Wireless continued...

Wireless, continued….


Well, I ordered a phone off of cingular.com. It came in broken. ( I could hear but not talk.) It was a refurb, so I tried to send it back.

Couldn’t send it back via online, have to have it more than 15 days. Went to a cingular store, they said you gotta go to a corporate store. Went to the corporate store. He was going to do an in-store exchange until he saw what I paid for it (1/4 the price of a new one). SO, he gave me an 800 number to do the exchange (it’s 800-801-1101, in case you ever have a warranty repair). Hit send as I hit the door, THIRTY-SEVEN minutes later as I hit the door at the house, I am still waiting. Three minutes after I talk to dude on the phone, he transfers me to Some Chick.

This person was willing to help me, and got a new refurbished phone on the way. I had to pay for it, she SAYS they will take it off when they get the original phone back. I am smelling the wireless version of a cleaning deposit, but I want the damn phone, so I agree. Then, she (I thought) was making a list to return. She asks for the phone’s serial number, and the SIM card that came with it.

Then she says sweetly, “I’ve updated your SIM in the system.” After I scream, I tell her that she absolutely has to undo that. My old SIM has all my numbers in it. The new one is empty as the pit of my is stomach right now. There are like 150 numbers there. She says she’s fixed it, sends me a return label for my broken phone and peremptorily hangs up.

Whew. All ist goot, no?

HELL no.

The girlfriend and I go out for dinner. I glance down at my phone, and it says nothing. NOTHING. Dead in the water.

Much much much much later, a new SIM card and programming later, I get the phone I had prior to all of this crap sputtering back to life. Cingular tells me this is the way things are now, the old card is unusable forevermore. A couple of days later, still no phone in the mail.

Lesson learned?

You think that your phone is a convenience until you try to live a few days without it. Standing in line sucks, but being able to stand in line gracefully and patiently is both a blessing, and a good way to confuse those around you.