up a box and walking back "shipping."

Personally, I considerer me making two back and forth trips to the store to be more in the lines of shipping.  I should be paid the $16.73.

And then, he tells me to make sure that I don't get the phone damaged or wet in those two days, because they won't honor the warrantee if I do.  Even though, he's just examined it, and confirmed that it wasn't working 15 minutes ago. 

At this point I, rather heroically if I say so myself, fought back the urge to pinch his head till it popped like a giant zit, splattering brains all over the store into a literal zombie buffet. 

So that's where we stand now.  I'm not happy. 

I do, however have an old phone with a cracked screen here.  While I can't send texts or make phone calls with it, I can check e-mail, read my blog, and do some things on the web, provided I'm near a WiFi antennae, so it's not like I've reverted to the third world or anything.  And, of course, I have this borrowed laptop.

I also can't get that cracked phone to allow me to actually post on the blog, so Little Goths Bob world has been delayed.  True, I could get some text on there with this laptop, but Bob's such a visual guy, it really needs pics. 

Therefore, day 2 of annoyance.  I think I'll walk up to the convenience store and buy a lotto ticket because powerball is up to about 400 million right now. 

And now I really have to run, because I think I hear the cat making vomiting noises. 

What a glamorous life I lead, 

 

2 comments:

  1. Oh goodness, Claude. What a pain. I'm sorry. Hope your new phone will be far superior!!! BTW, my cat vomited into the bottom edge of a mirror that sits on the floor yesterday morning and it went down in the crack between wood and mirror, and I can't get it out. Shit. This all happened while brushing my teeth too. Yuck!!!

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  2. Such is life, as the French say. Or "merde!" as the case may be. I've heard that keeping your chin up is good for improving your thoughts. It's the "mental" region of the body, anatomically speaking. My daughter told me the other day that I'm getting a double chin. I wonder what that says about my state of mind?

    Can't you send a stern but polite note of protest to the corporate office? I've actually gotten results with letters of complaint. If you use nice words, you might get coupons for free products or services, etc.

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