Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The iPhone Saga... 2 Years Later (take 1)

So you may remember 2 years ago when I decided to give up my Blackberry for a new modern and sleek iPhone 4.  It took me a month to get the phone which only cost me 29€ - an awesome deal for sure.  That was, until the phone was stolen 3 weeks later and apparently I didn't have insurance on the phone.  Therefore in the end it cost me close to 800€ for the replacement.  Yeah, that's a big jump.  So not cool.

Over the last 2 years I know I haven't been in the best cell phone plan for my usage.  When I did the plan originally my goal was having a big data plan.  And to my "understanding" the best way to do that was to do Vodafone's @XL Clasico.  This gave me 1000 minutes to talk and 1GB of data, etc etc.  You don't need to know the boring details.  Just know that I maybe use 50 minutes a month, a far cry from the 1000 minutes I've got.  And every time I leave the country, even using my international roaming that I also pay for monthly, I get charged an arm and a leg.  It just doesn't make sense.

So I sat down with a friend of mine and we went thru the plans and came up with the perfect one for me.  He offered to go to the store with me to figure it all out, but I'm a big girl and I'm determined to do stuff on my own.  I can't have my friends be crutches for me unless it's a major deal (like buying a car, yes, he can come with me to buy a car) or something medically related.

On Tuesday I decided to bite the bullet and go to Vodafone on my own and get this done.  It was going to save me about 60€ a month, minimum, a hefty savings that can go towards my new car ;)  But nothing is ever that simple, especially here in Spain.  NEVER.THAT.SIMPLE....EVER.  I came prepared, with a print out of the plan I wanted and marked accordingly.  I also brought a copy of my most recent bill.  I had my speech all planned in Spanish.

Then he threw me for a loop.  Not only was I not 100% sure what he was saying half the time, I probably was getting 75% of what he was saying.  But then he mentioned something about a nuevo movil.  Hmmmm... a new phone.  Cuanta cuesta para iphone 5??  I don't think I could get it with my original plan or else it was too costly.  But the next plan up which is still a great plan and a lot less than my current one, he said something about 500€ (it was actually just under this once he wrote it down) for the 32GB.  Still too much, damn.

But then he asked what kind of phone I currently have (um, can't you see that on your screen in front of you?) and I told him the iPhone 4.  He said something "I think" about turning in my old phone and so therefore getting a discount.  He wrote down some numbers and the magic number of 300€ came up.  Hmmmm.... this is still more than I wanted to pay but it's still doable.  It's not 800€ for sure.  So going with the moment I said yes.

First off, the plan that I want has two options, one with a contract of one year and one without.  The one with the contract is 8€ cheaper than the one without.  I was going with the contract since I have no plans to change my cell phone carrier for the rest of my time here, it was process enough doing it the first time.  But for some reason, still unbeknownst to me, I can't do that with this discount and/or plan (even though it's plainly stated on the plan's details) and/or phone?????  I really don't know.

Secondly, he didn't have any phones there so that complicates matters.  It can never be that easy.  So my understanding is that I should call at the end of the week (which actually for me means going to the store because I won't be calling and trying to understand him over the phone) to see if it's in.  And he will change my plan then as well.  Oh and I should also note that my friend, when I told him the price and what happened, also said likely this phone is locked unlike the one that I have now where I can put any micro-sim card into it.  Not a huge deal but for the 3 weeks I go home next year I'll have to look for an alternative cell phone idea.  But for 3 weeks of phone use, I don't care that much about if the phone is locked or free at this point in time.

The plan right now is to go in on Friday and hope for the best.  Either I have to start this process from scratch, which if the guy isn't there, I may have to... or things will go smoothly and I'll leave there with a new iPhone 5... HA, that's funny and totally not realistic!!  I'm probably also going to have to bring my first born as most likely I sold my soul to the devil in this process for all I know.  All I know is that now, I'm determined to get this phone that up til yesterday I didn't even want since my 4 is in perfectly good shape.

Keep you posted :)

Besos,
Julie

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