Getting an iPhone: T-Mobile even worse than Mobistar?

After being re-united with my camera Carola and I drove to Stuttgart to find her an iPhone. T-Mobile has several different contract options, potentially making the phone quite affordable.

Carola definitely wanted to get a white iPhone...

Leo: Take black! The white one looks weird!

... was insisting on the new 3GS...

Leo: The former 3G is just 1 Euro!

... and wanted to go for the Complete M contract.

Leo: Take Complete S - I think M is
not right for you!

All my solid advice was smashed to pieces, by the way.
Carola loves the white version, she did not want to have "old technology" (gee! - sounds as if I am talking to Alex...) and felt that the Complete M contract was the better choice.

Deutsche Telekom, and thus T-Mobile, does not have a great reputation (nor does any telecommunications company in the world, I guess), but with the experience of the recent ridiculous performance of Mobistar still in my bones, I felt confident T-Mobile would do better.

But did they?!

Act 1: Telekom Shop, Königsstrasse 35
We entered the largest Telekom shop in Stuttgart's shopping area and found it hopelessly understaffed with two clerks working down two queues of 10 to 15 customers.
We did not line up right away but first checked through non-iPhone options.

But there are really none.
The cheaper phones from Sony, Nokia and so on look like shit. And the more expensive ones from Sony, Nokia and so on also look like shit (maybe less smelly), cost the same as an iPhone and do not even come close to its functionality.

After commenting this loud and clear, so that everyone in the shop could benefit from my wisdom, I was discussing with Carola the best choice of contract again. She had been approached only a month ago by a T-Mobile call center who had recommended to change her current tariff to a different one. Something felt wrong about that, but based on this change she wanted to go for the Complete M when getting an iPhone.

We also wanted to see whether there could be a benefit by eliminating her landline and just keeping her broadband, thus saving some money on a service she does not use much.

When we lined up, we moved forward surprisingly quick, because many people who came to the shop in pairs had manned both lines to optimize their waiting time. This played in our hands and one or two persons in front of us moved to the other line eventually and soon it was our turn.
Unfortunately, the T-Mobile assistant belonged to a breed of slow moving, thinking and talking shop dwellers, which made the discussion a rather painful one.
I professionally kicked off the discussion to set the tone...

Leo: This lovely young lady would like
to get a white iPhone with the most suiting
contract!

Each time we had said our bit it seemed to take a while for the clerk to process the request. The slow reaction time was a bit unsettling.

Leo: Erg... do-you-HAVE-white-iPhone-?
Sloth: ... hm....... I need... to check... in storage.
Leo: Can't you see this on your computer?
Sloth: ...
Leo: ?
Sloth: No.

Right.
How could you?
Anyway, so I was asking whether he could see Carola's call overview from the last months to give a recommendation for the right contract. But he could not. He could also not give any advice on her question regarding cancelling the landline at home.

Right.
How could you?
He still asked for her current data to find her profile in his database. This included her birthday. She told him. And he suddenly looked at her all bug-eyed.

Leo (with rolling eyes): Doesn't look like it, hm?
Sloth: Well... Now... Really... definitely not.
I would have thought...
Carola: ?
Sloth: Well... clearly below... - but the birthyear
means that...(seemlingly counting in his head)

Time passed.

Leo: Wow! You are a stud in mental arithmetic,
aren't you?!
(winking at 50-ish lady next in line) I'm sure he
will say the same to you.

Though the service left much to be desired, Carola had anyhow made up her mind and was ready to get an iPhone. So the guy left his desk and casually strolled to storage. While he was gone (i.e. looooooong gone) the lady behind us made a comment about this being worse than having to wait for one's turn at the orthopedist - a fitting observation, given his lame walk.

Finally he came back with a white iPhone box (gee... this story starts to read as tedious as standing there).

Carola was delighted but was asking to see the phone.
Everything checked out fine until she saw something that I had missed.

Carola: Why does the box say "3G" and not "3GS"?

Now, that's a good one!
The guy had picked an old iPhone 3G, but white and with 16 gig (i.e. a model which is not on official sale anymore), and was about to sell it for the price of a 3GS!
Naturally he was confused and it took a while for him to grasp every detail, but then offered this model for 1 Euro instead. And this was actually a good offer: officially, the 3G is only on sale as 8 gig version in black for 1 Euro.

Carola was insisting on the new model, however, and so we left the shop after 30 painful, never ending minutes with the T-Mobile sloth. Empty-handed.


Act 2: Telekom Shop, Schulstrasse 9
Things went much faster at the shop in Schulstrasse 9.

Carola: Do you have the white iPhone with 16 gig?
Clerk (through squinted eyes): No.

And off we went.


Act 3: Telekom Shop, Königsstrasse 2
We did not expect much when we entered this shop. And were very positively surprised.
A young lady who did not make a very energetic impression told us...

... after checking in her computer that there were no white 16 gig iPhones in all of Stuttgart (and she apologized that she could not check outside Stuttgart).

... that she unfortunately could not order the phone because the waiting lists are too long.

... after checking Carola's phone bills from the last months that the changed tariff which had been recommended by the T-Mobile call center did not make sense.

... that cancelling the landline would only result in a 5 Euro saving (so potentially not really worth it).

... that Carola could change her current DSL from 3 MBit to 16 MBit for the same monthly cost. This package would also include TV, i.e. giving the opportunity to cancel her current cabel contract.

... that using this TV option would require a special receiver which costs 50 Euro, but that she would credit these 50 Euro directly back to Carola.

This was the first proper help I have witnessed from a T-Mobile employee in a long time and I told her so.

Carola made the suggested changes to her DSL contract and though we did not get an iPhone, we left the shop with much higher spirits than when we entered it.


Act 4: Telekom Shop, Porschestrasse 4 (Ludwigsburg)
Our final Telekom shop was the one close the Breuningerland mall in Ludwigsburg. But they did not have the white 16 gig iPhone either. The one stunning thing was, however, that those guys confirmed they could order the iPhone for Carola and that they thought it should be there by the end of next week...


Gosh!
Four shops and four very different experiences, information and service level. When I had been in the first shop I had assured people in the line who complained about Telekom that it would be much worse in Belgium.

I am not so sure anymore...