Comments on: The end of a long story about a phone

By: alda

alda — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:17:25 +0000

Thanks all, for your comments. I’m particularly interested in reading about cell phone rates elsewhere -I had no idea it was like that in North America. I’m quite stunned, really.

Doug – the cellphone keyboards here have the standard letters, but also the Icelandic ones, so you shouldn’t have a problem.

Víkingsson – actually I didn’t want a basic phone. I’ve had a basic phone, but I needed one with which I could pick up my email, etc. And nobody said it had to be ugly.

By: Vikingisson

Vikingisson — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:48:29 +0000

Hello again!
Nice to see the ending turn out so well. I was going to comment in part one that I was proud of you for going with a more basic phone over the more stylish and pimped out device that the sheeple clamor for. After all we’re sensible, we want our devices to do their primary tasks very well and don’t care as much about what the Jones’s think (what is the Nicelandic version of the Jones’s?). But there you go buying up the bling! hehe, the Nicelandic consumer gene kicked in a bit there didn’t it?

Maybe I’m just getting more mellow in old age but have almost given up the after sales complaints and tribulations. I make my wishes very plain before hand and if I get hosed I try once to get satisfaction and then vote with my dollars and never again buy from them. So as it is I don’t own a cell phone, cable service, sat dish, music service, brick and mortar bank account, and a few other things that no longer have desirable choices. I’ve become hyper dependent on the internet but can live happily for brief periods without it, just like in grandma’s day.

(one brand I give first looks to is Nokia. My non cell phone Internet Tablet works a treat and I appreciate the company’s design choices, a product meant for my smallish market base) but Sony? Happy to hear that is works but don’t you feel just a bit dirty?

By: Dankoozy

Dankoozy — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:51:17 +0000

*is happy for you* tis always good to have a phone that nobody else has.

lots of people have iphones like there are probably quite a few imported ones in iceland that have all the SIM locks and other restrictions painstakingly removed but when they walk down the street people will just assume they are iPod touches because they look so alike

By: Sonja

Sonja — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:26:00 +0000

Although I don’t miss the costumer service in Iceland, I do miss the phone service. Here (US) it’s horrible. You normally have to succumb to long term contracts and you have to pay for both calls you make AND receive, ditto for text messages. The contract has you pay for so many minutes per month (maybe 600 or 700) instead of you just paying what you use. So if you don’t use half of the minutes you are paying twice what you should be paying.

Currently I’m using pay-as-you-go and although the phone is decent (Nokia) and the rate is good (10 cents/min) the minimum upload of 300 minutes is only good for 2 months (I think it was at least 6 months in Iceland). I only really need it when I’m traveling, since I have a house phone with unlimited local and long distance and free local calls at work. But when I am traveling I do need it.

By: digdug727

digdug727 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:34:04 +0000

so what do nicelanders do when they want to send text messages? is there an icelandic qwerty keyboard for cel phones? when i was last there, the computer i used to check my email had icelandic characters and a slightly different layout. i was a little befuddled. wondered if i would have the same experience texting with a rented cel, next time i am there.

By: tk

tk — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:51:43 +0000

Good job getting your money back. And that’s a sweet little phone you ended up with. (Being one of the last six cell-phoneless people on the planet, I’m holding out for an iPhone.)

Oh, and the tropical storm was my fault. The last report from the National Hurricane Center had it aimed straight at Niceland; then they stopped tracking it. I should have warned you.

By: pierre l

pierre l — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:34:25 +0000

Well done Alda!

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:34:12 +0000

The funny thing is, many customers are more loyal to a company that fixes problems than ones that either don’t fail or don’t care if they fail. Having such poor customer service means you just lose customers instead of – as Keera points out – actually getting a chance to retain them. It must be nice for Vodaphone to be so successful that they can just ignore customers ; )

By: VioletSky

VioletSky — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:22:37 +0000

ooh, I love that phone. I guess I should be more grateful for our return anything for a full refund policy. Years ago you’d be rehearsing your reason for returning an item for the full report that would be written up; now it is automatic after first being asked: is it defective?

By: alda

alda — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:08:04 +0000

Jon – thanks. Me too!

Joe, Chris – what Hildigunnur said.

Hildigunnur – I am shocked by your last remark. Shocked! (but alas, not surprised.)

Wally – Complainers unite! We’ll have them converted in no time here.

Keera – yes, isn’t it? – and it sure does seem like our two nations are alike in so many ways, including this (perhaps not unsurprising, since we’re of the same stock). Big props to your company, though.