>>>>>According to this : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11515879 it looks like Phone 7 will be available in the UK before the U.S....
>>>>
>>>>Lucky you!
>>>>
>>>>This thing is going to die an ugly death, like every other Microsoft hardware product. The Microsoft name means less than zero in that market.
>>>
>>>As an early adopter of the Zune 80gb ... Hardware and OS - brilliant, beutiful - desktop software one of the worst packages I have ever seen.
>>>
>>>And the added thrill that there is no good way to see the HD as such from a computer and if you get a bad sector there is no way to fix it ( without completely voiding warantee, taking the thing apart and brute-force fixing the HD ) So, I have an 80gb Zune with about 1.5 gb actual capacity since it can't get past the bad sectors (probably caused by dropping it)
>>
>>I recently voided the warranty on an iPhone I tried to repair myself. The screen had cracked. (From being in my front pocket when I bent over to pick up a gas can -- kudos to Chinese manufacturing!). A coworker directed me to a site that sold replacement kits for $40. He said don't take it to Apple, they'll charge you a hundred bucks. The process involves over 20 steps and some very small parts and I ran into trouble with a couple of steps near the end. Stupid me took it to an Apple store hoping they would finish the job. The smug young "geniuses" practically laughed me out of the store. I said I have bought two Macs, half a dozen iPods, and half a dozen iPhones, and this will take someone who knows what they are doing about five minutes. No dice. The lead genius wouldn't even touch it, like I had brought in a turd or something. Before leaving I asked what it would have cost if I had brought it to them in the first place. $99. Did this experience diminish my loyalty to Apple? You bet.
>>
>>UPDATE: For those who don't know, Apple calls their customer service counter the Genius Bar. I am not making this up.
>
>I'm pretty sure that the same rule applies to most (if not all) phones - not just Apple. Also a reason why I have not rooted my phone. I don't care about the internet voices out there saying you can safely unroot or brick it! Crazy...

I'm sure the same rule does apply, and in a way I don't blame them. It still came across as arrogant. IMO true customer service is based on a desire to make the customer satisfied even if they did color outside the lines. Otherwise they might, you know, trash the company on a forum read by hundreds or thousands <g>.