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1. What is Tourfone? Tourfone LLC, founded in 2000 in California, USA. has head offices in the USA, and
local offices in Japan and China. By partnering with mobile communication carriers in many countries, Tourfone LLC
provides class 2 mobile communication service with local carriers in many countries, such as
USA, Japan, China, Korea, India, UK, Germany, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong etc.
In addition to the business to business services, Tourfone website enables individual travelers to reserve mobile phones
for their great China region and Japan trip on the Internet. Tourfone
delivers mobile phones or SIM to business hotels in all major cities throughout mainland China and Japan.
2. Why should I use Tourfone?
3. Are Tourfone's prices lower than a hotel phone? And why? Yes, calls made using Tourfone's mobile phones cost much less than those made using hotel phones, pay phones and even residential phones. In fact, calls made from a Tourfone phone can save you up to 65% on international calls in comparison with most hotel phones. Tourfone employs a patented e-commerce business model and the most advanced high quality Internet telephoning technology to provide its long distance service, so Tourfone customers only pay inexpensive IP call charges. Hotels use regular phone lines, and their guests must pay regular China IDD calling fees plus hotel surcharges.
4. How much will I be charged? When you order Tourfone service on the internet or by phone, you must pay for your order in advance with your credit card. Tourfone's service charge is calculated as the sum of P & H fee, phone rental fee, delivery fee and prepaid calling charge.
5. What kind of mobile phone will I get from Tourfone? All phones provided by Tourfone have good sound quality, long battery time. Below is some of our phones NOKIA3315 (standard), (Click on the picture to see specifications). These phones are light weight with a good battery life. Please click the name under picture to find the User manuals for online dialing instructions. Rental fee for our standard phone is $1/day, accident insurance is $1/day and the replacement cost is $200.
For those who want to have low rental cost, we offer the Ericsson A2618. The rental cost is $0.5/day, the accident insurance is $0.5/day and the replacement cost is $100. Please contact us via E-mail, if you are interested to rent a it.
6. Can I use the Short Message Service? Yes, we offer the SMS. Set up fee is $5.00 each line. Sending one message will costs $0.50, while receiving is free. You can also order weekly unlimited pacakge for $10/week or monthly unlimited package for $20/month. Please contact us at via E-mail If you would like to use the short message service.
7. How do I order? You can order our service on Internet or by fax/phone. Ordering on Internet is the easiest, and it won't take you more than 10 minutes to complete. Following is the procedure:
Alternatively, you can use fax (Download
Application Form) or telephone to order Tourfone service.
The alternative method is recommended for group orders with
one credit card for your convenience. To ensure timely delievery,
reservation must be made in advance at least one business day
for Beijng city downtown area and 3 business days for other
cities. For urgent requests, please contact Tourfone Beijing/Tokyo
office (phone number listed below).
8. Where can I pick up/drop off my phone and its costs? You can pick-up/return our phone in almost any city within mainland China such as Beijing (Peking), Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Kunming, Xian, Dalian, Shengyang, Nanjing, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Hohhot, Jilin, Harbin, Changchun, Guilin, Shenzhen, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Jingdezhen, Nanchang, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan,Shandong, Gansu, Wulumuqi, Tibet. The most convenient location to pickup/return your reserved rental phone is at the hotel which you will stay. After we receive your order, we will arrange to deliver your phone to the concierge of your hotel, who will have it ready for you when you check in. You can return your phone to the concierge when you check out or upon completion of phone use, and Tourfone will pick it up at the hotel. You are advised to make your reservation with delivery request at least three business days in advance of the requested delivery time (one business day if your hotel is in Beijing). Standard delivery costs are listed below.
* There is an additional $25 special delivery charge if you request your phone be expressly delivered in less than 3 business days (1 business day for Beijing) or to small cities which has no commercial air service, and it may take more time to complete the delivery process.
9. Can you ship to my home or office in the United States? Yes, we can ship phones to your home or office in the States provided you faxed you application with your home/office address. In this case, you must provide us with at least 3 business days to insure that you a timely delivery. The rental start date is the date you want the phone to be delivered, and the rental ending date is the date the phone is returned to us. The outgoing shipping charge varies with the FedEx schedule and will be added to your bill. The process of returning the phones is your own responsibility. In addition to shipping charges, we also charge a 5 dollar extra handling fee for each phone shipped to a US address. Failing to return the phone on time will cost you a penalty of $50 or more.
10. Can I use my phone in Hong Kong or other southeast Asia countries? Yes, we can provide roaming service in Hong Kong and most southeast countries if you inform us in advance. Both outgoing and receiving calls will be charged a flat fee of $3.00/min. However, you must pick up/drop off your phone at a location within mainland China.
11. Must I return the phone on time at predetermined place? Your rental phone should be returned on time at your predetermined place. You must call us at least 48 hours in advance if you can not return the phone on time (even you will return it earlier) or have to change your return location. A penalty of up to $50 will be imposed to your account as we must rearrange our express pickup/delivery, and reassign another phone to the next user who reserved the phone you have been using. Extending rental time or change of return location will cost 10 dollar service fee in addition to extra rental and shipping fees. If we did not receive your phone on time and did not get your call, we will assume the phone has been lost and will turn off the phone within 24 hours. You may return your phone to our US office, but you will be responsible to the transportation fee, a 50 dollar processing fee and import tax for shipping phones back to China. Customers who may not be able to return the phone on time should reserve extra days to allow for the possible delay in returning the phone.
12. What do I do if my phone is not working or gets stolen? During office hours, we will replace your damaged or stolen phone within 60 minutes if you are in the downtown Beijing area or within 90 minutes if you are in the greater Beijing area (please allow 30 minutes for possible traffic delays). This express service will be free of charge if the problem is a defective phone. But if the phone has been broken accidentally or as the result of mishandling, we will assess a $10 service charge plus standard round trip delivery fee to your account in addition to the actual cost of repair charged by the phone manufacturer. If your phone is stolen, you must immediately report it to China Mobile at 1860 (Operators speak Chinese and English). Then you should immediately call our customer service department at 010-8113-0373 to report the incident. You will not be responsible for calls made after China Mobile is informed. However, you will be financially fully responsible for the theft or damage of your rental phone. The cost of replacing a phone set, which varies with the different types of phones, starts from $100. In addition, $100 will be charged for freezing and replacing the lost mobile phone number, and a $50 paper work processing fee also applies. The maximum repair cost for a phone is $100, and the replacement cost for a battery or battery charger is $50. The cost of replacing the soft case is $10. However, additional $60 paper work processing and international shipping fee will be added to above cost if you pickup/return our phone outside mainland China.
13. Is there accident insurance available for my rental phone? You can purchase phone accident insurance. Belowing table is the standard cost of the insurance. With this insurance, you will not be liable for the cost of repairing the phone, and the replacement cost will be 50% less if the phone is stolen or damaged beyond repair. For all other cases, your liability will be 50% less from standard charge.
14. Can I cancel or change my order, and is there a penalty charge? Our computer system currently does not allow for changes to existing orders. However, you can always log onto our system to view or cancel your order. Cancellation results in a penalty charge, which covers the cost of issuing a credit card refund as well as the penalty charge Tourfone must pay to phone service providers. Please understand that it may take up to 6 weeks for refund credit to appear on your credit card statement. Cancellation penalty charge table: In addition, you are also liable for a round trip shipping fee
if your phone has already been shipped out to the schedule pickup location when
we received your cancellation. Customers are advised to order Tourfone
service only when their travel plans have been finalized.
15. How can I get a receipt for Tourfone service I ordered?
16. What do I do in an emergency? When you pick up your phone, we will provide a list of phone
numbers including the police, the nearest hospital and your
embassy, which can be used in an emergency. You can also call
us at 010-8113-0373(Eng)/8113-0272(Jap), and we will arrange
emergency services for you, alerting a hospital and/or the police
to help you. We will always do our best to help you in any way
we can.
17. How to dial your rental phone from the US Simply dial 011-86 + your rental phone number. For instance, if your phone number is 13910200041, you should dial 011-86-13910200041.
18. What is difference between Tourfone and other rental phone companies? a. Other rental phone companies cost 5 times more in both phone rental fee and calling fee. b. Other rental phone companies uses US phone numbers, so your Chinese business partners must make very expensive international calls to reach you even you are in China. Tourfone uses China phone numbers so you can be easily reached by a local call. c. Tourfone's service is provided by China Mobile, the largest
mobile d. Advanced features provided only by China Mobile such as voice
mail, e. Tourfone can offer Internet access with advanced PDA phones which is not available from other companies. f. Tourfone's customers have local support from China Mobile and emergency support and over-the-phone translation support from Tourfone, which are not available from other companies. g. Tourfone offers detailed calling list to customers which are
not
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