2013-03-21 Thu

2013-03-21 Thu

Clear Thinking

I think that there are more cell-phone-vendor kiosks in Toronto than there are Tim Hortons coffee shops.

My cell-phone partially packed in this morning. I spent the day trying to remember not to use the touch screen to accept calls, dial calls, select podcasts etc but by 6pm I'd had enough.

So I called the help-line, where a youngster assured me that I could drop the phone off and it would be sent off for inspection and repair and returned to me within six (6) weeks.

I suggested, as politely as I was able, that going without a phone for 6 weeks could not be classified as a service. He seemed inclined to agree.

After some hesitation he said that there was another option. I said it couldn't be another option since going without a phone for 6 weeks (while paying for a phone service) wasn't an option.

The first option (now) is a "loaner".

Hooray! Now we are getting somewhere.

I could drop the phone off and fill out a form, and a loaner-phone would be available for me within 7 to 10 business days.

I said that's two weeks, and dropped the stylus back onto the "going without a phone isn't an option" track.

'Gustus didn't know what to say. So I helped him out.

I suggested that the first option was for both of us to recognize that there were 17 phone kiosks between here and the southern end of the Eaton Centre, that is, within 20 minutes stroll south of where I live.

Option two, I suggested, was for him to come up with a better plan for my old cell-phone within the next twenty minutes, for by that time I'd be deeply engaged in conversation with a rival phone service.

'Gustus admired my logic, but was stumped, so we escalated the call to his supervisor; if he could locate one, which he thought he might, please hold.

I slipped on a shirt, a pair of pants, a jacket, cap and gloves, and was partway out the door when Jodi came on the line.

"How are you?". "Bundled up for a quick walk to the Eaton Centre, since you ask, where there are many brightly-lit phone kiosks and many success-oriented students doubling as sales representatives, since you ask".

In the time it took me to reach Gerrard Street, Jodi had determined that a loaner was available and was waiting for me at the corner of Dundas and Yonge. Which confused her when I asked which corner; hang on, she'd get back to me. Which she did; 10 Dundas Street East, whereas the store is really on Yonge Street about 80 yards NORTH of the corner, but ...

There's a bit of sleight of hand gone on here.

They have a loaner, but it only does phone, not podcasts, so an upgraded model was produced, for which I paid cash; they say that the balance of payment due on the old phone will be paid by them, not me, so the theory is my phone bill will go down next month, since I won't be paying off a phone.

We'll see.

Moral: Never believe the front-line help-desk; it may pay, always, to escalate the call; especially if you have, say, 17 alternate solutions.