This is probably going to sound a bit sycophantic but it's not the case, I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to all the guys at Telecom.

I had a great time last night. I did wonder whether to go along as I did have an order in direct with Apple, but I decided it would be nice to go along and support the event as they had gone to the effort to open stores at midnight and to look after people for quite a few hours beforehand. It was fun meeting and chatting with likeminded 'geeks' who are happy to spend sleep time getting the latest gadget.

After having it confirmed that I would get my hands on an iPhone that evening (I have not been told this on previous launches and just been left to wait for hours and only be told after a very long time when they have run out and I am waiting for no reason when they could have told us hours earlier), I took the chance and cancelled my order with Apple as I waited. As number 35 in the queue I had my nice new 32GB White 4S in my hand by around 01:45.

Things turned a bit bad for me when I got home I setup my new toy and immediately had problems with Siri, it just didn't hear me, I couldn't get it to work at all apart from occasional times if I really shouted at it, and even then with bad results. Now, I have watched 'many' youtube videos of people using Siri and it never seemed this difficult then!

After a few hours sleep I continued with my investigations and found that when making a call i could not be heard either unless I used speakerphone or the headset. There was definitely a fault with the microphone.

After a post on here, a few of the members who are Telecom staff responded with help (thanks akia & plambrechtsen) and it was agreed I should go back to the Telecom Store. As I couldn't get down there for a few hours, and their phone was going to voicemail, Peter (who doesn't work in the store) went down from his office to explain to the manager my situation. How many times would you hear someone would do that for you in a company the size of Telecom!?

To cut a long story a little bit shorter (ok, it's already too long!), when I got to the store I found a phone had been put aside for me and on checking my original 4S it was confirmed that it did have this fault. But when they checked the procedure for faulty iPhones I was told it would have to be sent off to check I hadn't damaged it before I received a replacement. Naturally I said I would not be happy with this as I had only purchased the iPhone a matter of hours earlier and was pleased to say they understood the situation and after a few discussions between themselves out of earshot I was told they would let me have the replacement. It was nice to see that I did not have to get stroppy with these guys for them to do the right thing. They must have been very tired as I'm sure they are working very long hours and are having no rest at the moment dealing with people who want to be served 'right now', but to their credit they dealt with me as a customer in a way I am sure they would have liked to be treated if they were in my situation, even though it means they now have one less iPhone to sell to a new customer (sorry if that is you reading this!). I had paid for 2 hours on a parking meter thinking it was going to be a nightmare but I was in and out of the store in little over 20 minutes, can't do better than that :-)

My replacement iPhone is setup and works perfectly and even though my first 4S was faulty, I have a smile on my face and am sitting here typing this forum post instead, wanting to publicly thank Telecom for just being great. It's not very often you see something positive said about a company on a forum as we're all too quick to post when we have problems, but very few people follow up or post good experiences.

A special mention to Amber and Peter on these forums and Matthew and Daimon in store, along with the other staff I meet and chatted with both last night and this afternoon while there. Thanks guys.

Right, enough posting here, I have some serious Siri time to be getting on with :-)