Reliance Jio's entry changed the prospect of Indian telecom industry and the JioPhone launch sets a new benchmark in the mobile industry. The "essentially" free 4G VoLTE feature phone has its own perks, something other phones lack at the moment.
JioPhone certainly puts other OEMs in a tough spot by bringing their focus back to feature phones when the whole world is shifting towards smartphones. JioPhone is not an ordinary feature phone and strikes a perfect balance between feature and smartphone, making it more appealing to millions of feature phone users in India.
One of the biggest USP of JioPhone is that the phone is free, which attracts a Rs. 1,500 refundable deposit at the time of purchase. You'll get the security deposit back once you return the phone after three years. But it's not as simple as that.
Reliance Jio's terms and conditions had a lot to reveal about how the refund of a security deposit works and how customers must adhere to some rules. First, let's start with the refund process.
If a JioPhone user returns the phone after three years, the full Rs 1,500 will be refunded. Now that the deliveries of the phone have started, the company has shed more light on how the refund process works.
Mandatory recharges
As per the company's website, the user must recharge worth Rs 1,500 per year for a period of three years in order to be eligible for the refund. In case, the user fails to do so, the company can ask the phone to be returned.
"The JioPhone is available for continued use on the Recipient purchasing telecom recharge vouchers of an Authorized Carrier (presently Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited) from the Company or any of its authorized retailers for use in the JioPhone of a minimum value of Rs. 1,500/- per annum for a period of 3 years from the date of the first issue of the JioPhone," the company states in its T&C.
But that's not the end of it. Customers failing to make the said amount of recharges would be liable to pay an additional charge to the company. This totals to a minimum Rs. 4,500 towards recharges during the three-year period.
Penalty for returning JioPhone early
JioPhone owners cannot return the phone before three years. In an event of doing so, the company said it can penalize its customers.
Returning the phone within the first year of purchasing it, there will be a charge of Rs. 1,500 plus applicable GST or other taxes. Returning the feature phone after one year but before two years will attract a penalty of Rs. 1,000 plus taxes and finally returning the JioPhone before completing the 3 years will be charged Rs. 500 + taxes.
It is worth mentioning that users must return the phone after using it for 36 months and before 39 months.
While returning JioPhone after 3 years
If you manage to follow Jio's T&Cs by doing regular recharges and returning the phone after 36 months, then make sure that the JioPhone is in working condition. Normal wear and tear will be ignored.
But users must make sure that they do not attempt at Jailbreaking, rooting or reverse engineering the phone. The data on the JioPhone must be completely deleted and the SIM card must be removed from the phone before returning it.
Reliance Jio has received over six million pre-orders for JioPhone, and it will resume pre-booking for the handset soon. The company said that it has already started shipping the devices to customers.
