the dubai chronicles

i got myself an iphone and it was one of the best christmas gifts ever. we got it for free but we had to fight for it.

it has been four years since i changed my phone. my old trusted sony ericsson k700i needed to retire in which the buttons and signals are faulty. so, i decided to get a new one and opted for an apple iphone. i chose it due to appropriate apps and functionalities for photographers and designers.

after christmas, we decided to visit sharaf dg at ibn battuta and by time we got to the store, it was unavailable. we’re about to leave the shop when one of the salespersons informed us that they have a brand promise:

“if we don’t have it, you can get it for free”

it was actually a marketing ploy to lure the consumers. at first, we really didn’t mind and we can wait for few more days to get the phone but the lady insisted to sign a “contract” since there’s nothing much to lose. she even gave us a discount coupon if we didn’t get it for free. in any case, it was a win-win situation. so we decided to read it before we signed.

as stated in the agreement, if the product is not available within 24 working hours, it’s yours free of charge. the store operates 12 hours a day. so, they have two days in order to come up with a product. another important clause was the store will inform you once the product is available for pickup or delivery. if you got a call within that time frame, you get no freebie.

we ordered the product on saturday, 10am. the ultimatum would be monday evening (10pm). day one passed and i didn’t receive any call from them. on the second day, i got a call from sdg call center. they called me up and asked if i’m really sure to get the iphone.

“of course. why should i bother waiting if i am not going to get one?” my answer to them. i also asked if the product is already available in the store.

“we will call you once the product is there.” it was monday, 11am. we stayed till late waiting for the confirmation call. it was a dud.

the deadline has already expired. i was excited to visit the shop and claim the prize.

on tuesday morning while driving my way to work, i received a call from sdg call center and confirmed that the product was already available. i told them that i’m going to claim my product for free since the deadline expired. she told me to talk to the manager but i refused and informed them to deal with it later when we visit the shop.

as evening passed, it was a long, running-in-circles argument between us and the store. their defense was the product arrived on the hour before the deadline passed. we were never informed on time. i have evidence that i received only two calls: sunday noon (asking if i’m going to get it) and tuesday morning (confirming that the product is at the store). they kept insisting that we got a  call and told us that it was the confirmation.

why did they bother to call me again on tuesday morning hours after the deadline?

to make the story short, they lied and didn’t want to give the product for free. we talked to the manager-in-charge. he can’t decide on what to do. we talked to the store manager, he didn’t budge either. it took us three hours and it almost ended up in the police station. our case was strengthen further when the nightshift crew confessed that the product arrived one hour after the store closed. it was logged in his inventory records.

later on, the manager knew what we found out. case closed.  they finally conceded and gave the phone for free.

in conclusion,  it was the principle of  a brand that we’re fighting about. we’re willing to pay for it  if we were wrong. not all of the consumers in this region are morons. we signed and agreed to their terms and conditions and in return they tried to screw us up.

not us. bad. bad. bad.

Tagged: iphone, rant