And they say you can't get back lost time

Faithful readers of this blog—yes, both of you—will remember that I got my first cell phone at the beginning of June.

May it rest in peace. Three months later, it has been declared dead by TracFone.

The first sign of its demise was last Tuesday, when I was about to make a call and saw that instead of 108 or so minutes available, I had 0.00 minutes.

Shoot! I ran out of air time! That means I've lost my unused minutes. YaGoof!

Or so I thought.

I went online the next day and bought 310 minutes, but the phone didn't let me add them. They TracFone site threw up a screen that apologized for technical difficulites and gave me three pin numbers to use in adding the minutes later.

That evening, I still couldn't add the minutes. I called Technical Support.

I talked to three different people and never got a handle on the accent(s) I was hearing. Support calls are supposed to go to India a lot, but I've heard that Africa is getting in on the action, too. I don't know where in the globe I was.

Anyway, the reps were very, very polite. This was typical: "I need to check on something, Mr. Eldred. May I put you on hold for two minutes?"

"Sure." It's okay when they ask nicely. Even after the sixth time. Given that I wasn't pressed for time, and it was a toll-free call.

The first rep ended up telling me (a) I had a defective phone, so they would send a new one, and (b) I had bought twice as many minutes as I had thought and would be charged twice as much.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." (I hope that was understandable in whatever country the person was in.)

To shorten a story that's familiar to many, the first rep told me I had ordered twice; I said I hadn't; he said they don't give refunds; I asked to talk to his supervisor. I've learned to stay calm during these calls and sometimes you can get satisfaction.

The first rep said, "May I put you on hold for three minutes?" Note: Up from two minutes.

"Sure."

The supervisor finally came on. He agreed that is was possible that the system could have goofed, not me. Imagine that! And he said of course, they could give a refund.

"Did you know the first person I talked to said you don't give refunds?" He smoothly ignored that. Heck, he was the supervisor.

I ended up with credit, who gave me some options. I'm supposed to get a new phone in a few days with my lost 108 minutes and a pre-paid mailer to ship back the deceased unit. I can't complain.

And I thought this entry would be about my losing the minutes and end in my usual way. I was wrong.

But hey, that mistake lets me say ...

Keith, Ya Goof!