The Saga of the Nokia (worthless) Phone

On 20 December 2006, I bought my lovely wife her Christmas gift. $100 Nokia flip phone. Her old cell phone had died and it was time for a new phone. Well when Christmas day arrived, I gave her this beautiful (worthless) phone. It worked for a few hours but when you started touching the bottoms, it would automatically turn off. Sometimes when you would receive calls, it would automatically turn off. Okay, I thought I would take it back to where I bought and get a new one or get it fixed.

However, from our Christmas in Noakhali we went straight to our holidays in Rajasthan, India. After returning from India, it took me a few days to get to the Nokia (worthless) phone store it was around the end of January 2007. At the store, I tried to remain calm but they would do nothing! I said, “I bought the (worthless) Nokia phone here because it is an authorized dealer and had fixed prices!” They said, “Sorry, we can not help you. Take it to the Nokia Care Center.”

Okay, I took in to the Nokia Care Center very close to the store the following week. The Nokia Care Center said we would try to fix it but no guarantees. I said please try, by now it is February. They had it for three long weeks and called me. They said, “Sorry we can not fix it. You need to take it to another Nokia Care Center that handles bigger problems.” I said, “No thank you, I want a new (worthless) Nokia phone now.” “No! We can do nothing.” they said.

So the following week an office staff took it down town, very far away with a lot of traffic. This Nokia Care Center had the phone for over a month and called us one day that it is fixed. So the office staff went down, it is the end of March now, and picked up the phone. It took me all of 2 seconds to see that the phone was not fixed. So the next day I went down town to the Nokia Care Center and told them that they did not fix the phone. They said, “Well, what can we do.” I said, “It is a (worthless) Nokia phone and this is a Nokia Care Center and I paid good money for a (worthless) phone and I want a new one!” I’m trying to stay calm this whole time. Anyhow another customer service representative heard us talking and said, that model should of never been sold it was recalled over a year ago from all stores. I said, “Thank you for that information can I have a new phone!” The poor customer service person said, “Sorry we can not handle that here you need to go to another (farther away) Nokia Care Center.”

So off I went to another Nokia Care Center with my (worthless) Nokia phone. This was a very nice Nokia Care Center; everyone was very professional, they even had matching outfits and a ticket number machines to wait you turn. I explain the situation for the billionth time and they started typing in information on my (worthless) Nokia phone to the computer. After about 20 minutes they said, “Sorry, sir this phone is out of warranty and we can do nothing.” At this point my blood is boiling. I remind them that I only bought the (worthless) Nokia phone in December and it had a year warranty on it. “Oh, sorry sir but the phone was manufactured in January 06 and the year warranty ran out in January 07. So the warranty is no good, sorry (with a smile).” I said, “I’M NOT LEAVING HERE UNTIL YOU GIVE ME A NEW PHONE OR I TALK TO THE TOP PERSON IN NOKIA CARE!”

Oh, by the way: I found out that Nokia has three levels of Care Centers in Bangladesh and that now I was at Care level three the highest and best of the Care Centers- who thought up this system was my question to myself. Okay, there is three level but shouldn’t that be an internal system, not one were the customer needs to be bounced around to all three levels!

The customer care person said he would be right back. Well, it took him 30 minutes to go and talk with his supervisor. When he returned, he was very happy to inform me that they could request Nokia in Japan to honor the warranty but it would take two weeks to get an answer form them. HELLO! This is a phone company it takes seconds to make a phone call and get an answer but they said 2 weeks! I said, “I’m not leaving here until I talk to the manager.” It took another 30 minutes to get the manager out to talk with this crazy foreigner.

The escorted me do a very nice small conference room where I could wait for the Manager. He finally showed up and I had to repeat my story for the billionth and one time. He said, “Listen, it will take two weeks for Nokia to approve the warranty and then another two weeks for us to fix the phone or replace it- that is the best I can do.” What could I do but say, sheepishly, “okay.”

Well on 16 May, I finally get a phone call from Level Three Nokia Care center to come and pick up my phone and take it back to the place I bought it for a new phone! Can you BELIEVE that I’m taking the phone back to the place where I bought it five months ago to get a new (worthless) Nokia phone. I’m stuck so what can I do. On 17 May at 5 p.m. I go to the store. Five sales people in the store and not one of them can help me or knows anything I’m taking about and won’t do anything about it. So I have a card of a person I’m suppose to call if I have trouble. GET this: Cell phones don’t work in the store because of no network!! Why would anybody (me) by a phone from that store?!? Anyhoot, I walk outside and call the man and he doesn’t understand a work of my English or Bangla, but by God’s Grace he finally figures out who I am and says he will be at the store in 5 minutes. Well, it took him 20 minutes to get to the store. He says, “Oh, yes sir I can help you.” Welllllllll, he says he can only give me a $50 dollar (worthless) Nokia phone. Wait, a minute I bought a $100 (worthless) Nokia phone and that is what I want!

Well to make a long story short I had to haggle, argue, bicker, pray, negotiate, raise my voice, and use my best Bangla, etc for over an hour. At the end of the long session, he made a phone call from out side the store and said, “Okay, you can have the $100 phone.”

Praise the Lord, now after five months Nita has a cell phone that works and it has been working for more than a week now!!!

Moral of the story- don’t buy (worthless) Nokia phones anywhere in the world! I hope that Google notices the words- Worthless Nokia Phone -and this story is read by the whole world.

And that completes the Saga of the Nokia (worthless) Phone!

In honor of Mother’s Day-appropriate quotes, Enjoy!

‘Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.’–US author Elizabeth Stone

‘You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around—and why his parents will always wave back.’
–newspaper columnist William Tammeus

‘A young boy said to his mother, “How old were you when I was born?”
His mother replied, “23.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of time we missed spending together.”’
–anonymous

‘The most common fallacy among women is that simply having children makes one a mother—which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician.’
–US writer Sydney Harris

‘A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.’
–anonymous

‘A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.’
–Irish proverb

‘I’d like to be the ideal mother, but I’m too busy raising my kids.’
–comedian Phyllis Diller

‘A little girl was asked where her home was. She replied, “Where Mother is.”’
–Christian writer Keith L. Brooks

URGENT REQUEST FOR PRAYER

A ten-year-old registered boy child, Sumon Saha has been diagnosed with an advance stage of blood cancer.

He is from the Sathnong Khasia Punji Children Development Sponsorship Project in the northeast of Bangladesh in the rolling tea estates area. He is from a poor Hindu family that works at one of the tea estates.

On 7 May 07 during a regular health check-up at the project the doctor said he was sick and needs to go to the local health clinic in Maulavibazar. At Maulvebazar Health Clinic they sent him to a hospital in Sylhet. The hospital in Sylhet said they did not have the resources to help him and sent him to Dhaka. In Dhaka, his parents, Project Manager and Sumon went to the government PE Hospital that is known to be good. They diagnosed the cancer but said they could not do anything for him since it was in the advance stage. From PE Hospital our Partnership Facilitator (PF) took everybody to Apollo Hospital (the best in Bangladesh). By now, the boy cannot walk and needs to be on oxygen, so we hired an ambulance to take him to Apollo. Not the easiest thing to do in Bangladesh. Apollo didn’t want to see the boy because he and his parents looked to poor. However, the PF convinced them that Compassion would look after all expenses. As of today, 15 May the boy is undergoing test at Apollo.

Please Pray for Sumon Saha for God’s comfort, peace, and healing hand to be upon him.

Thank you for praying.

Charlie leads worship song during Church

Charles was asked to lead a worship song during church in April. They actually asked him to play the drums but when I told them, he could play the keyboard and sing- they agreed. Charles was the worship leader for one song during the offering. He picked, “My Redeemer Lives”. His friend played the drums, same age (12), another teenager played the guitar, and he had four back up singers.

During the week before the service, I asked Chad, “Has Charles been practicing the song?” Chad replied, “No-duh, only about 1,000 million times!” Charles was ready. He played a very contemporary rock electric keyboard version. The drummer, Nathan and had it down and even improvised a little. It was nice to hear his voice- he did a good job with the singing.

Nita and I were nervous but Charles almost looked happy up on stage. The boy never smiles but I could see a little turn-up in the corner of his lips. He said later that he had enjoyed it and would do it again. The congregation gave him and the band a standing ovation. It surprised the Pastor that two twelve year olds could be so good. The Pastor, Asa Kain, called them over after the song, talked about future worship leaders, prayed and blessed them. It was very nice.

Compassion International’s president celebrates 30 years at ministry

I love Wess Stafford. The man was born to be the leader of Compassion. My first impression of him was in a slum of Dhaka loving the children in 100 degree heat and humidity! The muslim mothers, in purdha (total covering including the head and face) were coming up to him to shake his hand because they could feel the love he had for their poor children. This is a small write up on him. Please buy the book he wrote it is excellent and will bring tears to your eyes and demand you to do something for the children in this world!

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 3, 2007 – Compassion International President, Dr. Wess Stafford was honored for his 30-years of service with the international child advocacy organization. Dr. Stafford began work with Compassion on May 1, 1977. He assumed the role as president in 1993. He is also the author of the child advocacy book Too Small to Ignore, released in 2005.

Under Dr. Stafford’s guidance and leadership, the number of children served by Compassion increased from 180,000 to more than 800,000. The organization now operates in 24 developing countries, working with 4,000 church partners. In addition to its Child Sponsorship Program, Compassion implements other programs such as its AIDS Initiative, Child Survival Program and Leadership Development Program.

“Compassion was only 25-years old when I started working with it and it has never stopped being an adventure,” says Dr. Stafford. “I joined this organization because I see the seeds of its greatness. Compassion does exactly what the poor would do if they had the financial resources to take care of their children.”

Dr. Stafford’s life and path to Compassion is not like the paths most CEOs take. As a child of missionary parents, he lived with the poor in Africa, growing up in an impoverished village in the Ivory Coast. It was there that Dr. Stafford first witnessed the sting of poverty, seeing many of his young friends die from preventable diseases and deplorable living conditions. The experience never left him, eventually shaping him as an advocate and leader for children.

“I have never lost one ounce of passion for what I do,” says Dr. Stafford. “I truly believe Compassion is on the edge of amazing events concerning the work we do. There’s a generation that’s emerging that won’t sit by and let the world hurt. Compassion is a part of that effort and it won’t be long before we see the fruits of our labor.”

Compassion International is one of the world’s largest Christian child development organizations, working with more than 65 denominations and thousands of indigenous church partners in Africa, Asia, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Since 1952, Compassion has touched the lives of more than 1 million children and has been recognized for its financial integrity with top ratings and recommendations by several of the nation’s leading not-for-profit “watchdog” organizations. For information about sponsoring a child, contact Compassion online at Compassion.com or by calling (800) 336-7676, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., MST.

Update Treatment information of Utpal

Please continue to pray for Utpal. He is a precious child who's future on earth is in doubt.

As per our instruction the Project Manager talked with Utpal’s Parents for follow-up treatment. First time they did not agree but at last they agree to come for Utpal’s follow-up Treatment at Apollo Hospital. There is a doctor who is working in Apollo Hospital Bangladesh also Apollo Hospital Indian. With Utpal’s previous treatment document Project Manager talk with the Doctor and as per his advice Project Manager went back to Gonali to bring Utpal at Dhaka. So the coming Wednesday 9-May-07 Project Manager, Utpal and his Mother will come to Dhaka for admission at Apollo Hospital,

Please find Utpal’s sponsor quarry answer bellow:

How can Sponsor help Utpal family/Family Permanent income opportunity.

Utpal Family Description:

Father Name: Mr. Sukamer Sarker

Mother Name: Mrs. Amina Sarker

Children: Two Sons

Family Income: 40/50 Tk per day (But 10 days working with in one month) -thats less than one dollar a day.

Land owner: No land, now living another land by grace

House situation: Made by dirt

Family Permanent in come opportunity: Utpal Father is very simple faith man and uneducated, he don’t know 2 and 2 make 4, So, according to our discussion with Project manager finely we decide that if give One Rickshaw Van and Two Cows by those they can bear their family very well.