Don't Ever Buy a Doro 7050

            Who can keep up with modern technology?  You purchase any electronic item at the store and it is outdated before you even get it home – possibly before it even hits the showroom floor.  What’s up with that? 

             Once upon a time things were built to last.  Television repariman took pride in their work.  

 Vintage Magazine Book Be Your Own TELEVISION REPAIRMAN 1953 Greenberg Publisher

HD replaced anything from the 2oth century and Smart TV has outdated screens after that.  Less than 6 years ago Roland purchased a BlueRay DVD player with feature to add Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc.  What a relic!  It no longer supports Hulu so if we should want to order Hulu for the TV, we have to purchase newer items which will become relics in less than four years and have to be replaced again!

             We are a throw-away society, inventive, updating that somehow believe in replacing the old SOONER than we can afford to.  Let’s all run out and get the latest because Everybody can afford it, right? Especially now that the economy has been shut down for over a month.  Hey, why not?

             My biggest complaint is the cell phone.  I had an LG that I loved.  Towers don’t support it.  I have to buy a new phone.  I purchased a Doro back in 2014.  It was a good little phone!  The company informed me that as of this year it would be a relic.  I guess I was having some issues with the last row of buttons not recognizing my fingers though not as frustrating as a smart phone or I phone or touch screen or whatever it is called.  Roland has one and I hate it.  He’s had three different models since we have been in Oregon – which hasn’t even been a full five years.

             So I guess it was the end of September that I was having issues.  I called Consumer Cellular – who I like as far as billing service goes, but except for the 2014 model of DORO (or whatever year it was) I haven’t been impressed with the phones themselves.  Before the Doro I had tried one called the Envoy.  Poor sound quality if I remember correctly, but I really didn’t have problems with my Doro until about September of 2019 – and then they were only minor compared to what was ahead.

             So the next phone I tried was called a Link – brand new.  Company had them on promotion as it was a brand new item and cheap.  I guess cheaply made as well as inexpensive.  I thought “You guys are crazy trying to get senior citizens to try and use this when I know that some of them have worse hearing than I do.”

             Not only couldn’t I hear the person on the other end.  They couldn’t hear me.  I wonder if that’s the kind of phone Biff has.  He always sounds like he’s calling from a different area than where his phone is.  I called Consumer Cellular to make inquiries about the phone, but since it was such a brand new product they didn’t have all the answers.  Switch me back to Doro.

             So at the end of October I receive a Doro 7050.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PHONE.  During the time of pandemic is probably not the best time to call either because I am certain there are people who have taken jobs out of desperation and haven’t been trained.  I am so frustrated . . . but let me back up.  So one of the features that I really liked about my original Doro was 1) I could press the back button to turn on the clock without having to open the phone.  2) I could set an alarm that would go off weather the phone was turned on or off (never had that featured before or since;  I still use the old phone to set alarms) 3) I could see who was calling before opening my phone.

            The button on my new Doro 7050 – pretty worthless.  Never did anything when I pushed it.  What was the point?  By December the front of my screen appeared to be shattered to be shattered – though it wasn’t from the outside – the image was.  I didn’t know who was calling unless I answered the phone. But I dealt with that before back in the day of rotaries and calling the next county over was long distance.  It wasn’t that inconvenient. 

    

       

            I started a diary of every problem I had.  I’d call to explain the new problem and was told to take my battery out and put it back in.  Really.  They want me to open my cell phone and remove the battery every time it acts up?  This is not an easy backing to take off – though it seems to be getting easier as I have been removing it each time there is a problem.  What’s up with that? 

             When I couldn’t call on my phone, I used my husband’s which is under a different carrier. I am put through to another department for add on – uh, no. We tried adding him back but they messed up on the date and I’m not trying to activate his phone.  I’m trying to find a way in which I can use my own.

             Though texting has never been a great importance, it is convenient to have – more for receiving and not texting as the flip does not offer a full keyboard.  In all honesty I would just assume use email or facebook to send a message.  Besides, texting really takes a toll on the battery. 

             Anyway, the problems keep changing.  The last call was about my keys that don’t work.  This time I was told to reset everything – thus I lost all information that had been in the phone and now I can’t receive text messages.  I have family who send messages to multi-phones as the Coronavirus infects members of Joh’s family.  It would be nice to read the update on my own phone.  The more I try to use it, the more frustrated I am.

             My phone is under warranty and I asked to replace it.  I was given another number to call and a warranty number.  It didn’t work and I had a chat with another worker who was helpful until she told me to CALL CC – I had been chatting to avoid that.  I asked if we were being recorded and hoped that our conversation was being recorded.  And then I told her “Don’t just give me this number and the warranty because it doesn’t work” and guess what she did?  I told her I probably won’t be dealing with CC anymore and hung up the phone. 

 

            Earlier this evening Roland ordered me an Easyfone Prime A1 3G.  I won’t be receiving it until early June.  It’s got to be better than Doro.  My recommendation: DON’T EVER PURCHASE A DORO 7050!