The great phone caper
I just wanted a simple trade...An average, everyday happening in the world of retail.
Not completely satisfied with my choice of the Sony Ericsson W350 I had chosen for my AT & T upgrade, I decided to take advantage of the 30-day return policy and get the perty little LG Shine that I had seen at Best Buy. On Sunday Steve went with me to the AT & T store to see about returning the phone - in case he needed to be passive aggressive with them on my behalf.
(OK, Steve isn't really passive aggressive but there's a funny story about that - ask him sometime).
The ATT dude said a return would not be a problem. They had the Shines live and on display so Steve and I took it for a test drive. I really liked it. All I needed to do was go home and get the fixins that came with the Sony, return it to ATT then jaunt a mile or so down the street to Best Buy to get a Shine.
YAY!
Now, is anything REAALLLYY ever that easy??
Of course not!!
* First went to Target to return the Bluetooth I bought for the Sony. This would cover me for any 'restocking fee'. That process took almost 20 minutes because they had to call for an approval.
(By the way, if you ever want to return something purchased with a gift card at Target, make sure you don't do an exchange with it...If you then return the exchanged item, you'll never see your gift card money again)
* After Target it was off to AT & T. As I was standing in line I realized I better make sure that Best Buy would still honor the Shine purchase as an upgrade since I had used my upgrade for the Sony. I stepped out of line and went to Best Buy to ask.
* The guy at Best Buy said "No problem - they reverse your upgrade."
YAY!
* Returned to ATT. Phone return no problem. No restock fee.
YAY!
* Returned to BB. Found the guy I talked to before. He was all set to help me but his supervisor informed us that it might not be that easy. Apprently ATT likes to be funny about these kinds of things. Sure enough the upgrade had not been reversed. The reversal could take days. The BB supervisor had fought the battle before and there was no way to reverse it on BB's end. They contacted someone they knew at ATT who thankfully agreed to match the BB FREE price.
YAY!
*Back to ATT for my new phone - finally!
* Walked into ATT and explained the deal only to be told that the chick who approved the deal wasn't in the store and she apparently couldn't approve something like that without proper codes and blah blah blah. My patience started to wear a little thin but I realized I was the one who initiated the whole thing by wanting to trade in the Sony. The lady at ATT was able to reverse the upgrade in the system and said I was now good to go...
Yep - that meant 'good to go BACK to Best Buy' to get the phone there. I asked her to please first call BB to assure me that the issue was fixed on their end as well as hers because I didn't want to make another journey back up Glenway.
* Returned to Best Buy. Got phone. Love it.
Thank you, Jesus for a crazy distraction to keep my mind off of less wonderful things in my life at this time!
Heeeeeerrrre's my new phone!
pic borrowed from techdigest.com
Now for real...
Not completely satisfied with my choice of the Sony Ericsson W350 I had chosen for my AT & T upgrade, I decided to take advantage of the 30-day return policy and get the perty little LG Shine that I had seen at Best Buy. On Sunday Steve went with me to the AT & T store to see about returning the phone - in case he needed to be passive aggressive with them on my behalf.
(OK, Steve isn't really passive aggressive but there's a funny story about that - ask him sometime).
The ATT dude said a return would not be a problem. They had the Shines live and on display so Steve and I took it for a test drive. I really liked it. All I needed to do was go home and get the fixins that came with the Sony, return it to ATT then jaunt a mile or so down the street to Best Buy to get a Shine.
YAY!
Now, is anything REAALLLYY ever that easy??
Of course not!!
Here is a bullet-point summary of the next couple of hours:
* First went to Target to return the Bluetooth I bought for the Sony. This would cover me for any 'restocking fee'. That process took almost 20 minutes because they had to call for an approval.
(By the way, if you ever want to return something purchased with a gift card at Target, make sure you don't do an exchange with it...If you then return the exchanged item, you'll never see your gift card money again)
* After Target it was off to AT & T. As I was standing in line I realized I better make sure that Best Buy would still honor the Shine purchase as an upgrade since I had used my upgrade for the Sony. I stepped out of line and went to Best Buy to ask.
* The guy at Best Buy said "No problem - they reverse your upgrade."
YAY!
* Returned to ATT. Phone return no problem. No restock fee.
YAY!
* Returned to BB. Found the guy I talked to before. He was all set to help me but his supervisor informed us that it might not be that easy. Apprently ATT likes to be funny about these kinds of things. Sure enough the upgrade had not been reversed. The reversal could take days. The BB supervisor had fought the battle before and there was no way to reverse it on BB's end. They contacted someone they knew at ATT who thankfully agreed to match the BB FREE price.
YAY!
*Back to ATT for my new phone - finally!
* Walked into ATT and explained the deal only to be told that the chick who approved the deal wasn't in the store and she apparently couldn't approve something like that without proper codes and blah blah blah. My patience started to wear a little thin but I realized I was the one who initiated the whole thing by wanting to trade in the Sony. The lady at ATT was able to reverse the upgrade in the system and said I was now good to go...
Yep - that meant 'good to go BACK to Best Buy' to get the phone there. I asked her to please first call BB to assure me that the issue was fixed on their end as well as hers because I didn't want to make another journey back up Glenway.
* Returned to Best Buy. Got phone. Love it.
Thank you, Jesus for a crazy distraction to keep my mind off of less wonderful things in my life at this time!
Heeeeeerrrre's my new phone!
pic borrowed from techdigest.com
Now for real...
YAY!!!!!!!!
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