Buy Original.

The other day at the office, a colleague of mine showed me a piece of paper which he thought would interest me. It was a price list of all the latest phones from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Motorola. The prices listed were all about 40-50% cheaper than the prices you would find in the market here! I was amazed! Unbelievable almost!

Of course I asked him where the phones were from. He told me it was "better not to ask"; in other words, these were black market units. No trace of source of origin and no warranties. NO WONDER they were selling at dirt cheap prices! (Note: There was a ironical spelling typo error on the list which made us laugh too. Instead of Sony Ericsson, it was spelt as "Sonny Ericsson". A give away? Another reason why they are so cheap maybe??)

It made me think though. Would people in Brunei really consider buying these phones knowing that there was no warranty? Would the dirt-cheap prices be enough to sway them away from thinking logically on parting with their hard earned cash?

The sad and honest truth is.... there ARE people here who would. Locally, look at all the "unoriginal" things you can buy just by walking around town, whether its in Bandar, Kiulap, Gadong... the Mall... anywhere. You can get pretty much anything you want and that includes mobile phones too. How sad.

It is from this list my colleague showed me, that I decided to write a post to STRESS how important it is to buy ORIGINAL mobile phones and accessories. Its SO vital for people to understand this one principle; If you expect your tiny "investment" to last you for a long period of time, you HAVE to buy originals. No doubt about it.

For me personally, 99% of the mobiles I have been using over the past few years have all come from one source. (And I'm talking ALOT of mobiles). This company has been around for many many years, and its definitely not an unfamiliar name to you, if you're from Brunei. That's right, INCOMM in Gadong. Before any of you start thinking I'm beginning to be biased in my views here, let me tell you a story.....

The year is 1999. My first Nokia, if you read here, was the iconic Nokia 3210. Back then, as I had just graduated and was temporarily unemployed, and obviously not being able to afford it for myself, my folks kindly bought me the set (replacing my Sony CMD Z1 you see in the picture. Yes, its that ancient). They bought it from a rather famous mobile shop in Seria (back then)(And I won't mention which one. No flaming here). After being so thrilled with finally owning this super cool Nokia, after two weeks, it suddenly DIED on me. Due to no fault of my own! I never dropped it at all and certainly never spilled water on it too. Disappointed as I was, I brought it back to one of their branches here in Bandar for a replacement. Apparently, it was the battery charger AND the motherboard of the 3210 that was faulty. To make matters worse, they also REFUSED to replace my 3210, but rather tried repairing it at their "service centre" (also in the shop), and on top of that, they couldn't guarantee me that my 3210 would work after that, even though it was under warranty!!! To cut a long story short, since my folks knew the boss of the company, he reluctantly instructed his staff to give me a new set.

What an impression it gave me, as you can imagine. To this day, I have vehemently boycotted this company (still around today) and have never ever supported their business in any way since. I've even directed many a friend away from them too.

Soon I started my first job, and after a few months, as I could (then) afford to buy any phone I wanted (the madness begins?), I knew I wanted the classic Nokia 8210. With the bad experience I had earlier, I started looking around, and eventually decided to buy it from Incomm. Afterall, they were (and still are!) genuine Nokia distributors in Brunei. (And there began my fiercely loyal affiliations with them). Nothing compared to their guarantee that ALL their products / accessories were genuine and that their service technicians are trained by Nokia too. Needless to say, I encountered no problems with my 8210 at all, and sure there were a couple of times my subsequent mobiles needed to get repaired, but their service has always been a benchmark for me. Unbeatable.

So you see, even today, when I buy a mobile, for me, the first place I would look to is Incomm. Sure their prices may be found to be "slightly" higher as compared to the competition, but you can definitely rest assured that your mobile, which you spent your hard earned cash on, is o-r-i-g-i-n-a-l. Straight from the manufacturer. And if something were to go wrong, you can count on them honouring the warranty too. Of course, this doesn't apply only to Nokia. They are also the official distributors of Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung. I heard, other brands will be coming soon too. I do not aim to sound biased here, but I've been buying mobiles long enough to know where the reliable sources are. Take my word for it.

So, all you mobile phone lovers.... be wise out there, make sure your mobiles are the real deal, make sure your batteries are the real deal, make sure your chargers / accessories are the real deal too. Don't fall prey to other shops, like I did many years ago just because prices are better, and certainly, don't fall prey to lists of mobiles selling "Sonny Ericsson's" either. Cheaper doesn't always mean better, remember that. And, do your research.