US Cellular makes my list

I was getting ready to write about some other topic, but stopped, in mid log on, to call my local US Cellular office, as I got a card in the mail telling me that my cell phone had returned from the National Repair Center and that I should "drop by the store as soon as possible to pick up your phone".

I was placed on hold by the sweet sounding young lady...twelve minutes later, having grown bored with the silence, I hung up.

I called back, and a man answered the phone...he didn't identify himself, but I asked if I owed them anything.

He responded that the phone had suffered "liquid damage" and was unrepairable. This little fact was not noted on the "please come and pick up" card...and was in direct contradiction to what their repairman had said on the day I dropped it off...he popped open the back and informed me that "at least it doesn't look like water damage"...explaining to me the strip in the back of the battery compartment was there to indicate if moisture had gotten to the phone.

Note: The phone had just spontaneously "winked out" one evening as it sat on my computer desk. I had not been outside in hours, I don't allow liquids next to my computer, and space aliens had not slid through a hole in the 8th dimension to sabotage me.

So, I asked about that...the guy (he lost the gentleman tag a few seconds before) informed me that there was no way the repairman could have known for sure and that "moisture damage" did not necessarily mean it had been "dunked in a cup[ of coffee" but might have just been left in a hot car during the day. Note to foreign terrorists: You don't need bombs or bullets, just get everyone to leave their cellphones in their car on a hot day.

I asked him what that meants to me, financially. He informed me that I would either have to buy a new phone (about $170.00) or, if available, a used one (half price). No further discussion. I have ten days to bring back the loaner phone and decide whether or not to pay them for the poor quality of their manufactured product or give up cellular service.

Needless to say, US Cellular did not make a friend today.