Five mobile rip off stories that will make you really mad

This year’s World Consumer Rights Day is about holding mobile companies to account amid the seemingly endless stories of consumers being ripped off, locked in and given the run around by companies with poor customer service.

 

CI Digital Editor Vik Iyer has searched the Internet and found some truly shocking mobile rip off stories – thus proving the urgency of the WCRD Fix Our Phone Rights! campaign.

One of our Slovenian Members, Zveza Potrošnikov Slovenije, has detailed how consumers can be tricked into joining ‘text clubs’ , which charge for receiving messages. In Ireland, a newspaper investigation found more than 10,000 people had been duped in similar scams, with one person tricked into owing 200 euros (278 USD).

Contracts are another source of complaint – with hidden charges and dodgy sales practices leaving consumers short changed by billions. Yes that’s right, billions. Journalists found evidence of consumers being sold products that did not suit their needs and hidden charges for calls to different networks.

Now usually when one spends £4,000 (6662 USD) on a holiday, it means luxury hotels and sumptuous cuisine. Thanks to rip-off roaming charges, you can pretty much do that just by telling people what you’re up to on Facebook.

Whilst roaming is perhaps a pretty well known way to be driven mad by your mobile company, there are a few other examples of atrocious customer service by the big Telcos. In Canada, campaigners attempted to collate some of these stories to highlight the issue of customer service.

One customer whose legs were crushed in an accident decided he had to cancel his mobile contract due to a lack of income – his provider refused. A mother tried to cancel a phone contract created by her vulnerable son – she was rebuffed too.

If that lot hasn’t scared or surprised you, then surely this will. People who sold their phones to pawn shops have unwittingly sold their data on too. Easy to access software programs can recover phone data even when it appears to have been wiped.

Ready to fight for change now? Remember you can add your voice to our Phone Rights campaign by tweeting or updating your Facebook using the hashtag #MyPhoneMakesMeMadBecause. Time to hold Big Mobile to account!

Five big wins for consumers in 2013

So as the year draws to a close what are the five biggest wins for consumers this year? For the major issues we consumer campaigners have to face there were some great victories in the areas of nutrition, prices and consumer law. CI Digital Editor Vik Iyer reflects on 2013.

Mexico junk food tax

Mexico did not just enforce the tax on junk food – they increased the proposed levy as it continues to combat its obesity epidemic.

CI Members in Mexico have long campaigned for this move and even states in the US, which tends to favour laissez-faire economics,  have examined measures penalising junk food and drink.

In Mexico, initial proposals had been for a 5% tax on fatty foods but that was increased to 8%.  Soft and sugary drinks will be taxed at one peso ($0.07) per litre.

More good news for consumers saw major food manufacturers agree to ‘traffic light labelling’ in the UK, following the examples of big supermarkets.

Is there a mood change going in Big Food? Maybe, just maybe: as this rather sheepish Coke interview suggests.

Google privacy defeat

Revelations about spying and privacy have dominated the news this year. But legal action by a CI Member in Germany showed that the consumer movement can act as a check on the excesses of supersize Internet companies.

Several clauses of Google's privacy policy and terms of use were declared unlawful by the court thanks to legal action from, the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv).

All in all, 25 clauses in the privacy policy statement and the terms of use were affected, which were phrased too broadly or illegally restrict consumer rights.

“This decision is an important message to IT companies. They need to rethink in the matter of data protection and take German regulations on data protection and consumer rights seriously” said Gerd Billen, Executive Director of the vzbv and CI Council member.

Mobile phone price hikes

In the United Kingdom, CI Member Which? won its Fixed Mean Fixed campaign to allow consumers to exit mobile phone contracts where prices go up.

This is exactly the type of action likely to feature heavily in our upcoming World Consumer Rights Day campaign.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “Consumers told us price hikes on fixed contracts were unfair, and now people will be able to leave these contracts and switch to a cheaper provider without being hit by extortionate exit fees.”

Fijians get consumer law overhaul

Our Member the Consumer Council of Fiji campaigned for major changes in the law to improve the lives of consumers – and their advocacy worked.

Firstly, the government has announced a Consumer Compensation Tribunal that will adjudicate over claims on third party insurance and other consumer complaints.

Secondly, a taskforce to monitor prices of duty-reduced items will be established.

The Council has long argued that duty reductions often do not translate into lower retail prices for consumers.

Oman launched a unique price monitor

Finally, in a consumer protection first – certainly in the Middle East – the Public Authority for Consumer Protection of Oman (PACP) launched a mobile digital price checker for its 8,000 field staff to monitor prices across the country.

The handheld device can scan a whole range of products to check prices are not exceeding market levels. Information is fed back into a price monitor database to keep a close eye of market fluctuations and the Authority’s staff can even issue and print out fines from the handheld device where retails are excessively overcharging.

A lift for consumer protection in China

CI’s Luke Upchurch on how our newest Supporter organisation is a step in the right direction for consumer protection in China.

Apparently, there are 1.6 million elevators in the China. It’s one of those statistics that brings home the enormity of this nation and the mind-boggling size of its growth.

It was also the subject of a memorable anecdote at the launch of China’s first Research Centre for Policy and Law on Global Consumer Protection. The Centre is the latest organisation to take advantage of our new CI Supporter category of association.

Established by Wuhan University, one of China’s oldest academic institutions, the Centre is one of only a handful in the world dedicated to the study and development of global consumer protection and law. CI was at the inaugural event to present our latest findings on the state of consumer protection and welcome the Centre into the global consumer movement.

The ‘elevator pitch’, put forward by an eminent law professor at the event, began by pointing to the safety regulations for lifts in China: the frequency of effective inspections, the need for certification, the liability of the building’s owners and the statutory rights of anyone injured whilst using the elevator.

Consumer protection in China, the professor argued, needed to adopt a similar framework. It was a thought-provoking example; one of many during this two day event.

For instance Connie Lau, until recently head of the Hong Kong Consumer Council and now adviser to UNCTAD, spoke of the conflict between prudential regulation of financial services and consumer protection – a point picked up by Wuhan’s Professor Zhou who raised the failures of the Chinese regulators to stamp out malpractices.

In the same vain, Ying Yu of the Wuhan Centre pointed to the fact that China had as yet no bank deposit guarantee for consumers in operation, despite being under consideration for many years.

Both of these issues have been recently highlighted in CI’s work on the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection (the focus of the Wuhan conference).   

Other interventions focused on the remarkable level of internet use in China. Wuhan University’s Professor Qisheng HE pointed out that there are 538 million web users in China – 210 million of which shop online, 187 million are online bank users.

These are staggering figures for a country that – like many others – has few viable avenues for consumers to seek redress in online commerce disputes. There were also revealing presentations on counterfeit consumption, sustainability, data security, as well as much on the UN Guidelines.

From the degree of understanding and analysis on display at the event, it’s clear that some in China have woken up to the need for higher standards of consumer protection – not just to reassure global markets about the quality of its exports, but also as a harbinger of growth in its own domestic consumer economy.

A point further emphasised by recent indications that the authorities are considering allowing China’s consumers to pursue class actions for the first time.

The Wuhan Centre is a milestone on a journey, not only as a means for China to explore international standards in consumer protection, but also for the rest of the world to understand the impact of consumer rights development in a country that boasts one-sixth of the world’s population. What happens here will, and does, affect us all.

Those clever minds in China looking at consumer protection already know the pressing issues at hand. As do most Chinese consumers: product safety, fake goods, sustainability, financial services, digital consumer rights and, above all, effective legislation and enforcement.

The Wuhan Centre, and, by acquiescence, China’s authorities know the benefits an international perspective can bring to this challenge: it is why both the state and China’s consumer rights experts are so keen to get involved in the revision of the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection – something CI is uniquely placed to offer the Wuhan Centre, along with our other Members, Supporters, and partners in China and across the world.

By becoming a CI Supporter organisation we hope the rest of the global consumer rights movement can help the Wuhan Centre navigate a path of best practice as it seeks to elevate consumer justice and protection for China's 1.35 billion people.  

If you would like to find out more about becoming a Member or Supporter of CI, please visit the Join us section on the CI website.