Expensive lesson

Did you ever want something so bad you could taste it?

My dad bought me the first gen iPhone for Christmas in 2007. I LOVED that phone, got me through many sleepless nights up nursing when Z was born. But like most electronics, the iPhone moved on, got better, newer, and mine got out dated and the battery started to die.

This year they announced the new iPhone 4 was coming out a DAY after my birthday. I started to want it. I yearned for that phone, a new phone that wouldn't die within an hour of being unplugged, newer and better cameras, more apps. Of course, my birthday came and went and since we didn't pre-order it, I had to wait.

A few weeks ago, my hubby took me to the AT&T store to buy me an iPhone. We ordered it and they said it would ship in 7-10 days.

I got on line DAILY (okay, more than daily, maybe hourly?) to check my status. When it shipped I was ecstatic. I tracked my phone across the US and when it was to be delivered, went home at lunch to see just in case I could be there. I was. Last Friday I took my brand new toy that I had lusted after for months out of its box. I proudly unwrapped it, activated it, played with it. I was in LOVE. I couldn't wait until the weekend to explore my new prize, learn all its intrcities, and fall even more in love with it.

Saturday morning we were to go see some friends at the park for a play date. We were running late, I popped my new phone in my back pocket while running around gathering up my stuff. Ran to the potty really quick too since I didn't want to use the one at the park.

Had to hurry up and pee quick, late late late.

Started to wash my hands, leaned over to flush. . ..

and at the bottom of the bowl was my new phone.

:(

O.M.G.

Tried to turn it off, shook out water. It spend days in a bag of rice only to be no more.

What to do, visions of replacing my phone at the cost of $600, of having no phone for ever, horrible sad thoughts of not having a smart phone raced through my head.

I jumped online and found insurance, and quickly bought that for $100 but then I couldn't make a claim for over 30 days. I tried to think about no phone for months. Wow, I was devastated.

On Tuesday, hubby thought about getting me a prepaid phone so at least I had a phone, I ordered one and had it delivered, that was $50.

Then I realized that the insurance had a $50 deductible, and there was no guarantee they would pay my claim, when I finally got it.

I was soooooo sad. My new toy, my baby. I was out of luck

My phone did come on a bit, nothing where I could retrieve any data, but it did come on. I went to Apple's site too see if they had any suggestions.

GUESS WHAT!! Apple actually has an out of warranty plan where I could get a replacement phone for the $199 I paid for it. Upon further research, the Apple stores actually have a stock of phones for replacements--even while people are waiting weeks for back ordered phones.

So, I did some math. The insurance was $100, the deductible was $50, my prepaid was $50-- for one month. If it took a few months to make the claim I was stuck with a different number, a POS cheap phone, and no guarantee that I would get a new iPhone after all that if they realized the phone broke before the insurance went into effect.

My attempts to get a new phone were likely going to cost me over $300 --or I could suck it up, go to apple, pay $199 and walk out with a new phone.

Today, I am the proud owner of a brand new (maybe refurbished but who cares) iPhone 4, the insurance is processing my cancellation and should refund my money, now I just need to see if I can cancel and return the prepaid phone!

Oh I am a really happy camper today, if not somewhat more broke.