Thursday, January 17, 2008

EAD Part Deux















As tradition would stipulate (ok, only 2 weeks of tradition) -> I used my standard wednesday day off to do another hiking and exploring expedition with Jess. This time we didn't go on quite a hike that Mt. Lofty was, and unfortunately there were no waterfalls but I did get to see a few critters you don't encounter too often in the States: Koala Bears. Unfortunately, for my sister Rachel, I was not able to climb a tree and take one back with me, since these guys were in the wild, but, it was pretty sweet to see them right up close, in the wild. They pretty much just sit-up in the tree all day and sleep but it was still a cool site to see, and now I can cross it off the list for my Australian things to do...

Meanwhile... I've encountered quite a dilemma since I've been here with my new Australian phone. This is a funny story:
I purchased a pay-and go phone from the Optus store right by my gym in the mall on December 21st. The plan included a 2-week warranty that if there was a malfunction. Well, as one could probably guess where this is going - there was a malfunction, on day 17. I took it back just 3 days after the 2 week grace period was up and explained to them that everytime I wanted to send a text message I would actually have to take the phone apart, take the battery and SIM card out, and then put it back together and turn it back on - only to be able to send one text message. They pretty much told me to call Nokia and check the Text Message Profile and make sure I had the right number code - did that, it was correct. They also told me to put the SIM card into someone else's phone and see if it worked correct - I did that, and it was correct. So I went back to the store for the 2nd time that week and they gave me one option: send the phone away to nokia to get it fixed and it would take about 2-4 weeks, however, they didn't have a spare phone for me to use so i left the store rather distraught over their business practice. When it became too much of a hassle over the weekend I went back in on Monday and told them there was to be another option or they must give me a phone to borrow. They gave me one other option to go into the city to the Nokia care center in the city and have them fix it right away. After a few days passed I was able to make it to the city and upon talking to the very helpful Sarah, who told me that Nokia would not fix it there because their policy calls for a 30 day exchange warranty on all phones regardless of what the individual store's policy was. She gave me her name and their number and said if there were any problems at the store to have them call her. As one could expect, when I returned to the store 2 days later - the Optus store that is, the manager didn't budge on their policy. Refusing to give me the same (new) phone, he even called the Nokia Care Center as instructed to hear that he would have to and even after he heard this, he spent 1 hour on the phone with Optus getting the opposite directions out of them - he finally gave me a code number to give to the Nokia center for them to fix it. A mere two days later - after securing a friends phone to borrow for a week, I made my way back to the Nokia center, where they finally took my phone in to get serviced despite their reluctance and assurance it should have been fully exchanged. Fun times, eh?

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