Simplicity is Beauty | Perfectly Imperfect

Not like other cellphone owners who use the most famous brands like Nokia, I decided to buy a different brand just to be unique from all of them. I bought a Panasonic VS6 from my Mom's friend 3 years ago which I didn't even know existed at that time. I didn't know that there was a Panasonic cellphone, I thought they only sell appliances. Anyway, it was a really nice flip-top camera phone, with features that I think exceeded top brands like Nokia at that time, it was cheaper and brand new. I even had a discount buying it. Main features include:

• 2 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and photo editor
• Video camera
• Display: TFT, 16 million colours, 320 x 240 pixels
• 40-voice polyphonic MP3 ringtones
  
• Messaging: SMS, MMS
• Games: Sonic the Hedgehog, 3D Football, plus downloadable Java games
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, InfraRed
• WAP, GPRS class 10
• Memory: 32 Mbytes
• Vibration alert
• Size: 96 x 46 x 21 mm
• Weight: 101g
• Talk time: 2 - 8 hours
• Battery standby: 150 - 430 hours
• Triband

Pretty neat huh? I'm still using it right now and it still looks and feels brand new (I really know how to take care of my stuff). I want to stick with this phone, I love it (my husband bought it as a gift for my birthday that time) and I don't want to buy a new one anymore, but I'm having quite a little problem with it right now. The battery broke months ago (after 3 years! and my Mom said I should change batteries after a year...) and I don't know where to buy a new one. I already searched cellphone shops, every mall, every Panasonic outlet, every Panasonic appliance store (thinking maybe they have the battery I needed) here in the city where I live in but to no avail. Then there's the internet from where I searched for the website of Panasonic here in my country. I found their site, then found their Customer Service e-mail after hours of browsing, contacted them and they responded fast. They told me where their Part-Sales office is located which is where I can buy the said battery and the price. Problem solved? No...because their Part-Sales office is located in another city far from where I am. Yes, I can commute there (2 hours approximately) but I still have to search for the exact place and I'm bad at that. I'm familiar with the city, I know how to get there, but I don't know how to get to their exact address! I e-mailed them again asking if I can order the said battery online (ordering locally then shipping it is cheaper than ordering internationally, so I don't have to go to their office anymore) or do they have any other shop, store, outlet near my home where I can purchase the battery. They responded and said that I can't purchase it online, and that the said Part-Sales office is the one and only place where I can buy the battery I needed. And I thought "Huh?!". What if I live in another region? I still have to fly to where the Parts-Sales office is just to buy the battery? Wow...very poor customer service...Maybe they only have satisafactory service(s) with regards to their appliances. It was just too bad...Very unlucky for me...Now I don't know if I just have to go there (and suffer the hassles of finding the place), order internationally online (and suffer the high costs esp. shipping charges, and risk being a victim of online scammers) or just get rid of my cellphone and buy a new one with the same features (maybe Nokia because it's everywhere! I surely wouldn't have any problems like this with this brand). In any way, I'm surely going to spend over my budget, just have to go with the option where I can spend less. This is just the real disadvantage of a not so famous cellphone brand compared to the likes of Nokia, Motorolla and Samsung...the parts are hard to find (in my country), and I'm facing that right now...Maybe if this cellphone breaks/crashes/had malfunctions, I wouldn't be surprised if the cellphone repair shops here wouldn't even know how to fix this...