Is Nokia Scamming Me Off?
So I couldn’t use my CDMA Nokia mobile because I couldn’t get the security code right.
I tried all the numbers I could think of; my birthday, his birthday, my dog’s birthday, our anniversary, but all of them worked to no avail. I was going to switch providers from Fren to Esia (because Esia users could text message for free!) but the sodding security code prevented me from doing it. I couldn’t figure out whether it was just playing up on me or I had just totally forgotten about the code.
Himself, who’d obviously heard my complain, asked around his workmates and the word was that apparently you could get it fixed at mobile counters that gave mobile services. I remembered vaguely that my friend Ivan also mentioned the same thing, thought I seemed to conveniently forgot that he meant to bring it to Roxy – the biggest, most complete and notoriously famous mobile centre.
Since it was impossible for me to go to Roxy (mostly because I couldn’t be fucked, it was too far and being stuck in a traffic jam was not my ideal way of spending the day), I decided to go to the shopping centre next door, and stopped over a couple of mobile service counters, but as soon as they knew it was a CDMA, they all grimaced, shook their heads and showed a ‘no go on this one’ look on their faces.
“We don’t do security code. Sorry.” sez one.
“You ought to go to the Nokia Service Centre.” sez two.
With a resigned look I finally yielded to my destiny – I headed to the Nokia Service Centre and braced myself – body and soul – to have enough patience being bollocked and forced to join the offensively long queue just so I could get my phone working.
And a long queue it was – which was funny, since Nokia was a very well-known brand, especially in
After waiting for about an hour, my number was finally up, and I explained my problem to the woman at the counter. Once again, I got the grimace. Then she said, “Lemme just check whether we can fix it because it’s a CDMA.”, and I was like, “Hello? You’re Nokia Service Centre, you’re supposed to be able to fix a simple problem like resetting a code! You guys, like, invented those things in the first place!”
When she came back, she told me that I had to let my phone stay the night since it might take a while to get it fixed and they didn’t want to let me wait in uncertainty, so I thought, fair enough, until she told me that it would cost me Rp. 100,000.-
Fuck.
I mean, how hard was it to reset a code? I’m sorry if I sounded ignorant, but if there was any Nokia service dude reading this post, I’d really love to know how you could charge a person that much money just for something so menial. Surely you must have an extensive collection of softwares to hack into any mobile systems? You could have just hooked it up to a cable, run some programs and you’re done, right?
The good news was that I didn’t have to queue on the next day, but it didn’t do much difference – I was still waiting. For a very long time. And even when my name was finally called, they told me to wait for another fifteen minutes because the guys in the back were still checking my phone. Instead of screaming in agony, I chose not to say anything, walked out and go straight to the nearest bookstore to vent out all the anger I had in me by spending my money on books.
Precisely fifteen minutes later, I came back, and waited for another twenty minutes – I swear I almost grew a beard from all that waiting – when I was finally called again to the counter. This time it was a different woman, who was a bit nicer but nevertheless very unhelpful.
“We have to send your mobile to our head office because apparently the signal is not working. We have tested it with different cards and the we couldn’t get any signals, so it might be the hardware that’s damaged.”
Appalled, I protested, “But there was nothing wrong with the signal! It was working when I was using my Fren card. I just couldn’t get into the security code!”
“Oh, we managed to reset the security code, but now the signal on your phone is not working, so we have to send it to the head office, and if there are any additional charges you willl be notified immediately.”
You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. Additional charges? What if it costed more than the actual price of the phone? the signal was fine when i brought it in, and now they told me it wasn’t working?
In the end I told her that I’d rather have my phone back, no signal and all. The good thing was that she only charged me Rp. 25,000, but I was still pissed off.
Now I have to find a mobile service counters to get the signal working. And the whole point of switching providers in the first place was only because I wanted to save money. Instead, I ended up spending money just because of the sodding security code.
I am never using that damned feature again, and I make damn sure I will never use any Nokia phones again – ever!
8 comments
Easy girl…don’t let anger eats you up
Your experience dealing with Nokia customer service is nothing new to me. I think most of the CS are like that. My Sony Ericsson K790I speaker didn’t work 2 weeks after I bought the phone at their established counter in Kelapa Gading Mall. When I took the unit there they didn’t seem happy to receive my complaint and thought I might drop it off. It took them two weeks to have it repaired. And I learned I was not the only one who complained with the technical error originally from their side. Thanks God the speaker still works fine until today. But still I was not happy with that experience because you didn’t expect to have your new unit being serviced in 2 weeks usage time, did you?
whoa … SE? Really? But I own SE for my GSM connection and it rawks! Its W300i and I totally love it because it’s everything that I want it to be and up to this day I have no complains whatsoever to it.
I dislike Nokia immensely because the GUI is totally confusing, and the more expensive it is, the more complicated the features are! My dad bought the N73 and I got a headache just trying to find out how to use one of the mp3s as a ringtone. Go figure heheh.
O well. I hope my CDMA can still be fixed. T_T
I really like your english.. Easy to read.. Nice to meet you
I’m using N73 and I think it’s pretty cool… until I saw the sexy Iphone *sigh. Anyway, I had one problem with Nokia before (can’t remember what) and I took it to the repair center (whatever its name) in SCBD, it took only 2 days for them to fix it.
@Joanne:
Thank you Jo, nice to meet u too..
@Finally Woken:
Mmm … yeah maybe I’m just not lucky with Nokia phones?
Sexy IPhone eh … I just can’t keep up with technology. After all I only need a mobile to make calls, text message and listen to music
i heard many complains about nokia and sony ericsson’s service center. check them out at detikcom’s surat pembaca or kaskus forum.
if your warranty have expired, i think it is much better to ask around for a good and experienced local handphone service center.
mm yeh. warranty doesn’t cover jack shit
I find nokia to be most user-friendly..
but that’s just me..