Alright, this post is a rant and a rave. First the story. I had a Sony Ericsson w600i phone. Really liked the phone. Loved the features, the range, pretty much everything. It had some draw backs (as with anything), but the only one that really sticks in my mind is the phone's OS is... well... fragile. Especially when attaching/removing the connections to it (whether it be power, USB, hands free set). In changing "modes", sometimes it would not recover. During those times I would have to turn off the phone and "reboot" it. Well, one day during a disconnect from the recharging cable, it would not come out of "optimized charging" mode and I "rebooted". Alas, that was the wrong procedure. The phone (as my German friend puts it), went kaput. Mind you this happened TWICE! The first time was the 3 months into owning the phone and it was under warranty. Called up Cingular (before the merger), and they happily sent me a new phone complete with the box. Then it happened again last Saturday. Now for the rant part about ATT's mobile device insurance.
Well, I was obviously out of warranty on the phone (even this being the second one). Luckily, I had the insurance for $5 a month. So my wife called this time to get the phone replaced and finds out that the w600i has been discontinued. They will replace the phone (for a $50 deductible no less), but will be sending a comparable phone. What they send is the Samsung SYNC. I get the phone and notice there is no data cable or any accessories. So I call.
After the normal run around, I finally get a guy from the "insurance" company (and for the life of me I cannot remember the company's name). I tell him about the data cable, that I was fine with the replacement phone accept for that.
His only response was "I am not authorized to handle that at this level".
I asked "What does that mean?"
Again, "I am not authorized to handle that at this level".
So I venture, "So does that mean I need to speak to a supervisor? If so, bounce this up."
His supervisor gets on and says she cannot send me a data cable for the SYNC, but can offer me the Sony Ericsson w580i instead. I ask if it has data cable or compatible with my old ones. She does not know. So I ask to think about it. I do some research and find they are compatible, so I call back and ask them to send it to me.
Here is the kicker. The Samsung SYNC is a far inferior phone to the w580i and to the w600i. The insurance company was trying to get off as cheaply as they could. If not for my persistence and griping about having the same functionality as before (with the data cable included), I would have had to spend the insurance at $5/mo (at this point over $60), the $50 deductible, plus the cost of the data cable. Guess what, the new w580i had all the cables, all the accessories and is compatible with the old ones from the 600! Now for the rave part.
I love the PHONE! The w580i is like the 600, but a 1.75x better version of it. It has all the older features, but upgraded, plus several new ones. The streaming music, the streaming internet radio, the shuffle by shake on the MP3, the pedometer, the upgraded camera. I could go on and on and on. I love the new sleek design (a lot thinner than the w600i) and the fact I can increase the SIMM card (the old phone is static at 256 MB). The only draw back is there is not much memory on the phone itself for storing MP3's out of the box, you need a SIMM (and it does not come with one). Here is a link to the phone.
All and all, I should have expected the deal with ATT's insurance. However, I am balanced by how cool the phone is!
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