#BlogLife840 - I am buzzing, new Samsung A16 phone incoming :) updated

I am so happy I could do a cartwheel! I'm trying to get things done one by one.

It still seems like there is a lot to do, but the one major thing was getting a new phone and contract as soon as possible.

EE was shafting me on the deals though. I was really annoyed by that, a loyal customer not getting any bargains.

It is ridiculous so as I was on hold waiting to connect, I thought I would be polite but sassy saying EE is not that friendly with upgrades like BT is and they were more prone to good deals.

Well he took mock offence and he said Well you're paying £17, I think it was £19 before but they reduced it.

Anyway I mentioned Samsung phones but not wanting to pay a lot more and he said alright because you're already with us for Broadband, that's a discount for you.

It's going to be a challenge but I'll see what I can do. I had low to zero expectations because every time I called they wanted me to pay double, no way!

Then he didn't mention the A15 and I said wouldn't that be cheaper?

And he said that's now gone, so it's the Samsung A16 and I thought Oh no, that's new, I googlied it and it was released last November.

But then he said Good news, I can give it to you for £20!! Arghh, I know it's not less money but it's not a huge hike either.

Plus he said the yearly cost does not apply or maybe he added it already? I don't know.

Maybe it was £16 before? As that was the charge for the other networks, actually no, that was the A15...

But I know for next year it will be a £4 hike, although who knows maybe another offer will reduce it.

I have no clue but I am over the moon, to finally have a new phone.

I should mention that I did have to pay the delivery fee upfront which was £7 ouch and I did make that sound to him haha.

He said he can't give me a discount and reduce the delivery charge, I mean it is next day tracked but still hefty.

Phones used to be delivered free but it probably took a week lol.

Ha, I want next day and no charge but it is, what it is. I cannot believe for the first time ever, I got to pick colours, it was blue-black yuck, grey, yuck or green yummy.

I just chose the green and he said that was really popular. Why they don't have pink, purple or reds is beyond me.

As though women don't purchase phones pfffft!! I should have asked if it was a smart charge phone.

The rules have changed again, now they send you the contract via a sharing screen and you read and accept it.

Plus they or the courier, dpd, sends a pin and you show that to the delivery person and that's how you get the phone, luckily it's not passports, mines expired.

I used to cover up the date lol. I have to be crafty sometimes. There will be pictures and a review coming or maybe a setup or all of the above..

Sometimes delays turn out to be the best thing, if I had called sooner or upgraded earlier I would have gotten an older phone.

Stress made me wait and because of that I am getting a newer phone, a nicer colour and a cheaper deal.

It was worth the wait. Oh and Mama has begun her holiday abroad, she just texted me, if she had let me know I wouldn't have called her and raised her rates.

I just emailed instead. I don't know what the cost of calling or texting abroad is and I'm trying not to have huge expenses.

Last thing, everything is basically the same. I have a feeling I was getting 6gb of data that I don't use, I have no need for it.

But now I'm getting 5gb it's not significant. I just wanted to mention it.

I only use mobile data for power cuts and outdoor gaming, checking the bus timetables and maybe emails.

I have unlimited wifi at home so need for anything else. It's a nice safety net though for emergencies, in case the router breaks or the laptop dies..

I thought they were going to reduce it to be honest, back ages ago, you were lucky to get even 1gb.

It was horrendously expensive. You know what else is funny? When I won that OnePlus phone and they said pick anyone you want, but be prepared to pay the extra if it's not covered by the £150 I think it was voucher..

I wanted to get that green phone, it was dark green gorgeousness but pricey so no chance.

This green one is light and less pretty. It will be uniqueish though I hope.

Unfortunately a bit bigger too, so even more awkward to hold. He said I should be sent a text with the tracking details which is good as on the website the order page has crashed ugh.

Oh and I had to tell him that I had been trying to upgrade since October and this was the first decent offer I received, he seemed astounded but it's the truth.

EE suck for upgrades unless you have endless patience to hound them for an offer that's semi decent.

Hmm they haven't sent me the pin yet, maybe I am supposed to get it on the day of the delivery or when it's with the courier?

I'm still nervous about this pin code. I've now gotten the 1 hour window from 3.50pm - 4.50pm but no code.

I contacted EE and they said it's nothing to do with them, it's DPD and she gave me the wrong contact number for them.

I tried downloading the app but they have a registration section saying leave the parcel with a neighbour and I don't want to do that, I would never get the phone.

I'm just going to hope that they send it nearer the time. It's only just before 11am now.

The other thing which made me laugh is that they cancelled that complimentary 10% out of contract discount, I was getting every month for some unknown reason.

It makes sense as I have just renewed and then today, they said Oh for staying with us, here's a 10% offer.

Ha, so it's returned the £2 off my bill, I wonder how long it lasts? Instead of paying £20 it should be £18. Strange but helpful.

After all that negotiating and endlessly calling then I did eventually get a double money off multi promotional deal.

I might update this when it's arrived or let you know what happened with the pin drama.

The dpd driver didn't send the pin code, it came just now about 4pmish, 15 minutes earlier than the tracker predicted.

He didn't even ask for the flipping code, goodness me. I was stressing so much he wouldn't hand it over.

But he just said there you go lol. Now there is another issue, I don't know if they craftily charged me for accessories, there is a £25 amount in the invoice.

Sneaky, I will definitely chase that up. I hope not. When I asked him what was included he just said the usb wire, no plug and the phone.

I see a plastic phone cover and this £10 gift voucher for I don't know what.

I'll figure it out later. I even looked for my passport to show him some ID, I was ready to plead.

I was going to show the phone with the texts and the invoice proof but again thankfully, none of that was needed.

Maybe they only make the fuss for the fancy pants phones, like iphones and the newest galaxies...

I just wanted to add to this for a reference when I upgrade again in 2 years.

At least I will know not to panic. I'm definitely ready for a brighter display and better battery life.

I have so many posts stored for later. I'll experiment with the phone a bit and then put a review post out.

It might be next week, I'm not sure.

#BlogLofe381 - She sold me..

Song of the day - Jason Derulo/Tesher - Jalebi Baby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fWXgpyWrLo&list=FLI0DEk_aDykRP0sJnme-JBg&index=35

The Gullon cookies are a £1 and contain 6 chunky biscuits inside. They are sugar free and loaded with chocolate chips.

I've tried the dark chocolate digestives variety and those had the bitterest aftertaste. I couldn't stand it.

These have a similar bitterness not as strong but not that pleasant either. They are a good size and I didn't expect them to have that much width but they do.

It's good value for money but I don't think I would buy it again. That tart flavour just stays until you wash it away with a beverage or another snack.

Hmm the second taste was slightly improved. I don't know if it's just me but there is a slight coconut flavour, it's not my favourite and no aftertaste.

It's a strange mix of slightly to completely unsatisfactory. I wouldn't recommend it personally, there are better brands that don't make me cringe when consuming them.

I like the Nairn brand better with it's hint of sweetness.

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Oof what a whirlwind. Due to that person, who shall not be named, my morning was tied up.

I paid some bills and then telephoned/queued up just to see if I could get an early upgrade and I finally got connected to someone after 50 minutes and then boom, she couldn't hear me and disconnected.

I was livid, shaking my phone, wanting to throw it out the window, after listening to that depressing hold music.

Then luckily she called back sympathetically and said aww I saw that you were waiting a long time, so I checked up on you.

What a lovely person she was. Very impressive. I can't see many people doing that, these days.

Anyway she confirmed that I was indeed eligible. I had been googling Samsung phones, even though all phones annoy me.

They seem to bug me the least and I wanted an ideal. I certainly didn't intend to get a new phone but I was dying for one for this entire year to be honest.

As usual us cheapskate low budgeted users don't get the choice of colours, the pinks, reds, purplys.

Mean, mean meanies!!! It was either black or white and I can't stand a white phone for 2 years, nopity nope!

The A13/A53 and A23 were all contenders but I wanted to pay less. I'm saving just under a whopping pound, boo.

Although I could negotiate my broadband costs, we'll see, it was a package deal after all.

Anyway after comparing the costs and thinking I don't want to go back to big bills. I opted for the A13.

I wanted an upgrade, check, it came out March this year I think she said.

I would have prefer a lighter and smaller screen boo, but that was a long shot.

My A41 screen size is 6.1 and this A13 will be 6.6 inches. The exciting thing is the battery life from 3000mah to 5000mah woop!!

That has got to stop me needing to charge it 3/4 times a day. It does have fast charging yay. She didn't mention the version. If it's 4g or 5g.

To be honest I think only 3g was stable but I don't know if 4g was working better lately so I'm not fussed, just curious.

I'm hoping that the speaker doesn't need a bluetooth headset attached to be heard but we shall see.

I wasn't really invested in picking a particular phone because it always seems to be out of my price range anyway.

I can't track the order though which is frustrating. It doesn't come under BT and EE don't recognise my number as valid.

I'm just hoping the carrier, DPD, I think send me an email tomorrow morning saying it's out for delivery.

I'm glad they don't charge for the PAC code. I don't think I've ever put one in before. I'm keeping my number.

I can't recall ever paying for a delivery charge. EE has a cheek for valued customers, even though technically I'm a newbie.

I do like the next day delivery though even after 3pm. I was waiting for her to say 7 working days lol.

I should set the alarm for tomorrow and then panic if there are no email updates.

She said that I'll get a new sim card and when the old one dies, the new one is ready.

I wonder how long that will take, if it dies prematurely and the parcel is delayed...... I am in trouble!!

I just realised I wonder what android version I'll be now...

Just to add that I was just about to call EE at 9am but DPD texted and said it's due between 2-3pm so that's a relief as there have been no order email confirmation and I wanted that for reference.

I just always get nervous hoping they don't look too closely at my expired passport. It's still me but I refuse to waste money and renew it, just for ID purposes.

Ooh I just realised, normally they say have your photo ID handy but they didn't mention that in the text.

Maybe he will do what most of them do, knock, leave the parcel and then leave lol.

I have utility bills, the text from the courier. what more do you want??

If I had trustworthy neighbours I would be tempted to let them collect it but I don't.

Another thing annoying me is that in the fine print, it says I'll be charged extra for cancelling early.

I've never paid fees for early renewals. They keep saying they are the same company, so why should I be fined???

It's only £20ish but still. it's the principle of the thing! I'm experimenting with day 2, washed hair curlers to see if they give me a wave on my dry hair..

How are you liking the songs of the day? You haven't clicked on it? Tut tsk!

Ha, just do whatever pleases you :)

Writing on hold?!

Ugh I really don't need anymore expenses but for the past two days my internet has been crashing every few minutes. 

If I am lucky, I get an hours usage but it is taking three times as long to do anything. 

I rang up customer services and the first thing they did was try to fob me off with a text service to test the line and other issues. All I had to was text reply.

Only as it turns out there was a premium surcharge, so I called back up and spoke to a human who was obsessed with my broadband speed?

What does that have to do with anything. I cannot connect to the blooming internet. I don't care how fast or slow it is. Actually it is adequate.

After about an hour of restarting and resetting the router and having no luck he suggested a possible £85 Engineer callout. Grr. 

After he disconnected for the third time. I reset the router again and finally I was back online for about an hour before it crashed.

I was tempted to cancel the appointment but what if it keeps happening and the next callout isn't until after Christmas? As much as I hate the idea, I might as well keep it.

Thursday morning from 8-1pm. I have been switching from my data allowance to wifi. Luckily I haven't used my 1gb data up yet.

I know I have to renew my broadband and landline bundle deal and my phone contract is ending in March but having checked the website..

It says I am eligible for an early upgrade. My hands would thank me if I got a small phone but there is not much choice available.

I really want a reliable Samsung. I was reading and unfortunately I think they are getting rid of the LED notifications. Why? 

It is so useful. I don't know why mobiles are getting ludicrously bigger again. It puts such a strain on my hands but I guess except for gaming and texting I could start using the loudspeaker more.

I've never gone for the latest phone before but the Samsung S20 has the cutest red shade. Although typical it is not available on upgrade just sim free. Grr.

It would cost me £50 and I could get blue but the size is 6.5 inches. Yikes. My current G6 Play is only 5.7" and it really big and heavy.

I wonder if I could sweet talk a deal into paying nothing at all and getting a free handset? Cheese and crackers. The Samsung A71 is even bigger at 6.7 inches.

What is wrong with these phone manufacturers?? After missing yet another call. I was fed up and called BT Mobile for a casual chat and spoke to the loveliest assistant.

You can tell the difference between someone doing a hard sell who doesn't care about customers and someone who genuinely enjoys their work and wants to help.

She asked what my needs were and took me through several options and brands and even though I chided her for having boring colours..

She helped me decide on the Samsung A41 in tedious black. It is 6.1 inches but it is also lighter. Sadly the free case offer has ended :(

Oh it was released this year. I assumed it was old because there are so many versions released. My overall costs are lowered.

The funny thing is I didn't even have to negotiate at all. She just kept offering me perks. I'll get the handset probably by Thursday, unless they get lost again and visit the wrong place.

The data is either 3gb or 6gb. I'm not quite sure. I have Halo now and unlimited wifi anyway. My allowance used to be 1gb because I only needed it when I was out and about or for the times when I have no wifi.

I'm still confused about whether to cancel the Engineer. It is 7.05pm and the broadband has been good for at least an hour. I will probably just watch it for the rest of the evening to see if it is steady from now on.

Please be a good quality mobile phone and I hope the calls stop dropping and the sound works. I hope the battery life is great too. 

Plus I wonder if it has notification lights and will it drain the battery to have whatever activated? As long as I can visually see something when the display is off without having to turn it on and check.

At this point anything has to be better than the Motorola with no sound or vibration, dropping calls, dropping wifi and crashing apps.

I really hate faffing around trying to get the sim the right way and the memory card inserted. It's only got 64gb of internal storage. I wonder if that will be enough with Samsung's bloatware?