Life on the Spot! Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar

What happened to the Vodafone "1st 1000" customers? It seems that we are left in the dark after paying 210QR for the program and helping them test out their services. We are left scratching our heads trying to find out what's going to happen to our AUTOPAY and the credits we got . Remember that we pay 70QR monthly for a credit of 700QR but with all the issues of Vodafone coverage in Qatar and not even being able to use it in my office, that 700QR credit is as close to useless.

 

 When I decided to apply for the Vodafone 1st 1000, my initial thoughts were it was cool to be one of the first Vodafone users in Qatar. Alongside with that, I do get 700QR worth of calls, expecting that services were at least 80% of what Qtel has to offer in terms of coverage and stability. Also, as one of the 1st 1000, I expected that we were supposed to be "special" in one way or another. With regards to Coverage and stability, I was proven wrong the 2nd day I  used Vodafone. I'm sure this was also true for the other 999 users. But since it was in BETA/testing phase, I just shrugged it off and tried to report whatever I can to help Vodafone out in terms of telling them where I get good signals and were I don't get any at all so that they could improve coverage. Apart from the survey that we got, or the here and there posts and reply from the Vodafone 1st 1000 Blog Admin, I didn't feel that Vodafone give the 1st 1000 feel anything special.

So to summarize the experience to being the first 1000:

1. Paid 70QR for 700QR Credit.
2. 700QR credit for 1st month is close to useless as No coverage, no stability, dropped calls.
3. Paid 70Qr again. Credit now goes to 1400QR. Used 200QR to call when there is service.
4. Got survey from Vodafone.
5. Paid another 70QR. Doesn't really care how much credit I have now. I'm sure I have a lot!
6. Scratching head on what to do with credit.

I actually don't know how the 1st 1000 customers are going to be different from the other would-be clients of Vodafone. At this point in time, I still don't feel "cooler" than those who are still using QTEL. I still don't feel special nor do I feel any different from anybody else. Wasn't this supposed to be the goal of Vodafone for the 1st 1000? Hopefully, if I scratch my head a bit more, somebody from Vodafone might realize that the 1st 1000 still exist and might do something drastic and make the 1st 1000 users believe that Vodafone is going to be better in service and products. Until then, we can only scratch our heads...