Phone Store

 

The only part of this I truly understand is that when dealing with a cell-phone service provider you are going to be disappointed at the very best.  First on the pricing of the plan then sooner or later on some other issue.

My daughter told me this story:

I went to the phone store to upgrade to a new phone.  The contract offered an upgrade after three years of service.  I had the plan for four years and the phone was behaving erratically, so I took it in for an exchange.

The clerk poked a few computer keys, brought up my account and said, "I'm sorry, but you have already used your free upgrade."

"Say what?  I most certainly have not!"

" Yes, ma'am. It shows right here that you came in six months ago and got a new charger cord for the phone.  That's an upgrade."

The clerk was advised in no uncertain terms that I would be switching to another provider.  When I got in the car along with my twelve year-old grandson who was with me I noticed as I was snapping my seat belt that the boy was silently staring straight ahead.  I started the car, turned to him and said, "What's the matter?"

"Turn off the car, Grandma."  I am Nana, never Grandma, so I knew this was serious.  I turned the key, turned toward him and said, "What?"

"I don't want you to drive while you are mad."

I said, "Do you think I was rude back there?"

"A little bit."

I have heard or read many, many accounts detailing numerous ways in which the customer has been taken in the process of upgrading including the instances in which the "upgrade" lost them some features they had before; but of course, they could be added on for an additional cost.  

People wonder why the elders say things like "Oh, for the good old days."
 

Commish

A decade and more ago I served on the City Plan Commission for several years.  It provided a great deal of Tuesday evening entertainment, and a good bit of work between meetings.  It was a rewarding experience, though.  Monetarily, nada; but the sense of having accomplished some positive things for the community made it worthwhile.

We had a cell tower company come before us requesting a variance for land usage to permit the construction of a tower in downtown Tipton.  This entailed procedures and due diligence on the part of the commission members, then finally a decision.  We rejected the request on perfectly valid grounds, none of which need to be rehearsed here these many years later.  Anyway, the petitioners got into a Huff and drove away.  A Huff is a very useful vehicle, for it often removes annoying people from the scene.

At any rate, the petitioner, as was his right, appealed the decision to the Board of Zoning Appeals.  I might say here that that board over the years displayed significant confidence in the recommendations of the Plan Commission, for seldom did they rule contrary to our decision.  They upheld this ruling, and to this day, there is no cell tower in the center of our city.

We did recommend that, since we have two fine water towers owned by our local utility, cell companies might pursue the possibility of leasing space on the water towers for placement of antennae. Tower companies, of course, are not interested in this sort of thing because they are in the tower business, not the telephone business.  See, phone companies simply lease available space from owners of tall structures.  This is why, as you drive along certain highways you will see completed towers totally devoid of antennae.  Tower built, phone company not interested.

It is my understanding, and I have not researched this, that some cell providers do contract the construction of a tower in certain circumstances.  But this is not about cell phone service, but about some of my fun times as a commissioner.