Another O2 Experience…

They did it again. The O2 crowd. I had to make contact with a problem. I’m a bit of an apple fan. Not a geek mind you, but I like some of their stuff. Although I have never liked the price. I ashamedly have a genuine iPhone 3G on one of the horrendous iPhone contracts. But I made the choice myself so that’s not really the issue.

I keep my phone in immaculate condition. I didn’t take insurance out on the phone because O2 wanted €15 per month for insurance compared to the usual phone insurance of a few euro that they usually charge. Taking a gamble it may be, but I have a one year warranty anyway.

Through normal operation the Silent switch on the side of the iPhone snapped off recently. Out of nowhere. I’m quite a puny chap so its not like I used brute force to do it. A few google searches later I find that this has happened to a few people around the world and many claim problems in trying to have it fixed under warranty.

I rang O2 Customer Support and they said that the switch could only have been damaged by having dropped the phone or applying some Bruce Willis type Die Hard action to it. I explained to the at-all-times-friendly customer care person that the phone is immaculate other than that. (I have it since January might add) She went on to explain the process of having to send the iPhone to O2 who then send it to Apple, and Apple might send it back unfixed etc etc. It sounded very daunting I must admit. She told me that it was best to bring the phone to an O2 Store as opposed to any other mobile stores. (presumably Carphone Warehouse?)

I made my merry way to an O2 store in Dublin to see what they will say instore. At this point I must add that I originally purchased the phone in Carphone Warehouse. The chap in the store was very friendly. As it was a Friday he recommended coming back on the Monday as they wouldn’t be sending the phone to Apple until then anyway. He reiterated much of what was told to me on the phone by the Customer Care rep. However he added the whole receipt thing. They wouldnt do anything with a receipt. (Even though they have all the details of the phone on their system) But given the whole ‘best to come back on Monday’ advice, I didn’t want to enter a debate on the receipt necessity at that point.

I left somewhat annoyed. Although the staff were friendly, I felt that they were preparing me for the worst. They made Apple sound like tyrants, in my opinion of course.

I didn’t drop the phone into Apple on the Monday. Instead, I called Apple direct. Wow. What a difference. They customer care rep made some enquires to assess if the phone had water damage, listened to my story and advised that the issue was more than likely covered by the warranty. He also sent me an email to that effect.

UPS turned up the following day with the courier box and I will have to wait for between 5 and 7 days for my phone to return. There was even an optional courtesy iPhone while my phone was being repaired for €29. While I will miss my piece of Apple, I wont miss it so bad that I need to pay €29 for courtesy phone but the option was nice.

Right so its not an end of the world experience but I felt the need to share it anyway. Perhaps I’m becoming a crankier fart in my old age. But at least I can set my video recorder to record The Late Late Show on a Friday night. Wait, I mean DVD recorder…..