Is RIM BlackBerry Leaving Nigeria?

It’s been almost 4 hours since I got back from Slot Limited Ikeja and I’m still pissed as hell. After braving the rain and muddy streets of Lagos, I was told the 32GB BlackBerry PlayBook which I wanted to buy had experienced a sudden price increase from N50,000 ($315) to N60,000 ($378) and to make matters worse it cost the same as the 64GB version which is currently not available.

I proceeded to buy just the BlackBerry Curve 9320 for my lil’ sister only to get yet another shocker.

Slot/BlackBerry warranty has been reduced to 1 month. Asin 1 freaking month.

Flabbergasted, I asked the sales lady why this was so and she couldn’t explain. All she could tell me was that this has been the M.O for over 5 months now.

I contemplated cancelling my order but just went ahead with it so as to get my lil sister off my back. Someone told me that this was Slot’s warranty and not BlackBerry’s warranty but as far as I know BlackBerry doesn’t have an official service center in Nigeria and all warranty is handled by the sales center.

While the likes of Samsung offers 24 months guarantee, Tecno offers 13 months guarantee and Nokia offers 12 months, BlackBerry has suddenly gone crazy on us and switched to 1 month warranty.

What could be the cause of this new development remains a mystery to me and makes me wonder if RIM doesn’t have faith in their BlackBerry phones.

What peace of mind would 1 month warranty offer someone who just splurged on one of those high end BlackBerry devices like the Porsche? This whole situation stinks IMO.

I thought Nigeria was one of the major emerging market for BlackBerry? What happened 5 months ago to turn things around? Is BlackBerry giving up the fight against marketers of fairly used BlackBerry phones (With just 1 month warranty on BlackBerry devices, one is better off going for a clean looking fairly used BlackBerry phone)?

These are the questions plaguing me right now and I wish I could get answers ASAP before I lose my faith in Research In Motion

UPDATE September 12, 2012 : I just got off the phone with a Slot Systems rep and she says, after the 1 month warranty lapses you are expected to foot the bill for any repairs on your BlackBerry device. I assume that includes factory faults as well.

Another authorized BlackBerry dealer says they only offer the BlackBerry 12 month warranty and what that means is that in the event your device develops a fault, it will be shipped back to BlackBerry for repairs. I couldn’t get more details with regards to the shipping thingy before the line went dead and wouldn’t connect again.

Part of me strongly believes he means shipped overseas for repairs and Lord knows how long that repair will take

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