# Tech support chap told angry customer to think inside the box – and solved the problem

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/tech-support-chap-told-angry-customer-to-think-inside-the-box-and-solved-the-problem/
- Published: 2026-07-17T06:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-24T08:13:35+00:00
- Original publisher: The Register
- Original article: https://www.theregister.com/personal-tech/2026/07/17/tech-support-chap-told-angry-customer-to-think-inside-the-box-and-solved-the-problem/5272293
- Topics: Software

## Key points

- Customer mistook rechargeable phone batteries for disposable ones.
- She bought three batteries in two weeks.
- The unused charger was still in the phone box.

## Summary

A supermarket mobile-service support worker resolved an angry customer’s complaint by discovering that she believed her phone’s removable battery was disposable. The customer had bought three batteries in two weeks because she did not realise the handset could be recharged, illustrating how assumptions about unfamiliar technology can create apparently serious faults.

The incident took place in 2006, when many mobile phones still used removable batteries. After asking whether she used the supplied charger, the technician learned she had not noticed it; he asked her to look in the original box, where she found it beneath cardboard packaging.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.