Softbank Promotions

Since I got my first phone in Japan, it has been under Softbank and if you’ve noticed, very early in this blog, I wrote about the hidden costs that is usually not informed upfront before purchase.

Recently, after having finally given up on my pre-paid card and gotten a smartphone, I regularly receive promotional mails from them. (They really are junk mails to me, but somehow the Japanese people I spoke with insisted mails from Softbank cannot be classified under “junk”). Random talk aside, one of the promotional mails I’ve been receiving is a lucky draw which you can never lose. But what you win is usually お父さん (Otosan i.e. the dog) wallpaper and today, for the first time I noticed that there’s this promotion where you get to watch movies at only 1200 yen (the usual price is 1800 yen) and other deals for travelling. All you had to do is to download the application and register.

I was about to download the application when I read the review and learnt that you had to pay 315 yen per month after registration. So, nope, I didn’t download it.

I also receive iPad promotions which offers the iPad services at 0 yen/month for the first 2 years. I was reading further into the fine prints when I learnt that you have to pay a little over 400 yen/month for the Wi-Fi hotspot service and that purchase of iPad2 is not applicable.

The point is, if you are going to sign up for something which looks too good to be true, search the fine print or read up reviews before you start paying for things you don’t know you are paying for.

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