I was checking the blog 4th Ring Road today when I spotted their post on the new Electrozan offer so I decided to pass by them and pick up a BlackBerry Curve for Nat. When I got to the Electrozan showroom I found out the BlackBerry’s were sold out already. The employee told me they will be getting more tomorrow afternoon but I also found out why the Curve’s were being sold for cheap… they are T-Mobile branded. That automatically turned what sounded like a really good deal into a bad deal. Let me explain:
– An unlocked unbranded BlackBerry Curve costs KD135 on Amazon [Link]. With shipping to Kuwait via Aramex the total would amount to KD142. Sorry this was for the QWERTZ keyboard.
– An unlocked unbranded BlackBerry Curve costs KD145 on Amazon [Link]. After tax and shipping to Kuwait via Aramex the total would amount to KD165.
– Now on the other hand a new unlocked T-Mobile branded BlackBerry Curve from eBay costs KD124 [Link]. With shipping to Kuwait via Aramex the total would amount to KD129 which is KD30 cheaper than Electrozan.
So to summarize things, its still a much better deal to order a BlackBerry Curve online since a saving of KD30 is a pretty big chunk.
Update: Just picked up a Curve from Electrozan for Nat. Paypal locked up my account because I logged in and paid for something through my VPN and they assumed someone else got into my account. So now I can’t use eBay for awhile. The BlackBerry is T-Mobile branded and comes with T-Mobile literature. Employee said its officially unlocked so I can do the software updates. Comes with 6 months warranty so it will be interesting to see what exactly that means if something does go wrong from now to 6 months time. They’re out of Bolds at the moment.
Update 2: The Curve’s sold at Electrozan are from T-Mobile Germany which means the keyboard is a QWERTZ and not the regular QWERTY. Simply put, the locations of the letters Z and Y are swapped.
29 replies on “Why the Electrozan Blackberry offer isn’t a good deal”
Hahaha š Exactly MArk!!
Electrozans marketing team is like that they try to show that we are getting it for the cheapest rate… also when they had gotten iPhones saying its Factory unlocked and stuff! anyways the marketing team is filled with a bunch of weirdos š
Especially for the iPhone 3Gs… anything goes wrong they cant help much… black berries now u said from T MOBILE
thats funny
Thanks Mark =)
Does the 3G off the tmobile network even work on the 3G in Kuwait or are they still using WAP? (sorry for asking this question, but i’ve been living outside kuwait or 6years now)
I actually just got a blackberry bold from electrozan and a friend of mine got his from amazon, the problem is that when my friend got his unbranded blackberry from amazon it had a deficient OS processor that couldn’t be updated, and he had to THROW IT AWAY !!!
The one I got from Electrozan worked PERFECTLY in kuwait with no problems at all. And if there was any problem with your phone they will EXCHANGE it under the warranty .. which is pretty good to me .. i think i would throw on some extra $$ to make sure that there is warranty on my phone.. !!
Mark ,
we bought almost a dozen T mobile curves for my company , great deal , but if one doesn’t work for any reason , say by by to all the savings , just try to deal with getting it back to the states for servicing. The local Service agent will do what ever they can NOT to fix it . Pay local prices and get the Warrantee .
so the 8900 curve is also called the javelin?! im confused
SOMEGUY: Thats the risk with everything you buy online
Have been doing some Blackberry research myself and found out that the 8900 doesnt have 3G, so keep that in mind when choosing which one you get….
so the amazon price is almost the same as the kuwait price and the LOCKED t-mobile one is 30KD cheaper while neither come with warantee?
that’s still not that big of a difference considering that if you ordered online you will naturally go with the unbranded, unlocked one. The electrozan offer might not be a great deal, but it’s a fair offer.
bazaar: that’s one hell of a research you’ve done.. great discovery dude
When the hell will Wataniya launch their Blackberry?????
Het Mark, like you i’ve been wanting to get a BB for my wife too.
can anyone tell me what the best one to buy, curve bold …?
Hey Mark, like you I’ve been wanting to get a BB for my wife too.
can anyone tell me what the best one to buy, curve bold …?
sorry about the double post, too much coffee redbull through out the day @@
Hey everyone!
I just bought 2 pieces yesterday from electrozan, one for myself & another for my sis. Mine was without any logo while hers was with the T-mobile logo. It is misleading Mark to inform your readers that all phones have the logo. Both are actually working perfectly fine with no issues whatsoever. Additionally they gave me 6 months replacement warranty. I think, in my humble opinion, that this was a great deal (due to the warranty).
The guy who sold them to me, a Kuwaiti, appeared to be experienced in all types of iphones and blackberries. He promised me support for future software updates and upgrades.
I believe it unfair to put down Electrozan’s efforts for providing good deals for local customers. If you previously tried to buy a Blackberry from Zain you would know its always out of stock and sold for KD 230. Alghanim also sells it for KD 230. Electrozan never mentioned that it’s deals are better than the internet.
HB: The employee told me all their curves are T-Mobile branded. There shouldnt be any logo on the outside, the logo appears when you start the phone.
Ayman: If you don’t shop online its a good deal, my post was targeted towards people who buy stuff online.
This is bullshit mark, This is what you regularly do? Filter out comments to make the movie look well edited in the end? Thats just pathetic. I tried to post 4 times, and this is the first and last time I will ever post on your blog, and let this be the reason from now till eternity. Good luck being a phony.
* HB – i hope you got the warranty in writing and signed. the local dealers have a weak memory in that area even if you have a receipt.
* ALL – forget bb. get iphone.
* zaydoun – wataniya have been promising it forever as well as iphone. i’ve given up but as long as their network is stabler and their service is decentest (people service) then i can live with it as opposed to the crap that zain sells for a ‘premium’.
* related note: Viva is far from impressive. brains and cell operators no longer go together.
bdayer your post contained misleading and inaccurate information so it was deleted.
Mark I think we are the ones that will judge whether bdayers comments are innaccurate <—- will my objection to the deletions be deleted too ?
Anyways, turn on Latitude on Google maps on the BB. You guys can no longer hide from your wives and vice versa š
Realist when its your blog you can decide what you think is counted as inappropriate, racist, spam or whatever but as long as i am responsible for this blog its my decision to delete or keep comments. if i allowed all comments to go through then this place would turn into a zoo.
I’d like to say something to ElectrozansABIGJOKEATtimes.
If you really want to fairly judge a company’s marketing team, then have a look at Eureka’s. Remember their i-phone ad in AlWatan newspaper in March? Electrozan had an i-phone ad on just the opposite page. Eureka’s marketing theme was “war on prices” selling the phone for 229 kd while Electrozan was selling it for 219 kd.
When I saw the 2 ads, my 1st reaction was like “OMG is Eureka ripping us off?!” I mean how are they marketing that they’re fighting prices when another company is offering the i-phone for a lower price. Now THAT was a big marketing joke!
And yes, I cant deny that I am a fan of Electrozan š I do appreciate their work.
Cheers
call me stupid but aren’t all keyboards supposed to be the same?
You would think but no they aren’t. I only realized there was a QWERTZ keyboard when I was at the Frankfurt airport. Was typing an email and couldnt understand why all my y’s were turning into z’s (i touch type).
Also on US keyboards for example the $ sign is on the keyboard, on european ones its the euro.
student: you have much to learn still for there are QWERTY, Dvorak, french, UK english and dozens of other keyboards and that’s just considering the latin characters.
that’s why I avoid buying UK-spec computers since the keyboard is a pain with the ‘@’ symbol placed somewhere on the lower right instead of atop the number 2 as we are used to in US keyboards among other things. the return key also is awkwardly shaped relative to my preferences.
Apart from everything, QWERTZ is the joke man..
US keyboards rock all the way.. prolly because thats the only type ive been using since i first laid my hands on any keyboard.
So, I just got a Blackberry Curve 8900 from Eureka.
Good pricing, just a bit less than 130kd but only 1 week warranty.
So, I play with the curve sample they had, and it had a normal QWERTY keyboard, so I go like alright, I’ll get the curve.
Later on, as I open the package, I see they gave me a QWERTZ keyboard Curve :s and I really got pissed.
So, I went to them and told ’em that I wanted the QWERTY ’cause that’s the one I played with and that’s the only reason I agreed to take it, they can’t just place samples and trick you into buying the different BB.
Anyways..
So it turns out they didn’t have any QWERTYs so I was sorta obliged into taking the ‘1-week-old’ sample (as they say)..
I took the sample with the battery etc. etc.
I go get me a line from zain, sign up for the BB and go home.
No msg, so I call zain, they say take out the battery put it back in and it’ll all be well..
I took out the battery, waited for half an hour, put it back in and guess what? The ‘edge’ was still in small letters that indicated it wasn’t working…
I called Zain, and they said everything looks ok to them but just for the heck of it they’ll resend the package incase there was an unidentified error, turned of the BB, took out battery, put it back in, switched it on..
NO USE!!!
I called again this morning, still..
In the end, they told me the problem is from the blackberry itself coz the whole service and stuff is activated on my BB..
So, I’m going to Eureka today and either they fix it or I get a refund :s..
It’s bad enough I had to get the sample that people have been touching and using for 1 week… UGH.
I’ll post what happens when I go there..
But as far as I know at the moment, Eureka have supplied me with a faulty device.. So, that’s what you get for having stingy pockets I guess.
i think the best deal at electrozan , and there is a very good service there also .