I thought I was one of the lucky ones, as I was one of the first few among the batch of Singaporean JETs to get my keitai...
So.. it was a mirage. I was informed last week via a call, that Softbank has to cancel my account, and I need to re-register as the system is unable to capture my profile. I found it strange, as Softbank has already collected payment for my first month of usage. If you are unable to capture my details, how can I use, and how can you collect payment, right?
Nevertheless, I went to the shop during a weekday after work. But I had to make a trip down again on a weekend as the staff told me that it will take more than an hour, and my last bus is one hour later.
It's good he advised me to come on a weekend because, it actually took 4 hours to get my cancellation and re-registration done. And I had to visit the shop in half-hour intervals to check on the process. >.<
And the "best" part? I cannot register as I do not have a credit card, at least not a Japanese credit card. And I don't want to try using my Singaporean credit card. Can you imagine the exchange charges >.< The only option is to get a prepaid card.
It's really troublesome... at least to me. Here's why:
1. Your card is registered for 60 days. You need to recharge it (I think) within the 60 days, otherwise it becomes invalid.
2. You can use for the next 360 days, after that you need to purchase a new card or something.
This whole affair is pretty complicated. They gave me a booklet which explains the prepaid card service. It has English explanations, but when I ask the staff about the prepaid card number etc, do I need to register etc, they told me, I just need to recharge the card within first 60 days, and after 360 days, you have to get a new card, hence a new number.
Mmm... which does not really coincide with what the book says. Or maybe I didn't get him correctly since he was speaking in Japanese (in keigo -_-") and I am not that advanced yet.
And what complicates things further is that, as I got my White Plan YahooBB account with my keitai, as a package, so now that my keitai line is cancelled, and that I am only a prepaid card buyer, I am not considered a Softbank customer, and hence my current internet service will be cancelled.
Seriously, my internet service is going to go any minute, since my line is already cut. And I have to make yet another trip down to the shop after 2 weeks, to re-sign up for my account.
And since I am not a Softbank subscriber, I have to become one, right, to sign up or rather enjoy the campaign discount? So I need to buy a white elephant service. It's a "send your picture to an electronic photo frame" service, which costs 1000yen per month! And that will be on top of my internet service.
And, what's worse... it's not helping that they kept urging me to bring along someone who knows Japanese (aka a Japanese, I think). I really don't want to bother my colleagues on their rest days- weekends. :(
Urgh.
P.S: I wonder where's the staff who signed up my earlier contract. For the past 2 visits, she's not around. Has she been transferred? She would know my case better, since she handled it from the start. :(
