So! Much! Shiny! Stuff!
My stupid N97 was having some issues, and I gave it one last shot before putting it up on ebay by bringing it in to the Nokia store to see if they could do anything about the 34840287 obnoxious little problems it was having. Upon entering the store, I was blinded by the chrome finish and £1500 diamond-encrusted handsets, and honestly didn't hold much hope that there was anything they could do for me. I'd really had it with this phone. I've already talked the ears off the guys at the Phones 4 U store (tech-speak induced shudder) where I'd gotten the phone, and was convinced that it was a lost cause.
I selected the most competent-looking of the young, attractive shop clerks to implore with my one last plea for help. He immediately sprang into action, backing up my photos and contacts and restoring the factory settings. This did nothing to solve any of the problems, so he hit up his colleagues to see if anyone had any alternative suggestions. They took turns trying all of their crafty little Nokia tricks, but to no avail. Finally someone asked me if I was on Orange, and when I confirmed that I was indeed an Orange customer, he told me that a lot of the Orange-issued N97s came with big chunks of the software removed and they'd be happy to send it in for servicing. Wow, a mobile phone store where the employees actually want to help?!?! That's a new one!!! Huzzah!!!
I was sent upstairs to the equally-cool-and-shiny but completely unused upstairs area and was seated at a desk with another of the store's employees. He took a full 30 minutes of asking me questions, taking careful notes of my problems, and filling out the necessary paperwork to get my phone repaired. I can't remember the last time a shop clerk had 30 minutes to help me with a problem, let alone when they weren't even making any money from it! After he'd finished, we looked over the list of issues he'd created to make sure we'd covered everything, and I handed over the phone. I was delighted with the time and attention I was given, and left reassured that it would all be ok.
My phone was actually ready for pick-up a whole day before the estimated pick-up day (I was expecting it to be with them for 3 days, but they texted and emailed on the second day to say it was ready) and it is upstairs with my husband now, having all of its updates installed. I haven't gotten to find out yet whether all of the problems have been fixed, but the gentlemen at the store assured me that if it was still faulty, I could have a replacement sent out, free of charge.
Bravo, Nokia store!!! read more