One lifetime is not enough, for all my words – Koraly Dimitriadis

The Point of No Return

July 1, 2009 at 5:44 am (Interesting stuff, Short stories) (Consumerist society, faulty goods, warranty periods)

Well, here it is, my first blog. When I first created my website, I couldn’t think of what to write as my first blog entry. Not only that, but I was afraid of posting my thoughts for entire cyberspace to see; and judge. But all it took was one shitty day to get me started. I guess that’s what triggers all my writing – something happens that infuriates me so much that I have to write about it or I’ll explode. At then the aftermath of the incident just makes me sad that the world is the way that it is; and I write because maybe at least one person will read it and change. But everyone out there that’s ready to pounce on me as I blurt out my opinions, just remember that they are opinions, and if I accidentally offend anyone with my views I apologise in advance. Sorry.

So the incident that triggered this blog was a visit to Highpoint shopping centre (or Knifepoint as some people may call it). I had purchased a winter jacket for my daughter two weeks ago and the zip broke two days later. After it broke, I rang up the shop and told them that it broke. They told me to bring it in for an exchange or refund.

You might be reading and thinking that it all sounds so simple and basic. What could go wrong? Go to Highpoint, get a refund or exchange, and return home. I also needed to take my new mobile phone back to the shop I purchased it from because, you guessed it, it broke a few weeks after I brought it too. Anyway, I went back to the kids shop and asked if they had any other jackets I could exchange it for. The lady behind the counter explained that they had none at this store but she could offer me a credit note. I politely declined the credit note and asked for a refund because, as I explained to her, I needed to buy my daughter a jacket today because she didn’t have another one. But the lady refused to give me my money back, stating that fourteen days had lapsed since I purchased the jacket and so I wasn’t entitled to a refund. Forget about my “statutory rights” as a consumer, forget about “common decency” but according to this retail staff member, her store had the right to go above the law, and refuse me a refund. Okay, so I flew off the handle, and my daughter responded, kicking and screaming in the pram. The staff member gave me a fucking credit note (excuse my language), the phone number of head office, and I was off.

Next was the phone shop. The sales staff seemed annoyed that my phone was broken, and all their customer service standards went out the window. They said they can return it to Nokia and Nokia would fix it or replace it but that it would take 4 weeks. Why couldn’t they just give me another phone? No, it didn’t work that way. They told me if I wanted quicker service I could go to the Nokia store in the city. I took my phone, and seriously, at that point, I knew why they called it Knifepoint.

Walking through the shops, I felt distressed. According to Knifepoint it was MY problem that everything was breaking and I was the one that had to find the time to get the problem sorted. I hated Knifepoint. I hated shopping. I hated coming to these shopping centres and seeing all this “stuff”; miles and miles of excessive clothing, and shoes, and homewares, waiting for someone to buy them. I mean do we, as a society, seriously need all this stuff? Take my house for example. I have all this excessive stuff like little ornaments given to me as gifts that sit on my wall unit and collect dust. Half of my lounge room is taken up by my daughter’s toys, which maybe, only five of them were purchased by me. If all this extra stuff wasn’t manufactured, surely we’d be putting less stress on our planet. And every time I try to simplify my life more stuff just keeps popping up. If my daughter has half a lounge room full of stuff as a child, how much stuff is she going to accumulate by the time she’s thirty? Oh Lord, it’s just so depressing.

And it’s not just the stuff. It’s the quality of the stuff. A jacket and a phone breaking within two weeks of purchase. And if you think you’re the only one that has a dishwasher or television breaking just after the warranty has expired, think again. It’s almost as if they make them just long enough to last the warranty period. Take the cherry on the cake of my shitty field trip to Knifepoint. When I returned to the car and tried to close up the pram, it wouldn’t close. It’s broken. I had to shove it in the back seat, assembled, while my daughter rode with me in the front with a puzzled expression on her face. I bought the pram two and a half years ago. My warranty was for two years. Surprise, surprise. Welcome to the world of fucking stuff.