Operation Cell Phone: The Saga Continues
Following up on a recent post about getting a new phone, I am finally moving to a new phone. My cousin, Luke, has resisted owning a cell phone until this week, where he bought a Nokia 3100 phone. I was not aware of this phone's introduction, but the very afternoon after he got it, I went down to my local Fido store to check it out.The phone itself is quite a nice size. It feels to be about three quarters the size of my Nokia 3390 phone, which in and of itself is a good selling point. Since it's made by Nokia, I know that I will not have any problems with the interface of the phone, like I do with every single other brand I've ever tried. It doesn't have Bluetooth, which is a shame, but I think I will pick up a USB data cable for it, and try to hack to work with iSync. Apparently, the phone will show up as a mass storage device when plugged in, so at the very least, I should be able to copy over images and ring-tones without having to use the Windows-only Nokia PC Suite.
Now, you'd think it would be easy to purchase a phone. And by all rights, it should be. Unfortunately, for me, this is not the case. Fido introduced something they like to call Fido Rewards. For every $100 you spend with Fido, you get five FidoDollars™. A few months ago, Fido informed me that for being such a great customer *cough*, I would get fifty free FidoDollars.
* * *
Now, as you may recall, I bought a Sony Ericsson Z200 phone, but returned it after a week of using it. At that time, Fido Rewards had not started, and instead I used a "hardware upgrade credit" that I had with Fido. For whatever reason, my hardware upgrade credit took away the fifty FidoDollars I had received. When I returned the phone, Fido neglected to credit these FidoDollars back to me.
* * *
So, I go to the Fido store, and I say, "Hi. I'd like to buy the Nokia 3100, and I'd like to use my FidoDollars that I have in my account." The lady at the counter brings up my account, confirms the fifty-some-odd FidoDollars (I accumulated a few more after paying my last bill), and starts putting things in motion. She tells me that it will take about two days to reach me because it has to be shipped. *rolling eyes* Fine, whatever. (Why they don't carry actual stock in their Vancouver flagship store, I'll never know.) Except that now the computer won't let her place the order. She informs me that I need to call Fido Customer Service, and order it through them. It will take probably a week. Of course it will.
But it gets better (or worse). I call Fido, and speak with Gabriel, a helpful young man who does his best to order the phone for me. He asks me if I bought a phone recently using a hardware upgrade credit. I tell him I did, and inform him that I also returned it a week later. Odd, he says. There are no notes in my file to corroborate my story. I tell him to check my invoices. It will show the credit. Sure enough it does, and he digs deeper.
To make a long story not much longer, the billing department is going to have to review my file before the FidoDollars can be credited back to my account. They should get to it within a week's time. *choke* And for whatever reason, I can't order the phone at full price, and then be credited the difference later. In fact, I can't even order the phone at full price. Period. The computer system won't allow for it unless I have five FidoDollars. (Sounding like a great program? I think so!)
Gabriel assured me that he would check on things every day to see if the billing department returned my stolen FidoDollars. He said he knows it sounds unintuitive for it to take a week to credit my account for something that is so obviously their mistake, but that's the way things work in a bureaucracy. I ask what he can do to make up for this inconvenience. He says he can credit me $5 to my account. But not five FidoDollars (all that I need to order the phone). No, only the billing department can do that.
And that takes us to my present situation. I am anxiously awaiting the day when I can pay for the phone I want. Actually, I can pay for it now. I am waiting for the day when Fido will let me pay for it. *Sigh*
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