I received word today that three of my four photos entered into the Iowa State Fair photo competition were accepted!  That beats my all-time record of...one.  So yay!  And one of them apparently won an award!  I won't find out which three got in and which won what for a couple of weeks though.

The photos I entered this year were:

Red Lily Interior

Leopard Gecko

Bandwidth

British Museum

Any guesses as to which three made it in or which one won an award?  I can't wait to find out!

After our misadventure with Apple earlier this week, I started looking on eBay for a used phone in good condition that we could buy.  Unfortunately, most were priced around $300 - $350 for the 8GB model.  As I had $200 in Apple Store gift certificates from last year, I finally decided this morning, to heck with it, I'd just buy a 3G iPhone, use the gift certs on it, and pay the $15 extra a month for 3G even though we don't have it here.

Before heading up to the Apple Store, I called first to make sure they still had the 16GB white model in stock.  They did, and while they couldn't hold one for me, they had plenty of stock.  I went up to the store along with Calvin who came for moral support.

I walked in and immediately found a salesperson.  He went to the back, got me the 3G white phone, and we started the buying process.  Ironically, he used a PocketPC device to enter the data in about my AT&T account. And during this process we hit a snag.

The system sent back a message saying that my account was not able to be activated and that I had to go to the AT&T store.  The salesperson asked me if mine was a business account.  I explained it was not, but that we had my wife's REMAX affiliation number on the account as it supposedly carried a discount, though we had never received it.

"Bad news," he said.  "You have to go to the AT&T store to buy this.  And they are out of phones."

"And I bet they won't take my $200 credit either."

"Nope," he replied.

I told the salesperson that I was going to the AT&T store to have them remove the FAN affiliation from my account and then come back to buy the phone.  They are in the same mall as the Apple Store, so it didn't seem like it would be a big deal.  "Will you please hang on to this phone for me?" I asked.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of them."

So I head across the mall and upstairs to the AT&T store.  There I found a clerk and asked them to remove my FAN number.

"I'm sorry.  We've been told that we can't remove the discount affiliations any longer."

What?!

"You have to buy the phone from us."

Despite the fact that they couldn't take my credit.  And that they were out of phones.

"We can direct order a phone for you.  It will arrive in 8-10 business days."

Two weeks.  While the Apple Store has phones in stock now.

I left the AT&T store, dazed.  What more could go wrong?  I called Kim and told her.

Then I had the idea to call AT&T directly.  I got someone on the phone within a few minutes and asked them to remove the FAN from my account.  No problem, they told me, and I could even add it back on later.  Great!  FINALLY, something was going right with this whole thing.  I returned to the Apple Store.

And there I found out that those phones that they had "plenty" of were now out of stock.

"You're kidding me.  I was just here and you said you had plenty."

He apologized, saying that I should try back tomorrow.  "You're getting more in on a Sunday?" I asked.  Nope, sorry, he meant Monday, good thing I asked since it's 50 miles round trip to the Apple Store from where we live.

"Oh, and if you call first, we can hold one for you."

But I asked you to hold one for me.  And when I called earlier they said you couldn't hold any.  "Oh, we should be able to.  Call first."

I drove home to Indianola and dropped Calvin off. 

When I got home, I found Kim on the phone taking to an Apple customer care rep from their 800 number.  She had been on hold for about 45 minutes and had just got the guy on the phone.  We explained the whole story, from the accident, to the repair refusal, to the events trying to buy a new phone.  After some delays, he forwarded us on to a support supervisor.

We waited on hold for over an hour, but finally got the support supervisor.  Again we explained the whole story of what went on.  When I finished there was a pause, and then: 

"I'm sorry.  My head is spinning trying to take in all you're saying.  This is ridiculous.  I can see why you are so mad - this is what makes people hate companies!" he told us.  "It seems to me that you have been honest from the start and just wanted help, and every step of the way you've been jerked around."

And then he made good on what he said.  Even though the damage was by our fault and was outside of warranty, he told us he is having a replacement phone shipped to us at no charge.  We don't even have to pay the $200 repair/replace charge we were going to originally.  "I am going to personally see this through for you guys," he told us, and then gave us his direct phone number and his email address so we could reach him if needed.

All told, we spent 3 1/2 hours on the phone with Apple support, but in the end we found someone who helped us and acknowledged our problems from the past week.  He also told me that they would be following up with the Apple Store directly, as they had handled this entire issue terribly.

So supposedly Kim will finally have her replacement iPhone this week.  And I am hanging on to my 8GB first gen phone for the time being.  I figure I will hold off upgrading at least until 3G is available here, and most likely until a 32GB model comes out.

Last week marked the 1 year anniversary of the release of the Apple iPhone. Unfortunately, fate caused my wife to mark the occasion by accidentally dropping her iPhone into some water.  Yikes! 

Typically, they say to remove the battery immediately when you get a phone wet.  The iPhone battery is not removable, so that wasn't possible.  And suddenly the screen went white.  I managed to turn the phone off, or, at least, to blank the screen, so I put the phone under a fan overnight to dry.

The next morning I turned on the phone and got the icon saying the phone was in recovery mode.  I plugged it into her computer and proceeded to reload her backup on to the phone.  It looked for the moment like it would be a full working restore - and there was much rejoicing.  But then I tried to use the menu button to return to the main iPhone screen from the calendar application.  Nothing.  Apparently the menu button was no longer working.

We made an appointment at the West Des Moines Apple store to see one of their techs that morning.  When we got there, they told us that they could replace the phone for $200, where they would just give us a refurbished phone and swap SIM cards.  With the new iPhones coming out in less than two weeks, we asked if we could think about it, and they said sure.

I started researching the new iPhones.  The biggest downside that I could find to one of the new iPhones was that they required the update to the 3G data plan.  This data plan is $30 per month, where our current iPhone data plan is $20 per month.  Why the difference?  Because 3G is faster.  Or at least it would be, if it were available anywhere in our state.  But if you get the new phone, you have to get the data plan.  Oh, and with the 3G data plan, text messages are no longer included, so it would be at least $5 more per month to add a base 200 text message plan (which is currently included with the $20 old iPhone plan). 

So basically we were looking at $15 more per month for no new features.  Oh, I guess there is GPS that can't be used for turn guidance.  Woo.

But I thought, 16GB of size would be ok, but I really didn't want a 3G phone because of the unnecessary extra costs.  Now you're probably thinking, oh, it's just another $15 per month, what's the big deal?  But consider that we are already on a 2100 minute family plan with two old iPhones, so we are already paying $150 per month before fees and taxes.  Anyway, I wondered if it would be possible to do the replace/repair on her phone and upgrade to the 16GB old phone in the process for an additional fee.  Monday this week I was in Des Moines for work, so I stopped by the Apple store to ask them, but they said that wasn't possible due to warranty reasons.  Ok, but I can bring my wife's phone up that was dropped in water and still replace it with the old model for $200? Yup.

Kim and I decided we'd better go up to the Apple store this evening so we could replace her phone, figuring it would be easier to do so before the (presumed) crowds of the 3G (speed not available here) iPhone launch.  We go to the support counter, and get the same guy I talked to Monday this week.

"How can I help you?" he asks.

"We were here eariler this week.  My wife dropped her phone in water accidentally, so we need to get it replaced."

"Oh, I'm sorry.  We are no longer able to replace water damaged phones.  With the new phones coming out, we could not recoup our investment in the repair," he says.

Jaws hit the ground.

"What?"

"If it was broken some other way, like if you had dropped it and cracked the screen, we could replace it.  But not if it was in water."

"But," I told him, "I was just in here a few days ago and was told you could replace it."

"Who told you that?" he asked.

"It was YOU!" I said.

"Sorry, but we just found this out on Friday."

"But I was here on Monday.  That was AFTER Friday."

"I'm sorry, but you can get one of the new phones."

"The ones that cost extra per month for a service we can't get here?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

My wife is a Realtor, and at this point was getting really upset.  She had been patiently working around not being able to switch tasks on her phone for nearly two weeks, and now they were saying they wouldn't replace it (at our cost none the less) after all.  I asked to talk to the manager.

The manager came over and asked us how he could help.  I explained the situation, and he said he would be back in a moment, he needed to find out some more info.  I pointed out who we had talked to on the prior visits, and even told him the days and times if he wanted to verify our appointments with their support desk.  He went to the back room, and we waited.

"I'm sorry," he said upon his return, "but I've talked with our Geniuses (what they call their support people) and what they told you was correct *when they said it*.  But we've since been told that we can't replace phones that are water damaged any longer."

"And when were you told this?" I asked.

"On Friday."

"But I was here on Monday the 7th!  That was AFTER Friday.  And I was told you could replace it.  What they told me was NOT right at the time, according to you, you were told 4 days prior that you couldn't do it."

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do.  You can always by the new phone tomorrow."

"At the higher monthly price for a service we can't use?"

"Yes."

So we learned a couple lessons from this:

Lesson 1.  Apple apparently cares nothing for customer service. 

I shouldn't be surprised to learn this given the fact that a friend of mine had three MacBook Airs fail on him in a row and they did nothing to fix the situation.  Oh and they told him a month earlier that the 30" screen he bought two years ago with a screen problem - a problem he reported right after he go it two years prior was having an issue and they said was due to a firmware issue on his laptop - was actually broken and now that he was out of warranty he would have to pay to fix it.

Lesson 2.  If you are going to trip with your iPhone, make sure it lands on cement and breaks instead of it getting wet, because apparently they will fix/replace it if it's broken but not if it has water damage.

So in the end we will most likely buy the new phone and pay the extra monthly fee for the service we don't have here.  We've got to have a working phone.  Oh well.  It does make me think twice about Apple products in the future though.

So weird...

GORBACHOV: THE MUSIC VIDEO - BIGGER AND RUSSIANER from Tom Stern on Vimeo.