Man returns phone to carrier... without leaving car

When we talk about phone use leading to traffic incidents, this is not typically what we mean. It seems a gentleman in Korea -- we'll simply call him "Kim," since that's the only name we have for him -- got just a little upset when his shiny new Samsung handset still wasn't working after sixteen calls and two in-store visits to carrier SK Telecom. What really set the dude off, though, was a SKT employee suggesting that the phone be replaced with a different model when the original was out of stock (what nerve!). Next thing you know, Kim's chilling outside SK Telecom headquarters, filled with rage -- and, oh yeah, a 4,000 pound Mercedes with "Delinquent SK" scrawled across it. Them's fightin' words, of course, and SKT tried to get him to skedaddle. The attempt backfired, though, when Kim skedaddled right through the building's revolving doors. Lesson to carriers: do everything in your power to replace your customers' defective phones after a maximum of fifteen support calls. Lesson to customers: if you aim for the glass instead of the door, you can probably make it into the building without as much damage to the front end.

[lyl545646 @ Apr 11th 2007 9:31PM]

That's just awesome! we should do this more often, people.

Hope they don't jail him.

[Luis Martinez @ Apr 11th 2007 9:31PM]

Reminds me of that guy who drove in a car to a dealership LOL.

[BEETROOT @ Apr 11th 2007 9:49PM]

This man is my hero.

[John Doe @ Apr 11th 2007 11:11PM]

This man is a god. Not thee God. Just a god.

[sharon @ Apr 12th 2007 5:27PM]

Yours was the best comment of all LOL!

[ben j. @ Apr 12th 2007 6:29PM]

i cant tell you HOW BAD I WANTED TO DO THE SAME THING AT SPRINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant tell the story, otherwise I'll be p.o.'ed again, but these people working behind the counters with the smart-ass attitudes and poor-ass customer service really have NO IDEA how close they come to being assaulted. I'm just one person that readily admits, I honestly thought of driving my car through the front door of SPRINT... hell, i've got good insurance & want a phone that works & comes with an owner's manual. One year later...STILL CANT GET AN OWNERS MANUAL FROM SPRINT

[Wulala @ Apr 11th 2007 10:08PM]

After he was arrested, police found out that it was not Mr.Kim's Car.
It was Rental Car.
In korea, all import cars are more expensive because of tax.
Mercdes S500 is about $200,000 in Korea..

[James Smith @ Apr 11th 2007 10:09PM]

Hey maybe if I do this then Cingular will actually treat me with respect! Now if only I didn't spend so much on my phone bill then I could afford a car. Seriously, this guy is my hero too. I think people need to start making more physical threats ("I'll kill you mother") than bs ones ("I'll call the BBB") towards companies who treat their customers like shit to get a little respect around here.

[barry @ Apr 12th 2007 8:36PM]

Cingular was bad now they are worse now that ATT owns them they are a crap company I had a phone for 4 weeks after 10 trips to the store they wanted to give me a used phone in exchange I told them to eat sh-t

[Koz @ Apr 11th 2007 10:18PM]

My Hero!

[gfella @ Apr 11th 2007 10:22PM]

Yaaaaaaay KIM! I bet if they would've been up front with him on the first call, he wouldn't have been so...uh...Agitated!

[Orionrecon @ Apr 11th 2007 10:24PM]

hahaha, I love how they're all taking pics on their camera phones!

[Don Wilson @ Apr 11th 2007 10:35PM]

You guys have the nerdiest, yet best, descriptions of articles ever.

[Billy Kincaid @ Apr 11th 2007 10:40PM]

DAT'S GANGSTA!

[Metaridley @ Apr 11th 2007 10:44PM]

What did he yell as he revved up the engine?

"THIS IS SPARTAAAAAA!!!!!"


Don't lie, if you were in his situation, you'd do it too.

[Evan A. @ Apr 11th 2007 10:49PM]

Wow I need to try this with cingular. Stupid idiots.

[Shibathedog @ Apr 11th 2007 11:04PM]

Wow, the comment about yelling "THIS IS SPARTAAAA" was really the icing on the cake here.

hilarious.

[peter M @ Apr 11th 2007 11:11PM]

It looks like Mr. Kim got a little carried away. Justified? definitely.

[sharon @ Apr 12th 2007 7:53PM]

That was the best comment of them all-LOL!!!!

[Dero32 @ Apr 11th 2007 11:15PM]

Oh well, its just a car right?...oh um... crap a Mercedes and a glass door ummm uhhh hes fucked

[LJKelley @ Apr 11th 2007 11:19PM]

Bravo.. way to go. I know people who have threated to drive their car thru the windows but you actually did it. To all of us out here you are brave and a hero.

[Jason Muschiano @ Apr 11th 2007 11:31PM]

Uhm...yeah sorry as much as he may be a "hero" for taking rational action and doing the damage he did. Door and glass can be replaced. Hes an idiot cause now he has to pay for the car/door/glass and i hope he gets jailed. Sorry, if you that pissed off about your cell phone...switch...(all over a cell phone) Dee Dee Deeeee. Of course unless its the only carrier, then there is no help for you. LOL

[Chaj @ Apr 11th 2007 11:43PM]

He didn't yell "THIS IS SPARTAAAAAA!!!!!" He yelled ""THIS IS KOREAAAAAA!!!!!"

[Ezekielthirty5 @ Apr 12th 2007 12:34AM]

I will admire this man more then he will ever know*

This might be the start of something big, I can see it now.......

ViVA La RéVolutIon!!!!!

[Peter @ Apr 12th 2007 12:51AM]

hahahah hilarious, would have been good if he had also been reading Mckay's "if we must die", this guy is seriously a hero, i may have to do this to cingular

[Eddie @ Apr 12th 2007 12:02AM]

Talk abt attitude... AWESOME! & Bad customers service. :P

[kc @ Apr 12th 2007 3:21PM]

I think the approriate yell would have been "Can you hear me now?!"

Anyway, too bad about the car (hope it was a rental like one post mentioned) but way to go Kim! Wonder if customer service from that company will improve now. "If you don't help me I will drive right over...and through your front door!" LOL

[Joe @ Apr 12th 2007 12:17AM]

The way this is worded, it says that Kim is filled with rage and a 4,000 pound Mercedes. Ouch.

[Ben @ Apr 12th 2007 1:05AM]

I like all the people taking pictures. Magic.

[Eric Pham @ Apr 12th 2007 1:34AM]

Dear god this man is a hero to us all. Id love to drive my truck through the verizon headquarters!

[Micah @ Apr 12th 2007 3:02AM]

Adding insult to injury: onlookers taking pictures on their WORKING camera phones.

[Rod @ Apr 12th 2007 5:05AM]

Hero? Good for the customers maybe but not for himself.
Of course it is possible that he is just extremely wealthy.
In that case Mercedes and the glass entrance and so on would not be much of a concern and knowing Korea, he can probably get away with it without any jail time.
However, if he isn't a multi-millionaire, then the cost will far outweigh whatever satisfaction he may have gained from this outrage, and he will most likely end up in jail, which probably isn't as bad as it is in the United States I would imagine, but still a jail is a jail.
I just hope he's a rich guy.

[Jamar @ Apr 12th 2007 10:47AM]

Well, he probably is rich- a Mercedes costs far more in Korea than it does in the US. Also- I wonder if his actions will inspire others to do the same to Verizon and AT&T. They deserve it; and Sprint, to a lesser degree. But, at least Sprint's willing to take on SK Telecom and KDDI as MVNOs (hope Helio learns from their parent company and never ever reach such an awful level of customer support).

[nikster @ Apr 12th 2007 7:45AM]

mr kim, you are my hero!

if i were cingular/ATT, i would start pouring concrete reinforcements now because whatever SK has done to mr kim cingular does to thousands every single day. an S500 sure is fine but imagine what a Hummer would do!

[John Stracke @ Apr 12th 2007 1:06PM]

He's not a hero. He's a moron. Let's go down the list:

* He smashed a $200,000 Mercedes.

* It wasn't his.

* The non-working phone was made by Samsung, not SK Telecom.

* He bought it from a distributor, not from SK Telecom.

* He'd been told the problem was with the USIM card, so he blamed SK Telecom, because they made it. Except they didn't; SK Telecom doesn't manufacture anything. The card may have been made by SK Teletech (a sibling company in the SK Group).

It gets better. Look at the picture. People are taking pictures of the wreck with their cellphones. Now, given that SK Telecom is Korea's largest cellphone carrier (about 50% share), and these people are at SK Telecom's headquarters, it's a good bet that most or all of those pictures are going to be sent over SK Telecom's network. So, this guy wrecked his friend's car to vandalize the *wrong* company, and wound up increasing their revenue.

[Jamar @ Apr 12th 2007 1:41PM]

1. The Mercedes looks relatively undamaged (sure, the hood might need replacement, but at least the important parts are intact)
2. So what if the phone's made by Samsung? It's just like in the States- carriers are expected to support the phones (else the carriers would embrace unlocked phones more rather than worrying about the support nightmares it would cause)
3. Korean phones don't use USIM cards (Only Japan uses USIM cards in their 3G phones).

Looks like Korea's much like the US- the carrier's supposed to support the phone but didn't in this case. Unlike the US, however, this person damaged a revolving door to make his point whereas Americans bitch and moan on forums. The US needs this kind of revolutionary spirit aimed against Verizon Wireless (for the crippling of their phones to their horrible pricing to their non-acceptance of imported phones).

[Randy Jones @ Apr 12th 2007 2:17PM]

maybe this is time for people to realize that the world is full of anger with the gas prices and all then add cell phone and rude people come on great job for the man and hope they learn a lesson selling junk and not taking care of the customer.

[earlslarry1 @ Apr 12th 2007 2:33PM]

I need to stop by Enterprise and then head for Sprint!

[Mike B. @ Apr 12th 2007 2:40PM]

Yeah, this is definitely one of the coolest guys I've ever read about. Hopefully he'll stay on the outside and bring justice elsewhere, like driving through restaurants that don't hold peoples reservations!
-mb

[mama @ Apr 12th 2007 2:48PM]

did you notice the other people taking pictures with their camera phones? at least their phones seemed to work...

[Bernadette @ Apr 12th 2007 2:49PM]

WAY TO GO KIM!!!!! MY HERO!!!!

[Kobura @ Apr 12th 2007 3:01PM]

Oh, man... that's just awesome. Greatest thing I've heard all day.

[Michael N @ Apr 12th 2007 3:18PM]

It is becoming more common to find news about a car that is parked in front of a store that went forward into the store because the operator thought the vehicle was in reverse. Cars today are much more complicated today then pre 1980. Everything is electronic, and the more safety junk on the car only makes it even more complicate. We need to slow down and doublecheck what gear we are in before we move an inch.

[warren garrison @ Apr 12th 2007 3:24PM]

Good for him, the customer is almost always right! Let me share my story. I had an inter net radio station last year, well I was the main DJ for the Tucson station and in an effort to promote the station and generate some revenue I thought, Hmmmm, I'll just get a phone card, lap top and I'll go around and show everyone what we have and presto change-o, the money will start rolling in. So, being with Cingular at the time I thought, Ok, I'll give them a shot, Booooo! very poor reception but I'll admit they were still struggling with Broadband at the time, maybe by now they've got it worked out. Then I went to Alltel, the kid wrote me up, the manager was involved with some high ranking officials with Alltel at the time but just as I started out with my new toy, paper work in hand the manager asked the kid if he had told me that Broadband would not be availabe until another month or so. Well, nothing is going to pull up a radio station and play music BUT Broadband so they politely gave me my money back and voided the contract, cool!. Ok, I had a gig at Old Tucson our Movie location in the desert and on the way out there, considering that my friend in Phoenix had just praised Verizon to the sky I thought, hey, there's a verizon store I'll just pop in and snag a card because tonight of all nights the CEO of Old Tucson is going to be there and I'll just impress the hell out of him with my station, NOT! When I went into Verizon there was like 5 sales people and only 2 customers so I got really quick service, told the kid what I was doing with the card, what I had been through with the others and he assured me I was making the right choice, NOT! Since my station is Tejano and Norteno and this kid was Mexican I wanted to show off a little so I fired the lap top up and tried to tune in and it acted just like dial up. I said "hey dude, this isn't going to work, it's not bringing me up quick enough to even play a song". Oh no problem Senor, our Broadband will be in in the next month or so and you'll be up to par in the mean time just take it on and use it, you have 30 days. I said but it isn't going to work, I only want the card so I can show off the station and get advertising and if I can't play music, it's useless to me. No problem Senor, you have 30 days, just take it on and the reason he was pushing me is that now the store is full of customers and he wants to make another sale. Ok dammit, I took the card, got to Old Tucson and of course the damn thing wouldn't work at all so I turned it off, pulled the card out and on Monday I took it back to another store that was a little closer. OK, they gave me a refund on the card, no problema, I thought cool. Next thing I know I get a bill for $32.00 for time used, now we're talking about those few seconds that I turned it on when I tried to show him my station. Bottom line, it's hell to get a consultant on the phone and once I did I went through what you've had to listen to hear. Well sir, I'll transfer you to customer care and they can take care of your problem. Ok, now I'm at customer care and I get, I'm sorry but you did use it and we just prorate out the time you used it plus the connection fee. "Look sweety, are you not listening to me? I'm telling you that I turned it on for your sales person to see it work, it didn't work, he would not give me credit right there, I brought it back on Monday, unused, zilch, nada, nothing and now you want to charge me $32.00." Month after month I would get yet another bill and warning that this amount was to be paid so I would call yet again and go through that same time consuming crap each time. I think altogether I racked up like 3 hours of my time trying to get this matter straightened out. Finally on the last call I got a person that told me I had to take it back where I got it and they would give me a refund. Ok dammit, so I went back over there, and it isn't close. The kid looked at me as I explained everything like I was speaking Chinese and apparently these are all preprogrammed robots that work for Verizon because they all say the very same thing, "but sir, you used it".
I laid the bill in his hand and said, "LOOK DUDE, THIS BILL WILL NEVER, I REPEAT, NEVER BE PAID, DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH IT, I'VE HAD IT WITH VERIZON, YOU'VE COST ME A LOT OF TIME, ENERGY AND FRUSTRATION AND THIS IS INSANE. YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY".
Well, I didn't get any more bills after that, but geeze, it should not have taken all of that to get this matter resolved, SO MY HAT GOES OFF TO KIM, GO DUDE. YOU REALLY SHOULD HAVE MADE IT INTO THE MAIN LOBBY AND DONE A FEW DONUTS.

[Verizon is next @ Apr 12th 2007 3:32PM]

Anyone else think Verizon's in store AND phone "service" is horrible? Who the f+ck is running that company anyway? TRY CALLING YOUR OWN SERVICE LINES IF YOU THINK THIS IS JUST B.S. It's awful 100% of the time so I'm confident only ONE check would be needed to see your company's lack of service. Potential Verizon subscribers: RUN, don't walk, to another carrier!!!!

[Steve Washeim @ Apr 12th 2007 3:39PM]

Reminds my of the governor of California in a movie years ago.

"I'll be back!"

[chelsea @ Apr 12th 2007 4:05PM]

he's my hero .. seriously though , if you get really cocky with the t-mobile reps, and they even get the slightest bitchy back, ask for a supervisor and complain and you get a free phone , i've done it like 5 times becuase those people are soo ignorant , especially when your phone's not working !

[mike @ Apr 12th 2007 4:31PM]

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW !!!!!

[Terence @ Apr 12th 2007 4:35PM]

Well, that is cool. No doubt about it--he was very pissed.
When I had a 100 day wait for a resolution to my question, I merely filed a small claims court action and served the summons to some out-in-the-sticks remote phone store---then it took 50 days for the legal papers to reach the legal dept at HQ. They called me 20 hours before the day of the hearing! Boy, did I feel powerful putting them on hold and running through the "push 7 for billing, push 4 for noodles, push 8 for fries" etc.
They never called back, and had to pay the default judgement of the Small Claims Court action! AND--I was never arrested for destruction of property!
Vindictive? YOU BETCHA!!!!!!!

[marc mullins @ Apr 12th 2007 5:01PM]

i threw my phone out of the car at 70 mph on the hiway i was so fed up with dropped calls and service. ... hmm, if i'd only thot about it....