It happens every year. I know it is coming. I dread it and I am always thankful it is over. I know it is a Thai holiday and I know the Thais love it but for me something always goes wrong around Songkran and all I can connect with Songkran is bad karma. This year it was the phone. Yes - my phone karma has taken another hit.
I am sure people will comment and remind me of how cool Songkran is and how much fun they have. I am not saying it’s not fun but for me personally it never has been and others seem to rue it as much as I do. I think it was Songkran three years ago that while I was in Thailand there was a death in my family. Two years ago I was in Laos for the holiday and fighting the HK goverment over my taxes at the same time I was leaving my job. Last year it was my eye surgery gone bad.
This year. I thought I was home free. I was almost through it but if you count today as still being part of the Songkran holiday then I did not make it folks. My phone speaker stopped working on my brand new phone. I am beside myself. What makes it even worse is that I was actually holding the phone as it was ringing and I heard the speaker croak. Done. Finished. Want to know what makes it even worse? My ex-girlfriend was the one calling. A new low for me.
So on the way to work today I stop by the Sony store and ask about how to get it fixed. I knew they would be most unhelpful, typical of stores in Thailand, and they proceeded to tell me that they don’t fix things at the store. I knew that. I was just looking for where to get it fixed since it is brand fucking new and I have the receipts. I knew there must be some warranty place to take it but I did not know where. The helpful man behind the counter gave me a card. With a Thai address and a number. Generally I would have called the number myself but on top of the dead speaker I can’t make calls and DTAC is closed. For Songkran of course.
He then realized the information he gave me was close to useless and proceeded to dig up another sheet of paper with a map and information for the warranty center. Cool. I used the phone at work to call the store I bought it from just to confirm the information and asked them if this was my only choice. She said it was. Cool. Cleared that up. So given today is still Songkran I will have to try tomorrow and see what the process is for getting a new phone fixed. I am trying to be positive but somehow my guess is that this will not be painless.
I love my new Sony Ericsson phone but given that it is now broken I imagine my experience with trying to get it fixed will either enhance the love affair or drive me to depression. Will blog about the progress.
Life in BKK is getting back to normal. I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday.
Aside #1: Some of u may know I think Ultraman is cool. Check this out.
Aside #2: My mom always thinks it may be unsafe for me in Thailand but I think compared to the stuff happening in the “safe” places like America. I feel pretty secure in Thailand.
Songkran’s over? I’ll be on a plane back tomorrow then. Make sure all that water’s mopped up before I land, eh?
Difficult to see how your 60 baht Beerlao can compete with the ~200 baht British lager I’ve been quaffing over here, but I’ll give it a go. Different planet.
See you Thursday, probably. Want me to bring a spare cellphone?
View all comments by Basingstoke Bad Boy
Water is mopped up. Streets are clean as they can be.
How much is the barfine over there?
Maybe bring some spare parts to help speed the process along.
That and some quality porn should get me through.
View all comments by smitty
Not all the Thai love it, A few Thai girls and myself stocked up with plenty of supplies and then nailed the door up, sealed the air lock and got wasted. They would not go out for anything, but neither would I so can’t complain. I loved it the first time, but over it now. Especially when you want to take laundry out should of planned better hey. Although after a few “Sok a bok” and “mai saad” comment they proceded to completely clean my appartment. It was ok before but when they left it was sparkling…..ok some cheap jewellery that wasn’t there before…
View all comments by Young Royal
A thai co-worker of mine had a brand new Nokia N73 and it just stopped working. His solution was to buy a new phone. I said no way and marched right to the Nokia store. Told, you didn’t buy it here so we can’t help you. Went to store it was bought at and they said call the service center. CAlled them, they said come into the service center, we’re open until 6 pm and oh yeah were at seacon square.
I was livid and it wasn’t even my phone. If nokia knew this went on they might not be too happy
View all comments by bkk22
Yeah. It is a mess. In Hong Kong this would never happen. U simply took it back to where u had bought it and they dealt with it.
Here. It is anyone’s guess. The manufacturer sends u to the service store, the store u bought it from does not give u the time of day but yet it is a new phone, under warranty that has stopped working.
Will let u all know how tomorrow goes. First stop in the morning is DTAC and then the Sony service center which appears to not even be Sony. Fun. Fun.
View all comments by smitty
Young Royal: Best Songkran plan I’ve heard so far. Nice.
View all comments by pmmp
Come on guys, deal with it, we are all living in Thailand deal with the culture.. I do agree that it can be a pain in the ass once in a while.
Well it is now over..
View all comments by JJ
JJ - I hear u and I deal with it but I think the Thais could have more respect for people that clearly look like they are going to work(suit and tie is a good sign) and don’t have the time to get into a water fight. The rest of it is my own personal bad experiences that tend to coincide with Thai New Year.
Quick phone update. So I hit the Sony Ericsson service center on Petchburi road today around 11:00. It seems to be a dedicated Sony Ericsson shop so that was cool. They waited on me in under 5 minutes and once they had verified that it was a real phone with warranty they said they could repair it by this evening.
I will be back tonight to pick it up and will update then. Couple of comments. I don’t know why these places don’t offer a loaner phone since for sure I want my phone back and will return the loaner. I also don’t understand why the dedicated Sony sales shops don’t offer to take your phone to the service center for u. That would be some serious customer service.
Lastly - since this is Thailand. The 3 service counter girls were great. 1 okay looking. 1 cute. 1 super hot. The important things folks.
View all comments by smitty
Okay. Phone update.
Went back at 4 and it was fixed.
I was impressed.
Tried chatting the cute one up - got nowhere but it was fun.
Sony Ericsson, other than the phone breaking in the first place, has still left me feeling love for my phone.
laterz…
View all comments by smitty
Smitty, congrates on your success story with the phone.
A Panasonic “boom box” that I bought in early 2006 stopped playing CDs in August of 06. I took it back where I bought it. Eight months I have gone to the shop to pick it up 5 seperate times, and as recently as 3 days ago we are still trading phone calls about it. They called on Wednesday before Songkran to tell me AGAIN that its repaired and ready to pick up. My train fares now nearly exceed what I paid for it so I told them to keep it.
Like Smitty, I am not anti-Thailand… I take the bad with the good. I don’t love Songkran or warranty repairs, but I love go go dancers and beer bar girls. I love spicy street food and hot weather. It ain’t heaven or Australia but it’s home for now. I wouldn’t stay here if I didn’t like it.
View all comments by werewolf
Amen.
Just had a buddy tell me that he was in a tuk-tuk on thursday prior to Songkran kicking off. He was on his way to work and there was no real organized water activity. Out of the blue he was doused with a large bucket of water and it has put his phone out of commission. Somehow this idea that the Thais need to take the piss out of the Farang during Songkran does not embody what I think Songkran is about.
View all comments by smitty
I went up to Luang Prabang in Laos on April 5th and stayed until the 10th. Lao Songkran (Pii Mai Lao) officially started on April 13th afternoon, but the “Luang Prabangers” were splashing water at hapless travelers (farangs and others) in tuk tuks transferring from the airport to the center of town from the day I arrived. However, the interesting point I noticed was that if you didn’t want to get wet, you simply indicated so, by either saying “No, please don’t splash me” in Lao or using body language and English. For the most part, the civilized Lao people complied… until I arrived in Vientiane for the official start of “Pii Mai Lao”. It was more aggressive there, but still on one day in the middle of the festival, I had a meeting with an old friend and I had to haul ass across town via tuk tuk. I told my tuk tuk driver to try to avoid the obvious “wet” sections of town and he even told street-side splashers to go easy on the water when we passed. Interestingly enough, most Lao people complied and didn’t bother splashing us. Although at one point, a little Lao kid nailed me with a water balloon filled with colored water - the gods smiled on me as it didn’t explode (merely bounced off) and I could fling it back at him from the back of the tuk tuk. My meeting completed, I could make it back to my guest house where I changed into my “Songkran” attire and went out for a grand old splashing. I guess my point of this long post is that in Vientiane, the locals seemed to offer me a choice to participate or not… We don’t have this luxury in modern Thailand during Thai Songkran.
View all comments by The Bison