"For all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three." -- Alice Kahn
The nearest electronics store to my house is a Teknosa, which you would think would be oh so convenient if you didn't know how I felt about Teknosa, that awful place where insult is added to injury because in addition to Turkey's horrendously high taxes on imported electronics, Teknosa then tacks on a hefty profit margin, making it the single most expensive place in Turkey to buy something simple like a DVD player or a blender.
And yes, I know I am spoiled, coming as I do from a country in which you can find a microwave at Target for $30 and a hair dryer for $20. I find it absolutely appalling when I walk into an electronics store here and see that a
So when our DVD player crapped out on us last month, my heart sank. I suspect that in the move to Izmir last August its delicate wires had been bumped around and it started to go haywire. As these things tend to happen, the DVD player broke just after the left speaker of our stereo system, which was a gift from a friend last year, also started to peter out.
Needless to say, we were not happy campers.
Eschewing the nearby Teknosa, we decided instead to try Darty, which is a short taxi ride away from our house. Settled amid concrete tower blocks and sprawling Carrefours and cinemas, Darty is housed in a single hideous building that is also home to a Koctas, a Burger King and a non-descript furniture store.
I went in with high hopes. We were hoping to find a DVD player and stereo system, an all-in-one surround sound system that would blow us away when we watched "Dollhouse" and "Mercy" on TV.
Sadly, the store's offerings were slim. Darty didn't offer much in the way of stereo systems; there were, in fact, only two models and one didn't have a HDMI cable, which rendered it completely useless because that meant the system was not digital and required an analog TV. Who has an analog TV anymore?
Our other option was a Panasonic surround sound system with a DVD player, on sale for 400 TL. A bit pricey in my opinion, and I didn't know that we really needed six speakers, but what the hell? We'd certainly put it to good use.
Before buying it, I asked a sales rep where the ATM machine was. I always prefer to pay in cash in Turkey if I can -- as opposed to using a debt card -- because it's so much easier to handle if there's a problem later.
But lo and behold! There was in fact no ATM machine in the building! Or anywhere nearby! I stared in minor shock at the sales rep. "What?" he said. "You can just pay with your card."
In the end that's what we did. I paid 100 TL in cash and then paid the rest -- 300 TL -- with my US debit card. As the cashier rang up my purchase, I gazed up at the wall behind the register and took in the large red sign with the store's guarantee. "If you find a lower price anywhere else, we'll refund the difference AND give you a box of chocolate," the sign read.
I paid easily -- the store was only too happy to take my US debit card, though sometimes the fact that it is associated with a credit union and not a bank causes me some problems.
We hauled the huge box home in a taxi, mixed a drink and set about putting the system together. (It amazes me that in 2010 we still need wires to do everything; I mean, seriously, can't things be wireless nowadays?)
When we put in our first DVD, a "Simpsons" disc from the US, the DVD player spun and spun before the screen turned bright blue and said in bold white letters: "REGION NOT FOUND."
My heart caught in my throat. Oh. My. God. You mean to tell me.....it's not region free? You mean, it will only play discs from Europe and not the US? How did we miss this? But on the box there is a picture of the globe and it says ALL, meaning all regions, right? RIGHT?
Sadly, no. What we had not realized when we bought the system was that the little symbol of a globe was actually Panasonic's worldwide guarantee, NOT a symbol that the DVD player could be used worldwide. Confusing, I know.
Without a region free DVD player, see, we cannot play our American movies. We can only play ones that we purchase here -- and seriously, when we do we ever purchase a DVD? That leaves a rather large chunk of our media off limits to us.
Our only alternative was to return the system, knowing full well that the Darty had nothing else like it and we would be right back where we started: with a broken DVD player and a half-hearted stereo system.
So back into a taxi we went, receipts in hand. Jeff fretted and moaned that we were simply not going to get our money back, that this was Turkey and they just didn't do that, receipt or no. They'll just give us store credit, he said, and there is absolutely nothing else that we need. I was more hopeful. Of course they will refund our money, I said, this is an international store following international standards and of course they will simply refund our money the way I paid it.
Little did I know how wrong I was.
Check back for part two of our story on Friday in which we discover that stores in Turkey don't necessarily subscribe to a "Satisfaction Guaranteed" customer service model
