So I finally got myself an iPod.
My pretty bestowed on me by the gods of Cupertino is a 3rd generation 32GB iPod touch to be exact.
I joined the iPod generation and became Steve Job’s bitch only a decade after they first came out. Yeah I’m not much of an early adopter.
And since the 4th generation has come out I don’t know how I can even show my apple fangirl face anymore with this out of fashion obsolete piece of technology.
Ok seriously I still love this thing. It is a great gadget!
It was Hunnybunny who first put the idea of getting an iPod touch into my head. He was drooling over them and I began to think I would like one too. Not just to make him jealous I swear!
So then I got a bonus at work that just happened to be exactly enough to cover the cost and decided that it could be my birthday pressie to myself.
I looked at them in the Regent Street London Apple store but ended up getting Chuck to buy it from the Hong Kong online Apple store (he gets a discount) and bring it to me. I saved £50 that way (would have been even more if the stupid exchange rate hadn’t changed).
As it came from an Apple store I could get free engraving and admittedly I rather obsessed about the possibilities.
I found a bunch of funny suggestions online such as:
Made by some sort of Fruit Company
Apple mind control device
10000 stolen songs inside
I’m a bad apple
My favourite idea was to quote to Bender from Futurama’s ‘Bite my shiny metal ass’.
But Apple wouldn’t let me have that. Inappropriate message text it claimed. There is censorship in the permitted engravings. The deity of the Apple cult has decreed that we must not use the ass (I guess it is a lot like the Christians who I used to torment when they came knocking on my door…).
I considered a variation posterior/behind??? But it just wasn’t the same.
I ended up going with a song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show
‘Toucha toucha toucha touch me, I wanna be dirty’.
It’s an iPod so a song is appropriate (no matter how inappropriate the lyrics) and it was an iPod touch so a song about touching and getting dirty. Perfect!
I now needed to protect my new baby.
I had seen iPod/iPhone covers online I thought were cool. But I realised that I could just make then myself.
Being an eco conscious vegan I had heard about felt made from recycled plastic bottles. I my brief search with Mr Google for stockists in England didn’t find any. So I just bought some coloured sheets of synthetic felt from eBay.
I was overjoyed when it arrived and turned out to be the Kunin Ecospun felt I had wanted.
I got the ideas of what I wanted to make online and just adapted them.
I didn’t know how to embroider so I read up on how to do it on the internet and even watched YouTube
videos on how to backstitch. Thanks to the internets I was now able to make the
covers.
I made the game boy cover first and then with that experience it was easier to make the iSketch Etch A Sketch and the classic iPod covers.
The iPod touch turns out to be perfect for travelling. There are apps that are helpful for travel plus games to play, books to read and music or podcasts to listen to when bored. Awesome how much assistance and entertainment can fit in one little shiny shiny tech toy.
Here is a list of my top ten favourite apps:
Angry birds and angry birds seasons - I am an official angry birds addict. This Israeli peace process parody video is hilarious.
Plants vs. zombies - the zombies are coming! I think it has a good vegan message on the power of plants.
Flight control – play air traffic controller, drinking problem encouraged with a refreshing beverage offered when you get a high score.
Aargon – who knew reflecting laser beams could be so fun or addictive?
Trip it – you can put all your travel plans in one place and give your trips fun names.
Stanza, iBooks and Kindle - you can mix it up with your choice of eBook reader.
Lastminute.com Spanish - it will show you the translation and also has audio for those essential phrases such as “I’ll show you my white bits if you show me yours”
Xe - I love that you can set a bunch of different currencies to compare and it works offline, resetting the correct values when you have wifi. You can pull it out, look at the rate and then say wow that is so expensive! While the vendor in some third world country wonders if the device you are viewing it on cost more than they make in a year…
VegOut – in the beginning this wasn’t too good on the iPod touch as it didn’t work without wifi. Luckily they listened to feedback and updated it so you can now set favourites that can be looked at offline when you are out and about and hungry.
Vegan soundboard - because sometimes it is just too much effort to say all those pretentious vegan phrases yourself.
Really the only bad thing about this little beauty is that it doesn’t fit the iGoatse case I coveted.
Mine has a black and white rebel touch skeleton (Yes a case and a cover to keep my precious safe).
I had problems with play.com getting it.
I placed my order online and it was not in stock but advised it usually shipped in ten days.
Yeah ten days my ass! On what planet? Venus???
When I called I was told that if I cancelled my order and reordered the same item, then it should clear any glitches in the system and I would receive the item. Oh how they liked to play with me as I just got the same result as the first time. No case was coming my way.
When I emailed to ask for an update on availability with an answer that wasn’t just keep waiting. They replied to keep waiting!
I understand that a company can run out of items but what annoys me is that the item has always remained for sale on the website stating that it is usually dispatched within 10 days.
If you do not have the item I think that it should be removed it from sale, then advise those that have ordered it that you are just screwing with them and offer an acceptable alternative.
To just be kept hanging on for months is very frustrating.
I vented my frustration by writing emails:
Dear customer support team
In regards to our correspondence I am left with the feeling that your standards of service leave much to be desired.
I see that that you new chief executive John Perkins said: "Play.com has established itself as one of the top online retailing brands in the UK and Europe by putting the customer at the center of everything it does. There are few companies that are so committed to the customer, and I am looking forward to building on the company's success so far and leading the talented Play.com team."
I do not feel that you response has shown a commitment to customer service that Mr Perkins would be proud of.
I would like to tell him about my experience myself, could you please provide me with his email address?
If you are unable to do this, could you forward my email to him as I would love to receive Mr Perkins response to my complaints about the fact that:
1) An item was advertised for sale with a usual shipping time of ten days when I have still not received it after 2 months
2) When I asked not to be left hanging on about when I would receive the item the first email response I got told me to just keep waiting.
3) After realising I would probably never receive my preferred item, when I asked for a very small discount on an alternative for the inconvenience and disappointment that the company has caused me I was denied this small token of customer service.
I have given your company many opportunities to put it right and now I do not feel that the company is as committed to customers like me as Mr Perkins thinks it should be.
Yeah unsurprisingly Mr Perkins did not deign to offer me his excuses on what a total liars he and his company are.
Thus I got to write one final email:
Dear customer support team
I have now cancelled my order.
Quoting your legal status in the matter does nothing to help when the problem is not with the legality of what your company did but how you handled it to make the situation better for the customer.
I am very displeased with the customer service experience I have had and I don’t feel that my custom was valued at all.
It is a shame that your company does not realise that it’s easier to keep loyal customers than gain new customers.
Now I shall now commence telling everyone about my bad experience with play.com as the old saying is that one happy customer tells 3 friends (on average), one unhappy customer tells 10.
You should also remember that behind every complaint hide another 99 people who didn’t feel like hanging around to tell you the very same thing. So listening to one person’s problems has the potential to fix a lot.
Please take a moment to consider this before you hit the delete button on this email.
Yeah I am sure they just deleted it, but it felt so good to send it.
P.S I ordered the SwitchEasy case on eBay and it arrived the next day.
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