Sakura Mobile
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SAKURA: The Fawlty Towers of Mobile Phone Plans
I foolishly chose to have 3 months long term plan with Sakura as an mature age individual travelling with my mother in Japan for 6 weeks thought best to have the means of FaceTiming her if by chance we got separated along with being able to make actual phone calls if required such as calling hotels, emergency etc. However, it simply didn't work properly from the beginning. It however, as long as I was able to access free wifi network from somewhere like the hotel or Starbucks Cafe, it allowed phone calls to be dialled and be received but that was it. Nothing else. No data/wifi coverage whatsoever. NONE! Tried calling Sakura several times but to no avail. They simply DO NOT RESPOND. They are not too good at responding to emails either. I shouldn't be so surprised, as later learned that there is only one office in all of Japan and that's in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Too bad if you're in Nagasaki without any coverage. It was only when in Nagano, nearly 2 weeks after arrival I was finally able to speak to someone. This only happened as was able to connect with the free wifi available at Starbucks. This turned out to be a useless exercise as only got emails with links that simply didn't work. Again try calling back there were no answers or responses to emails. NONE! Furthermore, given instructions that later turned out to be incorrect and to simply put it, 'Dangerous' to do so as would have affected the mobile phone's settings and software. This was later explained to me by what was then the beginning of our fourth week in Japan while visiting Hiroshima. I went into a NTT Docomo shop as knowing it was their network I am supposed to have access to. It was in the Hiroshima downtown district and there a most obliging young man was able to address the problrm with Sakura Sim Card Set-up process. It was not my IPhone that was the problem as inferred by a Sakura Represntative. It was the instructions provided. I showed the young man the other instructions I was given, he was surprised and shocked by what I was told to do. Anyway, it was NTT Docomo who rendered assistance, NOT Sakura. It is rather disconcerting when it is an employee of another company that was able to fix the problems created by Sakura Mobile. Furthermore, what topped this terrible experience off, Sakura sent an email informing me that they have decided to change the terms and conditions and transferred me to another mobile phone plan without prior knowledge nor without written or verbal consent from me. Anywhere else on this planet that would be considered as a fraudalent act. So after paying nearly AUD$200.00 for THREE MONTHS OF SERVICE all I got was barely TWO and HALF WEEKS of coverage. Also supposed to have been provided with a self-addressed envelope so I can send back the sim card to their office in Shinjuku, Tokyo as stipulated by their instructions as part of the process in termination of contract. Guess what! No such envelope was provided. Another expense I had to endure. Basically Sakura Mobile's approach to customer service is take the money then run leaving their customers in the lurch. This was clearly demonstrated as per my experience. Unethical to say the least. Simply not good enough.