SWEET SIXTEEN

I bought a new phone today - an iPhone 16. It's a reasonably large outlay (for me) as I'm not a technophile and generally don't see what the fuss is about these new-fangled machines. The Old Girl has been on at me to upgrade though because my previous one was becoming dated (iPhone 8) and its performance has been patchy since I dropped it in the bath a few months ago.

"You won't have an excuse for not answering when I call you" she said as often I didn't hear the phone alerting me to a FaceTime call because it switched itself off or muted the volume.

I researched phone options for a few weeks before obeying her and was going to buy an iPhone 15 until I saw the King's Birthday deals at Harvey Norman last night. A couple of weeks ago I looked at an iPhone 15 in Noel Leeming and told the assistant that I'd be back in after collecting my car from Toyota after its 12 month service and warrant of fitness. 

(Note, I did not have to pay over $1,700 to make our car warrantable. I guess that, unlike others in this blogging community, we drive our car on roads, top it up with water and oil when required, check tyre pressures and take action when that red light flashes on the dashboard).

 When I got back to the store I asked for the sales assistant but was told he was off on a break. I waited about 15 minutes but, as no-one else approached me I left the store.  Yesterday I went back and, again was at the Apple counter for ages without anyone approaching me so went to the checkout counter to ask for assistance. I was told that all the sales assistants were off on breaks! I went to the Apple counter again and looked at the iPhone 15 I'd decided to buy. The bimbo young woman who had been at the checkout counter eventually ambled over and asked if she could help me with my selection. I told her what I wanted but asked her a couple of basic questions about the phone and asked if the advertised $100 purchase voucher for items over $1000 applied to an iPhone purchase. She didn't know and said that she would ask (one of those invisible sales assistants I guess). I said that I'd look it up on-line and left having no intention to return. At home last night I saw the Harvey Norman deal which offered a $200 discount on the iPhone 16  which is pretty good as Apple products are rarely discounted. This brought the phone down to close to the iPhone 15 price. That's the phone I purchased today. All went well but ...

... the capable sales assistant answered my queries about the phone and advised the advancements of the i- 16 model over the i-15. The only time that he lost me was when explaining the advantages of buying a phone contract with One NZ which would have discounted the phone by another $300. I told him that we have a home broadband, cellphone and landline contract in place with Spark so would buy the phone outright. He said something like:

"Your contract includes a monthly allowance of minutes you are allowed to use for phone calls. An Early Termination Fee (ETF) fee will be charged if you cancel your service before the end of the contract term. The SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module): is a small chip that contains your mobile number and other account information, allowing your phone to connect to the network. Overage charges are fees charged for exceeding your data, minutes, or text message allowance. The fixed term contract will have a duration of 24 months.  You can use your phone for roaming ie. using your mobile phone outside of your service provider's network, often incurring extra fees. Premium SMS: Text messages used for services like voting on reality TV or subscribing to content, which can be more expensive than regular text messages is available. Plan transfer fee, a fee charged for transferring your plan to a different phone or number. will be applicable. Add-ons: Additional services or benefits you can add to your plan, such as extra data or international calling is available. An administration charge -  fees charged for account maintenance, late payments, or suspension of service is mandatory blah blah blah blah ... "

I know a bit about these cellphone contracts and, while the phone seems to be cheaper the lock-in contract and financing is onerous. It seems that the discounted price was available because they wanted customers to sign up for a One NZ contract. I prefer to stick to the non-locked in arrangement we have with Spark and, besides, as The Old Girl works from home and is reliant on good broadband service didn't want to upset what we have.

After buying the phone I asked if it was straightforward to activate it. I was informed that Harvey Norman offer a phone set up tutorial (15 minutes for $49) which I declined. At home it took me about 15 minutes to set up the new phone and transfer the old SIM card to the new phone - for free. That's the cost of a good bottle of wine or, in Richard' case about 8 bottles of that clean skin chardonnay he drinks.

The phone is working well. I just have to be careful not to drop it in the bath!