Archive for January, 2010

Ooh, so where do I start?

It’s been a while since my last post. I’m still working 55-(almost)-60 hours per week. (Welcome to the life of a Store Manager) Things should start to quiet down as time goes on–and we will see how that goes. (Maybe I’m just dedicated!)

Anyway, about a month or so ago: I was eagerly awaiting the release of the Nexus One from Google, my contract was up and ready to be renewed, and I was absolutely sure that I wanted that phone! So the release date finally came — I was ever so excited to purchase mine, as I had been a good boy and did not spend the money I was saving aside for it. However, things took a wrong turn when I attempted to Upgrade/Purchase this phone on Google’s website. The website said that T-Mobile customers were able to get the Nexus One for $179.99, but when you attempted to upgrade it would offer you the phone for $379.99. Wow, $200 MORE than I was expecting and led to believe it would cost. So I called T-Mobile to inquire about why this happened, fully aware that it was Google that was offering a outrageous price, but just expecting that T-Mobile would be able to help non-the-less since their Logo was the only one on the Google website as a carrier.

Talking with T-Mobile, I was told that they do have “private” criteria that is used to determine a customer’s purchase-price on the website, and that I would have to call Google HTC to find out more information. So I called the number given, and spoke to an HTC rep that told me T-Mobile was lying, and that their servers were actually the ones feeding Google with the pricing info per Customer. HTC said that T-Mobile was lying to me, and merely sending me to talk to the manufacturers of the phone just to get me off of their support call, since they had no real fix for me. Well, hearing this (true or not) did upset me; so I called T-Mobile back and told them what information I was given by HTC and that supposedly “T-Mobile lied to me”. T-Mobile was not much help when I asked for a Supervisor. I was told that the person I was speaking to was practically a Supervisor and she was sure she could help me. After about 40 minutes on the phone with her, she was little to no help, except that she did manage to make me angrier by talking in a super-cheeful tone for 40 minutes. She finally gave me a alternate phone number for Google and said that I should call it, as she tried when she placed me on Hold, but that the Automated system said her wait time was “too long,”

I called the number given, only to experience that it answers your call, says it is transferring you, then “We’re sorry, this number has been disconnected or is no longer in Service, please try your call again.” Infuriated by this situation, I decided I was no longer seeking T-Mobile or the Nexus One, as I had felt pretty mis-treated as a Customer to both. T-Mobile said little about the situation until I called and actually (by some stroke of luck) got to a Supervisor, who promised I would be added to an Escalation List for this issue, and would be called/emailed within 24 hours.

48 hours later, (with no resolution or call-back/email from either side) I took my happy ass to AT&T and bought an iPhone, which I LOVE. Talk about faster internet and really-badass Apps! (You also have to understand that before this, I was not an iPhone lover-I really thought it was silly that everyone [and their dogs/cats] had this phone!) After all of this tho, I LOVE and ADORE my iPhone. It’s so much faster, holds ungodly amounts of data/apps more, and has more apps available! Not to mention it was more stable and MUCH more pretty, cosmetically. Funny thing I learned about this is that on one side, Google/Android wants to try to be as popular as iPhone – but it has a LONG way to go (and likely a lot of alienated customers to bring back [good luck with that!]).

My Top 10 Favorite/Recommended Apps so far:

1. Facebook
2. Loopt
3. 2Do
4. BillMinder
5. CardStar
6. ICHC
7. Bejewled 2
8. AP
9. Spending
10. MySpace

That is it so far, in the order that I use them.

That’s all for now, I will be back soon (possibly on my lovely new iPhone) to post again soon!

-Austin-