The (Ph)one that Got Away

As many of you may have read here, I was planning to buy a new phone using Smart Addict Mobile’s retention plans. You also may have read that I am not relying on Smart to give me a new phone anymore…and here’s the story.

My postpaid contract is up to end by July and by their promo/rule/whatever, I can avail of the new phone by the time I am on the 18th month of my contract onwards. That was roughly by January. I had my eye on the much-praised Nokia 6233 based on the comments I got, and we placed an application of it around two months ago. I was on the waiting list, and they said the new unit will arrive within two to four weeks and they’d call me once it was there. Four weeks later, I went back to the Smart Wireless Center where I applied to follow up our application and they said that there was still no unit available, and since there was a queue for applications, I’m still on the waiting list. Disappointing again, but it’s okay, I’m a patient person, I could wait.


My birthday has come and gone ((I was hoping to get the new phone in time for my birthday)), but alas, still no phone! My brother even got a new phone for his girlfriend before I got mine! Now, I know I said I’m a pretty patient person, but two months waiting for a unit that I could always see in the Nokia store that seems to be available? Hello?! I may not know what is the process for acquiring new phones, but is the waiting supposed to be that long?

Right after my brother got himself a new phone (around last week), we went to Smart to follow up. I also got a list of their retention plans just so I could check what other units are available, but lo and behold, they have a new list of promo (which was released about a week after I followed up for the first time) and the phone I wanted wasn’t on the list anymore. I had a feeling that might happen…but now what would happen to my reservation? What if no more N6233 comes since they’re not ordering it anymore?

I approached one of the guys in the Sales table and his explanation just annoyed me: they’re still having a shortage of units and everyone who applied for a line is still waiting for the phones. Argh! The thing is…I mean are:

  1. I am applying for retention, and according to my brother, I should be at least on the priority list since I am already a part of their subscribers and as far as I know I have no missed payments.
  2. I hate the fact that they did not even call me to inform that the N6233 is already out of the promo, and if I would kindly visit the Wireless Center, I could get a list and choose from their new one. Hello, inform your waiting customers? Please? What if I didn’t go to them to check, and I waited until July, and then my plan gets cut off because the phone I wanted is no longer available? ((As a rule, the plan will only be renewed once the subscriber gets the unit))
  3. The guy I talked to didn’t even try to persuade me to wait or do something else when my brother and I asked for cancellation of my application to retain my postpaid line since he made it clear that the phone I want will not be arriving anymore with not even an offer to pick a new phone from their new list. This irks me because as employees of the company facing the people, they should try to get their subscribers to stay. Or maybe because since they already have 25 million subscribers, losing one wouldn’t matter anymore. Hmph.
    .

I’ve been a Smart subscriber for seven years (five years prepaid, two years postpaid), and I’ve been pretty satisfied, but this is just plain annoying. I used to like being a postpaid subscriber because of the less hassle of loading plus the fact that I could call without feeling that guilty, but now I realize how much I’m being cheated. Ganns posted something related to this a few months back, and I could see how much Smart postpaid subscribers ((Mostly personal ones, I’m not sure about Corporate)) are not being taken care of. The fact that the unlimited promos for their prepaid SIMs are not available for their postpaid subscribers is enough to get irked — come on, even Globe postpaid can avail of the Unlimitxt Unlitxt promo! Just because we’re postpaid subscribers doesn’t mean we don’t need the unlimited things you offer for prepaid. Hmph.

*Breathe* So what will I do now? As with my brother, once my contract ends, I’ll be back to good old prepaid. Computing my expenses, I think I’ll be able to save more — of course, I might stop calling people again, but there’s unlimited SMS anyway, so that should suffice. Plus I won’t be forced to pay around Php1,000 to Php1,300 a month for my postpaid plan because I lack control. :P

But I think I will go to a different telecom this time. After much thinking, I realized that most of my friends (especially the closest ones — the Godchicks, for example) are on Globe. The only people who are still on Smart are my family, but my brother is planning to switch to Globe once his plan runs expires. So…come July, once my plan expires, I’ll be embracing the use of the Globe SIM that Happy and Mare gave me for my 20th birthday. Fine, I’m going to miss Globe’s old Unlimited plans, but at least I don’t have to keep one Smart, one Globe and one Sun phone in my bag. :P I could go back to two again, yay. :)

As for the phone? Well, I can wait until around June or July to save up, or at least find something to make me earn more than I am earning right now…if not, there’s the credit card — as long as there’s 0% interest, I think I’ll be okay. :P I do hope there’s a nice, new and affordable model by that time. Hmm…N7390, would you be mine? I hope.

But that’s not until July. So now I’m just going to make the most out of my soon-to-expire postpaid plan and prepare to budget for my future prepaid life. Ha, I’m exaggerating again, it’s not such a drastic change. :P Except when it comes to spreading my new number to the people who don’t know yet. But that’s where blogs and emails and online messengers come in, yes? :)