Tuesday 14 November 2017

The Phone is Dead, But Not My Resolve

The perplexed look on their face was both frustrating and perplexing. This was the salesperson who was supposed to be the expert on phones for the store.

They knew their craft, or rather how to sell phones with plans. The concept of someone just buying the phone and not get a new plan was foreign to them.

I spelled out what I was looking for:

Cheap (as in less than $100.00).
All I want it to do is phone and text.
No contract renewal.

In essence all I wanted was a cheap phone to tie me over until I decide to buy a fancy new phone. I just wanted to put my SIM card in the new phone and go.

I didn’t want to sign up for a new contract, just to get a “cheap” phone. Why? For one I already have a contract, so I just need a phone.

For another, that phone is not cheap or free. You are just financing the portion of the phone that you do not pay for up front . . . over the term of the contract.

Since your phone company is not telling you the cost of financing, and they are not competing for your phone financing business, I can only shudder to guess what that phone will actually cost you.

Even more infuriating was that I had to explain this to the salesperson and even then they did not believe me. 

Again, this is due to the fact that this was not in their sales training manual. I can’t imagine why the mobile phone providers would want to hide this from people.

They kept insisting that she could keep my monthly payments the same or less. Again, this was not my concern, I just didn’t see the need to sign up for another term.

I had to squawk to get to tier two customer service just to get this plan . . . I highly doubt that you, in the store, can do better. 

The other thing is that I actually want to know the details of what I am agreeing to, not just the bottom line cost. (I’m that annoying kind of customer.)

Then there is that thing that I like the freedom of not being obligated to stay with a particular phone company. I like the knowledge that I control this relationship, the company doesn’t.

Why was I shopping for a phone? Well, Saturday morning my phone that I bought brand new in October or November of 2012, just decided to not boot up anymore (go figure).

I was tempted to just buy a phone and be done with it; put it on a card and carry a balance. Then I mentally reviewed my budget and dug in my heels. 

I am still in The Trough and have to spend nothing and just get through this. 

Sure, last payday I was able to put some cash aside, but that’s it; it was put aside and not for me to spend.

I still have to get through to next payday before I can have any wiggle room in my budget. 

That is when I will have my Personal Overdraft back, until then I only have $20.00 in my bank account and that concept scares me. 

An old friend of mine came through for me and is in the process of sending me one of his old phones. 

That is fine for me, as I just want it to phone and text. All of the nifty things I do on my iPad.

As always: Keep your head up, your attitude positive, and keep moving forward!

6 comments:

  1. If you want I can look at your phone and see if I can fix it for you. I'm in Calgary so it's convenient. It could be the cord isn't charging it anymore.

    Also, you need to use your words. LOL... So when you talk to a salesperson the magic word is UNLOCKED as in you want to buy a phone that is UNLOCKED. This means not with any service.

    You can find an UNLOCKED phone sold on Kijiji or Craigslist or even Facebook marketplace or buy sell groups.

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