Stop, Drop, & Crack

Warning: LONG POST AHEAD. This is a story that could only happen to a Hot Mess Momma.

I have to brag on myself for a second….In all my cell phone owning years, I have never broken my phone screen…..UNTIL NOW.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a gathering at our house for the LSU/Bama game. Because we are slightly crazy parents, we rented Q & his friends a bounce house to entertain them during the game. After one to many glasses of Momma Juice, my friends and I got in said bounce house. At some point, one of my dear friends got out and I asked her to take my cell phone with her. In order to avoid casting blame and making her feel any worse, I’ll say this: The next time I touched my phone, I got a shard of glass in my finger thanks to a busted screen.

Really it wasn’t that big of a deal. A busted phone screen happens all the time (To other people, not me). So, Sunday morning I took my phone to local store that claims to be able to fix phone screens. (Because I don’t want to become a bashing blog, I am choosing to leave the name of the store out. I’ll say this: If a store sells something other than phones, such as batteries, DON’T USE THEM TO REPLACE TO YOUR PHONE SCREEN.) I dropped my phone off around 10:30 & the less than pleasant store associate told me my phone would be ready around 1pm. I went back around 2 and was greeted with a $163.35 tab. You read that right, a broken phone screen cost me $164. UGH! Whatever…I paid & left. As soon as I left I discovered my phone wasn’t working correctly. I couldn’t hear people on phone calls unless they were on speaker phone & my touch pad wasn’t working. UGH GREAT! (Listen, I know I could still make phone calls so it wasn’t life or death and who really cares if I have to enter in my 6 digit passcode instead of using my finger but the point is, those things worked before I took my phone in & I paid $164 for the sh*t to work so I’d like those features to work. Plus I am spoiled/lazy and really like the touch activation)

I took the phone home and asked JHub to go back up there because the sales guy was rude to me & I figured they would tell me that somewhere in that fine print of papers I signed it said they weren’t liable for damages. JHub returned with my phone a little later. When he returned I discovered the touch pad still didn’t work but I could make calls without using speaker phone. I called the store & the rude associate asked me to bring it back so he could look at it. I took my phone back. (If you are counting, this is now the 4th time we’ve been in said store.) He half-a$$ed looked at it before declaring “I don’t know. You’ll have to come back when someone with more experience is here to look at it. I’m pretty new to this.”

Fast forward to Tuesday, when the NICE manager was in the store: I took my phone to see the more experienced manager (Trip #5 to the store) & without even looking at my phone he said “Oh you are Leah. Yeah, I have to get you a new phone. Let me get some details from you.” He gets information about my phone & tells me he will call when the new phone comes in.

Fast forward to the NEXT Tuesday: “Mrs. Altsman, your new phone has arrived. Feel free to pick it up.” I went on Wednesday & picked up the phone (Trip #6). I took the phone home & when I was trying to activate it I discovered they purchased me a refurbished phone and the phone was locked to the previous owner….GREATTTTTT…..so back to the store I went (Trip #7)….On Friday they called to let me know that the phone was unlocked and I could pick it up….You guessed it: BACK TO THE STORE! (Trip #8) I got the phone (& a nice flashlight as a “We’re sorry for the trouble” gift) & headed straight to my local Verizon store so they could activate it.

Once I arrived at Verizon I discovered my current plan was up for renewal & I was due for the new iPhone 7 so rather than using their refurb phone, I just got a new phone (With a super protective glitter case & screen protector). I called the NICE manager & explained the situation and he agreed he would take his refurb phone back & just give me a refund. So BACK TO THE STORE  I went….I returned their refurbished phone & got my $164 back! (They did let me keep the “Sorry for the trouble” gift flashlight, so that was nice.)

In total, it cost me 2 weeks, 9 trips to a battery store, & 1 trip to a Verizon store to get my broken phone screen fixed. How stupid is that? Y’all literally…THIS IS MY LIFE. THIS is why I am a Hot Mess Momma!

(While I did mention a rude sales associate at the phone fixing store, I will say the manager was AWESOME. He was so nice & understanding. The guy at Verizon was also very helpful & spent several hours sorting out the phones, transferring information, & entertaining Q. So while this seems like a rant post, it is for amusement only.)