France Telecom - "Extreme Shopping"

WOAH - this is "extreme shopping" - to buy something from France Telecom. It should be like one of those Japanese game shows, to see how much humiliation you can endure in one shop!

I bought a simple item from France Telecom yesterday, queued for an hour to get served, then it took about half an hour to process the sale on their computer system and then when i left the shop I was told, it will activate in the next hour or so.

Waited for the rest of the day, the night and the next morning went down there again. Big queue, at least 5 people in front wanting to buy stuff, so took my not working item to the desk and explained that I have actually been waiting nearly 24hrs seems a little unfair to wait 2 more while they sell some more stuff that doesnt work.

A man came out with some bingo tickets to organize the queue, he gave me the first ticket, then proceeded to the rest of the people, gave them out tickets and came back to me and said that I would be served after the rest as I came in last - despite the fact mine is an after sales problem and that I queued yesterday. I suggested that he organized the queue into after sales problems and new sales as it might be a bit fairer - he looked at me like an alien.

Waited best part of an hour, then when it was my turn, they tested everything, re-registered it and told me it will work in the next 24hrs (but they all looked uncertain that this was reality). I said that its not good enough to leave me like this, petrol and time are expensive and I will not leave the shop without a piece of paper that gives me the right to jump the queue if there is the need to go back to the shop again.

Oh this was a big problem - the alien wants something from outside of the box ! - but in the end the manager signed something and I have left it like this. They expected me to say thanks and be happy - even though the item I bought, that has already taken up 4 hours of my time, is STILL NOT WORKING and now I must wait 24hrs and still there is still a big chance I may need to go back to the shop and do it all again!

Talk about banging your head against brick wall some days!

grrr

PART TWO:
Called Orange this evening as I just can't imagine going back to the shop and keeping myself composed - they said the card is not registered properly and there is nothing I can do but go back to the shop, call Orange while I am in there, and don't budge until its fixed...
I have a plan - to go in - they will recognise my alien self (and anyway I have my priority queue jump ticket from this morning) - I will leave them with the problem to sort out and tell them what the Orange man said tonight, go to Lidl's and shop, then come back and call the man, if they haven't fixed it... (which you already kind of know they won't have, they will put it to one side until I get back most probably)

grr - how can buying a small item take up so much time and effort? only in this land!