Maybe I'm just being a bit too dramatic, but here goes. In September 2020, I switched one of my family mobile phones from one major carrier to another. The reason was, we needed a phone that would be able to pick up a signal while we are at camp in the Northeastern part of Pennsylvania during the summer months.

There was a 12-month warranty on the phone through the company that manufactured it. I did not get an insurance plan. Couldn't justify spending more money each month to add to the monthly plan.

Fast forward to the beginning of October this year. The phone shut down, and no matter what we tried, it would not turn back on. The carrier rep's suggestion was to pay it off and buy a new phone and plan since it was one month out of the 12-month warranty. Not happy with that.

So, we took it to a reputable repair shop in the area. They tried, but couldn't fix it. I appreciated their efforts. We took very good care of his phone, never dropped it, never got wet. It just died after 13 months. One month after the warranty expired of course.

Back we went to the carrier, paid off the dead phone to the tune of 600 dollars, financed a new phone that cost us 700 dollars which I think is ridiculous, and had to pay an extra 65 dollars upfront to cover the tax.

I decided to contact the manufacturer to see if they could help me in any way, and they agreed to see what they could do with the dead phone even though it was 30 days beyond the 12-month warranty. The process of waiting for an operator, explaining the situation, and sending back the phone was a circus.

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A couple of days after they received my phone, I received an email with what they could do for me. There was an invoice to repair the phone for $99.99 plus tax. Okay, I could deal with that, but then below that invoice was a new repair cost with the following:

Standard Repair Fee - $99.99
LCD Assembly Repair Fee - $150.00
PBA Repair Fee - $340.00
Tax - $48.67
Total Amount Charged - $638.66

I swear I felt my blood pressure rising to the boiling point. Can't remember the last time I became this upset. I called the manufacturer immediately and went off the deep end. How can they sell me a phone for 1000 dollars, have it last only 13 months, and respond with help to the tune of over 600 dollars to repair a used phone that cost almost as much as the new phone I had to buy to replace it?

I told them to return the phone. Don't try to fix it, don't send me a bill. They agreed. Did I learn an expensive lesson? Sure did. And yes, I purchased an insurance plan on the new phone for the ridiculous price of 15 dollars a month.

I was hoping to wait until the 12-month manufacturer warranty ran out to add insurance for the new phone, but it doesn't work that way. So now I'm paying insurance for 12 months even though I won't need it. Am I right to be upset over all this, or is it as the saying goes "It is what it is?"

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