Don’t get mad, get even.
I got screwed over by Softbank and there’s not much I can do except get revenge by warning other people. Since it’s the end of March new ALTs will be coming into Japan for the new school year. I want to counsel people not to get drawn into Softbank’s scheme.
I work for Interac and had someone help me set up everything upon my arrival to Maebashi. Unfortunately, the woman helping me was as clueless about cell phone plans in Japan as I was. The deal was made by mobile phone shop lady explaining the perks of the service to my company helper who in turned tried to explain them to me in struggled English. My friend was on Softbank, so I decided to go with Softbank, too. I went with the well-advertised Softbank White Plan on a one-year contract with a free phone.
This is the worst phone I have ever had. It doesn’t really function very well on English. I can forgive the poor grammar (”An message will be deleted.”) but I can’t message in anything but all-caps unless I specifically change the settings for each individual message. (YOURE ENJOYING THE FIREWORKS RIGHT? I LOVE FIREWORKS! IM GOING TO BUY A CHOCOBANANA.) Often when the phone asks if I want to end an action “yes or no” the yes and no options are truly reversed, deleting my long, difficult, all caps text message. The phone also turned off randomly for a while and I had to get it replaced. It turns out the awful phone I put up with because it was free is not actually free, despite what I was told. I have actually been paying equipment fees for the phone all year and still haven’t finished. Apparently, for Softbank a “one year” plan is actually 15 months, which I also wasn’t told. If I cancel now, (12 months after the contract began) I still have to pay what I owe for the worst phone I have ever had (about ¥5900 remaining).
I also get around 20 spam messages a day (I just got one right now.), offering me porn, penis enlargement, and Viagra, since I foolishly chose an easy keitai email address and was not offered spam filter options. For this most excellent phone service, I pay as much as anyone else, about ¥6000/month. I found all this out today when I went to Softbank with a Japanese friend (another company representative). When I cancel the phone service, I’m going to go to Tokyo myself so that I can yell in English and someone will actually understand me.
So I encourage you, if you’re headed to Japan to just say no to Softbank. I don’t care how happy Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz look, I’m pissed off.
