Tag: cell phones

The devil you know: part 2

by Karen, posted in education, friends, quest for the best, Someone's gotta say it

I feel obligated to update you all after my first post about buying a new cell phone.

First I went to Radio Shack where I bought a Samsung Flight II. It was a cute phone and I chose it because it was the closest to the one my daughter has (that after a rocky start, I ended up really liking but that they don’t sell anymore). I took it home.

It was a problem from the start. The battery wouldn’t stay charged for more than 12 hours (and that was only if I didn’t use the phone at all!). The nice man at Radio Shack tried to tell me: “That sounds about right.” Huh? Did he really think I was going to believe that?

I decided that maybe it was just a bad battery and exchanged it. That was my second mistake. The new phone was better than the first one, but still terrible. I took it back, got out my old phone and decided to start over. Square one.

I asked a few of my friends what kind of cell phones they had and if they liked them or not. I was very surprised to discover that most people do not like their cell phones. The exceptions to this rule were few, but they did have one thing in common: they all had iphones. I told my son that I was getting a new cell phone and he said, “You might as well get an iphone.”

Well all-righty then. That’s what i did.

Epilogue:

i‘m in love, i‘m in love (with my iphone!) and i don’t care who knows it!

🙂

The devil you know

by Karen, posted in family, friends, no fear, quest for the best, Someone's gotta say it

While I was busy, out living my life, my cell phone was plotting to thwart my happiness. Now, I never loved it to begin with; it was my only option when my beloved pink Motorola Razr phone gave out after we had three lovely years together. So, I never loved it, but I…relied on it. Using it several times every day made it about as integral to my daily routine as is my toothbrush.

Therefore, you can imagine my distress when I noticed a crack to the left of the hinge, followed by a piece of it breaking off about a month ago. I beat down the panic and continued to use it, looking the other way whenever I opened it as best I could. Then yesterday, when I opened up my cell phone to answer a text from my son, there was a sickening cracking noise, that turned out to be the right side of said hinge which now also had a distinct fault line.

For me, buying a new cell phone is on the same par as buying a new car. It gives me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. It makes me sweat. I avoid it at all costs. As bad as my cracked phone was, I (after more than two years with it) know how it works. Getting a new phone means a new learning curve…the stuff of nightmares. Plus, with cell phones (as with cars)…the one thing you do already know for sure is this: It’ll cost ya.

Oh, were you hoping that the car charger that went with your prior cell phone, also a Samsung, would work with your new one? Were you excited when the store clerk told you that he would check to see if there was any trade in value on your old–emphasis on old– cell phone? Ha! Get real! Your new cell phone is worse than a new car in terms of losing retail value…before the monetary transaction has been completed you have already lost money.

NOTE: About that learning curve: got a tween or a teen? They will both already know how to use your new phone, even though they have never laid eyes on it before…amazing but true.

The worst cell phone experience ever

by Karen, posted in family, Someone's gotta say it, tweens
The Offender

What’s a mom to do? When you have the whole Christmas thing under control, all presents bought and (almost all) wrapped, you might be feeling a little cocky.

The only thing that I had left to do was activate the cell phone that was the tween daughter’s big gift this year. Imagine my surprise (not to mention annoyance)when, as I tried to activate the cell phone, it would not activate!

Now, I was certainly no stranger to cell phones. I had purchased and activated more than one of these little suckers over the years without a hitch, but after one automated line and two different cell phone company reps were unable to activate it, I still had a cell phone with no service. The helpful reps suggested that I return the phone (60 miles away from where I was) that day (it was the last day they would accept the return) and start over from scratch, preferably at Radio Shack.

I did go to Radio Shack, but they didn’t have the color I wanted and they were going to charge me $20 more, so I didn’t buy it. I went online and tried to order it that way, with a very nice, helpful customer service person, Latricia, on the phone trying to help me troubleshoot. After 36 minutes we determined that this alternate route was not working either. She offered to call around to local stores to find one that had The Phone That She Wanted (see picture of The Offender above) and call me back. I accepted this offer.

She did call me back, and none of their stores had the phone I was looking for.

Meanwhile, I gave the online method another shot. An online “live chat” person was helping me, and after another 40 minutes or so had passed, it was still not processing the order. I gave up.

Thirty seconds later, I got an email thanking me for my order. Go figure.

Now, I still had to activate this one, so I was not celebrating yet. Activation  was a long, drawn out affair, lasting about an hour, and when I finally got off the phone with them at almost 11 o’clock last night, I still had no guarantee that anything they said that they did actually was done.

It will be very interesting to see the first bill when it comes.

Any guesses as to which wireless company I’m dealing with?

Hello, last minute!

by Karen, posted in tweens

Okay, you (and you know who you all are)…it’s time to get serious! There is less than a week left before Christmas, so it’s time to get your butt in gear. Still need to get a few presents, but the thought of dodging all of those crazy people at the mall makes you feel faint? Well, here’s an idea: Don’t go there! Stay away! Go elsewhere!

Maybe you think that you have to go to the mall because you need that gift card to Abercrombie and Fitch, or Justice, or Kohl’s…think Shaw’s in Sanford. Need a bookstore gift card? They have that. An Amazon gift card? Check.  Old Navy? Check. About the only thing they didn’t have last Tuesday morning at 8AM was a crowd. No crowd equals no line at the register.

Here’s another idea: go to the new Tractor Supply Store, which just recently opened in Sanford (right next to Wal-Mart). They have some cute things in the front of the store that are kind of unique.

Where NOT to go: Portsmouth AT&T. We bought a phone there and added a line and when we went to activate it, it WOULDN’T ACTIVATE. Now, there was no problem with the phone itself (cute, blue, the one my daughter wanted); it worked fine. The problem (which took about and hour and a half of my life on the phone with AT&T customer service to figure out) was that even though they said you could activate the line at a later date (you know, so you weren’t paying  $30 plus taxes and fees for the new rate plan, the line itself, text messaging while the phone sat in its box under the tree, unused)…wait for it….wait for it…you really CAN’T do that! It has to be activated by them at the Portsmouth store! Fifty three miles from where you are now! Surprise! Fooled ya!

The only thing worse than being a “Last minuter” is finding yourself scrambling at the last minute through not fault of your own (this transaction happened 11/22/10!)

So there you are: three shopping(and full working) days before Christmas, and S.O.L., as my grandmother used to say.

Hello, Radio Shack. They’ll be open until 9pm tonight. 🙂