Personal thieves!

Fettucini

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Hi does anyone know if as a foreigner you can get a monthly contract with a mobile phone, or do you need a dni?
I'm really getting sick of being ripped off by Personal pay as you go, their prices are offensively high and it's costing a fortune.
 
hi
don't think you need a dni
but I'd think about changing networks. I've been on movistar pay as you go for a year and never had a problem.
 
Personal asked me for a DNI before they would give me a phone but I've been told (no personal information) that not all companies do that.

I am getting excited because we are about to have a REAL phone!

;)~
 
When you go "Factura" you're getting into a contract and they want to make sure you are a resident. Even if you own your own unlocked phones.

With Personal (back in 2007) not only they wanted our DNI, they wanted to make sure we had 12 months of remaning active residency the day we signed the contract. We came back a later date and they didn't check for the 12 months, but did take our DNI info and photocopies.

This year we dropped Personal and went shopping with Claro and Movistar. Both required DNI and ALSO required us to have a credit record (Equifax Argentina, aka "Veraz"). If you don't have a Veraz report they can decline to sign you up. They check your credit report and make photocopies of the DNI when singin up. We ended up going with Claro (big, BIG mistake, but that's a different story). Depending on the services you contract and the type of phone you have/get, they may also require you to have a local bank account and sign up for direct debit as well (which you cannot disable until the contract is over).

The rates under a contract are better than pay as you go rates. You can also do international plans more easily and data plans. The biggest problem we had with Personal was that if you went over the limit specified in your contract (by even a few cents) they will shut off your line until the next cycle kicked in (could be days or weeks), or until you went and paid in person at their office. A simple international SMS could put you over the limit, even if you had $0 usage in calls. We had to go to the Personal office many times to pay overages of less a couple of pesos to unlock the line. As far as Claro, they are better in this regard but we have bigger issues with them now.

In summary, I would not recommend a contract UNLESS you definately need a service that pre-paid does not offer, or you can limit your calls and usage strickly to their plan terms. Otherwise you might get into overages and locked lines which can be a pain to deal with. Believe me, its worth paying the higher pre-paid calling fees than wasting hours dealing with the problems of a contract and the incompetent customer service these local cell phone companies have.

These were our experiences and yours might be differen depending when/where you inquire and signup. Good luck. ;)
 
Hey, sounds like a hassle, and have had a fair share of hassles recently in Buenos Aires and getting sick of waiting for hours for incompetent services/ systems so think will stick with pay as you go.
 
Just to let you know, I had a contract with personal and they billed up $2500 pesos worth of charges on my line. They said it was due to SMS charges. When I asked for details, I had to actually pay $10 just to get a detailed bill and when it arrived, it shows an SMS message sent every 3 seconds for a period of a week. I tried to reason with these people, explaining it would be impossible for me to send so many SMS messages, but there is no intelligent life at these companies.

I have a pay as you go phone now with Movistar and I won't ever go back to a contract. Its not worth the trouble.
 
I have no DNI, but I do have a contract with Movistar and I do have a bank account in Argentina. There is NO system. You will ask many people and will get many different answers. it also depends on the bank/phone provider, day of the week, weather, if the employee had good sex the night before and many other factors. Go out there and try for yourself!
 
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I was wondering if my pay-as-you-go Personal chip will still work (haven't used it since march 2008) when I go back to BA next week...?
 
ReemsterCARP said:
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I was wondering if my pay-as-you-go Personal chip will still work (haven't used it since march 2008) when I go back to BA next week...?

It is highly unlikely, personal say that if you have not put credit on your phone for eight months they will cut you off, even if you were still using it on old credit.

I say unlikely because as you know here what they say and what happens are often entirely at odds. I leave my phone with a friend when I am away just to keep my number.
 
el_expatriado said:
Just to let you know, I had a contract with personal and they billed up $2500 pesos worth of charges on my line. They said it was due to SMS charges. When I asked for details, I had to actually pay $10 just to get a detailed bill and when it arrived, it shows an SMS message sent every 3 seconds for a period of a week. I tried to reason with these people, explaining it would be impossible for me to send so many SMS messages, but there is no intelligent life at these companies.

I have a pay as you go phone now with Movistar and I won't ever go back to a contract. Its not worth the trouble.

el_expatriado, Our problem with Claro (under contract) is very similar. They have overcharged us to the tune of $1400 pesos for data services that we have not used. We have gotten the details report directly from them that proves their billing is wrong, but they insist is ok, and told us to go away and fight it via the local consumer protection agency. There's a lot more to this, many visits and countless wasted hours at the Claro office.

Anyways, I have never experienced such bad treatment from any company as that of the local cell phone companies (Personal & Claro) towards any of their contract clients. They are truly awful and nasty. We haven't done a contract with Movistar, but can't image they would be any better in regards to customer service, given the well known nickname some locals give it; "vomistar".

To those considering contracts; better stick to pre-paid if you can help it. ;) Good luck.
 
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