Hubby has decided Motorola Defy plus is the next phone he wants. Telstra has it prepaid for $299, which is the cheapest I've been able to find - any others I could find were around the $340-$350 mark. Does anyone know where it can be gotten for less than the Telstra price please?
Best Price for Motorola Defy+?
Geewhizz on 21/12/2011 - 12:59
Comments
That's dearer than the Telstra one that we can walk into the store and pick up. A quick google found me somewhere that will provide unlock code for around $25, but I'm sure with not much effort it can be gotten for significantly less.
Yes its dearer than Telstra but less than $340 you could found. The Telstra Defy+ means Telstra branded with bloated Telstra ROM. I'd take the unbranded, unlocked option any day.
Your right,foolysik, your option does appear to be the far better way to go if it's the same phone without the Telstra cr*p loaded. Shipping also turns out to be free. :)
A quick question re specs though if someone can help please?From the DWI page:
General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
HSDPA 850 / 2100 or HSDPA 850 / 1900Will this run on the next G network when we need it to? We tend to travel a bit and will sometimes need blue tick coverage, which Telstra promotes theirs as having.
their stock comes from overseas but they provide tracking order
Does anyone with experience with DWI know how long this usually takes?
That appears to not be the 'plus' model though?
You're right, the Defy+ has a 1GHz processor
Bought from DWI. Thanks Foolysik. It's a shame they don't have a referral program.
Glad to help! I recently got an iPad2, it took 7 days to arrive and they deliver to your door and call to make sure you are home for delivery.
Phone arrived today, and sadly is NOT the plus model. They offered a refund but not a replacement, though I have to return it at my own expense. Fortunately I had an express satchel here, so am not directly forking out for it.
Hopefully the refund process will be fairly straightforward. I guess this will determine whether we consider dealing with them again.
That doesn't sound right if it is so clearly their error. Furthermore, the site has the MB526 for that price, so either they sent you the wrong one and that is their mistake, or they are intentionally stocking/advertising the wrong one.
I would be complaining HEAVILY.
Edit: Given that they wouldn't replace it, sounds like the issue is that they are intentionally ripping people off.
They didn't seem too fazed when I contacted them, simply said if I wanted a refund …….
I wrote back saying I'd be happy with an exchange for the item I'd actually ordered, but got no response, so we decided to opt for the refund that was offered and buy the phone locally through Telstra. Hubby will just have to cope with the bloatware.
As for whether it's intentional, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt at this stage - the ease or difficulty in getting a refund will be the telling factor I guess.
I have most certainly let them know I was not happy with having to pay postage to return it to them.
You might want to consider contacting the consumer advocate in your state about this issue, they are still incorrectly advertising the product.
Bruce there is an issue with the order page that I discovered after the wrong phone turned up. I don't want to go into it just at the moment, in case it is a genuine mistake. It has been pointed out to them, so it remains to be seen whether they fix it.
I think I can fairly confidently now say it's not a mistake, as they thanked me yesterday am for pointing it out, but have not fixed it.
HINT: take a GOOD look at the page.
I'm waiting until I have my refund before I make too much of an issue of it. :]
Take a copy of the web page in case they change it.
Take a copy of the web page in case they change it.
Have done that, and sent a copy to them. They thanked me for it and have done nothing about fixing it. Certainly makes one wonder whether it's intentional. The curious thing about it is that once you've added it to your cart, the correct item shows up in the cart, so unless you are ultra observant on the first page ( ie, if you order from the page that foolysik has linked to) you're going to get done.
Thanks for providing the information. I was very close to ordering one of these myself, so I appreciate you looking into the issue to help others.
They are probably hoping that purchasers dont realise when they get the non plus version ………and they can get rid of their obsolete stock.
A business to avoid..They are probably hoping that purchasers dont realise when they get the non plus version
I think you've hit the nail on the head xywolap. According to their T&C they'll only accept a return if it's still in the packaging (there is a sealed plastic bag) and unused - it wouldn't take much handling of a phone for them to deem it 'used'. Too many people are unaware of their consumer rights, so once they'd discovered the mistake would not think they had the right to push the issue.
I just had a niggling feeling when we were opening the parcel that we should double-check the model number. At the time Hubby wasn't too impressed that he couldn't play with it straight away (as opposed to waiting a couple more minutes lol.)
Now that he does have the plus model, he's very happy with it though.
Geewhizz: Do you mind if I ask where you got the phone unlocked? Did you go through Telstra?
Not unlocked yet Bruce as we only got it from Telstra on Friday. Hubby still has a couple of months to go on his Telstra contract so isn't in too much of a hurry. I'll see if I can track down the site I found though.
Sigh! Got to thinking about it this morning and realised that once they actually get around to giving us the refund, it's going to take a week to get it back out of paypal. I should have though to do a paypal claim as soon as the wrong phone turned up.
It has become quite clear that the 'mix up' between the two phones from DWI is quite intentional, and they really are hoping that anyone silly enough to order from them is daft enough not to check that they have received what they paid for.
Although the page is for Defy+ (mb526) and lists the specs etc for it, the order process is such that when you add the phone from that page you will be ordering the base defy model(mb525) yet your cart will tell you you have ordered the mb526 that you thought you were getting anyway.
This discrepancy was pointed out to them last week and they have chosen not to correct it, which clearly demonstrates that it's quite intentional. Someone else has mentioned this on their facebook page, so I'm clearly not the only person who has been affected by this.
They've now decided to give me the run-around with regard to refunding, so it may take a while.
JB have it for $299 prepaid. Not sure if it's locked
http://www.jbhifi.com.au/phones/motorola/defy-prepaid-sku-72…Although not mentioned (and they deserve a slap on the wrist for that) this is almost certainly the Telstra phone.
should have looked at ebay
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Motorola-DEFY-Plus-MB526-2GB-Int-…here is one going for $280
DWI now have it adding the correct item to the cart, but I think I'll stay well away. Does anyone know of a non-ebay store than might be able to compete with this?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-Motorola-Defy-Plus-Defy-MB526…
Thanks.
DWI now have it adding the correct item to the cart,
No Bruce, they don't. They still haven't changed a thing, so although your cart tells you that you've ordered the mb526, you are still going to be sent the mb525 that is in the box on the item page.
They've had my returned phone for a week and a half now, and still no sign of a refund. Their last promise was that it would be refunded by close of business last Friday. I'm not sure how these people manage to avoid having bad reviews plastered all over the net - they're so DODGY!
Does anyone know of a non-ebay store than might be able to compete with this?
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-Motorola-Defy-Plus-Defy-MB526…
I found a couple of online sellers who openly state that their products are grey imports, and have it at a significantly lower price, but their online reviews are patchy at best, so probably best to err on the side of caution.
We've had a couple of failed attempts at purchasing an unlock code (at least the second one was never going to work, so we didn't lose a 'life' on that one. If someone does have success with one we'd love to hear about it please. We have a couple of months before Hubby's telstra contract expires, so no immediate hurry to get it unlocked.
FWIW, DWI never did bother to refund. I had to lodge and escalate a paypal dispute to get a refund, even though I have to wait a week or so for that to take effect. After horror stories I've read regarding making a paypal claim I was a bit worried, but it was very simply and hassle-free.
Another unlocking service has just notified us that they're unable to provide an unlock code
We have been unable to obtain an unlock code for your phone using the imei number supplied. Although this model is generally un-lockable, there are instances where codes cannot be generated. This is due to unique phone variables and cannot be predicted in our preliminary report.
As an apology for this, we would like to offer you a full refund and a free unlock code for your phone as soon as one becomes available on our database. Alternatively you can use this for a different phone.Next option I guess I will look into is whether we can do a me2u transfer on Telstra to the tune of $100 to pay for the unlock code, and use the $30 starter packs purchased for $10 - it would cost $40 worth of starter packs, but is still significantly less than the $100 they're asking.
This is really bad news, thank you for the update. I think I'll stick to imported unlocked phones.
Yeah, I thought you might want to know about this issue, Bruce. The difficulty in buying one unlocked is knowing a reputable and honest retailer to buy it from.
People's past possitive experience with a different product obviously means nothing if the seller is basically a scumbag.
What I find amazing is that I TRIED to research DWI before buying from them, and the google searches brought up nothing that suggested we should be wary of them. Doing a search now though finds plenty of posts in forums telling of bad experiences.
Still looking for a successful unlock code on the Telstra version please if anyone has any success, without having to fork out an extra $100 to telstra.
Have you managed to unlock it? I'm looking at getting a Defy+ from JB (as I have some gift cards), but it's locked to Telstra.
This is the only reference to a telstra one I can find:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1826843
—> http://www.mobifreedom.net/unlocking/unlock-codes/how-to-unl…17GBP
I solved this problem by getting mine from the internet. If you want it to work with telstra any ebay/hk store should do. If you want it to work with optus you should import from the UK (I used clove). If you want it to work on all vodaphone towers…. you can't.
Note that if you geet the local telstra one, unlock it and run it on optus you will not be able to use 900 3G towers, which are becoming more common (and are the only 3G option in rural areas.
You're absolutely right Bruce - the Telstra one that hubby ended up getting unlocked via them, is currently being used on Woolies Mobile (optus) and doesn't really do a very good job of it - we're regional, and the internet reception is a bit (lot)patchy . He still loves the phone, just can't always use it. lol
http://www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au/store/product.asp?idProd…
$324 Unlocked plus postage, their stock comes from overseas but they provide tracking order