…And it’s pouring cats, dogs, and elephants for me. Note, this is a rant-post, so if you’re not interested in my rant, then please proceed to the next post. This is a busy, hectic time for me; work is busy, school assignments are due, and being a digital strategist, I need my smartphone.
My Smartphone Committed Suicide and I’m NEVER buying another handset from bMobile again..
Last Thursday, my Samsung Galaxy Note2’s screen decided not to work.. really, the rest of the phone was responding except the screen. Given that I made the grave error of purchasing such a device from a local bMobile outlet, because of the option of warranty in the case of accident, I took it back to them on Friday morning. This device is not even nine months old yet, keep in mind. Any novice techie can see that it was a clear hardware issue, except of course, bMobile’s wonderful representatives, who clearly do not work with technology on a daily basis. After discussing it for roughly an hour, they then proceeded to tell me that because the device was in my possession when the screen developed a hairline fracture under the screen, they cannot honour the warranty. Needless to say, I was ready to kill someone.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that the function of warranties or insurance? If you hit your car, given that you have fully comprehensive coverage, doesn’t the insurance company foot the bill? The same should go for all warranties of the like. For instance, as long as I do not intentionally destroy my Macbook Air (like microwaving it, which is what people do apparently), if something goes terribly wrong, Apple will replace it. The same goes for most international hardware companies, like Samsung, Sony, Motorola, et cetera. But not bMobile, it’s not like they will have to foot any bill anyway; it was an LCD swap, which I know costs them little to nothing, given that they purchase hardware in bulk.
From here on out, I’ll be purchasing everything online, and save myself the $2-3K by buying online. (And that includes shipping 😉 )
Paying a premium price for any device in this ****hole of a third world country is a waste of money. Lesson learned. (Yes fiancé, you can say “I told you so” now…)
GATE, Immigration and Frustration
Speaking of third world ****holes, the Government services here are worse than bMobile; at least their intention of stealing your money is apparent and obvious. On Thursday (yes, Thursday was a bad day for me OKAY!), my tertiary institute of higher learning sent me the grave email of GATE office’s denial of recognising the very legal citizen stamp at the back of my passport, and further to that, the law which states that if a birth parent is a citizen or national, that citizenship is passed on to offspring.
Now, one can say it was my fault for never thinking about organising that stuff, but I really had no idea that they would not recognise an immigration citizen stamp made all the way back in 1997. And further to that, for them to completely ignore my mother’s nationality on my birth certificate is beyond me. So I requested that the institution request a time-leniency on my behalf for me to organise the required documents. Within an hour, I received an email from the institution that the deadline was Friday at 1pm, not even 24 hours away. It goes without saying, I was red in the face, and ears steaming, and my blood was at boiling point.
Anyone who knows anything about Trinidad, knows that nothing takes 24 hours, except funerals under islamic rights. So, this morning, I rang immigration asking what documents take 24 hours to process in there.. and most certainly, none of them do. A certificate of immigration status takes three to four months. So I rang Elections and Boundaries Commission to find out how long it takes to receive a national identification card; and as one would expect, two months for processing. Passport office: got an appointment three weeks away, but after that appointment, it take two to three months. So, to what is GATE referring to when they say 24 hours?
Lesson Learned: Never trust a Government promise..
I am still without a mobile phone, and quite frustrated.
