Purchasing an iPhone 3GS from Mobily

[i hav been enjoying my 3GS for more than two month but I could not manage to share my experience b4…..! Even this post has been written in 3 sittings over a span of more than 3 weeks]

Few days before I purchased my new toy [yessss], my colleague has to go to the STC office on the Palestine Street while I gave him the company. The Mobily office is also there. I took this opportunity for-granted and went there. The receptionist told me that they have only Black Colored set of 32 GB. At that time I had not decided for white or black but I just confirm him about the availability of the stock that he confirmed. Next week, when I went there, got the token number and finally it was my turn. When I talked to the Mobily guy, he told me that they only have the black sets, I said him its okay. Then he revealed to me that they are offering the postpaid package (99SR) ONLY! It was really disturbing! I m an STC user and its my luck [or bad bad] that I have to purchase it from Mobily i.e. STC’s first competitor. I asked him about the availability on other branches, he said that no such system is available that could tell about the availability of stock on a certain branch. Its really a bad thing for such a big big company like Mobily, the SOLE official iPhone distributor in the Kingdom! He told me that I have to go from one branch to another, get myself covered with black dust until I m able to find the GEM buried in the coal mines.

Feeling very upset, I asked him about the main branch at Jeddah, Tehleya [that was suppose to provide the iPhone on the launch day of 7th Dec as per the notification sms], he said NO; Tahliya is out of stock long ago! A much desperate situation for a person who has been waiting for this day sooo long and finding no way to reach his destination.. I then requested him to discuss wid his colleagues and guide me from which branch I should start my hunt? After consulting his colleague on phone and verbally, he advised me give my luck a try by starting from the Arbaeen Street branch.

Morally very down, we went to the Arbaeen Street branch. So in order to avoid the same thing happen again, I first of all asked the receptionist about the availability of the required device, instead of the Yes/No answer he asked me about the capacity (16 or 32) and told me to take the token and wait while he checked the stock in the back store. I asked him again and he replied me same; wait!. Anyhow, I waited until it was my turn. I went to the counter with extra fast heart beat and repeated the same question, IPHONE 3GS 32 GB with prepaid plan. His reply was simple, “YES”! His short answer was like an oxygen for my bad mode.. He asked me for the color White or black, it was also a shock of happiness. In the last branch the answer was “NO” and here the answer is “this or this”.

I had made a little search for white or black color. Some people were saying that its up to ur personal choice but many other were in favor of white color. At one page I got this comment which I think is most reasonable or this is what I was looking for:

White is magnet for Dust,
while black is magnet for Finger Prints,
select as per your personal interest.

So, I can say that I got my 3GS Black colored by CHOICE.

The next step was the Mobily sim card. It was the part of the package, a Mobily SIM card with 250 MB data for 6 months for no extra charges [ as a bonus 😉 ]. Before the attended proceed with the issuing process of new number, I requested him to try my STC number, off course with some alteration. To my hard luck, it was not available (or not available without some extra fee). We made 6/7 attempts and finally we selected the number.

Although, the first interaction with Mobily was not so pleasant, but I must admit that the staff specially the attendant was very helpful. The overall atmosphere/performance of the customer centers is good or at least better than STC. This is ONE of the main aspects in which STC needs much improvement.

In the last it would be unjust if I don’t mention a person who is helping a lot of peopel like me in this cause publicly and personally. He is known as Mr. Khaled. He maintains a personal siteand also a technology blog about Apple and Mac activities in Middle East or more specifically about Saudi Arabia: Saudi Mac. I hav been visiting his pages months before I purchased my iPhone. He keeps us up to dated thru blogs and also Twitter. If u r interested in such things, I would recommend u follow him on twitter.

Chill till next…..