It’s upgrade time for me. This is a time I have always enjoyed in the past because it either means a new phone for me, my wife or one that I can sell on and subsidise my contract for the next 12-18 months.
Unfortunately things seem to have changed since my last upgrade and a trip to my network provider’s local shop left me feeling bemused and not valued as a customer. I wandered in and was pounced on (no, it wasn’t Phones4U before you ask) by a helpful and jolly sales assistant who was only too happy to help me decide what to upgrade to.
He checked my usage and advised that he could do me a BlackBerry Curve 8520 for free (he shouted the word ‘free’) if I extended my contract by 24 months. I explained that I already owned a BlackBerry Curve 8900 and he then duly advised me that the 8520 was better because it did not have a trackball. My query about the better screen, better camera and the fact that the Curve 8900 is more expensive seemed to pass by him. I said no to that one.
He then offered an HTC Tattoo for free and explained that it was better than the Hero. No explanation was forthcoming about why it was better apart from the fact you can change the covers. After some thought I again said no, but it is in the running for my wife because she loves it.
I asked about an HTC Touch Pro2 and was advised that it would cost me £200. No to that one. A selection of choices followed which all required a payment of at least £100 which I found unsatisfactory considering my usage has been high for the past 5 months (in one month alone I managed over £100 including roaming).
The issue came down to the fact that my call and text usage was not as high as they would like and the fact that I have two phones on one contract which add up to approximately £70 per month offered me no advantage whatsoever. I explained that there is little point in me upgrading and that I would be better off getting a new contract elsewhere, and then he hit me with the BlackBerry Bold 9700 which they would have available in 2 weeks time.
Incredibly it would only cost me £40 to upgrade to it whilst the Storm2, the Curve 8900 and Bold 9000 would cost me £100. I cannot work out why the 9700 would be cheaper, but my wanderlust was tweaked again. The problem is that the 9700 offers not too much over the 8900- having 3G and no trackball are advantages, but in the real world is that worth a 2 year commitment from me?
As it stands I will leave the contract in limbo until something better comes along. More work needs to be done to keep me as a customer on those terms, terms which have seemingly got worse over the past two years.
How about you? What was your last upgrade experience like?
I can’t answer your question, but I will offer one observation about BB. The various BB fansites are, at present, breathless at the prospect that certain BB models will be released in white (and other colours). That’s probably a good indication that there isn’t much ‘newness’ on the horizon for RIM products generally.
Hmm sounds typical of stores. Look at phones then go call operator option cancel. Make out you have a deal elsewhere , phone and know min and texts etc and then you might hit gold.