Finally!

Activated the phone, dropped the old one off at the Purolator office (at least they included the free shipping waybill)... This one actually has some signal bars and I can make phone calls and get my email. I have finally been serviced by Bell Mobility bureaucratic machine... it only took (almost exactly to the day) a month of me being without my email and my lovely, sleek HTC Touch that I paid $500 for out of my pocket and only got to enjoy for 3 months... Why would anybody sign a contract with a company that doesn't value its long term customers, does not have any good phones in the selection and does not allow you to get a phone of your choice and hook it up on their network... money grab is all it is...

Got the phone - still not out of the woods...

So, yesterday I finally got the call from the friendly Purolator lady asking me to come to their local location to pick up my package. Yay. However after picking it up, and looking at the bright yellow sheet that said something to the matter of "When you receive your phone, call this number to activate" and calling that number, I got a guy that told me that activating phones over the phone is against their policies and that I should go to a store to do it. After arguing for a few minutes that I was just following the instructions included with the package and that I have had the phone activated over the phone before (to which he retorted that whoever did that for me before should be fired), I got the guy's employee ID and name and hung up. Going to the store tomorrow to get this damn thing finally activated and get it over with. *sigh*

21 days, still no phone

Called Bell Mobility Customer Service this morning where a lovely girl called Mercedes passed me on to a talkative guy named Dmitri who then "escalated" me to some customer experience improvement person whose name I didn't bother remembering at this point, that offered me to take a month off my bill for the inconvenience.

Awesome - I don't have a phone, I don't receive my business emails, I can't talk to my friends and family, but I don't have to pay for it. Customer satisfaction at its best. To make a long story short - the HTC Touch, or rather Bell UTStarcom MP6900 phones are still "on back order"...

Update: Stopped by another Bell Mobility store on the way home - as long as I was willing to become a new customer, there were phones-a-plenty for me of "HTC Touch" models in both black and white colors... I feel so appreciated as a customer that's been with Bell for 4 years right now...

Yeap - Bell HTC Touch is not an HTC phone...

Did some digging online and here is what I found - just like the last few HTC devices sold by Bell (for example HTC Apache being sold as UTStarcom PPC 6700), Bell Mobility customizes and re-brands HTC phones through UTStarcom before selling them. Whether they save money on the warranty this way, or there are some other shady reasons behind it - I don't know, but here is the evidence - all the Bell HTC phones are listed under different names on the UTStarcom website: http://www.utstar.com/pcd/DataDevices.aspx

Now my broken HTC Touch is a still broken Bell UTStarcom MP6900. Peachy.

Update: Called Bell Customer Service. Lady on the phone pleads ignorance about the phone not being an HTC device.

Update: Looks like Bell Mobility pulled a fast one on us - Bell is no longer listed in the list of available carriers on the UTStarcom page. However, HTC still refuses to recognoze Bell HTC Touch serial numbers as HTC product.

Bell HTC Touch phones are not... an HTC product?

So I tried registering my phone at HTC e-Club at http://member.htc.com to see what manufacturer warranty options I could exercise through their website. Website refused to take the serial number, telling me that it was not an HTC product. Thinking it was odd - I called the HTC website support line, where I was told that my serial number did not belong to an HTC device and that I should check with my vendor who most likely re-branded and customized their product...

Now this is turning into false advertising by Bell (the "HTC Touch" is not actually "HTC")? Great, I just want my phone to work so I can get my emails and stay in touch with my friends and family...

Still no phone... still on "back order"

Called Bell Customer service again today, still was told that phones are on back order and was told that I still have to wait longer because I was told 10-15 days and it has only been 2 weeks. Bell Mobility store in Richmond Center has HTC Touch phones for new customers... now it two colors.

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.