Why I am a Grinch

I bought my son a cell phone for Christmas. I'm glad I went before the holiday rush because I spent about 45 minutes in the store and all but 5 minutes of that time, the clerk was working on adding this new phone to my account. And she did it wrong.

I said that I wanted to buy him a ringtone and a game or two, and then tell him not to use the "pay per use" internet on the phone because it's crazy expensive and he doesn't have a job yet. He's not old enough for me to be willing to pay for a monthly block of service.

She told me about a program called Smart Limits that lets you restrict what your kid can do. I agreed to give that service a try. Then she screwed up our account. She blocked internet access on HIS phone and put the Smart Limits on MY line.

So I couldn't buy him any ringtones or games, which I wanted to do before I wrapped it, and I tried to set up smart limits and noticed MY phone number was the one I was about to block. Also, the service doesn't even prevent internet use! I will keep it because it puts limits on what he can download, times he can use the phone, and who he can call/receive calls from. But I'm still exasperated. I spent 20 minutes of my lunch time trying to explain to a customer service rep (english speaking, THANK YOU) what was wrong.

It's fixed now, but I should not need an hour to add my kid. Fifteen minutes, tops. I've never had a good customer service experience with adding a phone to our line. We added one for my father in law, and that was a headache. After we added my daughter's line none of us could text, half my blackberry features weren't working because the network didn't know it was a blackberry... I could go on and on. I am a prisoner of my cell phone company.

Oh! and the rebate. I accepted that ATT doesn't give cash rebates, they give you a loaded debit card. Fine. But I left the phone box at Suzy's house, and now I actually need the serial number piece in order to send in my rebate form. I also need to un-hide the phone (I just buried it 10 minutes ago in a place he won't find it) in order to take out the battery to look at some other stupid number that needs to go on the stupid form for the stupid rebate card.

Only 36 days until Christmas.