Zong Rs. 1 Phone – Just another Deceptive Marketing Catch Phrase

Mobile phone subscribers were once again deceived by Chinese Let Zong, when they saw an AD in today’s newspapers which read “Rs. 1 Only”.

Now let’s calculate what actually Zong is offering, and let me justify how Zong deceived (lied to) its customers

As per Zong’s official website:

Handset Price = PKR 499
ZONG SIM Pack = PKR 150
12 months on-net airtime = PKR 2,032.8 (PKR 140 x 12 = 1680 + 352.8 as tax)
Advance Tax = PKR 168
Total Deal Price = PKR 2849

So this Rs. 1 handset is going to cost you Rs. 2849 : -)

Check Points:

• You cannot buy handset or the SIM alone, means you will have buy the whole package
• Free Air Time will compass over 12 months, and you can not consume that in a single month, which means you can consume free air time of Rs. 140 in first month and same in second and so on.
• The built-in on-net airtime worth PKR 1,680 is only for ZONG to ZONG calls,
• The un-used airtime will not carry forward to next month. For example if a customer uses PKR 110 worth of airtime till month end then remaining PKR 30 worth of airtime will be lost (confiscated).
• Handset purchased under this deal would be functional with ZONG SIMs only. Other mobile network SIM will not work on this handset.
• ZONG Handsets comes with six month warranty.
• Warranty can only be claimed from the customer service center it was purchased from.
• After 12 months customers will stop getting PKR 140 worth of monthly built-in on-net airtime. The customer can use the handset and the SIM after 12 months by recharging account as per regular procedure.

Conclusion

Ufone’s bundle offer of Rs. 999 for Handset and SIM was lot better than of this long term contract and handset that’s actually locked (means you can not use this handset with any other network)
Another element that left a bad impression about this handset offer Zong was its advertisement, which says that get a phone for Rs. 1 only…! and not only this, ad sayz “Mobile Phone Sirf 1 Rs main, 12 Maheenay kay balance kay sath” Now please Zong people us me from where this Handset is of Rs. 1???