On Sunday I was charging my cell phone while driving to get a hair cut. As I pulled into the strip mall parking lot I began to smell the acrid odor of burning plastic. I looked down and saw smoke spewing from the side of my Motorola Razr HD cell phone.
I immediately unplugged my phone, the usb micro cable was charred you could see the smoke continue to pour out from the charging port. Thankfully the burning stopped when the supply of power was removed. Sadly the components were so burned that a recharge would not be possible.
This was problematic. I was on vacation in Minnesota, and it was my last day in town. The following evening I was supposed to be picked up by a co-worker from the airport, except I hadn’t given him my flight information yet.
Here is the good news. I have a Google Voice account. When I got back to where I was staying I was able to log into my Google Account pull up my co-worker’s phone number and text him directly via Google Voice. It worked just like it had been my cell, and we were able to coordinate effortlessly.
When I got home I lucked out again. My wife and I keep her old cell phone in the house, it is a perfect back up phone for instances like this. This morning I logged into my cell provider ported my service to the backup phone. Then when I got home from work I headed over to Best Buy.
I have had insurance through AT&T and Verizion in the past, and I’ve had to use their service. It was very frustrating having to spend an additional $50 to get my phone replaced. This time however it was easy. Best Buy insurance doesn’t cost anything beyond the standard payment mine is $10 per month.
I have seen arguments against insuring your electronics but they never really made sense to me. As it turns out I have used the Best Buy insurance twice in less than six months, three times in the last year. My wife’s phone needed replacement last winter, then in September my cell phone was bent almost in half, and now of course the cell phone burning up. Needless to say insurance is clearly imperative.
I have been heavily devoted to working into the cloud. I love Amazon, I love Kobo, I love my nook, drop box, Google Web Services…I have been devoted to working into the world of the cloud business. My experience working with Best Buy and the Geek Squad has made me begin to rethink some of this. There is something to be said for quality service and insurance from the big box store. To that end as long as Best Buy is providing quality products and service they will be my source of future phones at a minimum.
