Five reasons why I switched to Safaricom PostPay
The other day I was surfing through Twitter, keeping up with the hard-tackling KOT and participating in polls where you retweet or like to settle a certain comparison battle “once and for all”, when I saw a post about Safaricom’s new PostPay product.
PostPay is something I have been admiring for a while because of a seasoned colleague in the office who has been on it. By “seasoned” I mean he has been in the company long enough to predict by July whether there will be a Christmas bonus that year; to tell whether the next staff meeting will be messy, noisy and with consequences, and to read all group emails between the lines to detect corporate anger where nobody else sees it.
The guy always seems to have airtime to make calls and we somehow envy him. I mean, there are those days of the month when getting even a Sh20 scratch card is a major financial decision.
I was considering joining PostPay but every time he explained its modalities, it looked a tad complex and I kept procrastinating.
And so when Safaricom announced the new PostPay product, I had more than enough interest in examining its features.
Guess what? I am now a PostPay customer, the group that spends now and pays later.
Cool life, huh? There are five reasons why I made the switch.
1. The simplicity
Tell you what? Safaricom has simplified the PostPay product so much that it is now a no-brainer. My colleague says that in the days when he signed up for it, a customer had to physically present himself or herself to a Safaricom care centre to register. There was paperwork to be filled, akin to opening a bank account.
With this one, there is no need to visit any customer care centre. Your phone is enough, and you either use *544# or the Safaricom app to opt in.
After keying in your email address and the amount you want to spend (starting from Sh1,000 a month), you confirm that you agree with the terms and conditions then you are good to go.
Of course I selected the Sh1,000 band that got me 400 minutes talk-time, 5GB of data and unlimited SMSs. This is way improved, compared to the 100SMSs and 100 MBs of data in the old PostPay package.
Should I need more, I also know that there are bundles for Sh2,000 a month, Sh3,000 a month, Sh5,000 a month and Sh10,000. Simple stuff. I also know that I can opt out any time.
2. I make lots of calls
Having a dairy farm in the boondocks plus a vegetable plantation requires a lot of talking to a lot of people on a daily basis. Never mind that I am also in a couple of self-help groups where calling people and texting them over one thing or the other is the order of the day.
The PostPay bundle is just what the doctor ordered because 400 minutes is a great deal. Not to mention the SMSs available and the data. Let’s just say I am now better placed to communicate with those who run my farm at home and the chama members I deal with.
3. Automatic renewals
Monthly bills are better managed when they are definite and predictable.
On Safaricom PostPay, on every 1st day of the month, the bundle is renewed automatically. That means my calling costs are incorporated into my regular cycle of expenditure and I like things that way. The details I read said the bill is sent via email every 3rd of the month, and I am looking forward to my first one this April.
4. You use your stuff to the end
The revamped PostPay product introduces expenditure bands and carries forward any unused resources. That means that if there is a month when my throat is down for maintenance and I don’t utilise my 400 minutes with my current bundle, I can always make up for it in the coming months, and my friends in the US should brace themselves for lengthy, chatty, pesky calls.
By the way, did you know that the minutes provided include calls to the US, Canada, India and China?
5. The prestige
Maybe it’s just me, but I think being on PostPay brings some element of prestige.
“I can’t sambazia you airtime because I’m on PostPay and PostPay doesn’t allow that.” That is a line I’ll be using a lot in the coming days.
I also reckon it will bring some element of financial discipline, don’t you think?
I will also not be envious of my colleague for being able to make calls even when the month is on code red. I can also do the same now.
Finally, this is the page I visited and made an instant decision to join PostPay.
Be sure to read through and I’m sure you’ll be wiser in the end.
