Alright, update time.
So I charge my battery like a good cell user, and drive home to the RiddleHomestead to visit the ParentsRiddles and SistersRiddles. Continue to play with the phone thoughout the night, but monitor the battery level, which says that it is fully charged. I turn if off before bed.
The next morning, I wake up and cheerfully attempt to turn the phone on to standby, and NOTHING. The indicator light comes on, but nothing. I think “geez, battery must be dead.” so I plug it into the charger. NOTHING. Bastard, says Swiddles.
So I call and leave a message for the cell company. (give you a hint, they are a national company, with the world “Cellular” and a number in their name) The guy calls me back and says, “Gee, we need to get you a new phone. Unfortunatly, we don’t have anymore of that one. But for $29.99 we can upgrade you.” I say “nope. Momma ain’t paying more for a phone.” (not really, but you get my drift.) He attemps a hard sell, didn’t you WANT an upgrade, yada yada yada. I am getting tired of this crap, and tell him that he can let me know when the new phones come in. I hang up angry.
At 3:00 in the morning, I wake up with one phrase circling the depths of my subconcious: bait and switch. It’s a classic bait and switch operation, and he’s trying it on me because he thinks I’m a dumb 20 year old chick who will just giggle and fork over her money. Boy, does he have another thing coming.
At noon today, when they are most likely to have the largest number of people in their office, I am going down. I am going to hand him the broken phone and say “Here are your options. Either you replace my phone with one of equal or greater quality, or you make it VERY worth my while to wait until the replacement phones come in, or you allow me to break my contract. I’m gonna be honest with you here, if I break my contract, I am probably not going to be happy at the hassle, and might contact the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, and, oh yea, the Public Service Commision. And who knows, classes are over in a week, I’ll have time on my hands, I MIGHT even take an ad out in the paper to find out if you pulled this scam on anyone else and see if I can’t get a class action going. I’ll have time on my hands.” And stand back and flash him my 20 year old smile.
What say the Dopers? Will Swiddles play hardball? Will Swiddles suceed? Will she stop referring to herself in the third person?