Smart phone education and replacement parts: The Saturday Weekend Review #83

READ THE USER GUIDE AND STAY SAFE

Most times when you read your smart phone user guide it warns you not to buy third-party replacement parts.

You might think this is a money grab on the part of the manufacturer but maybe they do have your best interests at heart. Read on to find out what happened to one teenage girl who could happen to ANYONE.

Spread the word…I am!

My wife has had a cell phone but let’s face it, many of us don’t read the guide. Just a few weeks back she managed to smash her cell phone on a concrete floor in a bathroom of a local coffee joint.

She thought it was still working but it had some issues which led to me saying good-bye to the cell phone. It was nothing fancy and worth nothing.

We were looking at new smart phones for her just so we knew what we’d be dealing with price-wise. We didn’t go as far as calling Rogers to find out what promotions they have but know they will likely offer us something decent on a 2 year plan.

It’s not only important to look at pricing but to compare phones before jumping in and agreeing to a cell phone contract or purchase.

Replacement parts

There are a variety of cell phones on the market but to be honest they all come with pros and cons and one that always seems to pop up is ‘battery life’.

I have a friend who owns a Samsung Galaxy and has purchased spare batteries from EBay because they simply don’t last. I’m pretty sure the batteries were third-party replacement parts for her cell phone because they are cheaper. Anything straight from the manufacturer normally can eat into your wallet but may save you big bucks in the long run.

Replacement parts for any type of technology is always risky when you buy aftermarket third-party but anything we’ve bought (which isn’t much) has worked like a charm.

My wife managed to smash her net-book screen and I ordered a new one from EBay and installed it myself. It would have cost me more to have someone else repair it let alone ordering the screen from the manufacturer.

What happens though when something goes wrong?

Just last week you might remember reading about a 13 year-old Texas girl who took her Samsung Galaxy 4 smartphone to bed with her which later ended up under her pillow. Don’t deny that you haven’t done that and woke up with it under your pillow or in-between the sheets. The Samsung Galaxy 4 smart phone uses a lithium-ion battery as do many.

I read about it on social media all the time how people lose their phones and a most are found in bed. Surprised? Not really because people are glued to them. I don’t have to go over how cell phones are changing the way we interact in society and how it has affected relationships etc. but who knew that cell phones or any device that needs to breathe can cause serious damage.

What am I talking about?

The teenager woke to find her smart phone under her pillow. The smart phone like any other devices needed air to breathe and eventually had a melt-down… No pun intended. She woke up to not even recognizing her cell phone with damage to her mattress and bedding. You know how hot your laptop can get if you sit it on your lap so imagine what sleeping on any device might do.  That’s scary!

Samsung is investigating which I expect nothing less from a company that size and are replacing the phone, mattress and bedding but they also mentioned her battery was a third-party replacement part. They, like many other manufacturers discourage purchases like these because you really don’t know about the part and how it will interact with your device like the manufacturer part would.

Could this have injured the girl or caused further damage? It very well could resulted in other injuries.

Parents are buying cell phones for their kids every day and need to be made aware of how important keeping them out of bed is and about replacement parts. Technology education is important especially how it’s taking over the world. You wouldn’t drive a car without learning about how it runs and the same goes with technology. Read the user guide.

Fix my phone

Sure parts can get costly but what is even costlier is if you don’t have cell phone insurance or maybe your insurance doesn’t cover third-party replacement parts.

Most people who damage their cell phones and don’t have cell phone insurance coverage are looking for cell phone repair shops to help get them back in the technology game. Just to replace a broken Samsung Galaxy screen can run you close to $200.

Make sure you ask them what type of parts they are using so you know what you are paying for. If you really want someone to fix your phone but aren’t sure you could always call the manufacturer as they might have suggestions for you as well.

For now my wife is using my old cell phone from the UK which she absolutely hates but she isn’t feeling the need to rush out and buy a smart phone just yet. She has an iPod which works just as well when we are out as most places have free Wi-Fi although we are waiting on grocery stores to follow suit of many big box stores that are ahead of the technology marketing game.

Whether the battery played a part in the smart phone melt down will only be revealed through investigations but until then be smart with your smart phone and read the user guide and stay educated.

Do you sleep with your cell phone? Do you buy third-party replacement parts? Has anything similar happened to you or someone you know?

CBB at home and the blog

Home…

I haven’t been home as much as I’d like to have been this past week because of training at work but now that I’ve completed that it’s back to the bathroom renovations.

We are heading out for a couple of days rest for the Civic Holiday long-weekend here in Canada but I’ll be back at it as soon as I can.  The good part is not everything will be closed which normally happens when we actually take a break that falls on a stat holiday in Ontario.

In Ontario our provincial and municipal services will be closed but it looks like some shopping malls and grocery stores will be open operating on civic holiday hours. You may even get lucky with plenty of LCBO stores open if you failed to stock up or drank through your booze stash by Monday.

I think that if I keep going I’m going to burn out so taking a break once in a while is important even though I cringe at the thought of lost time working towards getting this bathroom completed. My wife has been my rock and motivates me to take breaks and get us out of the house which I appreciate and love her for. She never pushes me to get things done but she knows as well as I do that with my second job starting again soon I am down to the wire.

Other than blowing lots of money in July (which you will read in our budget update) we’ve made a few new recipes in the CBB kitchen which I will feature at some point before the end of the year. Nicola is my main chef here at CBB now and we enjoy featuring her recipes because she is a ROCKSTAR in the kitchen. Her family must be so proud of her.

Until, next week. Stay safe and enjoy the Civic holiday long weekend Canada!

Blog…

Well, what needed to be fixed has been sorted out. Yay!! 🙂 Thanks Grayson. I’m not working on updating pages to optimize them better for your viewing enjoyment. There are things I’d like to change but it will be happening slowly. The one thing I’ve learned about a blog is if you need to go back and make changes it can take some time especially if you have lots to change.

Learning how to blog is tougher than many people think as there is a greater science behind blogging, something I never imagined. If you think blogging to create a blog that is popular and well-known is easy, think again. If all you want is your little corner of the web where not many people see you, easily done but the opposite if you want the world to join you on your journey.

I’ve poured my money into this blog as well as countless hours of time to make this a comfortable place for Canadians and others around the world to drop by and have their say about personal finance. It’s not about money though, it’s about a relationship with our own lives that we need to figure out so we can all move forward comfortably. It’s not easy but if we take it step by step we might just achieve more than we would have if we had done nothing at all.

I hope I’m serving you proud and if you have any ideas please send them my way. Thanks for being a CBB’er!

Guest posts wanted

If you are a Personal Finance Blogger I’m looking to book High Quality Guest Posts for the months of September and October to help me get through a very busy period. It’s a great way to share your thoughts and the way you write with my fans.

If you are interested please contact me today as spots are filling up.

~MR.CBB

Weekly CBB posts

If you missed any CBB posts from the week here is the list of posts you can catch up on reading! You will notice that I’m only posting 5-6 days a week now. – Mr.CBB

• Why the fixer-upper house might not be for you
• Should you trade, sell or donate your unwanted freebies?
• Milk in a bag or jug which do you prefer?
• Why hiring help seemed smart even for our budget
• Lemon no-bake cheesecake
• An unclaimed government cheque is your loss
• Store saving tricks to cash in on

Fan deals and inspirations

Submit your Brag or Inspiration If you have a brag that you want me to share email me at canadianbudgetbinder (@) [yahoo] [.ca] or fill out my contact form by Friday each week to have your brag considered for the Saturday post.

This shop was at RCSS today and it was a tax free day 🙂

• Diapers (PM Giant Tiger) 3 x $6.97 (they were on sale at RCSS for $10.98/pack) – 3 x $2.00 coupons wub wipes as well
• Wipes (PM No Frills) 3 x $2.00 – coupons above
• Robin Hood Minute Oats (PM Sobey’s) 6 x $1.99 – 6 x $1.00 coupons
• Ivory 3 bar packs of soap (PM Metro) 12 x $.99 – 12 x $1.00 coupons=FREE
• Coupons $24.00
• OOP $26.85
• Saved $24.00 PLUS the taxes!

Making a difference

If you know a personal finance blogger that is making a difference and want to nominate them please send me an email canadianbudgetbinder (@) yahoo.ca so I can reach out to them for a feature story.

Note: If you are a blogger who gives back and would like to be featured get in touch with me as I am booking spots for the rest of 2014 and they are going quickly.

Today I’d like to introduce you again to my Blogger friend J. Money who also runs the blog Budgets Are Sexy!! We Budget bloggers like to stick together you know. 🙂 Cheers J. Money, thanks for stopping by.

Hey again! It’s J. Money from Rockstar Finance 🙂 Only this time around here to let you know about my personal finance blog, Budgets Are Sexy – where I do my best to talk about money without boring people half to death. Even at my own expense! (No pun intended).

What had started as a simple hobby 6+ years ago, eventually grew to my full-time job where I have the pleasure of talking shop with fine people like yourself every day of the week. From everything on savings, to debt, investing, side hustlin’, philanthropy (we once raised almost $100,000 in a year to help others!) all the way to my favorite topic of all: motivation.

Everyone already *knows* how to save money and become millionaires (spend less than you earn, don’t be like the Joneses, never spend a penny on fun (hah!)) but it’s a whole other thing to actually FOLLOW THROUGH and make stuff happen. I like to focus more on the emotional side to money than I do the numbers.

So my blog will pretty much come off as either motivational, or fluffy, depending on how you look at it 😉 I like to think of it as the desert after the full-course meal (ie the solid, in-depth informational side to finances – which others do much better than I), but that’s just me. As long as you leave my site happier than you came, I’ll feel my work has been done here…

And if you like budgets (which you clearly do being on this site!), you should give it a shot. If you don’t like it, first beer’s on me if we ever meet up in “real” life.

Weekly Features around the web

If you featured CBB and I missed you it’s because I haven’t been made aware but thank-you kindly for thinking of CBB.

I’d like to thank Richard at Frugality Magazine for sharing a CBB post. Thanks mate!

• Finance for Men– Money Pros for Men Edition

Google search terms

Every week I get thousands of people visit Canadian Budget Binder because they did a search online and found my blog. Keep in mind any spelling errors below are because I share with you the exact way they typed their search engine query to land on my blog.

• Women checking out guys personal junk– I’m going to go out on a limb and believe it’s actual “junk” they are talking about here.
• Film love is not always money– I’m not sure about the meaning of this one but sounds personal.
• Blueberry Cheesecake from Canadian Living-Nope, wrong website however I hope you enjoy my Blueberry Cheesecake recipe. 🙂
• Difference between brand name and no name- One has a name and the other doesn’t haha! I know, slap, slap Mr.CBB.
• 20 dollars a day allowance budget– WOW, you’re lucky I only get $35 a month! Some people get $0, be happy!
• Getting to know each other grocery game– That sounds like something kinky to me… at the grocery store. ha! It’s like speed dating in aisle 5.

Thanks for joining me for this edition of The Saturday Weekend Review #83. Join me here again for more crazy stories from around the web and at home!

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Related articles

• The Saturday Weekend Review #78: Celebrate Canada Day and enjoy our beautiful country
• The Saturday Weekend Review #79: Would you forget that you had money in a bank account?
• The Saturday Weekend Review #80: Would you spend money at a restaurant without free Wi-Fi?
• The Saturday Weekend Review #81: Leaving children alone when you can’t afford a babysitter
• The Saturday Weekend Review #82: An unclaimed government cheque is your own fault