Chez Kay
Andrew Kay gets into a pickle with his mobile
I have a friend who has had a mobile phone since the very first bricklike model and has kept them all, charger, packing and manual, ever since. It’s a sad obsession but maybe one day they will command a price as collectibles. My mobile changes every year but I have been loyal to the same company for nearly ten years and to the same dealership almost as long.
I go back every year, get good advice, they make sure my tariff matches my usage and deal with my queries. They also understand that a man who carries a high quality camera at all times does not need a widdly camera in his phone, or an MP3 player. Not that they come without, but they respect that I will not pay a premium for them.
“They could brand it the ‘codger phone’, I wouldn’t care, as long as it does the job”
A while back I popped in to ask a question. Apple had released the sexy iPhone, which is sadly not useable with my service provider. I was reluctant to change provider but did want better web access. I left with a mobile modem. It costs me to use it but in the first few months it had more than earned its keep in usefulness and had saved me money on not using expensive internet services in hotels, cafés and on trains.
Then I received an email, about four months on, offering me the service I already had for 40 per cent less per month. It riles me to pay more for being an early supporter and long-standing customer so I called up to have a moan.
I bet you’re expecting a whine about pressing buttons to get to the right person, but the system actually worked and before long I was chatting to a nice girl with a Scottish accent.
I told her why I was aggrieved and she said that she quite understood. I was polite and rational and within a few minutes an appropriate adjustment had been made to my billing. Needless to say I was delighted. She then went on to say that I could pop into my supplier and get a free upgraded phone.
This I did, which is a bit of a relief, as the new one has bigger text and a louder ear piece so I can see who I am calling and hear what they are saying. They could brand it the ‘codger phone’, I wouldn’t care, as long as it does the job. All I have to do now is find out how to turn off the predictive text facility so that I can continue to send messages like a normal human being instead of a new-age monster for whom the opposing thumb has replaced the use of all other digits.
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