At the end of August last year, I decided to purchase a digital camera for Kathryn's birthday(the 22 of September). She loves to take pictures, and I was tired of purchasing film to put in her little camera and then paying the price to develop pictures, a third of which would have a thumb or finger in the way. So I looked on line and found an $85 camera for $20(including shipping). It was a 4.1 megapixel camera, that looked pretty basic and easy to use. I figured this would be just right for a 6 year old. So I bought it. With in a week it had arrived. I was thrilled. I then had the thought that I should probably open it up and learn how to use it before I gave it to her for her birthday. All worked OK and it took decent pictures. But then I tried putting the memory card in it, and the camera would not recognize it. I called the customer service number to see if they could help...silly me for thinking that they would be any help. We finally came to the conclusion that it was defective and I should send it back for a replacement. I wasn't too worried because I thought I had plenty of time. After all, it was only the beginning of September, Kathryn's birthday wasn't until the 22. It had only taken 3 days for it to get to me the first time, so I kept my fingers crossed that it would get back to me in time.........apparently crossing your fingers doesn't work.
As November rolled in and Christmas began to approach I continued calling every week, just as I had been doing since September, to find out where my camera was. I always got the same response "your camera is ready to be shipped, you should have it in about a week." After a handful of these kind of conversations I finally requested to talk to somebody that had more authority than the useless folks I had been talking with. The new lady I talked to, promised me that she would make sure that the camera was shipped, that she understood my frustration, and she would be sure that I would get the camera within a week. So I held my breath and hoped that it would be so. When the week was up, I still did not have a camera, so I called back and said simply that I needed to talk to this lady. I told her that I didn't have my camera yet and I wanted to know where it was. She told me that "my camera was ready to be shipped and I should have it within a week". I reminded her that she had promised me that I would have it with in the week last time. She told me that she understood my frustration, to which I interrupted and told her that she didn't because if she did I would have had a camera a long time ago and would not be calling AGAIN. She promised me that it would be sent and I would have it before Christmas(it was now into the first week of December). I demanded a tracking number but she told me that she couldn't give one to me. I thought to myself "of course you can't because you can't provide a tracking number for something you aren't going to ship". Again another week went by. I called one more time. What's-her-face wasn't working that day and they couldn't tell me what the status of my camera because they were having technical difficulties. Five more days, another call, and a promise that it would be shipped priorty with a promise that it would arrive before Christmas. The next day I was in Lethbridge to do some Christmas shopping. I decided that I was going to learn from this experience, thankfully it was only $20. I resinged myself to the fact that I was never going to see the camera again. So I headed over to XS cargo to see what they had for inexpensive cameras. I was able to find one for $50 that was a 6.1 megapixel Kodak camera. I decided that I would rather spend the $50 on a decent camera than on a childrens camera with less than 1 megapixels. So that is what Kathryn got for Christmas.
I have forgotten all about calling to find out where the other camera was. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I decided that I would call just to see if there story had changed at all. I got the same line from the little peons that answer the phone. I told them again, that that wasn't good enough. Explained again that this camera was supposed to be a birthday present for my daughter back in September. Demanded again that I get my camera or something equivalent and that I get it now. The man I was talking to, said that he understood my frustration, and if I would kindly wait another week he was sure that I would receive my camera. I told him that I would not kindly wait any longer. I had been waiting for 6 months. I told him that I wanted to talk to someone with more power and authority that he had that might be able to solve my problem. I was transferred to Kevin. Who did some "looking into" the problem while I once again was put on hold to listen to that awful torturous music. When he came back on the line, he told me that he would be sure to send out the camera and that he would call me within the next two days with a tracking number.
I never heard from Kevin. And I haven't bothered to call back to yell at anyone again. Then last week, my friend who lives just across the border where I have all of my stuff shipped to, so I can save on shipping, let me know that she had a package for me, I thought it was something else that I had ordered recently. But when she brought it to me at church yesterday(our ward boundaries extend into the US, making us a multinational ward), I was totally floored to see that it was my camera...nearly 8 months later. In fact, it is a nicer better camera than the one I had originally purchased. It is a 7.1 megapixel camera, basic, simple and takes decent pictures. But then it had better have been a better camera, 8 months is enough time for two itty bitty microscopic cells to develop into a full fledged human baby(less a month), the same principle should apply to replacement camers...don't you think?
Lesson learned...don't buy anything made by Sakar(I would put a link here so that you would all know what not to buy, but I think it is safer to just not even look, don't even give them the hit on their website), unless you have 8 months to spare if something goes wrong. But I do have a camera stored away to give to Tansley some day in the future or something.
