Fuck I hate mobile phone companies. This is why:
A few months ago my 2 yr old phone was dying a slow and horrible death. What had been a great phone (functionality wise) was rapidly losing the ability to stay on, battery dropping out every few hours.
As if by magic, a lady from 3mobile called and told me I could get a new phone if I renewed my contract. Please note: I knew this was not magic. I knew she had called at that time because:
a) my phone had been built to break after approx. 2 years, in line with contract length; and
b) by calling me a few months before my contract was due to end I would be pleasantly suprised and not question why I was getting a new phone earlier than expected
I was clever though and I refused to choose a phone right there and then. She'll rip me off, I thought. I'll go into the shop and pick one myself. The nice man assured me my sensible, sturdy, economic, simple phone was going to be a good one (of course the LG phone I loved had been discontinued as everyone wants freakin' touchscreens now not flip phones).
I secured new phone and new plan only to since discover the following:
1. new phone is shit. it takes an age to start up again after being placed on the charger. it takes an age to perform any simple task. nothing is straightforward. i can't do the simplest of things. it is shit.
2. if i had waited mere weeks i could have gotten an iphone on my plan.
That's right folks. bitch at 3 was palming off the old phones so that less people would get iphones.
I have been mad about this for some time, but, as I have an aversion to touchscreens and fads I thought I'd just plod along with my shitty nokia. Until I got a bill in which I had gone $100 over my plan.
SHE SIGNED ME UP TO A NEW PLAN WITH HIGHER RATES. WITHOUT TELLING ME.
FUCKER.
Ever the optimist, I trotted along to the 3 shop today. Am old fashioned. Believe in customer service. You know, the man actually smirked at me, almost laughed out loud, when I told him what had happened. I asked - if I upgrade to a higher rate plan, can I have an iphone?
Oh no, that'll be $35 a month extra thankyouverymuch. On top of the new, higher cost plan.
How can they? How can they build these things to break and manipulate us so severely? Why don't people want to create quality merchandise and develop quality relationships with customers? As the world dies under a heap of rubbish and the bigwigs trip over themselves to claim they are green, no one is pointing out (or dare I say it legislating against) this absolute waste of resources, time and money.
YOU DO NOT NEED A NEW PHONE EVERY 2 YEARS. THEY JUST MAKE YOU GET ONE BY SELLING YOU SHITTY PRODUCTS.
When I actually think about this rip off and about how helpless I am to do anything about it, I feel like crying. Clothes, computers, appliances: all built to break. Why is no one (well no one prominent and powerful) saying that this fundamental principal is killing the earth and causing mental breakdowns in young and normally happy-go-lucky public servants like myself?
I left the shop not knowing how to solve the problem. I need a good phone. I am an obsessive communicator and, in today's society, the phone is an essential tool. But I don't want to pay them an extra $50 a month. And I don't want an iphone that will just break in two years. I want to leave 3 but I'd have to pay out my contract and all the other companies are the same anyway.
Why hasn't a phone company stood up and offered something different? Phones that don't break? Personalised service? An honest approach?
I left the shop and went off to iku in search of a soul reparing vegan lunch. Mmmm mushroom, thyme and leek pie I thought and purchased happily.
STUPID PIE WAS FULL OF LIMA BEANS.
So many lima beans I could barely taste the mushroom. I saw no leek. I tasted no thyme. It was fucking lima bean pie. Do you know what I don't like?
LIMA BEANS.
LIMA BEANS AND MOBILE PHONES: YOU'RE ON MY LIST.
Also on my list this week:
- 90 page strategy documents
- backing tracks that do not match the original
- people that think they know better than I do about my personal life
- rooms that do not tidy themselves
...
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The Blurb
- maeve
- For maevegobash: yeah, I just like thinking/writing/talking about myself. That's what blogs are for, right? For vegepalooza: I have been vegetarian for 25 years now - so that's always for me. My mothers cooked a storm up in the kitchen and I am carrying the torch filling my friends bellies at every opportunity. I love food and want to share my recipes, tips and tricks here to encourage creative vegetarian eating. There will also be a lot of vegan recipes for my friends with more willpower than me (sorry kids, I just love the cheese). Anyway enjoy, feel free to criticise and most of all Happy Eating!
3 comments:
Hi, I stumbled across your blog some time ago, and read it every so often.
I hear you about mobile phones and all that crap. There is an option you may not have considered, the federal government has a Telecommunications Ombud, where you can take a complaint about your mobile phone company (more information here: http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD..PC/pc=PC_1735)
Best of all, it costs nothing.
You make me smile, you're too cute. Love your words. PS. No one likes Lima Beans ;)
This level of disappointment at inbuilt planned obsolesence is not confined to Young HGL Public Servants M. Even old HGL former PS like myself get angry. Just been doign it for longer Just been doing it for longer. & Look at my beloved, he buys most things on ebay, recycles, shops at Bower, buys old Volvos, buys his mobiles on ebay. And I join my local permaculture group. All this so we can find another way other than being hijacked by these things you mention.
I also write to companies to tell them why their service is dishonest and deceitful. So good on you for being cranky. That's one way of gaining wisdom :-)
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