Young people who are lacking real cash are posturing with hired luxury phone models in order to ‘live the lifestyle’.
VND500,000-VND800,000 per day
Hung in Hanoi hired an iphone 5. He said, "Some days ago, I told my girlfriend that I had just bought an iphone 5, so now I have to hire one. Hiring mobile phones has become a trend. The contracts even cover accidental loss. However, it’s better to do this with some-one you know as you can select the phones more easily. The service is mostly provided by small shops or pawnshops.”
Hung added that, “Girls care about which kind of motorbikes and mobile phones I use. If she uses an iphone 4 or 5, but I use Samsung Galaxy Y or Nokia 7110, I’m bound to be ignored. It’s great to show off my status for a few hours. One of my friends is going out with two girls, so he has an iphone and a Samsung S3.”
A shop on Ho Tung Mau Street, Cau Giay District, Hanoi provides phone rentals. It charges VND600,000- 800,000 (USD28.57-30.09) to hire an iphone 5 for a day. To rent the phone a deposit is made based on the phone’s value. If a phone is damaged the customer would have to pay a charge.
Other kinds of phones are hired at cheaper prices at just VD100,000-300,000 per day.
Show offs
However, people aren’t necessarily going to benefit from instant ‘cool’ through hiring an iphone 5 as many don’t know how to use the latest models, leading to ridiculous situations.
Duong Van Tiep, owner of a mobile phone shop in Gia Lam District, Hanoi, said, a young man visited his shop to hire an iphone 5. Despite living on a very modest salary per month, he liked using branded products. When hiring the phone he failed to clarify how to use an iphone 5.
Nguyen Huy Minh, a student in Hanoi, said, "Using branded products means being stylish. It is worth spending a few hundred thousand to a million VND to hire an iphone 5 for a few hours.”
Minh also added that students often set up their own groups for people liking Gucci-branded T-shirts, Versace-branded belts or Chanel lipsticks.
Mr. Duong Van Tiep said the mobile phone leasing service was a relatively recent phenomenon and had become very popular. However, he only leased iphone 5s to his regular customers.
Psychologist Trinh Hoa Binh said young people should not use luxury products to show off their status at any cost. Many who could not afford to buy these products often hired or borrowed them from their friends, but this could sometimes lead to disputes or outright theft.