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The iPhone 3GS went on sale today for pre-order, pick it up in 3 weeks.
I check out the website for details, all in Thai, click on the English link and get to a page where it says "iPhone 3GS" in English everything else in Thai.
Decide to head over to the nearby True store to register. Get there and ask the attractive girl at the counter to register me for the iPhone, 'Mai Dai' . She can't register me, the home office never sent her the codes to access the employee website. She then suggests I register on the Internet. I ask if I can use the computer, she says 50 Baht, one hour -- this is a True Internet Cafe.
I then go to another counter to pay and they say 'Mai Dai', we are out of 1 hour cards. "Would you like a 20 minute card for 20 Baht ?". Grrr I would have gotten that in the first place if I had known.
Log into the computer, the password is '00OO00O0O', eventually I figure out which are zeros and which are Ohs. I am then asked to register my name and passport number as part of the Thai requirement that all internet access be logged.
"Jose Cuervo","007" and I am in
immediately I am brought to the True page to sign up for an iPhone 3G (not 3GS), a few clicks and I find the 3GS link. Click on 'order now' and get a big Red
"SSL Certificate Expired" Warning, couple of clicks in firefox to tell it to accept the certificate anyway (mind you, this is True's online store, on the day they start selling the iPhone 3GS and they let the certificate expire !)
Finally I get to the registration page, click on English. Start to fill out a form
Identification: [x]Thai Id [ ]Passport
click 'Passport' and it immediately unclicks itself and 'Thai ID' remains selected. Try and enter my passport number, and its not accepted - must be 13 digits.
I call the girl over who I talked to in the beginning and say I can't sign in. She says no problem I got the internal registration system working 10 minutes ago. Grrrrr, but stay silent-she is really cute.
Head back over to her desk and start the registration, its slow going, I'm the first person to have registered here. Finally its done, I pay the deposit, tell her to sign me up for plan 'A' (there are 4 plans plus buying the phone outright - the plans are insanely confusing).
She say "ohh, this is to buy the phone outright. We are not accepting pre-orders for people planning on using the phone with a plan." I explain that that is not what heard, she calls someone. Gives me a charming I dunno look (she is getting more and more attractive, must be the color in her cheeks coming out from dealing with Farang).
I ask for my deposit back, and give her my number to call me when she straightens things out.
Get back home, get a call - "you, can register for phone now with plan"
Guess I'll go back this evening and see what more can happen.......
I check out the website for details, all in Thai, click on the English link and get to a page where it says "iPhone 3GS" in English everything else in Thai.
Decide to head over to the nearby True store to register. Get there and ask the attractive girl at the counter to register me for the iPhone, 'Mai Dai' . She can't register me, the home office never sent her the codes to access the employee website. She then suggests I register on the Internet. I ask if I can use the computer, she says 50 Baht, one hour -- this is a True Internet Cafe.
I then go to another counter to pay and they say 'Mai Dai', we are out of 1 hour cards. "Would you like a 20 minute card for 20 Baht ?". Grrr I would have gotten that in the first place if I had known.
Log into the computer, the password is '00OO00O0O', eventually I figure out which are zeros and which are Ohs. I am then asked to register my name and passport number as part of the Thai requirement that all internet access be logged.
"Jose Cuervo","007" and I am in
immediately I am brought to the True page to sign up for an iPhone 3G (not 3GS), a few clicks and I find the 3GS link. Click on 'order now' and get a big Red
"SSL Certificate Expired" Warning, couple of clicks in firefox to tell it to accept the certificate anyway (mind you, this is True's online store, on the day they start selling the iPhone 3GS and they let the certificate expire !)
Finally I get to the registration page, click on English. Start to fill out a form
Identification: [x]Thai Id [ ]Passport
click 'Passport' and it immediately unclicks itself and 'Thai ID' remains selected. Try and enter my passport number, and its not accepted - must be 13 digits.
I call the girl over who I talked to in the beginning and say I can't sign in. She says no problem I got the internal registration system working 10 minutes ago. Grrrrr, but stay silent-she is really cute.
Head back over to her desk and start the registration, its slow going, I'm the first person to have registered here. Finally its done, I pay the deposit, tell her to sign me up for plan 'A' (there are 4 plans plus buying the phone outright - the plans are insanely confusing).
She say "ohh, this is to buy the phone outright. We are not accepting pre-orders for people planning on using the phone with a plan." I explain that that is not what heard, she calls someone. Gives me a charming I dunno look (she is getting more and more attractive, must be the color in her cheeks coming out from dealing with Farang).
I ask for my deposit back, and give her my number to call me when she straightens things out.
Get back home, get a call - "you, can register for phone now with plan"
Guess I'll go back this evening and see what more can happen.......
Wasn't much of a saving on UK price as it turned out,and there's no warrenty in place,so there was a feeling of "false economy". In future,I'll buy in Europe and know defective goods will be replaced as and when. Thai "customer service" isn't anything to rely on....
Think I'll stick with the B1900 Nokia- far simpler!!! 
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