Make It Do

11 6 7

by joyceholt

by joyceholt

for the prompt "contract"

My father's little brother Thayne died of whooping cough in 1935. Born on a subsistence farm in the middle of the Great Depression, the malnourished one-year-old twin didn't have the strength to fight illness.

The rest of the family survived, thanks to the family motto: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

That's been my lifelong motto, too. That's why I was still using my ancient, barebones, 3G flip phone up until a few months ago. The thing refused to die, so I had no justification for tossing it out. Not until I wore it out.

Well, 3G itself finally went completely belly up. No choice now. Time to get a new phone. A smart one, even.

I did not want a contract. I wanted to continue to go prepaid like before. Two siblings pointed me to a relatively low-cost phone and service plan package that would do nicely.

A day before the "contract" prompt was posted on Thursday (wow, what coincidence!), my new smartphone arrived. The email notice of delivery stated that both items in the order had been delivered. In the box was the phone and a packet with a sim kit for keeping my previous smartphone. Huh?

I probed every corner of the shipping box, scoured every flyer and slip of paper included. No sign of the service plan card, which was supposed to provide the PIN number I need to activate the phone's service.

I reread the emails. Checked my order account.

Ah. When I searched online for the service plan itself (not the original ad for the phone and add-ons), trying to figure out what was going on, it came up with the correct details for the service plan -- but with the image of the sim kit. Somebody goofed in posting links on the ad.

I did online chat and voice calls with the company providing the phone.

I did online chat with the online store where they had posted the ad.

I did online chat and voice calls with the parent company that supplied the service plan.

Three days of wrangling with technical support staff, all of whom did their best. But no one has a clue. Everyone passed the buck. No one can track down the PIN I need to activate the new smartphone.

I'm thinking of sending a valid claim to the online store, that the service plan was not delivered, and returning the phone for a refund. It has too many bells and whistles anyway.

Near the end of his life, my father got a simple cell phone designed for seniors. Large buttons, large print on the screen. No games, email, music, surfing the net. Problem is, it came with a contract.

Whatever. Maybe I'll go the contracted cell phone route after all.