Received my gift for preordering:

Going to sell it. Above video filmed on my new S7 Edge, which I finally exchanged from the Note 7.

The guys at the Richmond Samsung store weren’t much better than the Metrotown ones. They gave me the evil eye for asking to switch. Either way… I’m pretty happy with this phone so far. Waiting for the new iPhone 8 to come out next year…

Labour day long weekend came and went. Some great memories with H, and the Point Grey homies (PNW).

Sunrise on the 1st Day

Cedar Creek

Cheers!

We visited the Lakeside Dining Room at the Hotel Eldorado for brunch:

Fabulous.

Supercalifragilicious.

There were so many options! Alaskan king crab, mussels, shrimp, waffles, eggs benedict, omelettes, and real chicken, didn’t taste like it was made in bulk although it was. There was a roast beef station with one lonely chef manning it. He was also making the omelettes and the waffles, handling the line up like a pro. Then, there was the dessert table – fluffy tiramisu, creamy crème brûlée, chocolate cake and cheesecake, and MORE. Sometimes buffets are just disgusting, because all the food is cold and just looking sad, but this was nothing like that. It was definitely one of the best buffets I remember going to my life (perhaps the fact that we were starving from all the wine tours contributed to the deliciousness).

Us after the brunch.

It was a nice chill weekend, nothing strenuous, other than stretching our tummies. I love going to the Okanagan! Maybe H and I will make it a yearly thing, and eventually visit ALL the wineries there!
Real life caught up though, and the Samsung Note 7 exploding batteries are really traumatizing me. It doesn’t help that J at work keeps sending me links about exploding Jeeps, garages burning down, and warnings to not use the phone. Apparently some airlines are banning the use of Note 7’s. The Samsung store reps are just horrid though – they don’t really care about helping the customers and wouldn’t let me return my phone without all the accessories in hand. Their response to the whole thing:

“Samsung prioritizes the safety of their customers, but to date, there have been no instances of the Note 7 exploding in Canada.”

What if it’s my phone that is the one in a million explosive one? The sales reps at the Metrotown store just brushed me off. He showed me that he still had his Note 7 in his pocket, and seemed to insinuate that I’m wasting his time. I can see you’re busy, but providing customer service and helping out your customers is what you’re paid to do. The sales rep made me feel stupid for even coming into the store to ask him to exchange my phone when it’s their manufacturing defect that is inconveniencing all their customers. Horrible experience, after paying close to $1000. If I’m crazy and the phones are actually safe to use, why is Samsung bothering to recall them?

Others are having a tough time exchanging their phones too, and apparently, it should be powered off now.

Well, let’s just hope nobody gets hurt in this. I’m not charging my phone overnight if I can help it, but it's my alarm for work... 24 in a million chance it will explode...

It cracked already, barely a week old. Didn’t have a major fall, didn’t tumble it down anywhere. Note 7 has the worst glass. Do not get it if you’re into durability and reliability, or get a REALLY good case for it. Samsung customer service also highly disappointed me.

1. I went to the Richmond Centre store on Tuesday, and the sales rep there advised me to call their general customer service line. The agent on the line advised me that if I brought the phone back to the original store that I purchased it at, they would be able to switch out the phone for me. The original store was the Metrotown store, which is not along my usual route to and from work (very out of the way actually), but he guaranteed that if I went it would be switched for me.

2. I went in to the Metrotown store, and the sales reps there told me that they would have to send the phone out to get it checked, 2-3 week turnaround, and I might get a quote. That’s not what I was promised. I called the Samsung number back, and was connected with one of the rudest customer service reps I’ve ever talked to. He kept calling me “ma’am” and telling me he couldn’t hear me, so I went out of the store to find an area with better reception. Then…

Me – Can you hear me now?
Samsung Customer Service Rep (SCSR) – Yes, I can hear you better now.
Me – OK, here’s the file # from yesterday… 2…1…
SCSR – No, NO, hold on MA'AM, can you tell me what this file is regarding?
Me – *Explains the story of how I called yesterday and the Sales Reps at the store telling me a different story*
SCSR – ONE, I can’t hear you. TWO, if you cracked your screen, it’s considered physical damage and that’s not covered, so you have to send it in.
Me – ONE, you clearly can hear me if you heard that I cracked my phone. TWO, I already explained the story. Your 1st rep clearly lied to me and misled me. I wasted my time coming to the Metrotown store. SCSR – I can’t hear you, MA’AM. I can’t hear you!
Me – *Speaks louder and clearer* *Line cuts out* Hello?

RUDE. Insensitive. You should get another job, because you really suck at doing what you’re doing now.

3. I call back, and reach a much friendlier SCSR. He listens to me, realizes that I’ve been lied to and that the phone isn’t doing what I expected it to, in terms of the glass being way too weak and not gorilla-like. Eventually, he transfers me to an Executive Customer Service Agent (ECSA).

4. ECSA tells me repeatedly that physical damage is not covered under the warranty. He does not understand or listen to me at all, that their rep first lied to me. I ask to speak to someone higher up, and he says:

“I’M AN EXECUTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT. THERE’S NOBODY ELSE YOU CAN SPEAK TO.”

I guess he’s the owner of Samsung or something. I spent at least 10 minutes arguing with him, and everytime I made a point, he would just repeat the same thing about the warranty, and end his paragraph by asking me if I had any further questions. I don’t feel like Samsung provides executive service at all, more like a service for sending you on a guilt trip, and they should really be more empathetic if they are charging regular customers $1000+ for a handheld device. Robots reading from a script, that’s all they are. It’s almost a conspiracy – if I want to make any complaints about any of them, who do I contact? The 1800SAMSUNG number and speak wo their ECSA’s, who all work together to make their customers feel worthless and like it’s completely my fault that their product uses weak glass. Samsung, if this is the message that you’d like your customers to receive, then, I’m not sure I like what your company represents.

5. I go back to the store to get it shipped in for repairs… The original Sales Rep I was working with is helping another customer, so I speak to another person, who then tries to help me wipe my phone. I ask if there’s an extra phone that I can use as backup, and he says he’ll check. Comes back empty handed. Well, that’s enough, I just left, didn’t want to fix it anymore. I don’t have time (or money) to waste, and by this time, it was an hour gone with nothing to show.  I was so tired of this bad service. I work in the customer service industry too – it’s really not that difficult to do a good job – be empathetic and listen. That’s all, but maybe I expect too much from the rest of the world. Am I unreasonable at all in all of this? Let me know what you think.

Otherwise, I’m happy with this phone. It’s smooth, everything works great, except the outer glass. If I had known, I would’ve bought a case right away, just to keep together the pieces of glass that the phone would become.

But yeah, otherwise, I’m a happy hiker.