I am a simple user of cell phones.  I only make telephone calls.  At one time, I did try to read my e-mail messages on my present cell phone; however, it was a very cumbersome effort.  My call volume is very low, so I became quite upset when my cell phone started turning off in the midst of conversations.

I could not imagine anything more serious than the battery may be burning out in my cell phone. I took this phone to the Sprint sales and repair center on Kirkwood Highway in Wilmington, Delaware. I signed in at the door and sit a few minutes waiting to be called. Finally, two different ladies called my name to take my information.  I told the lady all I wanted was my cell phone repaired.  I did not want to get a new telephone and contract. 

I was told it would take about an hour for a technician to examine my phone.  I replied I will come back.

Since my two teenage granddaughters had decided to wait in the car while I dropped off my telephone, I wanted to drop these young ladies back at our home where they planned to spend a weekend with my wife and me. I also went by my wife’s senior center where they were having Saturday bingo to pick her up and help where she needed my assistance.

Once Gwynelle and I started towards the Sprint store, she decided she wanted to go to the supermarket to do some light shopping. On the way to the Sprint store, I had anticipated having to pay for a battery for my cell phone. I was incensed when this technician came out and explained that my phone was out of warranty; therefore, I needed to upgrade to a new telephone.

I was upset for two reasons. First the technician confirmed that the only thing wrong with my cell phone was the battery is bad – it seemed silly to threw away a low use telephone that did what I needed over a battery problem. Second my wife has resisted my efforts for years to move to Verizon who I believe have a better offering for I harbor bad memories of a very expensive multifunction Sprint cell phone that was a poor investment in dollars and time.

I took my cell phone and told the technician as I walked out, “I’m going to Verizon!”

At one time my oldest granddaughter and I had the same make and model cell phones. She has agreed to see if she can find her old phone and let me have the battery. I feel very uncomfortable discarding my current cell phone when it meets my present needs.

I’ve concluded that Sprint is only in the business of creating new contracts. I must have come across as a Neanderthal in their modus operandi. I guess Sprint is really not concerned with the carbon footprint that I would make in throwing away my cell phone.