Hubby has been having trouble with his cell phone. Press a button to do something and it goes to the main screen. Try to charge it and he has to bang it against the counter for the connection to work and start charging. Not good. The kicker is, we are only 14 months into a 24-month contract. So we go to the Cingular, now AT&T, store to see what can be done. Keep in mind these phones are just over a year old. I bring my coupon for 15% off accessories. They have nothing for it. No accessories. They are completely outdated. Not a single charger, car charger or accessory available. There is nothing you can do except buy a new one. So I whip out the letter from AT&T with the free phone offer. Thinking maybe we can switch the contract to another of the phones. They don't even have the phone in the offer. It is out of date. No longer available. I just got this letter in the mail! They have no FREE phones (you know, sign the contract and get the phone for free). They don't exist anymore. Except if you get the outdated one from the website...but then you can't get anything to go with it!
Do you remember several years ago when new computers were coming out faster than they could stay on the shelves and pretty much by the time you got it out of the box it was obsolete. That's how this is. They have the replacement model on the shelf before the letter gets to you to tell you about it. Ridiculous. I don't have a problem with keeping up with technology, but when technology gets ahead of itself, so that NOBODY can keep up, well, that just seems ridiculous. Like the $600 phones that all those people were standing in line for a few weeks ago. I just don't see the point. Keeping up with technology is only going to put us all in the poorhouse and keep American Dollars flooding into China. Is that really what we want to do? How big is the deficit? How much money do we send to China each day, so they can create junk that doesn't even last the life of the contract you sign to get it?
So, he had no choice really, but to sign one of the other lines to a contract and get a new phone. The NEW RAZR. He is happy with it. I don't think it will last the two years before the contract is up. Stupid cell phones.
I blame all the people who shop at these stores that have "Rock Bottom Prices". If people aren't willing to pay for quality, then it will not be available. And the only way to have everything be CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP is to get it from China. Where a lot of times, prisoners are the ones making the electronics. And guess who gets imprisoned in a Communist country? Christians.
One store I am thinking of was founded on the slogan, "Made in America". Not anymore. They buy more Chinese junk than anyone else. I am not really faulting the Chinese. They are smart. They are selling what we are asking for. But, really, is this what we should be asking for? For a few dollars more, we could get something quality made in this country. Or maybe it just isn't possible anymore. It may be too late already.
But I digress. Part Two will come out when this phone no longer works. In a year.
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There was an article in Natn'l Geographic about the boom in chinese made widgets...try to get a copy. Very Interesting to read about quality control, how machines are put together and the volume of products put out. We have been out of contract for almost a year with AT&T fka Cingular. We have POC phones but are going to change to Verizon because AT&T does not have reception at our home. Half way thru the contract Steve's phone went belly up. He bought a refurbished same model for 50 bucks. Just someone else's problem before we got it but it was the only way to not add onto the contract.
Where to begin! The Chinese imports are a disaster - remember their food and drug administrator that was executed because he looked the other way and took bribes? Guess that was supposed to assure the world that everything was now going to be okay. And who would have thought the dog/cat food we were buying had some ingredients from China? I heard on NPR about a book: "A Year Without: Made In China" - I'm not buying the book but she said how hard it was to avoid products made in China. And the balance of payments? They own us. But this couldn't happen without our cooperation - we want cheap goods and the latest toys. And can you even buy a phone that is just a phone? Educating consumers would be good but finances seem to trump principles.
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