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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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^^^ By the way, that was my 2000th post! 
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Holy crap!
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Feels like I'm spamming the New Zealanders topic now, but I just got me a reply from Vodafone:
Dear Oliver
Thank you for your website enquiry.
I do apologise for the delay with responding to your request.
I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the purchase costs of the Sony Ericsson W910i, when you initially purchased this mobile the price was competitive with other New Zealand companies selling this model.
Unfortunately as with all products and across all industries once they have been released for some time, then promotions or sales are often created to help move stock, this does appear to happen now quite quickly especially with electronic goods.
I am sorry that you have missed this current special but unfortunately as with any product, this is the nature of a sale or promotion. If you are wishing to take advantage of specials at a future date, then it may pay to wait until a particular model has been released for some time and then check the following site for specials:
http://store.vodafone.co.nz/hot_offers.aspx
If you have any further questions please reply to this email, call our Customer Contact Centre on 777 from your Vodafone mobile, or 0800 800 021 from any other phone. From overseas you can contact us on + 64 9 355 2007.
Yours sincerely
Paul
Vodafone Customer Support
And here's what I replied with:
Thank you for replying to my email.
It is rather disappointing to hear that you think that. The W910i was, at the time I purchased it, at an unreasonable price. It still is. There are several retailers in New Zealand that I can list, who sell the phone a lot cheaper (and their prices were similarly low at the time I purchased it too). Here are a few:
$500 at E-Town.
$470.25 at PhonesDirect.
$438 at Expert Infotech
If I had chosen to import from an overseas based supplier, a respectable website named Plemix.com can supply a W910i for just $403.56. Even with import charges, its still cheaper than your prices. I bought my W910i from Vodafone thinking that I would be paying extra for the benefit of having Vodafone support behind me, but I now find that it was not at all worth it. The nasty Vodafone branding that is emblazoned across the phone is crippling and restrictive at best. What's more, Vodafone Live as a service is broken and full of errors, and the (overseas based?) customer service team are rude and disrespectful. They refuse to believe a complaint unless the customer gets very angry, and even then they are resentful. Perhaps you should tell them how unreliable Vodafone Live actually is? I could have saved myself $300, got the phone, and a 4GB memory card and still had at least $100 to spare.
The thing is that Vodafone New Zealand brought out the W910i (and K850i for that matter) almost half a year after its global release, but Vodafone New Zealand still charged a price for the phone as if it were a brand new model. Overseas, the price of the model had already dropped significantly by the time it reached our shores. This is entirely unfair on New Zealand consumers, and I will try my best to tell people this, so that they can hopefully find themselves a better deal.
Your British counterpart, Vodafone UK, even sells the W910i for £160, which roughly equates to NZ$420! This is even cheaper than any parallel importer, so I fail to see why Vodafone New Zealand feels it must be so rude to its loyal customers, as to expect them to pay such ridiculous prices.
People are being ripped off enough with your inflated service charges as it is, without being ripped off for the phone they purchase too. Your mobile data charges are a joke in comparison to the rest of the world. How do you expect a common New Zealander to afford them?
I will never again buy a phone from Vodafone New Zealand. I will choose to import because I can have what I want, when I want, and at the price I want. Vodafone New Zealand can not offer me any of this. I only stay with Vodafone as a service provider because I have no other choice. As soon as Telecom bring out their new network, I expect Vodafone's days of dominance will be over. Vodafone is entering a period where it should be aiming to keep its loyal customers, not turn them away.
Regards,
Oliver.
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[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2008-07-08 14:01 ] |
JiSm
Joined: Nov 08, 2007
Posts: 404
From: New Zealand
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Everyone should buy their phones through an importer! Why give voda the satisfaction of ripping you off for a handset and then charging the dearest prices on the planet for communications? We should all boycott Telco in NZ. Im gonna start something when I get back in October. They can kiss my ass! Commerce Commission here i come.
"Back in the land of the long white cloud!" |
carkitter
Joined: Apr 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Auckland, NZ
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@M-O
Good on you for taking them to task over the issue of releasing phones in NZ late, then asking a premium price for them. This is scandalous and as you rightly said "rude" behaviour to thier customers.
Unfortunately, you've kinda left no room forward to negotiate with...
Anyway, it's becoming clear that importers are definately the way to go unless one wants the iPhone.
And speaking of the iPhone  I'm heading into town tonight to take some pics. I'll put them up in the 3G iPhone thread. I have our video camera with me and if I can gather the nerve, I'll take some video and maybe use Windows Movie Maker to create a little something for You-tube.  No promises on that though.
**Edit: 1st iPhone photo is up.**
I'm at Unitec ATM, just completed an aptitude test as a requirement for studying BCS; I just noticed a 3G+ symbol on the V640, has anyone else noticed this?
A speed test revealed the fastest HSDPA result I've yet seen:
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[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2008-07-10 08:41 ] |
carkitter
Joined: Apr 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Auckland, NZ
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Sony Ericsson dot co dot nz list the W350 as available, anybody seen one?
Also, The Warehouse has the V640i for $249 - how cheap can this phone get? 
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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On 2008-07-10 07:46:53, carkitter wrote:
@M-O
Good on you for taking them to task over the issue of releasing phones in NZ late, then asking a premium price for them. This is scandalous and as you rightly said "rude" behaviour to thier customers.
Unfortunately, you've kinda left no room forward to negotiate with...
Anyway, it's becoming clear that importers are definately the way to go unless one wants the iPhone.
And speaking of the iPhone I'm heading into town tonight to take some pics. I'll put them up in the 3G iPhone thread. I have our video camera with me and if I can gather the nerve, I'll take some video and maybe use Windows Movie Maker to create a little something for You-tube. No promises on that though.
**Edit: 1st iPhone photo is up.**
I'm at Unitec ATM, just completed an aptitude test as a requirement for studying BCS; I just noticed a 3G+ symbol on the V640, has anyone else noticed this?
A speed test revealed the fastest HSDPA result I've yet seen:
Yeah I'm not worried about any kind of negotiation anymore. I expect they'll be keeping their wallet and their mouth shut - That is, they're not even going to reply to that and attempt to defend themselves. But if they do want to give me something to keep my mouth shut, then that's fine. It won't work though, and I'm still thoroughly annoyed with them.
I saw your iPhone photos. The event looks kinda dull, but I guess that's Vodafone for ya. It will be good to see how it turns out though. 
As for that 3G+ symbol, I've never seen one on mine before. I haven't even experienced HSDPA-like data speeds yet.
EDIT: Ok, I have now seen the 3G+ symbol, but only in the menu under 'mobile networks' and then 'GSM/3G networks' in the connectivity tab.  Don't think I'll ever see 3G+ in the status bar on this phone.
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[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2008-07-10 12:48 ] |
K71
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
Posts: 34
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so whats this 3G+ thingy??
a pity it wasn't a wet cold night to test those ifone lovers waiting in line for their exclusive vodaphoney deals. |
Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
PM |
On 2008-07-10 14:18:50, K71 wrote:
so whats this 3G+ thingy??
a pity it wasn't a wet cold night to test those ifone lovers waiting in line for their exclusive vodaphoney deals.
Nah, carkitter is out there. Gotta be nice to our fellow Esatonians! Wouldn't mind if it poured with rain in Wellington or here in Christchurch though. Rich bastards...
The 3G+ is just HSDPA. So its even faster 3G data speeds really. I don't seem to get it down here in Christchurch.
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Dionasaurus
Joined: May 24, 2008
Posts: 35
From: New Zealand
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Hey everyone,
I'm a kiwi in Auckland, been checking out the esato boards for a while hoping to find myself my next phone (my K750i is dying and it's time to pull the plug - I can't even send proper txts with it). So I found the C902.
So here's the next thing: I could wait for a couple of months just hoping that Vodafone will release, but they'll jack the price up, OR I could just get it from a parallel imports store, which is what I think I'm going to do.
I was just wondering beforehand if any of you have had any problems with parallel imported phones on the Vodafone NZ network. I know it says that message on the Vodafone website about the risk of imported phones but are those just scare tactics to make you pay Vodafone's ridiculous prices? I just want to know if I'll be able to browse the net on the normal Vodafone plans and do videocalls and all the rest if I get an imported phone.
Cheers!
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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Hi Dionasaurus! Welcome mate.
I would definitely go for a parallel import. What it says on the Vodafone website is just cautionary so that nobody can go complaining to them. All you need to do is get a C902, then put Vodafone's K850i GPRS and MMS settings on it, which are exactly the same. You can do it via the SE website or the Vodafone website I believe.
There are many benefits of buying a parallel import. Firstly, they are always cheaper, and often as low as half the price Vodafone releases them at. Secondly, you don't get the Vodafone branding, and you get to have the phone as Sony Ericsson intended. And thirdly you can have it now, and not in several months, if Vodafone even ends up bringing it here!
All I would advise is to go to a parallel importer that you trust, and buy a one year warranty. Most importers don't offer a warranty as standard, and it would suck to buy a faulty phone with no way to get it fixed except pay. Usually 1 year warranties are about $60 on top of the phone's cost. Just gives you that peace of mind.
Trustworthy Parallel Importers I have dealt with are:
www.parallelimported.co.nz
www.etown.co.nz (for this one, check under 3G phones and GSM phones, they mix all their phones up, I don't know why)
BTW, I'm going to add your name to the first post of this thread. We have a list of all the New Zealand members active within the last year and links to their posts.
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Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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On 2008-07-11 03:25:30, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
[...]And thirdly you can have it now, and not in several months, if Vodafone even ends up bringing it here!
@Dionasaurus: I have to correct myself. I went down to my local bookshop today and saw the latest MyMobile magazine which had a C902 review, which basically confirms its coming to NZ quite soon.
No price was listed yet (it said 'To Be Confirmed'). I'd say it will be more than the K850i, and I'd definitely still say go for an import!
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carkitter
Joined: Apr 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Auckland, NZ
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If the price is yet to be confirmed, then I wouldn't hold my breath for it.
I was in at an importer last weekend who had the C902 and W890 advertised for sale but when I asked to see them they said they were awaiting stock.
This seems to be the Modus Operandi for importers of phones in NZ. Advertise what you don't have, don't stock accessories, don't know how anything works, speak english okay until the sale is made and after that it's "Me no understand", plus charge extra for a 12 month warranty which is illegal under the consumer guarantees act unless you buy 'As Is, Where Is' which you wouldn't with a $500+ cellphone.
Vodafone stores aren't much better TBH.
They also advertise what they don't have, don't stock accessories, don't understand features, some still don't speak english well, but you will get decent after-sales service and 12 month warranty included in the price, but expect to pay exorbitant prices for anything just released and anything thats reasonably priced will be considered old here on Esato.
NZ pricing is volitile as demonstrated a couple of pages back when I posted NZ sales figures (the graph lines were jagged in the extreme, just like a seimograph, which is a good analogy actually ) and which Muhammad-Oli unfortunately found out to his cost.  Anyone buying the V640i in Feb for $399 would have been caught out too, but to a lesser degree - this phone is now selling at 5/8's of its original price which was already only 40% of that of the K850i.
BTW, the V640i specs match or exceed that of the iPhone 3G in almost every way which makes its current $249 price the best value on the NZ market and an absolute must have. iPhone at $979 (8GB) betters it only in larger screen, larger memory (which an M2 card can match), GPS (available with an SE accessory overseas), Accelerometer (available on W910), reading email attachments and Wifi compatiblity. The V640i is BT Personal Area Network compatible so could use BT to connect to a home network instead of Wifi so this is not such a disadvantage as it seems. K770, W910, K850, C902 (any SE with BT V2.0) can do this also.
Buying SE phones in NZ is a hit-and-miss affair and lets hope Telecom and NZ communications sort this out in November. In fact I'm gonna email them about it, just to be sure.
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[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2008-07-12 02:45 ] |
Muhammad-Oli
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: The NZ of L
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@carkitter: Yeah I fully agree with you. We really don't have any good options for buying a mobile phone in New Zealand. I think Telecom's swap to a better network is going to be the most interesting thing that can happen for New Zealand mobile phone retailers. I just hope Telecom stocks some nice SE phones!
BTW: Exciting times with the Esato awards going on! I voted for more than one New Zealander, I'll say that much! Shhhh...
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carkitter
Joined: Apr 29, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Auckland, NZ
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Yes exciting indeed, not many Aussies been around lately (other than Masseur) so some kiwis might be in with a chance of best Australasian.
My vote for best thread was this one and for best post I chose this one. And that's all I'm giving away...
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Posted: 2008-07-08 13:40
