Thank goodness for wireless technology! Without it, our whole team would be lost!

Paris, like its sister fashion capitals, Milan and New York, base its admission to the shows on the invitation sent by the fashion house through its press office. With so many members of the international press attending, most invitations are sent via courier, especially the ones coming from the big fashion houses.

Keeping track of the invitations we receive is very important for planning purposes. Writers and photographers assignments are based on that. But, there are times that a very important invitation will arrive just a day before, and the writer and photographer who are assigned to cover that show need to be informed ASAP so that they can adjust their calendar accordingly.

This might sound contradictory, but please hear me out. When covering a season, there are NO SURE invitations unless you are actually holding it on your hands. Although we have a running list of fashion houses that historically invite us every season, we do not take that for granted.

Hence, we make contingency plans, just in case the invitations do not arrive on time or do not arrive at all. So, the moment an invitation arrive from the very popular and very important catwalk shows like Jean Paul Gaultier, Chanel and Alexander McQueen, both photographer and writer covering that particular show are informed so that they can update their calendars.

With all 7 of us spread out around the city covering the show of the moment, a mobile phone is a must-have accessory among all the paraphernalia we carry around with us.

And that is just a small part for our need for communication. A big part is knowing where everyone is! No, we do not keep tabs on our team members. It’s because everything is coordinated such as sending flash cards back and forth between the photographer and the photo editor.

Sometimes, it is just to make sure that we see each other during a show because when there is a throng of people all wearing black, it is hard to distinguish who is who among the crowd.

There are even times when we just want company to have lunch or have a bite to eat, if we are all at the Louvre, but not in the same room.

And that is when the saga of our mobile phone needs started. In Europe, unlike the United States, all phone calls are paid for, even a local call. Incoming calls are free, while outgoing calls are paid. That means that if I use my mobile phone to call someone, I pay the charges while the party receiving the call gets it for free.

Here’s the clincher, this situation is only true if both phones are from the same area code! If the other phone is from another area code, they pay HALF the cost.

Now, our team members are based from different countries, the U.S., Italy, France and the U.K. Corollary to that, all our cell phones have different area codes, hence ALL of us pay in one way or another if we make a call or receive a call.

As Editor-in-Chief, I had the bright idea of getting all 7 of us Paris numbers while we are in Paris. For us to get Paris numbers, we need hardware, that is, a mobile phone.

As an experiment, my office in Dallas bought me a T-Mobile pre-paid phone on the belief that I can use the phone in Europe if I just buy a local simm card. As it turned out, it was a pipe dream.

My T-Mobile phone that my office paid for in full was LOCKED! It will not accept Parisian simm cards unless it is unlocked.

So, learning that I cannot use it, I was forced to purchase a mobile phone in Paris so that I can have a Paris number. Meanwhile, I sent back my phone in the U.S. via FedEx, with the hope that they can unlock it for me.

As it turned out, T-Mobile refused to unlock the phone unless we become a customer first! As far as I’m concerned, T-Mobile DOES NOT OWN the phone. Our company owns it already because we PAID for it. So, why force us to be their customers?

Apparently, that’s how T-Mobile runs their business. Because of that, they just lost 6 more phones that I would have gladly bought from them if the original one I purchased would have worked.

For a company that spends so much money on advertising their products and services, T-Mobile’s shortsightedness is disheartening to say the least. And because they have lost my trust, I refuse to use their network in Europe.

So that you will have an idea, I use approximately 100 euros worth of phone calls during the Paris season alone. Multiply that by 7, that is 700 euros my company spends just to keep us in touch with each other during the shows.

Add Milan and London, two cities that we also cover and that adds up. Now, because of T-Mobile’s shortsightedness of trying to sell me $25 worth of minutes, they lost Euros 2100 for one season alone.

Remember, there are in actuality 4 fashion seasons in Europe. In a year, we can easily spend Euros 8400 for phone calls. At the current exchange rate of $1.25 per one euro, that is approximately $10,500 a year.

T-Mobile, I hope you can do basic arithmetic so that you can see how much you have lost due to your POOR customer service and shortsightedness.