Whatever Happens

My sister's birthday next week, and we can't be there, because we can't take any days off, and even if I could, it would cost a bit too much, seeing as how I now won't have an income. Sucks! Will be going with Arnie to the Forever Living meeting tonight though, so maybe I can start cashing in on actually being one of their distributors. We shall see!

Right, last night I was talking about my digital camera and mentioned it was being repaired. It's because after the Boots Children in Need fireworks display (3 Nov. 2006), I noticed how on my pictures taken with my Fuji Finepix S5500, there was this white dot on the left side... on every picture. As I've recently been thinking about cancelling my pay-as-you-go cover on it (which I only took out because I was not planning on paying an extra £60 when I bought the camera, so I figured £2.50 a month was better), as the camera wasn't that expensive to begin with, and if I'm not in work, it means I'll save £2.50 by cancelling it. However, if I'm going to cancel it, at least I want a camera without that white dot!

I spoke to one of the Digital team leaders at work, wondering if they were the ones handling the digital cameras. They were not, but incidentally, he had a camera that needed repairing, so mentioned what happens when you book it. Got my receipt and warranty details off the system at work, as I've put the receipt in a Safe Place.

Later that day, I phoned up the number listed on the Currys website. Spoke to a lovely lady in a callcentre in Stoke, who also were running under the [insert negative adjective] name The TechGuys, but with a different owner. Like the one where I work, they too had been "sold like slaves" (man, I sure hope she didn't have a QC listening in!), but not to Capita, but some other company.

Being very tired is not a good idea when talking on the phone, unless you want to sound like a complete eejit. ;) Anyway, described the problem, saying it's not on the display of the camera, it's on the actual pictures - meaning, it's something wrong with the sensor inside the camera. She booked it for me, I got a reference number and will be getting packaging through the mail so I can send it off to be repaired. They have 21 days to repair it, or I can claim a replacement according to the Whatever Happens T&Cs. w00t! Then again, Fuji might be quick and have it back in a jiffy, you never know.

While talking to her, and she asked how long I've had the problem, I said I noticed it in November, and started to look through the picture folders on my PC. Pictures from last Christmas also had the dot. WTF. The first folder there is with pictures from 2 May 2005, which is less than a week after purchase... and yes, even those pictures had the dot! Only slightly smaller and not as bright! *bangs head on bookcase* If I had noticed, I could've just taken it back to the store and said "oi, replace it!"... but noooo. Ruddy good thing I DID take out that policy!

The problem is a white dot, as I mentioned. On a black background, it's 3x3 pixles. On a lighter background, it's about 6x6 pixles, as the brighter spot is surrounded by a darker ring. On the pictures from 2/5, the bright bit alone is 2x2 and in total it's 4x4, but it's not as prominent, so easy to miss - like I did. For over 1½ years. Arghhh!

My first digital camera was a Olympus C-220 Zoom, which I got off Pixmania in the spring of 2004. It wasn't quite what I was after, but it was the closest I could get for the least money. It broke down three months after purchase, when it started bluescreening (!) on me when we were at Twycross Zoo. In order to return something to Pixmania, you have to send it recorded to France. Recorded mail from Sweden (as well as international postage) is not the cheapest thing, plus I'd also have to pay for them shipping it back to me. Sod that! Even though I had agreed to the deal that said if my camera broke down, they'd replace it. Yeah, with me spending a wad of cash on postage. Not gonna happen!

I phoned Olympus in Sweden. After explaining the problem, they said for me to send it in, as it was an electrical fault. Two weeks later or so, I got a package from them. I was expecting either my camera to be fixed, or a new C-220 at most. When I opened the package, I went "oooo!" as what I had was not my camera. Nor was it a new C-220. It was a C-310! The C-310 was a bit more what I had been thinking the C-220 was. It's like the model up from it, and it's a lot better. I was thrilled to bits. I didn't get my camera fixed, I got a new, much better one! :D It's worked perfectly fine ever since. My precious.

Can't really expect the same scenario again, but maybe... just maybe... they can't fix it, and since it's an old model now, get me the newer one - the S6500, which kind of came out on top in the Gadget Show recently... Oh, I'd wish...

I'll keep you posted. ;)

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