Surprise! Stores have the phones.

Was in the Metrotown mall today, so I dropped by the store to see if they also didn't have any HTC Touches... it appears that so long as I was willing to shell out another $500 or sign a 3-year contract they had plenty of them. So much for phones being on back order.

How long does a $500 phone last?

So, yestrday my barely 3-month-old phone that I got at a Bell Mobility store downtown for a cool $500 (that's right, I paid for it in cash, not willing to renew my 3-year contract), the slick and innovative HTC's answer to HTC Touch - broke. These phones were never known for their reception quality - but yesterday mine completely lost all of its usual 2-out-5 signal bars and stopped receiving calls and email. In-building, out of the building, in the middle of the parking lot, across town - it was dead...

So I called the dreaded Customer Support, which promptly escalated me to their Data Support line where, after 20 minutes of troubleshooting steps (the usual turn it off/on, try calling, let me try calling you) I was told that Bell will honor the 1 year manufacturer warranty and I will receive my replacement. But before I had a moment to rejoice, I was informed that the phones are on back order and they will not have one available for me for 10 to 15 days.

All right then, I'll wait.