be careful out there....

Who’da thunk buying a mobile phone battery could be so fraught with pitfalls. When my nokia battery died a few months ago, I went to the shop I’d bought the phone in to buy a new one. ‘We’re out of batteries for that phone’, they told me, and told me where I’d get a new one. It was an awkward place for me to get to – parking etc – and my daughter, the cyclist, said she’d pick one up for me.

The new battery cost 35euro and came in nokia packaging but within a week, didn’t seem to be holding, or taking, much of a charge. I phoned the shop and asked if it maybe was an inferior battery and was told that they only sold nokia batteries. I pointed out that there was no hologram on it like the original one. ‘All our batteries have holograms’, they said and told me to bring it back – with the receipt. Do you always keep receipts?

Yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and walked to the shop – a city walk for the dog too – to buy a new one. I’ve been living with the phone plugged in for the past few weeks, at home or in the car and two hours, 10 photographs, one minute of video or three phone calls was about the maximum I’d get – unplugged.

Saying nothing about the previous battery, I asked for a new one. ‘Do you want a genuine Nokia one or a fake?’ the guy asked.

‘What’s the difference?’

‘Real one 35euro. Fake one ten’

I said I’d take the real one. When he produced the one in the Nokia pack and slid it out – pack not sealed in any way, I looked at it and asked where the hologram was. This one doesn’t have a hologram, only some of them do. I thought ALL Nokia batteries have. By way of justification, he told me that a lot of the ones with a hologram were fake. Ok, what’s the warranty? No warranty! Unbelievable!

As that didn’t seem like such a fantastic deal, I decided to walk on in to the main shopping area – briefly toying with the 10 euro ‘genuine fake’ one – and try a few phone shops. The general vibe is that phone shops will order batteries in but would prefer to sell you a new cell – I tried about five. The Nokia repair shop didn’t carry stock either and could have one in a week – for about 50 euro.

One of the phone shops had mentioned a Chinese guy who sold phones an batteries and I eventually decided to check out his shop. My phone is a huge part of my everyday. It’s my catcher for song ideas, my always with me camera and video recorder, as well as keeping me in touch with the world. I wanted it back and functioning.

The battery I bought was pretending to be nothing, came in it’s own Chinese brand packaging and came with a warranty and a recommendation from the owner of the shop – and all for 25euro. It’s charged and seems to be holding it’s charge. Will post update.