Bugger

I hope that's not too offensive of a Brit term to use as the title of a blog post. But bugger & blast, I'm just gutted! (Figure it out.)

Kyle & I had to wait to get our UK mobiles until we received our UK bank information (credit/debit cards & pins which of course come separately on a separate day). We had to deal with going into our local HSBC branch in Hampstead and deal with the same snotty woman twice (which we did with smiles on our faces... well, me anyway) before we could pick up said cards. Finally, we got the cards on Friday, PINS on Saturday, and have been so busy this week today was the first day we could go back into town to get our long-awaited phones.

We first go to the Carphone Warehouse which is a one-stop shop where you can compare phones & deals with all of the different companies. We decide on each of us getting a Blackberry Curve (lilac for me, black for Kyle) that includes internet & Blackberry service for 20 pounds per month via T-Mobile. Nice young Carphone Warehouse man takes our info and we wait... and wait... and wait... until T-Mobile responds with a big fat "DECLINE!" to our bank info, due most likely to our non-existant UK credit history. No one told us we need history, they just told us we needed an account! So... we try the same deal with Vodaphone, for 5 pounds more each per month. Again we wait, but before it can decline us, the Vodaphone system goes down. NYCW man says it might only be for a minute, it might be for 24 hours. Who's to know?

NYCW man then very nicely recommends that maybe we should walk across the street to the actual T-Mobile store - he's seen it happen that someone gets denied at the CW but accepted at the actual store. So off we go... T- Mobile yes is offering the same deal but - oh sorry - no Blackberrys in stock. So back we go to the CW hoping that Vodaphone might be up and running but it's not so we then go back across the street to the Vodaphone store where a very nice Vodaphone man, Ken, talks us into going for the Blackberry 9700 which is so much better than that Curve rubbish and I say, what they hey? What's an additional 10 pounds a month? We're finally getting our phones! We can text for free to anyone in the US who has a Blackberry! This is going to be great! And then we sit down to give him our info... and you've already guessed the rest. Vodaphone hates us too. Ken makes a call on our behalf to see if we can somehow get around it and comes back to us with the advice to wait 3 months and use our UK credit card in the meantime to establish that credit! We're not going to have better luck anywhere else. Ken of course made my day when he suggested that I might try to "have my husband come in and give it a try. He might have better luck."

What is this strange land that I've moved to? Bugger.