Here We Go Again

I put a nice big crack in the front screen of my cell phone.  I'm one of those weirdos who has a "dumb" phone.  Just call and text.  That's all I want to do.  So getting a new phone should be no big deal.

I went on Verizon Wireless and found that I'm eligible for a FREE upgrade!!  How exciting.  Being the cheap and unimaginative person I am, I chose the phone that's free.

And when I went to order it online, found out that there's a $30 "upgrade charge".  Huh???  Didn't it say free upgrade?  So I called.

The girl read me the nice script she probably had right in front of her about how Verizon has chosen to charge the upgrade fee rather than charge you for the phones.   They're saving me money.  Really.

I told the nice girl that I understand she has no choice but to read my company policy, and I know it's not her fault, and she's not the one I should complain to.  But....if she could please pass on to her supervisor that I think this policy is CRAP.   And she cheerfully promised to pass that message on.  I hope she did it verbatim.

Anyway, I got the phone in the mail.  I charged it until it said "battery charged".  Then I did something really stupid.  I went to the Verizon store at Best Buy to ask them to transfer all my contacts because I was afraid I would do it wrong.  Turns out I could have hand-entered all the contacts into my new phone faster than it took me at the store.

I waited in a line.  (I hate that.)  The supervisor or whoever he was came up to each person in line to ask them what they needed.  I told him and he said, "Turn it on and follow the prompts to activate it and then I'll transfer the contacts."    Okay.

I turned it on and it immediately turned back off.   I told the supervisor guy the next time he ambled around, and he said, "hmmm...that's not good"  (literally)  and he took my phone to charge it some more.  Even though I told him about it saying "battery charged".

When it was finally my turn, I told the girl my phone was back there in the nether regions being charged again.  She found it, stared at it for 5 full minutes and then told me "It won't hold a charge".    Really?  Did you go to school to figure that out?

So...my options were to go to the "Real" Verizon store in the mall to exchange my phone, or mail this phone back to Verizon for a new one.   There was no way on God's Green Earth I was going to the Verizon store in the mall, so now I'm mailing my phone back for a new one.

Oy!