gigamatic

sadly, my Color Sidekick has been rebooting itself over and over and over for the last couple days and won't recognize my sim card. I called the carrier, explained the error messages, and (of course) they said it's a bad unit that I'll need to replace (without even suggesting I test the sim card in a different phone, incidentally).

so, i said i'd like to take advantage of the insurance program for which i pay a large fee every month, and for $35 get a new phone with a new 6 month warranty. my new phone is going to be delivered today, no thanks to the incompetent and non-english-speaking woman who took my claim. she not only forgot to get my contact phone number and email address, but also entered the wrong address. She probably also charged the wrong credit card. Lord knows she couldn't write things down even when I spelled them out. K E N N Y became KENY. 2-5-0-0 became 25000. And she left out a few words, too. Good thing I checked with another agent before I ended the call.

today, of course, it's being shipped thru the yellow-colored service, which frequently sends our boxes over to other parts of campus in other departments. and, even if it does make it to our building, our normal guy in receiving is out on vacation and his backup is, to put it nicely, rather dimwitted and slow, and sometimes turns away our packages.

i think my poor sidekick is doomed. and if, by some miracle, it arrives in one piece and it works ok, i promise i will cherish it as much as the last one.

Update: That yellow shipping company screwed it up. They changed the address all right, but now it wasnt even close. When I called their 800 number to find out what the delivery problem was, the guy laughed when he pulled it up in their database: NO STREET ADDRESS. Simply "University". Brilliance abounds.

How do these people have JOBS (presuming they're here in the U.S.)? Jesus.

Oh, and I just spent 15 minutes on the phone (mostly on hold) trying to get a service credit for the time while I cannot use my Sidekick, and arguing that I only have the data plan, so free minutes doesnt do me any good. ("But you could keep them till you used them" -- BUT I WONT USE THEM! I CANNOT GET A SIGNAL WHERE I SPEND MOST OF MY TIME, which is WHY I DONT HAVE PHONE SERVICE ON THIS DEVICE! So, I got a $2 credit.

The guys I work with are scared. Our new Blackberries are arriving today, and the service is thru the same carrier. HA.