I went to to a Cingular corporate store Friday to buy a new cell phone as my Samsung x497 was no longer working properly. Because of my plan I knew I would have to buy a phone at the no commitment price and was fine with that. I had purposely put off buying a new phone until I knew I could really afford it. So I go to the store with a budget of $200.00 but was prepared to go as hig h as $300.00 to make sure it was a quality phone. To my surprise the sales associate actually tells me that I could do much better by buying a new phone from one of those specialty stores we see on every corner that sells some of everything. I disregard her statement and go about browsing the store for a new phone. The prices are out of this world and all the phones are either Razors or Razor clones, SLVR, RIZOR, KRZR- and all that other mess. So I leave the store and try my luck at one of those specialty stores. I wasn’t feeling their selection either but after playing around with the Motorola SLVR 6Li, I decide to get it. With the ear piece I paid exactly $200.00. I then went back to the Cingular store to get a case which cost $29.99 and I was a pretty happy camper.

That was until I got home and realized the phone was missing the warranty cards and registration form that new items come with. I then realize that the Motorola SLVR L6i has a Hong Kong url on the box and as it turns out the phone was released over there but not in this country and is what is known as an “Unlocked” phone.

To connect to the net a Cingular representative had to walk me through a very lengthy process and some features don’t work. As most phones today come with stupid ringers I always download a normal ringer right from the Cingular site, but again, the Hong Kong phone doesn’t work with Cingular ring tones.

To make things worse, I noticed that when you held the phone at an angle you see that the screen is dark gray but in the middle of the screen is 2 black clumps of something. This told me the screen had issues and was probably a refurbished which is why no warranty cards were found.

Oh, and did I tell you I found other folks numbers and info in the phones? Another clear sign the phone was used before.

So I call and complain repeatedly and they tell me to bring it back in Wednesday. Seeing as I will be in the area of the store again, I take it back in today. They whip out a Motorola L6 and I decline. Because I was able to finally get the L6i working, I wanted the same phone again. Plus the L6i has better user reviews than the L6. Eventually I leave the store with nothing and am told to come back Wednesday when they will have the L6i for me. They don’t give refunds.

I am mad. I am mad that when I left and went to another Cingular store, the sales representatives there had heard my story before and even knew which person it was from the corporate store who sent me away. Word is corporate stores don’t want to sell phones without plans. I am mad that I left my home in good faith to do something I held off on doing for months because I wanted to save money, and then when I finally do it, it gets all screwed up. I am mad that I didn’t stand up for myself more in the specialty store. I went in there smiling and trying to be polite and lady like when I should have been the bitch I wanted to be.

It is not like me to allow myself to be taken advantage but that is what I feel like I allowed to happen. That is what is pissing me off the most. Plus I have a sneaking suspicion that when I go back Wednesday there will be no L6i and I will walk out of there with some two bit crappy released 5 years ago phone. My hard earned money is down the drain and it is eating away at me.

I could never be a criminal or scam people. I could never steal another person’s money.

So much ahs happened since I last posted on this site. I accidentally fell into running a celebrity blog. It is so far from who I am and what I am about. But little did I know that accidental site would change my life in such a way.

In the coming days, weeks and months I will share my life here in hopes of helping other women like myself.

Stay tuned….

God Bless and Take Care

Shawna ♥

The children made new friends and went to lots of parties and I know the summer of 2006 will be one they never forget.Because the kids were away from home so much, I too was able to go out and do a lot of things I hadn’t done in a long time.I spent a few days upstate with a girlfriend and her husband and it was such a breath of fresh air to be out of the city and enjoy the peace and quiet of the country.

Next Tuesday the kids will return to class and I feel really good about this school year.Shane is going off to junior high and Essence is starting the 4th grade with her best friend downstairs whose mother transferred her to our school.All in all things are going great and for once I haven’t a thing to complain about.

Though I am not sure how long they have lived here, I know it’s been less than six months and yet they have become like family to me and the other two families who live in our building.

The kids have become particularly close to my children as we live right across the hall from each other.The boy stops by daily to hang out with my older son and play Playstation and the girl has become like an older sister to my daughter.

Now, though these people have lived here for nearly six months, I had never seen or met the father until last night.His reputation however proceeded him.My children told me he was really strict and very mean and cranky.Tonight I found out just how cranky he can be.

The father works very long hours and is rarely home, hence why I had never so much as seen him.The kids, though very well mannered, didn’t seem to have much by way of food or clothing, yet also didn’t appear to be abused or deprived.At this point, my children pretty much fed them and when I go shopping now, I know I am shopping for 7 people rather than 5.

Anyway, the father comes home tonight a lil early and flips when he finds my children in his home.According to my children, he told them to leave and threw his two children out on the street with no shoes on.After slamming some doors and cursing in the strongest Jamaican accent I had ever heard, he went downstairs and summoned his children to come inside.From there my apartment began as to shake as God only knows what was happening next door.After a while there was no sound or movement and I wondered what had happened.

How could 2 such wonderfully well mannered and intelligent children be raised by such a nut case? Is he abusing them? Where is the mother? One story was she died and another story had her living in another apartment in the Bronx because “There isn’t enough room for her here”.Whatever the case, I feel sorry for the kids next door.

My youngest son complains that his Dad and I are too strict and try to keep him from having sun.After watching the tirade of the father next door, my son came to me and told me he was glad to have me and his Dad as his parents.