Cellphone Hell - PArt 1

It's Monday, but yesterday sure felt like a Monday. Fucking wireless phone service......

I have been having trouble with my phone lately, not wanting to sync to the bluetooth and other little foibles that are just irritating enough to piss you off from time to time, but not enough to do anything about. After consultation with the pimply faced customer service tech at the local ATT store, he told me that my bluetooth problems were phone related and not operator error. He said that since the phone was less than one year old, i am entitled to a new phone. All this took place last week in the middle of my whirlwind tour of the Midwest.

Fast forward to Sat afternoon. L and I are working in the yard; mowing, weeding, mulching, you know the typical domestic stuff we all end up doing on the weekends because we don't even have time to scratch our ass during the week.

So I go to make a call to the ex to discuss schedules for dropping off the kid's Moms day present for her and lo and behold, the fucking screen on the phone is totally roached. There are colorful squiggly lines and pixels just floating about. I know I am screwed, but all i did was take it out of the holster. I didn't drop it, throw it, or spill my drink on it (although i did drop my last phone into a glass of fruit smoothie....) So i call the customer support line and get Apu"s mother on the line to walk me through the adventure of swapping the phone for a new one. After a lengthy conversation of her talking and me asking her to repeat herself in plain English every other second, I finally have an answer. Take it to the local device support center on Sunday or wait 3-5 days for the dolts to ship me a new phone.

So Sunday morning rolls around, L and I embark on a trip to exchange the phone. We arrive at the site, which is about mid point across the STL metro area from our home, and we wait for them to open. Once they opened, we are greeted by three less than cheerful staff who look upon us like we have violated them anally for even walking in the door.

Once it was mine turn to step to the counter, i am greeted with a look that says, " what the fuck do you want white man and don't be getting into my shit today". I explain my problem to the nice lady, even though i want to bitch slap her across the room. I hand her my phone to look at the screen display and she immediately hands it back to me and says, " the screen is cracked and that is considered physical damage and we can not exchange it on warranty. If you want a replacement phone it will cost you $175.00". I asked how can you tell it is cracked and she points to a faint flicker of color in the very corner of the screen and says that is the crack. WTF

Now I am pissed, but L squeezes my hand to keep me from going postal on this woman and I ask a few simple questions about an appeal process or other alternatives to my dilemma. I get an attitude like, " you are holding up the line, Cracker, move on and let my homies in."

Needless to say, I am left with no phone, (i will be damned if I am paying this bitch full price), and decide to take my dilemma elsewhere.

Part 2 tomorrow.

Comments always welcome