Buying a Blackberry from Orange

Just been in the Orange shop on Cheapside here in the City of London. Hetty, my colleague, needs a Blackberry again. For a while she really didn’t need one but we agreed it was time she got connected to her email more regularly — the demands of business are changing.

So we popped into the Orange store. I thought I’d try and give them a bit of business. You know, spread the lovin’ around. I also reasoned that buying a secondary Blackberry on my account won’t save me anything. T-Mobile will simply charge me double. There are no efficiencies gained. Ergo why stay loyal? A good opportunity to check out Orange too, I reckoned.

‘Do you do the 8700 Blackberry?’ I asked the guy in store. He confirmed, yes.

‘How much?’ I asked.

He suggested that if we took a £35/month price plan, the Blackberry would be free. Cool. You also get unlimited landline calls with that plan. Very smart. They’ve got some good offers like this.

‘AAAAND you need the £16/month data plan option,’ the guy said.

WOAH!!!!! Wait a moment! Over 50 quid a month for a Blackberry?

‘What’s your cheapest price plan?’ I asked.

’19 quid a month,’ he said, rather sheepishly, knowing I was just about to say, ‘and is that PLUS the 16 quid a month Blackberry fee?’

‘So it’s over 30 quid a month, minimum and the device is 180 quid?’ I summarised.

‘Er, yeah,’ said the poor guy.

‘But it’s 18 quid a month for 1,000 off peak minutes AND Blackberry service on T-Mobile?’ I respond.

‘Er, yeah,’ he said. Resigned.

I thanked them and walked out. I suppose the Blackberry deal could be a good’un if you were looking for a price plan AND the Blackberry service. But all we need is the device and the instant email. Shame. We’ll get it from T-Mobile.