The Frugalista Wannabe

As of this writing, I’ve only had 1 hour of sleep in the past 40+ hours. I’m still fine. I’ve just finished modifying the main What’s Hot website and I’m raring to finish the rest of the websites.

I’m still awake, however, because of one thing: I’m terribly disappointed in a recent purchase I made, and I’m waiting for 10AM in order for me to be able to go back to the store and have it exchanged for an item I would be able to use.

I had bought a Globe Tattoo Prepaid USB 3G Modem because my SmartBro USB connection had been very unreliable in the past couple of days. Yes, I’ve applied to a hopefully more stable DSL connection, but it’ll take them anytime from Tuesday to Thursday next week to have it installed in my apartment, yet.

I’ll save the story of my disappointment with Bayantel (and its redemption) for next time. The story behind this post, which had sparked me to get going on creating my “What’s Hot” websites already, is focused on how a big an idiot I was for buying the Globe Tattoo Prepaid 3G modem almost on impulse. Let me start by enumerating the reasons why I call myself an Idiot for doing this:

• I had believed the rave review of the lady who owns a cellphone reloading business because her clients preferred Globe’s speed over SmartBro’s. She no longer sells SmartBro because people prefer buying Globe Tattoo. It never occurred to me that by default, people use Windows. And it’s a given that they’d work on those machines. I was not aware that the depth of my Macbook’s “special needs” was almost equal to mine. (High school classmates and I have an inside joke about being a “special child.” :p)
• I did not even research about the compatibility of Globe Tattoo with my machine. I took it for granted that if the SmartBro prepaid USB could be compatible with my Mac, then therefore, Globe Tattoo USB should be compatible, as well. No brainer!
• I did not even test the dongle in the store. I did not even ask if it were compatible with a Mac. I was pressed for time and I went all over the place looking for one being sold for much less, but nooooo. I did not even think about the compatibility with my machine.

These are three major red flags I should have watched out for before I made a purchase. Thus, to translate it into advice anyone out to make a crucial (not necessarily big; just crucial and needed in his/her life) purchasing decision, here are my tips:

• Don’t just take anybody’s word for it. They may not know your situation or your circumstances, so not everything that’s highly recommended by people around you would be great for you as well. Cover all the bases, and get a second opinion if needed. It’s also better to get the opinion of a better-informed, more technically knowledgeable person rather than someone who just observed the trends and preferences of the majority of people they deal with in sales. You may miss the fact that like me, you may be part of a statistical minority who may get highly inconvenienced with purchasing the wrong product.
• Research is your best friend. Most savvy people actually research before they make purchases beforehand. I usually do! Heck, I am obsessed with an object MONTHS to sometimes even YEARS before I make the actual purchase! But why, oh why, did I take things for granted this time? Why did I *assume* that the Globe USB dongle will work as fine as the SmartBro dongle on my Mac?

• Assumption and overgeneralization are considered to be fallacies in logic. I learned that in college, lol. When you generalize that what is true for one will be true for the rest of the lot, you are not taking into consideration the exceptions. At that precise moment, I thought that the quality of the product that was true for one brand was applicable to the other. How very wrong I was!

So now I learned that I really have to apply presence of mind, mindfulness, and a logical way of buying a product. While I did intend to try out the Globe Tattoo dongle before I bought it, I did not have a means of trying out the product itself before I made the actual purchase. That night, I did bump into an equally geeky churchmate, who happens to be a high school schoolmate. He did tell me that Globe Tattoo was better than SmartBro *for him*. He must have been on Windows. Sigh. I could have used that opportunity to try out the item before I went off and bought it. I could have borrowed it from him before I made the purchase. Sigh.

But as it was, I was very, very anxious, to the point of scared, that my SmartBro connection would give me ten times the hell of normal days, once again. It was a Friday last night, and SmartBro does slow down enormously during Fridays to Sundays, like clockwork.

• Which brings me to the last lesson, for this article: Don’t make purchases motivated by fear or anxiety. I bought the dongle because I feared the internets from SmartBro would let me down. Maybe I really should have waited it out. Go figure.

Either way, this was a rather expensive lesson learned. I just hope that I can be able to exchange this USB dongle in favor of another item or that I could have it fixed, some way some how. Wish me luck.

Update, as of 5:14 AM, 7/4/2010:
I actually posted this from Concept Computer in SM City Iloilo earlier. And by earlier, I meant yesterday. Lol. The days sure seem to run over on my side of existence. Anyway, they ended up refunding me for the full amount of the dongle, plus they gave me a promissory receipt for the Php 150 load that I topped up on the Globe Tattoo account. I’m sad that I didn’t get to keep the number. The number was cute and easy to memorize: 0915-2778353.

When I asked them what I should do with the thing, the guy I transacted with finally decided to refund me because I looked so harassed (I think) and got all the more harassed with him flying around jumping from client to client and the crazy Concept Computer girls not having a clue with what to do next with his instructions. I was already cussing because they didn’t wrap up the transaction with me before they went off to another client. Why can’t we all learn to do one thing at a time, please?!

And I got all the more miffed because in one of the moments when I asked the guy what his decision was, he told me that maybe I should look for another person to buy the dongle. I said, “WHAT?! And to think I just bought this off you like last night?! Your stupid salesladies had a fault in this, too! How was I supposed to know that this wouldn’t work on a Mac?!”

So that was how he got to the decision to sell the damned dongle themselves and give me a full refund plus the Php 150. Despite these shenanigans, you gotta hand it to Concept Computer. They gave me a full refund.

Either way, the refund was very welcome. I was running low on cash too, as I also paid the bills for the DSL line I had applied for. As I said, I bought that dongle in fear that SmartBro will render itself too slow again. But thanks to the refund, I got to buy a new Laptop Cooler, which I had needed for the constant blackouts here in Iloilo City.

As for the refund of Php 150, I’ll come back for it mid-week probably, when I’ve run out of cash once more and my PayPal transfer isn’t in yet. :p More about my “allowance habits” in a future post.

So after I got a full refund and a promissory note, and while I was waiting for my turn to go get served in CDR-King so I could get my Laptop Cooler, I went to Globe in SM City Iloilo and talked to them about their dongle. At first I was happy that they were welcoming a complaint in order to file a report. However, I hated the fact that the lady who eventually entertained me and checked the item was defensive. She said they were using a Mac also and that the item was fine. But that all I needed to do was to upgrade the firmware.

I told them about my ordeal last night: that I had searched for the driver for a few hours and that other users in Philmug were ranting about the blasted thing, too. Heck, Jessica Zafra hated the dongle as well. She was defensive and skeptical at first but I told her that it’s still unfair because SmartBro works on my computer. Plus, in the course of my rants, I guess I was able to communicate they really should cater to their clients.

Eventually it hit her that she really should either make a report OR get rid of me, so she got my Globe number and promised to make that report.

I really don’t care if she made the report or not. This post would be testament to the crapness of the current Globe Tattoo 3G dongle model, Huawei E1552. So should this post be read… This is still one point, or even a fraction of a point against their product.

Also, she told me that there was a guy from abroad who used an openline USB dongle with a Mac and a Globe Tattoo SIM. It didn’t work, either.

So, you don’t care? You don’t care that your sales dip because while people would love to try your service, you just don’t care enough to offer solutions to incompatibilities like this?! Wow!

But enough about that. One thing I learned from this stretch of 3 days of encounters with CSRs, sales people and companies that provide service is that IF YOU ARE IN THE BUSINESS OF PROVIDING SERVICE, SERVE YOUR CLIENTS TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY AND WITH HUMILITY. IF NOT, YOU’LL GET RANTS LIKE *THIS*! (Click Linkie on “*THIS*” please, to understand that I am not being conceited.) (And oh, I really even used Google’s Keyword Tool so that I can tag this properly. YES, I HATED THIS EXPERIENCE THIS MUCH!)

And yes, I really should start practicing what I don’t want to happen to me, as well. Wah. (Yes, client-ordered articles I’ll get to you in a bit.)

I also learned that maybe this stretch of service crapness was to hone my patience, gentleness and kindness even when I get bad service. Pero utang na loob naman. Umayos din naman kayo! (But please, do your part right as well.)

I’m trying to figure out a way to be kind and gentle even through craptastically crappified situations like these, and yet let them know that what they did is wrong and they should be sorry.

But I’m thankful for the stress they gave me. Gave me an excuse to rest and to SLOWLY clean my room. The details of which will be in a post in the future in WORK, WORK, WORK, my blog about working online, lifehacks, GTD, time management, SEO and even CHORES.

Well, enough of rants and negativity, it’s a Sunday after all; I really just wanted to warn EVERY MAC USER ON OS X TIGER to BEWARE about buying GLOBE TATTOO. Public Service announcement brought to you by The Frugalista Wannabe, for free. Hee. :p

Happy Sunday, yo!