Warning: This is a rant. If I don't get my frustrations out on paper, then it gets built up inside of me and comes out in the form of screaming at the television when the sound isn't working or throwing my keys on the floor because they refuse to hang the right way on their hook. Harmless, but should be avoided. If you do not like rants, do not read any further. I am grateful for what I have in my life, but, like I said, just need to get this out of my system.
About a month ago my cell phone plan changed, and with it came more data, because this is the future of how people spend their free time with their friends. Using data on their phones to look at unrelated, unimportant data on social networking sites. But I digress...
I tried ordering one from Amazon, only to have them come in the middle of the day trying to deliver. Of course it needed a signature, so they came back again the next day, around 4:30, and I answered my phone asking him if I had any other options for getting the package delivered because I don't get home until later in the day. He said to sign the delivery notice and he would leave it with the office the next day. When I got home there was no slip. I decided to leave work a little early to try to catch the delivery guy the next day, only to have him not show up. I called UPS and they said that they did three delivery attempts and, since I was unable to sign for it, it was being sent back to the seller. After looking online I discovered that only two delivery attempts had been made before being sent back. That night, after UPS left my building claiming they left a slip, they logged an action at 9:21pm: package being sent back to shipper. After three frustrating phone calls I finally got my money back. So I headed into the stores today, since online shopping was frustrating me beyond belief...
First I headed to T-Mobile. I told them the phones I was considering, and they told me that, because I was not an authorized user (I'm on a family plan), that I could not purchase a phone without that person's permission. They said it was to protect everybody from accessing my account, but if I walk in ready to pay top dollar for a phone I would have thought it wouldn't matter. Needless to say, thanked the person, and walked out. I decided Best Buy might have a deal. Nope. They said they had nothing for T-Mobile except for some no-contract phones that I wasn't interested in. So I then journeyed to Target. The person told me the same thing as Best Buy, but they have something else called Bright Spot, where it's a no contract phone, but it works if you put your SIM card in. They had none in stock, and referred me to a different Target.
By this point I was frustrated, fed up, but really wanted that phone. Luckily the store wasn't very far away. I went straight back to electronics, and tried pulling it off the shelf. No luck, it was locked. Three employees were all standing around at the kiosk discussing some sort of store policies and ignoring the flood of customers that were milling about in their department. Finally one of them asked if I needed any help, and I told him that I wanted to buy a cell phone. He unlocked it, and then handed it to one of the other ladies, and told her to ring me up. She kept talking, and talking, holding the cell phone that I wanted and ignoring me for what seemed like forever (ok, it was probably only 20 seconds at best). She finally told the other employee that she had to interrupt their conversation to ring me up. Well, sorry if I'm interrupting you to buy an item that's hundreds of dollars that will help keep your job secure so you can continue to ignore customers! Like I said, this is a rant.
She held out a card for insurance and said that she would insure it for $45, not even bothering to say what it covered, because clearly she was in a hurry. I said no thank you. She kept trying to convince me that it was a good idea, so I said, ever so quietly, "Fine. I'll take it." I took the bag and went out to my car to try the phone out. I have learned from experience always open electronics in the parking lot to make sure all parts are there, saves me a lot of trips. What do you know, my SIM card did not fit. I put everything back into the box and went back in. I went to customer service, receipt in hand.....and of course the same person that rung me up was not in guest services. I walked up, she of course looked very concerned, and I told her the SIM card didn't fit. She asked to see my SIM card, because no one ever believes a word I say. This isn't just her fault. This is an everyday thing with everyone I know. She took it back to electronics and had them look at it. It still wasn't fitting, and they don't accept returns on cell phones that have been opened. She recommended going to T-Mobile to get my SIM card cut to fit. She told me they had a kit for cutting it but it was expensive, to which I'm thinking, if you had better customer service you would offer this so that people wouldn't have to return $400 phones.
Off I went to T-Mobile, but of course I couldn't go to the same one, mainly because I was afraid the guy would say that he wouldn't help me because I didn't have permission to change things. I went into the store, luckily I was the only one in there, and he promptly processed a mini SIM card for me that worked. I thanked him and left, only to hear I was leaving, and another customer (Asian) was entering, "Hey, can you help the Asian guy?" Customer service really does suck these days. I know times have changed, but thirty years ago T-Mobile would have helped me find a solution rather than telling me I needed permission. Best Buy would have asked about ordering a phone, or offering a discount on a new phone if I didn't do a contract. Target would have asked if I wanted help setting the phone up, making sure everything works, or giving me a number to call if I had any problems. They also would have explained their return policy up front. The only thing that hasn't changed is the racism. That really angered me, it was the cherry on top. It wasn't so much the customer service that sucked everywhere, but just the lack of compassion for the customer. No one values business anymore. Even when I was at the customer service desk at Target they were talking about unrelated, non work stuff while helping customers. I used to work at Byerly's and if I ever did this while helping customers I would get talked to.
Anyways, the only problem with a new SIM card was that the old one no longer worked. I had no cell phone for the whole afternoon today, which wasn't so bad because I hardly get any calls. I mainly have a cell phone for calls, texts, and social networking, so I can fit in with the crowd. Seriously, though, I did need an upgrade, it was just frustrating that I had to go to five different stores to get it done. I do feel a lot better after getting this out of my system. One more thing, I also went to Taco Bell for "happy hour." I know it isn't the best place to judge, but when I asked about flavors of something that they offered, she wordlessly pointed to a sign and then walked away. I weep for the future of businesses. I will end with a quote from my grandpa, who was a successful entrepreneur himself:
"The business opportunities in this world are not golden, they are platinum. You can sell anything if you have the right approach."
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