Wrong watch/right watch T-Mobile screwup

Let me start off by saying that I still think T-Mobile is the best carrier out there. They do more for their customers than any other. I would also like to say that the supervisor I delt with (I wish I could remember her name) was perfessional and above the norm for doing what she could to right the ship that was sinking fast. Also the guy that had to deal with the sim card debacle did the best he could. All in all this is something that should of never of happened and should of never went on as long with so many screwups as this story is going to show. So without further delay here we go...


On the 11th of this month I called T-Mobile to order the new Samsung Gear S smart watch. Everything was going well and once we had gotten all the info in and money ($149.99) paid we said goodbye and hung up. I was a happy camper knowing that that Friday I would have the watch I had been waiting for for 2 years. About ten minutes later things started down the path of frustration. I was called back by the lady who took my order. She had forgotten the sim card, no biggie stuff like that happens...right? So I okay the extra $10 and then ask her what my payments are going to be on the watch. She informs me that there was no more payments. The watch was on sale and that the $150 I put down paid it off. I asked her to check and make sure she had ordered me the right watch because online the watch was $350. She asured me that it was the right watch. So I was on top of the world, I was king and all others should bow at my feet! Everyone else was paying $300 to $420 for this watch and I got it for about a third of that. I am the master...Until


That night I went to see if it had shipped. Sure enough it had shipped and was being shipped 3 day air to my address...Sweet..um no. As I was reading the shipping details I notice that I was being shipped a Samsung Gear Fit, not a Gear S. I call and ask to have the order cancelled... Nope its shipped you'll just have to wait and ship it back. Then we will refund your money. That is what I was told. There was no offer to fix it, no offer to ship me the right device. Just a "Oh well we made a error and you are stuck with it."

So I contacted T-Mobile on Google plus, they tell me to contact them on facebook. (I guess G+ T-Mobile ((TMO)) people are not able to help if you have issues, so why be there right?) Which I do, they tell me it will take 2 billing cycles to get me my money back. Now I could see that if I had mad this "Error" it taking time to refund the money, but when they themselves make the error they should jump through hoops to straighten this out. So now I'm pissed and I have a watch coming that I don't want and $160 floating out there I can't use and still no help.

Friday comes and goes with no wrong watch arriving. So on Saturday I call to find out what is up. They tell me that it will be there on Monday for sure.. hurry up and wait. So that will be another 3 days added on to the wait for the refund.. wonderful. So while I have them on the phone I ask if I could still order the RIGHT watch. They transfer me over to sales and I oder the Gear S..in black. Everthing is getting back to normal again...Until

I again go into the shipping info and see that they had sent the right watch to the wrong address. (I mean why the heck would you send the second watch to the same address as you did the first one?) So let me put this in an easy way to understand. They shipped the wrong watch to the right address and the right watch to the wrong address. I mean why would I have an issue with this, its just $500 worth of watches that I am responsible for. Now I noticed this BEFORE it had shipped, so I called and asked to have them change the delivery address. They said they couldn't until it shipped. Well I am a "My choice" UPS member so I figured I could do that myself. So when it did actually ship I went in to change the delivery address. It wouldn't let me so I called, well TMO has a lock so that they are the only ones that can change the address.. or so UPS says. So I make arrangements to be at the address that the watch is going to arrive on Friday the 21st.... everything is cool. Or so I thought. (I forgot to mention that the sales lady said the right watch would shipout that day (Saturday the 15th, it didn't shipout until Monay the 17th)

So Friday I'm checking the tracking on the watch and low and behold UPS has had a truck issue and the watch is stuck in Portland Oregon (Deffinatly not a TMO problem). The problem was that I wouldn't be able to be at the wrong shipping address that day. So I get on the phone with TMO once again. This time its going to be an easy fix, just have them change the shipping address so it will come to my home. Well it sounded easy, now by this time I have spent about 6 hours on the phone trying to get this straightened out. So far evey solution to this cluster %$#@ has been done by me, not one single idea has come from TMO. Well TMO says they can't change the address, I inform them the UPS says that they are the ONLY ones who can. So I ask to speak to a supervisor because I am so done with this whole mess. Thats when I am put in touch with the lady who actually tried her best to do something about all this. It had been 10 days at this point and everything was just a mess. So after going over the whole story again and explaining to her how stupid this whole thing had been we started working to make it right. She called UPS and tried to get it changed, but I guess as it turns out they can omly change the apt # on a shippment AFTER it had shipped.Her options were very limited as in two. One she could have it held at the UPS store and I could pick it up there on Monday (which would of been okay in tell we realised that it also had the other person on the accounts name on it, not mine.) So that was out. Or she could just have it returned to them.

So I was really disapointed, but at least I wasn't mad at her because it was clear that she was really trying to help. Then I had a bright idea (That I almost wish I hadn't had) why don't we send that watch back and I just go to the local store and pick one up? Well she thought that would be a great idea. She even called the store, made sure the watch was in stock and had them hold it for me to pick up in the morning. It was simple, easy infact. She also offered me $50 credit to my bill for all of the trouble. Now granted by now it was well into 7 hours on the phone and $50 really didn't cover my time, but its the thought and the effort that I was happy about. I feel she did a great job. She also setup to call me at noon the next day to see that everything went well. end of story? I wish.

Saturday day 11 of the watch saga. I show up at the TMO store shortly after they open. Now I don't normally do anything in the store as one of their employees cost me around $125 when we signed up with them do to him telling me he signed me up for my employee discount and for a new customer I brought them. So I walk in and to no surprise the store is busy, I expected that, its always busy in there and I'm ready to wait. The wait wasn't very long, just a few minutes. I tell the manager (she was the first one free) who I was and what I was there for. She was very polite and went in the back and came out with my watch. I told her all I needed her to do was to activate the sim card and have me sign the paper work. I would take care of the setup myself. (I always do that with every device I get) She had no problem with that and as they were busy I could see why. She punched numbers in the computer checked my ID took my $10 for the sim, I signed the paperwork and out the door I went. It was over I had the watch in hand and life was heading back to normal.

I am with my best friend and costco its in the same parking lot, we deside to go in as I need to pickup some stuff up and we could have a hotdog while I setup the watch. So here we are I'm updating and setting everything up and all is cool. we finish eating and we go our seperate ways. So as I am waiting on a snow storm to pass by I decide to make a call from my cool new watch. So I try to call my cell phone. It calls TMO.. I try to call my best friend, it calls TMO. So I figure that the store didn't activate the sim, not a big deal, but just one more damn thing. So I call TMO from the watch. They agree with me that the sim wasn't activated. They want to call me on my cell, so she puts my watch on hold calls me on my cell. I give her the sim number to the watch and she tells me to turn the watch off so she could activate it. As soon as I tell her the watch is off the cell phone call drops....... Oh yes she did! My phone was shut off. My watch now has my cell phone number and my cell phone is a slab of glass. Sooooooooo

I call TMO back from my watch (Which is pretty cool I must say) The poor lady that answers the phone.. I am sorry but I had had it by this time. I told her my info and told her I didn't want to talk to her at all. I wanted to talk to the supervisor that I had spoke to the day before. I knew she was there as she was calling me that day (Infact she had tried to call but it was while they were busy shutting off my phone and tranfering my number to my watch) They couldn't reach her but sent me to "Customer solutions" The gentleman who helped me there was pretty good at his job, I coiuld tell he wasn't having to look things up on paper to try to fix things. He said he could fix it but I would be without a phone (or a watch phone) for 24 hours. The issue was in resetting the sim cards that had been switched. Well I asked him if I could just slap another sim into my phone and have that one activated. He was shocked that I had come up with that idea and that I had a sim that hadn't been used (Note always have a spare sim, they're cheap and come in handy) So we did that and BOOM my phone worked, unfortunatly my watch wouldn't work for 24 hours as I didn't have a nano sim (But I will soon) laying around the house. So I'm not real happy but what can I do. This guy also adds another $50 credit to my account. Now this is something I really wasn't expecting, but I was thankful for it none the less. So I settle in, hook the watch up to charge as it was getting low and turn it off. End of story... Not just yet.

The supervisor I had delt with the day before calls me saying she had heard there had been some issues with setting up the device. I explane to her what had happen and that it had been taken care of to the best that it could. When I told her that it would take 24 hours for the watch to be an active phone she siad she could fix that, and she did. The watch was acitvated in less than 2 hours, and its running great. the more I use it the more I love it.

In closing this long, long post I would like to say I am sorry I can not remember the supervisors name who really went all out to fix this. She really was impressive and kept me calm when very few could. I don't get overly angery easy but when I do its crazy, She did a great job and I have much respect for her. I'm just glad I didn't yell at her.

That said T-Mobile I have an idea for you. When YOU make an "ERROR" own up to it! Make it right as soon as possible. A large part of your new customers come from your curent customers talking about you. This casecaded into a total screwup and you did nothing to make it right. I came up with every solution that was made, you dropped the ball. The whole thing would of ended on the first day if you would of done one simple thing. "Oh we sent you the wrong watch? Hey lets get that fixed and send you the right one" See that isn't hard, infact it was simple. I would of much rather of had that happen than this 11 day trip through hell. Customer satifaction is what keeps people with you.

Now as long as I get my money back from the first watch this story will end with a happoy ending... lets see what happens now.

The Duck is out.

Vapor trails...The end of the trip

After leaving the Googleplex I had plenty of time left in my last day in San Fransisco, so I decided to head over the fishermans whorf. The weather was perfect at 74 degrees. It was a Wednesday so there wasn't a ton of people out. I met a few shaddy characters out there and just had to get a few selfies with them.

Then I went out for dinner at the Bistro Boudin. What a great place to eat. Friendly staff, great food, great atmosphere.

The meal was fantastic as you can see. The trip was just what this Duck needed. Time to recharge my batteries without doing a total reset before the big holiday push at work.

On returning home I had to fly to Seattle to catch a plane to the Redmond airport. Now I am a huge Duck fan (but thats not why my nic name is Duck) My whole family are Oregon Duck fans. So I was just a little disapointed in the plane I had to fly home in.

I have been training new hires just about everyday sence my return, should be a good season as they are all doing really well. The stress level is back to normal and I am ready for my fathers 80th birthday bash.Now on to the holidays and the headlong flight to the new year. "Bring it on" I say.

Oh and I'm looking forward to the Note Edge or the Note 4 from T-Mobile coming next month as one of those phones will be mine.

Until next time (who knows when that will be I am working 6 days a week or more and I don't see it slowing down for a few months) Keep your feathers dry....

Vapor Trails...... Stan

So as I was sneaking around last week at the Google complex (actually I was told I could go there) I went to building 43. As I was coming to the dorrway I seen this statue of a T-Rex. He was full of flamingos. There were flamingos in his belly, on the ground and one was hanging off his ass even. No one told me I wasn't supose to take pictures there... Until it was to late that is. Of course I didn't say that it was already a done deal, but it did prevent me from moving to the other side of it to get better shots. I found out later that this T-Rex has a name and history. His name is Stan, he was named after the man who found the fossil remains that was used as the mold for it. The flamingo's are another story. they are there "picking his bones clean" So here are the shots I got of "Stan" the secret dino of Google.

Vapor Trails, a morning at Google

I spent Wednesday morning at the Google complex, I wanted to do some shopping but they are to mean and cruel to let visitors in their shop so I just went to see these guys instead

I even had a couple photo ops

And one with this guy

But they were all there except mystery "L" no sign of it anywhere. But the rest were all happy to have their photos taken.

Well that's everybody. .. for now. Honestly without a tour or a gift shop going to Google isn't really worth it. Hey Google, step up your game!

Vapor Trails---- When your told to "Google it"

Well when most people are told "Google it" that is what they do, they get on there PC or phone and google what they want. I on the other hand got on a plane.

I landed here,

And the next day I was at Google.

I just had to stop in and see this big guy.

I hungout with a couple androids while I was there and I will post more photo's after I get them sorted and moved where I want them. I'm still on vacation and have a few days to get it all done. I'm hoping to do another post (or two) on my trip to Google before I head back to the grindstone.

See you soon

Vapor Trails... A Google search

Yes, thats right I am calling this vapor trails, a Google search and here is why.
I flew down to San Fransisco this morning and tomorrow morning I will be heading to the Google coplex to have a look around...and shop. I got the idea of calling this post Vapor trails on the way down, as I was listening to Rush's "Vapor Trails" album. It seemed fitting at 38,000 feet. And its my blog and I can call it what I want So here are a few photos of the trip down.

From Bend, Oregon heading to Portland. A perfect day for flying.

At 38,000 feet flying straight down the coast, Notice the clouds stopped at the coastline.

Comming in to the Bay area.

Tomorrow I will be heading to the Google complex and gift shop. I will post more photos and "Stuff" then. Now its time to find some grub, bub.

Some of my thoughts and other things on the Samsung Galaxy S5

Yes, the S5 is here. Like the years and flagships from them before there were more than a few rumors going on about this device. For the most part they were close, but a few were way off base. Although the phone has some nice new features. Most have had a 1000 videos done on them. (a few by me even, but by request) So I thought I would blog about a few things that I haven't seen to much or none at all on them.

So first off when making a call to someone, if you have texted with them and or called, while on the present call it will show the last contact you had with that person. This is a nice little feature, like with the call I made today to my friend Carla. It showed the last text message and the last call. When they were made, a brief bit of the text and the call duration.

Then if you close out and go to the homescreen there will be a small photo of the contact in the upper left hand corner with the time count at the bottom of it.

Now for the case I have chosen for the device, I am using the Mercury Goospery case. This is the same case I used on my Galaxy S4. I love the color and the fit is second to none. The cutouts fit well and accsess to the buttons and charging port are easily gotten to. The one change in this case from the S4 is they desided to leave the cutout for the strap out of it this time. (Thank the maker for that one)

I have had the phone now for a week and keep finding new things and improved things I plan on posting more on it as time permits. I am busy at work and when there are multible new phones launched in the same time frame, I get very, very busy.My next blog I plan on touching in on the new HTC One (M8) and the bugs in the Verizon Galaxy S5. I am hoping to hear more about fixes for both devices. I will also be dropping a review on some holsters I ordered and the result of that order.

So for now I say later gator, the Duck is out.

Speed tests and a Chromebook

So I have been playing around with some of the speed tests that populate the play store. I was wondering how they would really stack up against each other and for the most part the 4 I was using did pretty well. Here are a few screenshots I took this morning as I ran the tests for this post.

This one fared the worst, so I will get it out of the way first. Speed test, found in the play store has one issue that seemed to be a constant. The upload speed was always way off compared to the others. The best I ever gotten for upload speed was just under 3mbs. I would not recomend this app as being "Reliable"

OpenSignal, This was a pretty nice app with a constant performance.It also has a few other features that make it nice and that will have me keeping it on my phone. Not only does it test your signal, but gives you a coverage map as well. You can also submit issues you have with connections.

Speedtest.net, Probably the most popular testing app in the play store and for good reason. They update it often and it is very reliable. It also runs consistent with my next app. I would and do recommend this app regularly.

This is the FCC's official app. The one that they use to test carriers signals with and is the best one to use when you want to call your carrier to complain about your signal. This gives them all the info they need to see if there is actually a problem and which tower you are using. This app also features a nice little bonus, a weekly average. I find that this is a sweet feature.

These last two apps are by far the best I have used. I would like to hear from you if you have any that you like and trust. I would be more than happy to test them out.

Now on to the Chromebook, I picked up the Samsung Chromebook a couple weeks ago. So far I am loving it. Its light weight and very portable. The battery life is fantastic! they say 6.5 hours and I'm getting over 7 close to 8. I will post a full review once I test it out on a 3g network. I am going to be using it on T-Mobile as they are my carrier, but it will be a pre-paid plan as I don't think I will be using this feature much. I don't have Wi-Fi at my home (not much need for it) I have 4.5 GB of high speed hotspot now and for the price of a 2,5GB pre-paid card I can get another 6GB of hotspot from T-Mobile. So that really is the smarter way to go.


As always, The Duck stops here.