An Australian volunteer who was doing whatever volunteers do in PNG.
I was there for 2 years until Dec 2005 .. I hope I made the most of it.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

I'm a Technician, I Am, I Am

Please Note: The below story is fiction ... for all insurance agents reading this.


You may remember my poor old volunteer mate, whose camera was made baggarup by the flailing phalluses of the Goroka Coffee Ball earlier this year. Well, unfortunately for her, getting it repaired has become one of those all time drawn out sagas.

It has been down to Australia three times. The first two times being brought back being told various stories from the people who looked at it. Now it is down there for the third time at the Pentax authorised repair centre, and it is going to cost her $300 to get it fixed.

Warranty won't cover it as it was dropped (or whacked) so to cover the cost she has told her insurer. She also happened to inform the insurer that it was looked at by a technician here in Lae. Well it was, in sorts ... I looked at it and told her to send it to the Pentax crew. Now the insurer wants a statement from this Lae Technician stating that it needed to go down to Oz.

So it is me to the rescue, anything to dupe those nasty insurance people. I have asked a guy from the university's servicing unit, who owes me a favour, to give me one of their servicing forms. With this I can make up a suitably impressive reason that the camera could not be fixed here. Which should be easy ... "Camera was inspected. Lens fails to retract. Case damaged. Refer to manufacturer. Signed Senior Technician".