The Epic Tale of Phones 4 You

So I finally decided that getting a pay as you go phone would be a good idea. Mostly for when I travel, even just out of the city to my school placement. All my housemates got phones a few days ago and told me they were working great, so I decided to give it a shot.

Day 1:

So I went to Phones4You and asked the nice man behind the counter to sell me the cheapest phone they had, because I would only need it for four months, and an international SIM card (so the phone can call other countries). He seemed alright, got me the same phone everyone else in my house had and a SIM card. He told me that the phone would have to be unlocked before I could put the international card in it, but that if I went around the corner, four doors down, there was a store that could unlock it. So I bought the phone and went four doors around the corner. There I asked the nice man behind the counter to unlock my phone so I could use an international SIM card, to which he replied that he couldn't do that. I explained to him that the sales man in Phones4You told me that he could, and he told me that maybe he would be able to if I came back in a month. So I went back to Phones4You and told Mr. spiky hair that the other store couldn't unlock it. He told me that customer service could unlock it and that I should use up the minutes on my non-international card and then call them and have them switch it. I agreed and went back to the house. While playing with it that night, my housemates and I found out that I could call people, but the phone wouldn't take incoming calls.

Day 2:

So I went back to Phones4You and told another guy that I needed the international SIM card to work, and I needed it to work now. He asked who sold me the phone I had and I told him about the kid with the spiky hair. He then replied that that kid was a moron and had sold me the wrong network. He told me that the manager had already gone home for the night and that if I came in the next day, he would make sure it got sorted out.

Day3:

So I went, again, to Phones4You. The manager was a woman in a black dress with her hair pulled back tight and a forced smile. She told me that the first guy had sold me a phone that needed unlocking (which I already knew) and got customer service on the phone. She told me that when they answered that I should just say that I needed to have my phone unlocked. Well... customer service told me that it would cost twenty pounds and take ten days to do... so I told them I'd call them back. I told the woman that I couldn't pay that much and asked her if she could please just give me the other network. So, she called headquarters (wherever that is). So she told them the whole story and practically had to beg them to let her switch out the phones. So headquarters asked for my registration so that they could give me the credit or whatever. When I told her that the sales guy had never asked my name, she rolled her eyes and looked like she was probably going to kill him when she saw him. I gave her my name anyway. They looked it up, and, low and behold, it was not in the registry (what a shock). So she took the phone box and scanned it to pull up the registration. She then came back and told headquarters that the sales guy must have heard my name wrong and entered the wrong thing. They asked her what the name was, she looked at me, smiled apologetically, and said, "Sally Green." I just about fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard! So, she credited me for the wrong phone, got me the right phone and explained to me how the British mobile phone system works. She was really nice, and I appreciated her answering my culturally ignorant questions like "what does 'top up' mean?" It means to add minutes to your phone... which kind of makes sense when you think about it.

The moral of the story is drawn from something that I was taught when I was very little and forget sometimes as I get older, but when I forget it always costs me: When you go into Home Depot find the person with the dirtiest tool belt, with the most tools possible shoved into it to help you. Then, and only then, will you get the right information.