Always fun, those helpdesks and customer services…

My phone is broken. Went from near death to almost alive to now completely dead. Happens when you drop it in the toilet, I guess...
Since it happened whilst I was in Italy, I called the travel insurance.
“How did it happen?” “Well, ehm...”
After I got over my initial embarrassment, the conversation went smoothly. The woman on the phone had apparently dropped hers in the toilet as well. Nr. 2 cause for phones drowning. Nr. 1 cause is leaving it in the laundry machine.
At the time I called, it half worked and I told her I waited first, to see if it would start itself again. She said ‘no it’s good that you called, because it will corrode and will probably stop working eventually anyway’.
Two seconds later “I need to know the repair costs”... Huh? Didn’t we just establish it will corrode anyway? Ah well, maybe tech people can do something to stop that. Okay, I’ll go ask in the shop what the repair costs will be.
“And I also need to know how much the phone costs”. Hmm, problem there. I know how much I paid, but that was with a renewal. She needs to know the costs excluding the renewal subsidy. Even though we established the thing is more expensive than the maximum the insurance will pay out anyway. “Ok, I’ll try to find out”.

Of course I cannae find the original bill. I keep bills for all kinds of stuff, but the ones that I actually need disappear into thin air. So I went to the t-mobile shop (granted, not the one I bought the phone, but it’s all one big computer system, right? Wrong...)

Disinterested young salesgirl behind the counter:
‘I can only give you the address of the shop we sent repairs to’.
‘But I don’t need to send it to repair. I just need to know if it can be repaired’.
‘I know, but I can’t say. You have to go the repair shop’.
‘Can you tell me how much the phone costs, then?’
‘No. We don’t know, only the head office knows and they only go look when absolutely necessary’.

Good fortune with the repair shop, they have a website, maybe I won’t have to travel there during office hours! And yes, they confirm quite quickly via mail that my phone is beyond repair. A later phone call to the insurance company further reveals I don’t need to send the phone for official evaluation to the repair shop, a copy of their e-mail is enough. Yay!

Less luck with the head office of the phone company. After listening to usual ‘won’t you go to our website, all the information is there, if not, press 2, then 1, then 4 and so forth’ nonsense, I’m put on hold. Good music on the background, if not for the fact that they keep interrupting the choruses with how many people are on the waiting list before me.
Finally I get a person on the other side. Claims to instantly know what I want and that she can help me with that. Oh dear....
And yes, after about 5 minutes, the lady on the other side of the phone finally understands what I want. Not what my phone bill was. Not how much I paid extra when I received the phone, but how much the phone costs without the renewal subsidy. “Oh, I don’t know that, you need to go to the shop for that!”.
And thank you for calling, glad we could help, yada yada...

Before I go to the shop where I bought the darn thing (not in the vicinity of course, why did I buy that thing near my parents and not near my own house), I decide to call the insurance company again. Maybe I can explain to them that I know it’s more expensive than the maximum anyway and they won’t need the copy of the bill. Fortunately I have proof of my monthly bills and the actual payment in December 2008.

Lady nr. 2 from the insurance company. ‘How much did you pay?’.
‘Well, so and so, but the phone costs more than that. I got a renewal subsidy and I can’t renew until December’. ‘How much is the monthly subscription?’ ’39,95’. ‘Would you please hold?’
Of course, what else is there to do on a working Monday. Hé, no music this time!
‘Okay miss, here’s what I can give you: I can pay you 6 months subscription so you can buy off the contract’.

Now, it later dawned on me she got the ‘buying off the contract’ wrong (I can renew the contract in December, but the contract runs until April next year, regardless of when I renew), but I’m only getting 10 euros less than what the maximum would be anyway, so I’m letting it slide…

Of course, no phone that I would want costs less than 240 euros. And I’ll still going to have to wait until December before I can renew anyway, otherwise I just know I can kiss the mobile number I've had for the past 10 years goodbye. I guess I need make due with the phone my brother lend me for now.
And I haven’t even mentioned yet that I’ve also lost my mp3-player, presumably somewhere on holiday too. It wasn’t that expensive, I’m not even going to bother...