Free Upgrade

Free Upgrade

Recently my sister and I had decided to use our “free” mobile upgrade from our wireless carrier in order to become proud Blackberry owners. What we thought would be a fun, painless experience quickly escalated in to a cellular nightmare. We have always had the typical, non-extravagant phones in the past and therefore had no idea of the complexity and education it requires to purchase, set-up, and use such a state of the art piece of equipment. We found out soon enough.

Our journey into the wonderful world of wireless began at our usual T-Mobile store in the mall. As we looked around the store at all the new phones and gadgets we realized how pricey the best stuff was. Surely our “free upgrade” would kick in allowing us to purchase a piece of the Blackberry pie for less. We soon spoke with an associate who broke the horrifying news: If we wanted Blackberries it would cost us $129 each for the phone alone not including activation, data and other fees. Disappointed and confused we left the store thinking our dreams of Blackberry bliss were over. Soon after we looked into other retailers and found a place where our upgrade would actually mean something: Best Buy. Finally the dream seemed attainable again.

We entered the store almost three hours before closing on a Monday night hoping to get our upgrades and finally have the phones we have always wanted. However, it was not a pain-free experience. We had to have our mom there (whose bedtime was rapidly approaching) in order to authorize the account and give permission for changes made. After a few minutes of searching for phones, my sister and I had decided on the phones we each wanted, both only $29 a phone! What a steal! That feeling of rapture was short-lived when the phone I selected turned out to be $129 requiring me to rapidly become interested in the device my sister had picked out. This was another small obstacle encountered compared to what was to come.

The overall process of purchasing and set-up took almost three hours which was past the store’s closing as well as momma’s bedtime. Our time was filled with so many questions, options, and extras that the three of us were utterly exhausted by the end. Then the woman suggested we purchase armor for our phones in order to prevent scratches and other marks. She was really selling us on all the extras, just another day in the world of retail. After all was said and done we paid $60 each for the phone as well as the protective armor. Not a bad price for a slice of Blackberry pie.

Next we had to wait for another guy to fit both our devices with the armor, an extremely slow, intricate process filled with lots of pieces as well as patience. My sister is older and therefore got to have all her stuff done first which included the protective fitting leaving my phone and experience feeling like sloppy seconds. My guard was applied much faster with less precision causing it to peel almost immediately requiring a second trip back to the far north Scottsdale location. In spite of everything we left the store that night feeling exhausted, yet excited for the fun filled days of wireless internet and messaging to come. Unfortunately, it never would. A week later we still did not have internet causing much frustration and anger for my sister and I. Back to Best Buy for another round in the Blackberry abuse ring. As we went through the many menus and operators of T-Mobile customer care line, we wondered if it would ever lead to a happily ever after. We finally got through and discovered the ad charged us, but had “forgotten” to turn on the service they had already been taking our money for. They promised the error would be fixed, the internet would come on and the armor would be re-done. For now we are the somewhat happy owners of state of the art technology. It cost us a measly six total hours in the store, multiple calls to customer care, several re-fittings of armor, and a fiery associate who would not quit until we got our piece of the pie we deserved. It was worth it. Right?