Having just had my residential qualifications challenged by the visa for India process, it was something of a shock to find myself being treated as a second-class resident yet again. This time the culprit was True, the company that has the contract to sell the iPhone in Thailand.
Having eagerly gone through the booking process to order the phone, I then took the time to read the small print. This is the small print:
When I pick up the phone they want a copy of my work permit. Which of course I don’t have, unless they will settle for the version from 2004. If it’s good enough for the Indian embassy it should be good enough for True.
This is nonsense and I decide to go down the the True Office and have a good old moan about it. On the way there I practice my diatribe.
You want a work permit? To buy a phone?!! I have bought a condo without a work permit! I have bought cars without a work permit! I am a subscriber to your generally crap satellite TV service without having a work permit!
I think of all the other stuff that I have bought without a work permit which I can add in to the argument if things get rough. I am not sure what I want to achieve. A refund? No, I just want the bloody phone with a minimum of hassle.
Suitably steamed up, I arrive at the True office, which is actually just a small stall in a supermarket. It is staffed by a very cute young lady who is very eager to help me and all thoughts of shouting just disappear. He English is slightly better than my Thai (i.e. crap), so we make slow progress. There are many phone calls made to colleagues and it soon becomes clear that she has no idea what a work permit actually looks like. Her main concern seems to be that I really have a passport. Once I have assured that I do, it seems that all I have to do is turn up with a copy of that, plus a copy of something else which we can agree to call a work permit.
We part as excellent friends and agree to meet again on the 28th when I will give her a pile of money, a copy of my passport, and a copy of my grandfather’s ration card. And she will give me a phone.
Comments 🔗
2009-08-06| Camberley saysOnce again I say - my blood pressure couldn’t cope
2009-08-06| Spike saysI’m sure Camberley has its share of stresses. And I bet the shop assistants are not as cute.
2009-08-06| Anal of The Hague sayssticking my neck out a bit here but I reckon you don’t have your Grandad’s ration book (not card) and neither do you need it in order to effect the subject transaction
2009-08-06| Lloyd saysTake care of this new friend, in a not so distant time it is most probable that you will come to speak with her nearly as much as SHMBO, for she will be the gate keeper to the world that is Apple 3Gs customer support.
2009-08-07| Spike saysAnal (?), my grandfather called it a card, so a card it is.
Lloyd, you seem very bitter. Did your dog just die? We have three Apple computers and two Apple phones and, apart from a hard drive failure, they have given us not a single problem. Clearly your experience has been different. Come share with us; let us feel your pain.
2009-08-07| Lloyd saysSinge April 16th this year I have had 5 iPhones, only 2 were purchased. As a gift I received a new 3Gs 16Gb iPhone from O2 due to the problems I had with Apple service and warranty, 8 visits to the ‘Genius bar’ in 10 weeks. 11 days after receiving the 3Gs it overheated, the glass display actually turned light brown. In their wisdom Apple decided it was my fault as I was using a Dell laptop to charge it, only after threatening Apple directly with legal action was a new phone offered.
Whilst in Thailand in May and June I was unable to use the GPS or Google maps functionality unless connected to a WiFi point. My wife bored with the pathetic features and extremely slow message functionality decided to swap her phone for a new Nokia N79. Eventually I threw the phone on the ground and claimed insurance, now I have a iPod touch and Blackberry again, a perfect combination!
2009-08-07| genuinej saysLloyd; insurance fraud is bad enough, … but to admit to it ??
2009-08-07| Lloyd saysNo fraud, told O2 and their ‘Geek squad’ insurance exactly why I threw it on the ground as it had failed yet again and ‘white screened’ 30 minutes after leaving the Apple store in London leaving me with no phone yet again. O2 took the phone pieces and gladly gave me a new Blackberry and credit for the difference.
2009-08-07| Spike saysWon’t be the same story here. We don’t have a “Genius Bar”, we have an “Idiot Bar”. When I went to check out the Mac Pro, the guy in the shop didn’t even know how to open it.
Still, Dell, load of crap eh?