After I finished a glowing review of my Nokia 5800 here in reviewstream.com, I was forced to bring it with me to the roof of our house under pouring rain (but wrapped in Ziploc) because of typhoon Ondoy which brought more rains than Katrina. I tried not to bring it out of the roof even though it kept ringing because relatives and friends were calling and texting to see how we were doing. Eventually however, I was forced to take it out of the Ziploc plastic to answer and make important calls. Mind you, I made the calls as quick as I could, under an awning and an airbed which we used as shelter in the roof. Despite all my precautions, my Nokia 5800 was damaged.

At first, it would only turn on and off once in a while. After a few weeks, the phone just turned off for good, and so I went back to Wellcom Marikina to have it looked at. After explaining what I went through, the salespeople basically washed their hands off with me because according to them, the loss of the receipt due to the flood voided the warranty. All I wanted to know was whether the problem was due to its exposure or if the unit was really defective. I was advised to have it looked by Nokia in Cubao, and so I went there.

When I arrived at Nokia Care, there were a lot of people in front of me. I was given a number by the security guard at the entrance. I was glad that I was only four people away from being called. My relief was short-lived because it turned out that their customer representatives were slower than my turtles. I thought at first that the reason for the delay was the attention that they gave to their customer. When it was my turn, I found out that the shop should have been named Nokia Does Not Care.

Finally, after thirty minutes of waiting, my number was called. I explained to the customer representative that my phone basically conked out. Without letting me finish, and with a smirk on her face, she told me that I had to pay Two Hundred Pesos (About US$4) as diagnostic fee (they would keep the fee whether they could diagnose the phone or not) and leave my phone with them which they would diagnose on the third day from the time I leave my phone. Her job was just to receive the phone and tell the customer to wait because they are too important to care. Nokia Does Not Care really if in the meantime you are left with no means of communication. The typhoon damaged all our means of communication and we could only be reached by my cellphone. I had some important calls that I was waiting for, and they could not even be bothered to diagnose the phone that day. I cannot understand why technicians do no man the booths so that at least the customers can decide whether they would want to
enforce their warranties and let Nokia fix their phone or not. I suppose that their way of avoiding the warranty or forcing you to buy a new phone. The girl at the counter showed her exasperation at all the complaints she was receiving. What was she expecting to receive in a repair shop? She would have saved all of us the waiting time if she told us upfront that her job is to receive the phone and that the phone was going to be diagnosed when they can be bothered to do their work. If I could give it a negative rating I would. They are a waste of space.

Rating: 1