My Worst Handphone Experience - Motorola

After 10 years of being fiercely loyal to Nokia, I succumbed to fashion and bought myself a Motorola V3 Pink in June'06.

Despite some minor bugs, the phone served me adequately till early November when it malfunctioned for no apparent reason. Having no time to bring it in, my father helped me bring it to the Customer Service Centre in Plaza Singapura on 30th November. The phone was returned to me on 2nd December, only to show the same symptoms on the 15th.

On 18th December, I brought my phone down to the Centre a second time and specifically told the staff that it was a recurring problem. She then told me that the software would be updated again to rectify the problem. I collected my phone on the 21st of December at 3 pm. At 8 o'clock that very night, the phone went crazy again, pressing all the buttons by itself.

Very irritated then, I braved the Christmas crowd and brought my phone down the very next day on the 22nd. I spoke to Mr Richard Goh who offered to change the PCB unit, which I understood to be the interior components of the phone. In his words, I would be getting a new phone in an old casing. In response to my irritation at having to visit his Centre repeatedly, he offered to have the phone couriered to my house after Christmas. I asked to have a 3 month extension to my warranty but due to company policy, I was turned down. However, as a show of goodwill, Mr Goh managed to have it extended a month. I then received my phone on the 27th of December. The deliveryman had it wrapped in a thin piece of pink paper, which was the delivery order, and it was damp with rainwater.

After receiving it at 1pm, I switched it on immediately. 3 hours later, the same problem occurred. I marched down to the Service Centre a fourth time and spoke to Ms. Anne, as Mr Goh was not available. After patiently listening to me, Ms. Anne offered to change the phone entirely. However she mentioned that I would have to wait as they were out of stock and there was waiting list for the exchange. I agreed only after she told me that she would give me an extension of 3 months on my warranty. She also had the software on my phone repaired as we were talking and let me have it whilst waiting for the new set to arrive. The phone malfunctioned 2 hours after I left the Service Centre.

On 6th January, a Customer Service Officer, who failed to name herself, called me to inform me that my phone was available. As I was in a hurry, I did not ask for her name. The next day, I went to the Centre to exchange for my new set, only to be told that my pink set was NOT in stock and that they only had black. The customer service officer did not apologise for the mistake and for having me make a 7th trip to hear this disappointing news. She argued and only offered to change the PCB unit, which had failed to rectify the problem before. After almost an hour, she finally agreed to take one from the store, which means she effectively wasted an hour of my time. However they needed an hour to do that and I had tickets to a movie in half an hour. I agreed to leave the cinema halfway through my show to collect my phone at 7.30pm. At the appointed time, I arrived only to be told that my phone was not ready. I told the officer that my movie would only end after 9 whilst their store closed at 8pm. The officer said that I could go after my movie. I did, only to find that everyone had left.

After 7 trips in a month, $100 worth of taxi fares and many hours, I still do not have a phone.

I do understand company policies and standard procedures, which explained the repeated trips. However I think that the customer service officers lacked tact and did not help to maintain the image of their company by providing good service and being honest. During this time, I've been told that I'm "uncompromising" and been talked to like I'm a child.

I've truly regretted my decision to be disloyal.

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