My IPhone History: Not Good

Years ago I got my first IPhone.  I didn't want one, I was happy with my Razor.  But my Palm Pilot was dying and I needed to replace it.  So Marty said get one machine to do multiple things.  OK, I had an IPhone.  And I really liked it.   Marty was due an upgrade some time later and I  got his older fancier phone and he got a new one.

May of 2011 we were visiting Richard and Luis on Mother's Day.  I drowned my IPhone.  Yes, killed it, you could see the water in it.  So for Mother's Day I got a new phone.  This was not how I wanted an upgrade, but I loved my new phone.  I did not blog about this accident.  It was a little embarrassing. 

October 2011 we are in Palm Springs on business.  Our phones couldn't locate us on Facebook.  AT&T told us to just reboot them, hold down the top and the bottom button at the same time.  Wait one minute, hold the buttons down again, and it will know the location.  Marty's phone came back on, said what restaurant we were in and mine . . .  mine never came back on.  It was dead.  An Apple phone that was about 6 months old died.  I was livid.  I was crazed.  Why does machinery hate me? 

We drove 3 towns east into the desert to the closest Apple store.  That trip was worth a blog and I did blog it.   They had never seen an IPhone's battery die like that.  So a new phone was given to me. 

The "new" phone has had sound issues for a while, people couldn't hear me.  I thought I was hitting mute by accident, but I guess not.  On the drive to San Diego half the time Marty(remember he was in a truck and I was in the car) couldn't hear me.  That was a problem if we getting off to eat or get fuel.  When we arrived in San Diego the problem became more pronounced.  And then any call, incoming or out going, no one could hear me.  This meant I had to call Apple customer service.  My nightmare began. 

Of course like most companies, Apple has out sourced customer care.  First you yell at the stupid robot, then you finally get a human.  You again tell the human everything you told the robot.  The human speaks.  No one can understand her.  She speaks a mile a minute and if you ask her to slow down, she has to begin all over again.  Her most important thing is to make me pay $99.99 before I can talk to tech support.  Phone less than a year old and I have to pay to just talk to some one?

She finally ran me through some basic tests and says she is transferring me to tech support. No need for the $99.99, taking it off my card.  This is their fault, so I should get a new phone." I beg for the number because I know I will be disconnected.  " No need for a number, I am direct connecting."  The next thing I hear is a robot, same questions, then a human.

I asked for a number in case we get disconnected. No need.   He talks to me and then, "If you would like to place a call, please hang up . . ."

Back to the only number I have.  Repeat all steps.  This human is worse than the first one.  He will not listen to me.  Doesn't care that I just want to be connected to tech support.  All he wants is for me to pay $99.99.  Finally after becoming the bitch of all bitches, he connects me.  Repeat the next set of steps.  The human listened to me.  He took my phone number in case we were disconnected.  And he read the notes from the first human. Then we repeated the tests, and did a couple of full recoveries. He gave me a case number, and said to go pick up my new phone.   These calls only took 4  1/2 hours. By then I was a raving, foaming at the mouth, lunatic. 

Next phase, make an appointment for the genius bar.  I set one up for the next morning.  We go, I give him the case number and he ignores it.  He is going to make me do a full recovery for the 4th time.  I said please look up the case and read the notes.  Oh, they already did all these tests.  You're right, we owe you a phone.  Thank you, finally.

The phone has worked for 9 days now.  Can't wait to see how this one fails.  I am not impressed with the quality of the IPhone.  They should last for years as my Razor did.  It doesn't matter if they are replacing it for no charge.  It should work.  When it works it is a lovely fun machine.  I just don't trust it to work.