The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is perfection, from every angle. In, and out. Perfection.
Anyways, during my last visit to Jeddah, my parents decided to buy me a cell phone of my choice. And I chose the Note 3. Why? Because it's perfect.
And so, we bought the phone from a reputed electronics store, and got home.
We were admiring the device when a tiny brown paper fell from the box, on which was written that the device would work with sim cards issued from certain regions only, along with a list of countries where the phone would work.
We went back to the store, and it turned out, the store's management had no idea about it. Samsung never informed any of the stores about this ridiculous move. And that's not what's annoying. What's annoying is their customer service. Worst customer service. EVER.
Now, anyhow, the guy at the desk asked us to take the device to India, and assured us that it will be unlocked at any Samsung service center. So, we wanted to confirm that.
We went to the main Samsung service center, where we were greeted by neatly dressed gentlemen who were good at one thing: nodding. So this guy at the counter just nods, and nods. Pretending he understood whatever we said.
He goes in, and comes back after about 5 minutes. He asks us to speak to another guy at another counter. Now, this guy supposedly had a PhD in being an obnoxious arsehole whose genius solution for us was to buy a second Note 3 for use in India.
"Sir, this is for use in Saudi. This is Saudi product." In my mind, I'm like "No, bitch! This is not a Saudi product. And I paid 2,799 SAR for this thing. I expect you to work out a solution."
So, the second genius solution from this guy was "You want to unlock phone? Give 200 SAR, I unlock phone. After, no warranty. KHALAAS."
So, we left, muttering to ourselves.
Anyways, I got back to India. And I brought the Note 3 with me.
By this time, I was pretty irritated. I went to the local service center, and asked them to provide an unlock code to deactivate the region lock. They'd never heard of it before. And, they asked me to try unlocking it somewhere else.
My uncle said he knew a guy who could unlock the phone for 1,000 INR.
Now, this guy was also a PhD in being an obnoxious arsehole.
With his face shriveled like a roasted eggplant, he began hitting keys on random on his laptop. Although, all he was doing was trying to buy an unlock code from a website. Turns out, Mr. Obnoxious Arsehole #2 had mistaken region lock for carrier lock.
So, he said he couldn't unlock the phone.
It's been 5 months now, and my phone is lying in it's box. Unused.
Samsung has planned to apply region lock to it's previous devices, along with the Android 4.4 (KitKat) update. And if someone has, somehow, managed to bypass the region lock, it will be reactivated with every firmware update.
I tried contacting Samsung India, and was asked to contact Samsung UAE. While, they also mentioned that they cannot do anything as my phone is carrier locked. I tried explaining to the guy that it's a region lock, but he kept insisting otherwise.
Now I'm going to take the phone back to KSA, and give the Note 3 to my parents.
And I'm thinking of getting a Sony Xperia Z1 as my Nokia C7 is being a pain (NOTE: it's been 3 long years with my C7!).
I end my rant with "Screw you, Samsung!"
Anyways, during my last visit to Jeddah, my parents decided to buy me a cell phone of my choice. And I chose the Note 3. Why? Because it's perfect.
And so, we bought the phone from a reputed electronics store, and got home.
We were admiring the device when a tiny brown paper fell from the box, on which was written that the device would work with sim cards issued from certain regions only, along with a list of countries where the phone would work.
We went back to the store, and it turned out, the store's management had no idea about it. Samsung never informed any of the stores about this ridiculous move. And that's not what's annoying. What's annoying is their customer service. Worst customer service. EVER.
Now, anyhow, the guy at the desk asked us to take the device to India, and assured us that it will be unlocked at any Samsung service center. So, we wanted to confirm that.
We went to the main Samsung service center, where we were greeted by neatly dressed gentlemen who were good at one thing: nodding. So this guy at the counter just nods, and nods. Pretending he understood whatever we said.
He goes in, and comes back after about 5 minutes. He asks us to speak to another guy at another counter. Now, this guy supposedly had a PhD in being an obnoxious arsehole whose genius solution for us was to buy a second Note 3 for use in India.
"Sir, this is for use in Saudi. This is Saudi product." In my mind, I'm like "No, bitch! This is not a Saudi product. And I paid 2,799 SAR for this thing. I expect you to work out a solution."
So, the second genius solution from this guy was "You want to unlock phone? Give 200 SAR, I unlock phone. After, no warranty. KHALAAS."
So, we left, muttering to ourselves.
Anyways, I got back to India. And I brought the Note 3 with me.
By this time, I was pretty irritated. I went to the local service center, and asked them to provide an unlock code to deactivate the region lock. They'd never heard of it before. And, they asked me to try unlocking it somewhere else.
My uncle said he knew a guy who could unlock the phone for 1,000 INR.
Now, this guy was also a PhD in being an obnoxious arsehole.
With his face shriveled like a roasted eggplant, he began hitting keys on random on his laptop. Although, all he was doing was trying to buy an unlock code from a website. Turns out, Mr. Obnoxious Arsehole #2 had mistaken region lock for carrier lock.
So, he said he couldn't unlock the phone.
It's been 5 months now, and my phone is lying in it's box. Unused.
Samsung has planned to apply region lock to it's previous devices, along with the Android 4.4 (KitKat) update. And if someone has, somehow, managed to bypass the region lock, it will be reactivated with every firmware update.
I tried contacting Samsung India, and was asked to contact Samsung UAE. While, they also mentioned that they cannot do anything as my phone is carrier locked. I tried explaining to the guy that it's a region lock, but he kept insisting otherwise.
Now I'm going to take the phone back to KSA, and give the Note 3 to my parents.
And I'm thinking of getting a Sony Xperia Z1 as my Nokia C7 is being a pain (NOTE: it's been 3 long years with my C7!).
I end my rant with "Screw you, Samsung!"
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