Secret number?

One of my birthday presents yesterday was a digital photo frame. I unpacked it from all its packaging yesterday evening, plugged it in using an adapter as another plug was also needed in the socket. And reading the instructions, switched it on, inserted my memory card and started to watch my photos changing one by one in the frame.

Then.... all at once they stopped and it went black. I tried switching if off and on....several times, but no it wouldn`t work, I checked the plug was in, yes that looked ok. I re-read the instructions, yes I was doing it right. In the end I gave up and thought, it must be faulty.

So, today in my lunch hour, found the receipt, rang the number of the large multiple store where it had been bought, and grrrrh... got press 1 for..... press 2 for.... press 3 for.... press 4 for..... None of which seemed to have any relevance to what I wanted. I just wanted to speak to the store to see about them changing it for another one which worked. Anyway I pressed one of the numbers which sounded the most likely, and got press 1 if you`re a business customer, press 2 if you`re an independent retailer, press 3 if you`re........ So I put the phone down, and tried again the number and a different option. What did I get?.... press 1 for computer..... press 2..... press 3..... all for computer problems. I tried again and eventually I managed to get someone answer the phone - are you the Norwich store, I asked, oh no he said, in a deeply foreign accent, it`s the call center. I tried to explain what I wanted and he said oh you want our techincal staff I`ll put you through.... now I`m getting somewhere I thought, and what did I get..... back to the press 1 ,2, 3 for computer problems. I gave up.

Ah, I know I thought, I`ll look in the local phone book that will give the store number. Out came the phone books, yes there was the store and the address, and the phone number....the same phone number as I`d been dialling. Why, oh why, don`t they put the actual store number, how are people expected to ring the store about anything. Why be so secretive about the number? By then my time had gone and I had to rush back to work.



I`ll give it one more try this evening I thought, I`ll try it plugged straight into the socket and not into the adapter.... what happened....it worked!! Am I glad that I didn`t manage to get through to them after all !