Digital Diatribe

Those of you who know me know I’ve been having issues with my phone and reception.
I called optus and had a good long bitch to them about it, and they told me I needed a car kit in my area to get enough reception to make a call.
I told them this was pretty shitty and that Vodaphone had reception in my house, so they gave me about $50 a month off my bill. Well, that shut me up for a few months. I ended up buying a carkit so I could make calls. Turns out, one tiny but utterly important part was broken when it arrived. Here is the letter I’ve finally sent to Sony Ericsson, after waiting over 2 months to have it fixed under warranty. Here are a couple more companies to add to the “Don’t Even Fucking Think About Dealing With” category.

Dear Sir or Madam:
I purchased a car kit (Model Number HCA-20) for my Sony Ericsson T610 phone on the 27th of July this year. Upon receiving the kit I noticed that the external antenna connector (part number HCE-12) did not “click” in to the car kit cradle (part number HCH-33).

The seller (Retail and Corporate Solutions, ABN: 80 110 373 996) assured me the unit came with a full 12 month warranty and told me to contact Sony Ericsson Support, which I did.
Sony Ericsson Support then suggested I take the kit into Sydney Cellular Repairs, an authorized service centre. I did this on the 5th of August. My car kit has been with them ever since.

My original job number from them was XXXXXX. They took both the HCH-33 and the HCE-12, and replaced the HCH-33. In the process of sending HCE-12 it to Fonebiz in Rockdale, it became misplaced. After waiting several weeks Fonebiz finally managed to find the part and sent it back. It still did not “click” into the HCH-33 as is specified in the instruction manual.

Sydney Cellular Repairs refused to send it back under the same job number, making me sign the item out and then sign it in again under a new job number, which I did reluctantly. The new job number is XXXXXX. They also asked for my phone, which I also provided reluctantly as I knew this was not the issue. This was several weeks ago.

I received a call last Friday from Sydney Cellular Repairs saying that Fonebiz were refusing to replace the part under warranty as they had been told by Sony Ericsson that it was not a genuine part. My understanding is that they had been told no such thing; Rather their technicians are incompetent and could not find a part number for the item having had no experience with it, and hence could not order a replacement part.

I ask that you step in and put an end to this debacle by sending me a HCH-33 and a HCE-12, making sure that they “click” together before being sent. I have no desire to deal with the incompetent staff at Fonebiz or Sydney Cellular Repairs ever again and I think that waiting 10 weeks for a $40 readily available part to be replaced under warranty is absolutely ridiculous.
I have attached my proof of purchase, and the job report given to me by Sydney Cellular Repairs. I hope this will now draw to a swift resolution.
Sincerely,
The 1MP0573R

I just want to get this out of the way.
Strathfield Car Radio is a bunch of ugly fucktards. Yes, you heard me. You are not at all attractive, and you are all unintelligent.
Now that that unpleasantness is out of the way let me explain to you how I came to this conclusion.

Several weeks ago I attempted to return my necropod. I’m pretty sure the battery is dead, and that this is covered by the extended warranty I paid real and actual monies for.
The guy behind the counter told me I had the wrong receipt, and that the extended warranty only covered the phone.
I politely pointed out to him where is said EXTENDED WARRANTY ON PHONE *AND* IPOD (italics mine, all caps theirs)

Apparently this wasn’t valid, so he would need to call head office and follow it up.
Why he couldn’t have just taken the iPod and sent it away when he got confirmation I don’t know.
Well, 2 weeks later I hadn’t heard anything back so I rang up again. I was told that a receipt would be waiting for me, and that I needed to pick it up and take it to Apple. I was a bit confused, as I’d bought the thing from Stratifield Car Radios, surely they could send it back to Apple themselves.
Anyway, I waited 2 weeks and then went in to pick up my receipt.
The minute I explain who I am, this store manager shifts into arsehole mode and says “Oh *now* you decide to come and pick it up” like it’s my fault he can’t find it in his shitheap of a store. He makes some pathetic attempt to look for it and then explains that he threw it out because he waited 2 weeks and I didn’t turn up.

Well, I’m sorry, but I waited 2 weeks for you to call me back, if I was working on the same principle my whole fucking iPod would be in the bin.
I explained to him that perhaps as I hadn’t yet come to claim it, he shouldn’t have thrown it out, and that he also had my phone number on file, he could have always given me a call.
He then goes on to say that he’ll have to wait for another receipt.
I call bullshit on this and explain to him that I paid for an extended warranty through Strathfield Car Radio, not Apple, and that Strathfield Car Radio should send the unit back to get repaired.
He then cracks the shits and acts like he was doing me a favour by even offering to look at my problem in the first place. He says it’s not his job to have to answer to me. I explain to him in no uncertain terms that that is exactly what his job is and that he’d better bloody well get on with it.
He then demands that I produce the iPod and the original receipt. Luckily I had them both in my bag.
He says that it will now take up to 4 weeks to process because I couldn’t be bothered coming in to pick up the receipt in the first place. I was fully expecting him to blame me for the iPod not working next.
Finally they took a photocopy of the receipt and took the iPod and I could get the fuck out of there.

If I wanted to be brutally abused today I would have dressed up as a schoolboy and wandered into a catholic church.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen more disgusting customer service in Australia. And I thought it was bad in the UK!

If you’re planning on buying shit from Strathfield Car Radio, don’t buy it from the arsehole at Imperial Arcade.