May not be as clear cut. I remember the cancellation fees for iValue plans are pretty hefty. Don't forget that you will lose the prepayment too (unless it has been waived). Last time I read that the cancellation fees includes paying the entire period of contract fees. Not sure, but better read through the terms and conditions and also call up for confirmation. Its better this way than to 'hear say, hear say' promoters and then discuss it here. Those promoters are not Maxis personnel, they could be contract workers or hired for the promotion event only.

I am not confident if they are adequately briefed on most matters. Hehehehe... cause they are to 'promote' and as such they are only equipped with knowledge/information related to ' to promote' rather than 'to terminate'. Thats all they care and all they should be doing.

Call 123 and you'll get your answers. Or visit the nearest Maxis center. Those are Maxis personnel and thats what valid. Promoters are hired off the street or from contract companies and the material/information are provided by the contract companies themselves (of course it originates from Maxis only limited). Also, the organizers of the promotion may not be Maxis but a participating company doing a Maxis promotion. Anyone can wear a Maxis t-shirt or brandishing a Maxis brand. :-)

I was there (Maxis Centre, The Gardens) for the fourth time (God knows ) and they aren't giving any to walk-ins and 'try luck' people hehehe! Each of those phones that arrive from HQ will be tagged to a particular customer detail. And they don't have any extras. I can also confirm that the 'hey, I got a call from Maxis' will not work anymore, at least in The Gardens. This is because they will be notifying by SMS/email. You will need to show proof of receiving one of those notifications to collect phone. Maxis is no longer calling people to collect phones anymore due to this 'try luck' problem.

Yes, for those who is ngam ngam one month, just proceed straight to Maxis and demand for it. They say 30 days so lets make them fulfill it. Protectors at RM6x is pretty ok liao considering some brands going all the way to RM1xx. Actually I find those pasar malam cases pretty ok. They cost like RM10 but the same sold at the mall is around RM2x-3x.

Yesterday I bought a new case from Capdase called the Flexi2 Soft Frame (I don't fully remember the name). It looks like a hard crystal case on first sight but when you give it a second look and feel it, its actually soft silicone material. The rim is crystal clear while the back of it is matte and frosted. Colors available are Turquoise, Pink, Frosted White and Light Grey. I like the frosted area especially the matte finish because it keeps finger prints away while the rim is crystal clear to 'show off' the shiny iphone chrome bezel. Its not thick but still offer complete protection. When you hold it, its like just holding an iphone without a case. Cut-offs and button locations are accurate too.

Accessories are made complete with a screen protector, rear logo protector, plastic stand and pouch. All for RM68 at Machines (Gardens). Some places are selling it at RM78-88. Skip those places. Probably Lowyat Garage can sell cheaper.

Which is why its a complete bull. Why advertise where there's none you can offer? Something is fishy...

Well worldwide shortage and local shortage is 2 different thing unfortunately . For once, I can accept that shortage has nothing to do with other countries. If Maxis is having a shortage, its a problem within their own circle. We shouldn't speculate how this can happen. Like any new device, things have to ramp up. However, it doesn't spare Maxis from all this. They handled the areas of supply chain pretty poorly from customer's point of view. I do not wish to speculate why this is so, but maybe they wanna deplete the current iPhone 3G stocks.

Stringfellow (TS) has said on a few occasions that Maxis got into the game pretty late and they're holding so much like its a 'life-jacket' now. So it kinda 'fits in' where they would wanna deplete the current iPhone 3G and then 'switch over' to the 3GS. A reasonable buyer would aim for the 3GS while another reasonable buyer would aim for the cheaper than usual 3G. Both ways, Maxis lose. I will not say if Maxis is holding stocks or whatever. Marketing strategy or not doesn't matter. The MOST IMPORTANT thing marketing can do is TO KEEP PEOPLE TALKING, good or bad. Thats call market hype, FUD, etc.

Why would I say they handled all this pretty poorly? Look at the advertisement. Why advertise when you have nothing? I can already note a few 'legal concerns'. Lets not even go into the 30 days at least cause anyone who orders now (as 'instructed' by the advertisement) will sure breach the festive holidays cause its only less than 2 weeks from now.

So it involves a pretty broad spectrum of 'fields'. I will not cite economics because the right term is supply chain management. Handle it poorly and you get this. I am having a feeling that Maxis is conveniently using this as a positive side effect. Just look at the comments before me. What the customer thinks of a company that matters. What the company does or face from within is none of the customer's matters. So does what customer believes. Marketing is like a religion. You need to control how your customer thinks of you. Thats what publicity means.

Addition: I'm sorry I forgot. We live in Malaysia. There's no such thing as consumerism and equality (consumer wise).

This post has been edited by davidmak: Sep 8 2009, 03:32 PM

Looking at the circumstances now, hard to say

The switch will be immediate. From then on, all your usages will be based on iValue 100 charges while your Value Plus 80 will stop. Depending on the day of the month, the charges and billing will be pro-rated. Value Plus 80 accumulated usages will be charged accordingly up to the time you make the switch. Then iValue 100 commitment fee will be pro-rated for the remaining days of the month of the bill cycle. And the end of the bill cycle, your usages will be deducted from the pro-rated commitment fee. Any extra will be charged accordingly based on the iValue 100 charges. A lot of people thought they will have the full month or at least did not know what is the data bandwidth available due to pro-ration.

In actual fact, you can ask Maxis to work out an estimated pro-ration to you. Based on that calculation, minus 10% as a safe buffer. Then you'll be fine. If you're worried, just call up Maxis and set a maximum monthly credit for your account like RM300.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Sep 10 2009, 11:34 AM

Probably he's one of those angry victims?

Come on, how does posting or visiting forums take up a network's bandwidth? Ooh, by the way line over here is great and fast.

Mine just in the middle of this 30 day wait. Gardens giving free pouch? Wow... wonder if my booking is included.

I wonder Gardens have how many people on the wait list. I found out that once a batch of phones arrived, they will allocate and tag a customer's name on each of the unit. They will follow the sequence of the wait list. I do not know how they do the notifications though. I was told by the personnel over the counter that they don't do telephone calls, but was told to wait for sms/email. A bit weird cause everywhere else relies on telephone calls.

If the list is long, I guess 280 units isn't that much though considering we have a lot of people who booked in the early month of August.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Sep 12 2009, 11:45 PM

I was at Sunway Pyramid this morning and stopped by Maxis. They confirmed that no more telephone calls will be made to notify of availability. It'll be either sms/email. You will need to produce either of this as evidence before they will take out any units.

Its the 21st day for me and I felt like the entire 'hoo-haa' has sort of subsided and now serious considering a Samsung i8910 hehehehe... Not sure if it is a good choice but I'm seriously considering.

He probably meant other phones. Digi does have offer free phones in the past but I didn't know they were locked (and branded?) though. Actually the contract system over here works pretty well. The phone may not need to be locked cause you're tied on the service contract anyway. As far as the telco is concerned, you can use any phone as long as you keep using their service (and pay the bills ).

Anyway Digi free phones don't really get the interest of most techie customers because they're cheap phones.

Yes, except that they now charge exorbitant prices for things as basic as a handphone. Of course, they improve on the products and you get something tangible to spill your money over. Not to mention the taxes that get shafted on every consumer's throats. Over here, things are done different in the sense that the service and the terminals (handphones) that uses the service are 2 different products. We pick the phones we want and match the service we think is good for us (and the budget).

In other parts of the world, the handphone and the service are essentially one product. They come together. You cannot in any way buy a phone without service. You're forced to pick the bundle. That is why exclusivity is key. Some networks try to get a mobile phone earlier than other networks. This is to keep them at the edge and ahead of competition. The never ending fight for more users. Users are finite at a market. Industry players come and go. Who gets the bigger chunk of the market wins. Because services are commodity and they are no different from any others. However, phones are special. They change and improve as we progress. Content changes. So users pick phones and the bundle that comes with it. Phones are cheap, however the services aren't. They get exclusive phones to lock users to a particular network. They brand the phones and they lock it to prevent people from jumping ship. There's no such thing as the best phone for the best network. Thats competition.

Over here, our services are cheap and we get to pick them. We can match with the best phones we see fit. THAT comes at a price. There's ALWAYS a price to pay. A price to pay for having CHOICES. A lot of people say our mobile charges are dirt cheap.

Having said all this, my point is simple. ITS THE SAME. You calculate the contracts and add up the cost of the phone and we'll be talking total cost of ownership. Its all the same. Either way, consumers get shafted. Hehehe...Of course we paid for what we use.

The same can go for cars. The age old debate saying cars are cheaper elsewhere. Cars are expensive here because of our cheap fuel prices, road taxes, insurance fees, etc. Cars are cheaper elsewhere but hey... look at their fuel prices, road taxes, and insurance fees. The same bloody statistics.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Sep 13 2009, 11:50 PM

Same here, I booked mine on the 23rd of September (Sunday). Feels like giving a run and get another phone.

Technically its the 22nd day. I still have another 8 days to go (well into the Hari Raya holidays). I hope they can give me an sms/email by this week. Just in time for holidays . Right now I am in a pretty free spirit mood, so anything goes. Hahaha! Weeks ago, I've been visiting Gardens almost every week cause I just 'happens to be there'.

I was (honestly) considering the Samsung i8910 HD cause I had a 'hands-on' session with it and kinda like it. Later I realized its a little on the large side and its UI isn't as 'kinetic' and 'smooth' as an iPhone although its camera and video features are top notch.

True... thats the downside of the phones from those 'contract' regions. This is because your phone is basically localized. Of course you can always ROAM, a point you did not consider. But its expensive, really expensive. Which is why there's a provision for users to get it unlocked say upon completion (and fulfillment) of contract. If you choose to get it unlocked before the contract expires, users are usually required to pay a fee. That fee... add up to most of what I have just shortlisted usually equals to the total cost of ownership. And it some cases can end up being more expensive.

By the way, the next evolution of markets is to globalized the GSM market. Few operators, many country operations. Same rates. Not possible now but a dream for the future.

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Added on September 14, 2009, 11:45 amShit I guess that applies to me too.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Sep 14 2009, 11:45 AM

I booked mine on the 23rd August. I wonder if I should go? Hahaha... but I have been disappointed many many times. I have a feeling it is near but those '2 extra weeks' reported by other people seems to be troubling.

I decided to call up Maxis (123) and try to get a clearer picture on my booking status. I told the customer executive that I booked mine on the 23rd of August and she told me in a firm voice that there is NO LONGER A PROBLEM WITH LOW STOCKS if I am collecting at 23rd of September (1 month after booking). She then proceeded to check through a centralized database and located my booking records and also found out that I am not in the DELAY LIST.

In other words, the arrival of my iPhone 3GS 16GB Black is imminent and will be on time. I just hope it will be few days earlier on the 19/20 September just before the Hari Raya. By the way information to my booking:

Date of booking: 23 August 2009
Location of booking: Maxis Centre, The Gardens
Status of booking: Confirmed on time
In delay list?: No
Model booked: iPhone 3GS 16GB Black
Type of booking: Priority. RM500 rebate upgrade invitation.