Feb 2010
Funny how the strangest things can turn you into the crazy lady at the mall........... well that's what my daughter called it...........The cell phone that never was (sub title).
SO the reason this even came to mind......... I NEED a NEW phone.... no I don't just want one I really need one, and although I am supposedly technologically savvy I truly do hate having to figure out all those "Special Features" on the phone(most of which I still haven't explored). BUT I finally decided it was time. So after talking to several friends looking and looking and looking and did I mention looking I finally decided on the mother of all gadget phones..... the IPhone.
Did you know yo can tune your guitar with an IPhone app? Not that I would ever have a reason to tune a guitar since I don't play, however knowing that I have the capability to do an emergency tuning was very appealing..... anyway I'm off topic.
So where was I yes the amazing Apple IPhone, ok these guys really out did themselves. So I am at the Apple website checking "the availability in my area" when I get the it is going to cost you your first born child and a kidney message...... "your phone is not eligible for upgrade". What? I ask myself. How can that be?
Thinking thinking thing....... I ordinarily ALWAYS buy my phones in case I ever want to break up with Cingular... oh excuse me AT & T....... although I will never leave them, they are truly the longest relationship I have ever had, but being the true commitment phobI am..... I just want the option of leaving.... you know just in case someone else catches my eye.... I mean a different carrier has a deal I just can't pass up. It is a love hate relationship......... I guess they all are really, so even when times are bad..... I stay...
Ok so back to the Kidney message. I remember getting my daughter a new phone. AND AGAIN... I needed one, mine had arthritis seemed to never want to work when it rained, that is totally true.... folks I cannot make this stuff up! So I got all excited with her fancy smanchy touch screen and opted for one myself..... and I decided to take the commitment plunge.... yes I married AT & T and I have to say although not as fancy as a real wedding it took just as long.....
Oh let me tell you how Radio Shack figures into all of this..... turns out we had looked all over for the particular phone my teen unit wanted and they were all sold out...... happened to be at the mall and saw the Radio Shack display of cell phones..... Imagine my excitement!! Woot Woot! I get to spend money I don't have paying a bill I can't afford so my daughter can have a new phone so that she is in CONSTANT contact will all the important folks in her life. I mean I wouldn't want her to miss and appointment or that big meeting......... oh WAIT.... no big meetings, just gobs of forwarded jokes and the incessant texting...... please don't forward I'm an angel to me and ask me to send it to 10 other angels I know..... Honestly I'm 40 years old and I don't know any angels.... NOT one.... well I do know someone named Angel.... Is that what they mean?? Who knows ten folks named Angel????????????? Off topic again.... back to Radio Shack!
How many times have I heard, read or said "If it's too good to be true it probably is?" Well it is..... and remind me of that the next time I see a deal....... Just because eggs are on sale 10 cartons for a buck DOES NOT mean I should buy ten cartons of eggs..... I don't even cook and I would not know the first thing about what to do with an egg, except try to return it to its poor mother...... yes bleeding heart....
So all of the prices in Radio Shack are MUCH lower than anywhere else we had gone and they had the phone so abracadabra POOF my daughter has the new Touch screen phone.... the coolest kid around..... oh and her mom (me) got one too.....my feeble attempt at coolness I suppose.
Ok so two days later and a blood transfusion ( I exaggerate but boy it sure takes a long time to get a new phone...... I'm an existing customer, if you can make a phone I can touch to dial and talk out loud to dial can't you just hit the she decided to finally marry you button and I'll be on my way?) I have my new cool touch phone and realize....... I evidently "Don't have the right touch". I could never call or text anybody in my address book past the letter T. Not sure why, it wasn't the phone my daughter could do it...... I just couldn't make it work.... So off to annul my nuptials, the salesman at Radio Shack assured me I had 30 days so off I went.
Actually it wasn't to hard, except I seemed to be really annoying the manager, he offered me every phone in the store, as I kept saying NO...... finally he wore me down...... ahhh I see a pattern here..... this is how ALL of my terrible relationships start..... NO NO NO NO NO, then ok I'll try it.... we date for a while and then I can't get rid of them..... So he talks me into the most ANCIENT model on the floor..... heck the screen even looked old. I NEVER used it NOT ONCE, NOT ONE call or text from this pretty yet useless red phone.
SOOOOOO I took it back..... first time went smoothly, surely the second time would too...... OH NO...... this is where the crazy lady in the mall part comes in...... Unfortunately my daughter was a witness to this, and you'll have to ask her what I said, and how I was flailing about, but as it was happening it seemed completly sane to me..... evidently not judging form my daughter and the small crowd.... although I knew something was a miss when I looked at my daughters face.... and the fact that she had stepped away from me and the counter.
Evidently I was NOT within my 30 days anymore...... they started counting in a different spot than I did....... I really was livid.... I have a phone I don't want, A phone I NEVER wanted and NOW NOT ONLY do I have to stay married to it for at a minimum of TWO long years, but I can't even swap it for a cooler model.... Are you kidding me??
Ok well I was in NO way having that..... I calmly explained the insanity of the situation to the manager (Calmy of course meaning hissy fit/ temper tantrum). I, in retrospect, am quite impressed he held his ground.... At this point I did what all the crazy ladies in the mall do (you know the ones returning the tennis shoes that the tread is completely worn down..... or returning the Champagne colored cocktail dress that they shouldn't have been drinking red wine while wearing it in the first place.... all the while screaming at the helpless sales girl "THE TAG IS STILL ON IT") I DEMANDED to have the NUMBER of his manager...... oh yea THE DISTRICT manager muah ha ha ha ha ha ha!! And it worked!! By george I knew I was right... I called the district manager right in from of the Radio Shack in the mall manager, explained the situation to him and he asked to speak with the Radio Shack Mall Bully and low and behold... The annulment was complete..... I was back to my arthritic phone (which I had been using the whole time anyway) and I was satisfied...... oh so satisfied......
AND THEN..... dum dum dum... you knew that was coming... surely you did.....
I once again decide to go phone shopping, about a month or two after the Radio Shack "incident"....... my daughter is afraid that if she has an emergency and it is raining she won't be able to get in touch with me..... well she was right....
So I am not going to that Radio Shack NO way!! I go directly to the Cingular.... DARN AT & T store sorry...... pick out the cutest green phone... with a touch screen AND key pad, just in case I need to get in touch with any of those folks past the letter T. The sweet young man is ever so patient with me.... I had to try them all.... and he had to laugh when he realized my fingers REALLY don't make the screen work.... still no explanation..... I just don't have the touch.... hmmmm.....
We go to the counter, he pulls up my account and says............
"you can't have this phone ma'am.... your still under contract for a phone you bought a month ago.....
WHAT???? Are you kidding me? The mall guy got me back.... jerk... he said it would take 24 hours.... what he meant was 24 months.... wait I am getting ahead of myself.
I explain what happened to the young man at At & T... he asked for the receipts, and believe it or not I still had them IN MY CAR WOOT WOOT!!! He tolded me he would get it all fixed and to come back in 72 hours........ I did not come back in 72 hours.......... I should have come back in 72 hours. Instead I called the insurance for the phone that I had been paying for the last one million years and filed a claim.... and they sent me a BRAND new version of my little arthritic phone.... I was so happy... so very happy..... BUT
Like with all my phones, the shelf life is only about a year and then things seem to go wrong. I was going to just call the warranty and get a new one, but I decided to take the Plunge AGAIN..... one more time.... saying I DO to my longtime partner.... AT & T.....
As you can guess from the beginning of the story...... AT & T did not get it resolved...... so I called, the sweet young lady was very apologetic and told me I would have to contact RADIO SHACK AGHHHHH from a YEAR AND A HALF ago............. Are you kidding?? I have to do it all over again? this time without the receipts???? Not at all upset with AT & T but I am LIVID with Radio Shack and their manager..............
I haven't called yet....... or gone by BUT I will and then you'll have the rest of the story....
Radio Shack still has me tuned to AM (Always Mad) Can bad customer service really last a year and a half?????????????????
I have to say I am not at all surprised that so many of the stores are closing....... not a bit!!
to be continued
November 2010.... Well there was no continued.. The BEASTS at Radio shack won!! By the time I fought the contract I had on the phone I never owned it would be over....... Soo I waited the week and ended up with the I am gonna drive you nuts for the first few months with a touch screen phone.... AKA IPHONE
Wal_Mart Panty Poser
