Went into shoppe earlier
got sorted eventually (at least I hope so
)
try to mekk long story short, so will ~bullet point this
# went into shop - told them my situation: "No PIN no." (at home had already tried the 'default' (or what I thought they were/would be, 12345 / 11111 No's , which didn't work) - so only one 'go' left
# chap there told me it was 0000 and to go into settings and do it myself
#did that, and it 'worked' , or so I thought....
....#turned phone off and back on again....
didn't require a PIN No. to
'open' phone upon having turned it on
# told the chap this , and he asked for phone to do so himself this time... don't know what it was that he did or which 'settings' he went into, but I turned phone off and on again, and this time I was obliged to enter the PIN - so all seemed good at this point....
...# at one stage was given a piece of paper as well in there with the '0000' No. and the PUK code (which I asked for) also.....
....#thought I was sorted, so left the shop
.......................................................
ACT TWO
#tried 'changing' PIN No. on way home, but no joy.. three goes and then asked for PUK number.. each time I entered the 0000 first and then my
'new' PIN , which ,
upon confirming, well, it
didn't work !
pretty sure I tried three times with no joy
#so all goes/attempts at entering PIN gone (PUK number was asked for then, I think, but wasn't going near that - not making a bad situation worse I figured) , I ventured back to shop... don't know why it didn't work; and, as well as that, also, apparently there's a *'sim'
lock code , and a *
separate (presumably??) one for the
phone itself, or so I thought one of the two chaps said to me
.... *who knew about these two separate codes??? not me anyhow
#give phone + sheet of paper, which I was given earlier (with pin/puk on it) to lad behind counter, and he solves it (up to a point)
#tried again (to change my pin from the new one entered) .... apparently the PUK no. is required to change the PIN - faarrkk me !! this wasn't the case the last time a got a similar (non touchscreen phone) a few years ago
# just *about got sorted in the end -
I'd say he was close to calling the guards 
.. *on account of me not wanting to leave shop until i was certain I could put my own pin on it, well i was staying in the shop
# similar (change of PIN complicated as fook rigamarole) happened prior to getting sorted - i think i tried to change pin and it wouldn't work the first go - and told the bloke there ,
and that's when he told me to, "go on , get out" / half laughing-sarcastic - don't know how, but managed to work on the *second attempt so I left.. * this would be the second 'second' attempt today all told
# also, in the several times throughout the whole ordeal, and, at one stage after turning the phone off, it wouldn't turn back on (apparently it takes a while
) , so bloke asked is it the battery, and i reply, "i don't think so" , so i hand over phone , and he gets it turned on; didn't see what he done, but i asked him, and he said he took out battery and put it back... okay
could go into the ins and outs and the toing / froing , and rants various, but it would take too long.... some of the chronology in me story might be off a tad - hard to remember exactly the order things happened...
anyhow, fukk Vodafone.. if ya want an old school dog and bone, well, unless ya couldn't give a fk about locking it, just don't bother.... the information is unavailable to the mortal man , ie someone who knows fekk all about them...
.... at one stage one of the blokes (there was two there) says to me, "people 'do it themselves' " when I asked him how it's possible to just be able to turn my phone off and to have the security of a PIN number being required when phone is turned back on
"do it themselves!!" - HOW? , is what I'd like to know - it seems pretty complicated to me, but that's me..
and, ironically (vis a vis ye underlined lines above) , one of the likely reasons why the bloke was getting more annoyed / exasperated , and probably bolstered his righteousness (not saying he was 'wrong' , as , well , the phone don't come with a PIN - it don't need a PIN to work , so that's not on him.. i don't / didn't like it , but i was the annoying customer and he had 'right' on his side) in telling me to leave, was the fact there was another customer there....
.... and what did he want?? oh yeah, the farkin luddite
, he wanted his balance checked
one more thing, FCUK VODAFONE and all who sail in them
hope this story makes sense.... all told there were (in the second -of today's- shop visits anyway) four "principals" - me, the two shop blokes, and the credit checking bloke.... earlier, in first shop visit today, i think there were also four - this time it was a woman, who seemed to be getting sorted with no hassle, and didn't appear to be asking any
stupid questions , the like of which me and 'credit checking' bloke were asking...
ah well,
at least will hope when next my phone is turned off, that the new PIN will work to get it back operational again...
....when i went into shop on Saturday , there was one bloke and a girl there.. that bloke was there again along with a different colleague - was dealing with both chaps today, but to go into the ins and outs (referring to them as , eg , 'bloke number one' , and 'bloke number two' ) , would only complicate me post even further and leave too many discrepancies and the like,...
TLDR - got sorted (hopefully) eventually - yay
. He can now read articles and watch videos and thinks it's great