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!

WCRD 2014: CI Member helping to protect consumers from Mali mobile rip offs

Coulibaly Salimata Diarra explains how CI Member, Mali-based ASCOMA, is combatting top-up card mobile phone promotions which leave consumers short changed  (view a French version of this article here). 

Since mobile telephony arrived in Mali in 2002, it has captivated all sectors of society. 

Covering the costs of mobile phone ownership has proven as crucial to Malian families as the price of every day staples, including food.This massive uptake has undoubtedly inspired Orange Mali and Malitel, the two operators in Mali, in their decision to run top-up card promotions.

For example,  they offer 100% or more bonus credit on Malitel or Orange Mali top-ups for a limited validity period, or valid only on their own network.

The two mobile telephony operators can then rub their hands, having maximised their profit in a short space of time, while the customer very rarely actually consumes the allocated bonus credit.

These promotions tend to entail: 

• problems accessing either of the two networks
• credit lost through attempted calls,
• and stress and the frustration of losing money without being able to reach and communicate with the person you are calling. 

This practice is manifestly unfair and may even, in many respects, amount to irrefutable abuse by the operators.

This is why the Consumers' Association of Mali (ASCOMA), with the support of Consumers International (CI), has launched this project with the aim of confirming these findings of abuse in top-up card promotional campaigns for targeted periods.

At ASCOMA, we strive to take action and make recommendations for tackling these abuses confirmed by the findings of the investigation/research under way in Mali.

At this stage of the investigation, our two operators have already been seen to exercise a degree of restraint. They refrained from running promotions during the Christmas holiday period.

For New Year 2014, Malitel awarded 100% unlimited bonus credit for 48 hours, while Orange offered 14 hours of calls on its network.

This encourages us to persevere, to achieve a balance where mobile users can make the most of top-up card promotions without encountering problems.

We believe that the benefits of the growth in mobile phone usage should be shared reciprocally.

The two operators must cease these practices and put customer satisfaction and respect at the top of their concerns.

The aims of our approach and actions are as follows:

• To establish a formal framework for dialogue between operators and consumer organisations
• To end the mandatory consumption of bonus credit obtained on top-up cards during holiday periods
• To enjoy bonuses without restriction, or simply apply a tariff reduction
• To encourage the relevant authorities to intervene as sector regulator
• To uphold and promote the rights and interests of the consumer/customer

With CI and ASCOMA there is hope. Accountability is established - the fight for our rights continues!

WCRD 2014: Mobile complaints surging in Singapore

Amy Ang,  Deputy Head (Legal) of Consumers Association of Singapore, reports on the growing numbers of complaints among mobile consumers as we approach the phone rights themed World Consumer Rights Day 2014.  

In 2013, mobile phone complaints rose by 52% (putting it in the top four for consumer complaints in Singapore) with a total of 1909 complaints.

Meanwhile complaints relating to phone rights with the telecommunication service providers reached 1511, an increase of 5.3% from 2012.

The most common complaints are misleading or false claims made by businesses while selling mobile handsets.

Consumer rights over defective mobile handsets have been improved by recent legislation – the ‘Lemon Law’ was passed in Singapore in 2012, which advanced the claims of the consumer against defective goods of all kinds and also goods that do not conform to contract.

Another common complaint is misrepresentation by the retailer  - such as false claims made by retailers about unlocking services, which are not needed to activate the phone.

In Singapore, for locally-approved handsets, there is usually no need for any unlocking activity to be carried out.

Often, misrepresentation takes place when the consumer is misled to pay for warranty on the mobile phone handset based on a false calculation of the warranty. 

Telecommunication complaints 

With respect to telecommunication complaints, the most common is on unsatisfactory services provided by the telcos. They could range from connectivity problems to installation of gadgets that were not done to the satisfaction of the consumer.

Many consumers were also unsure of the terms and conditions of the telco contracts which they have signed on, which could include billing items.

For example, cases of exorbitant overseas roaming charges incurred by the consumer when the consumer was overseas, are often disputed between the two parties.

There have been cases where the consumer, and/or their children, were misled into participating in some seemingly innocent pop-up games or puzzles in their mobile phone or tablet.

The fact that to respond and participate in these pop-ups was chargeable, was not made clear. This of course meant a nasty surprise in consumers’ bills.

CASE will hold a full-day carnival on World Consumer Rights Day to promote consumer awareness in Singapore on their rights in the digital age.

WCRD 2014: The unfair practice of mobile phone locking

In our latest WCRD 2014 blog, Conchy Martin Rey, Director for International Relations of Spanish CI Member CECU, explains why mobile phone locking is unfair.

In 2011, the sixth edition of the Study in Consumer Market Indicators of the EU reported that telecommunications was the second largest recipient of consumer complaints.

The large amount of consumer complaints prompted the European Commission to introduce measures to reduce barriers and extra costs to consumers.

One of the problems mobile consumers face is the locking of mobile phones.

This issue is causing problems in many European countries and also in Latin America.

Although some public administrations in different countries have introduced legislation or specific regulations to solve the problem that consumers face, there are many countries which rely on the “good behaviour”, “codes of ethics” or “good practices” of the operators. Other countries do not really address consumer issues and concerns.

Locking mobiles

When a consumer signs a contract that provides for a new phone, they are required to stay with that company for a certain time to amortise the cost of the phone.

During this period, if the consumers change telecommunications provider, they  will require a code to unlock the phone to be able to use it with the new provider.

During the process of getting the code,  the consumers are unable to use the phone even if the contract has expired and the mobile phone is the sole property of the consumers.

Locking of mobile phones continues even if the contract has already lapsed, so that if they decide to change to a new provider, their phones becomes unserviceable.

In Spain, after pressure from consumer associations and claimants, some operators offered to stop this practice but some of them are introducing an extra charge to unlock the phone.

Third parties also offer to unlock phones – but again this is an extra expense. It’s also possible to unlock phones using the internet but this software does not work on every phone.

The unblocking service is also provided at different prices, ranging from 2 to 12 Euros.

Introducing a locking code in the phone and charging a fee to unlock it, infringes the rights of the consumers.

When we entered “unlock mobile phone” into Google, it showed 1.3m entries in Spanish and 77.7m entries in English, which proves the interest of consumers on this issue.

It is in this light that Confederación de Consumidores y Usuarios (CECU) wishes to raise awareness of consumers about their right to unlock their mobile phones, free from extra costs and other forms of inconvenience.

CECU believes that there is a lack of knowledge among consumers on this issue.

With support from CI, CECU intends to further investigate these particular concerns of mobile consumers through gathering first hand information.

A short survey, designed with the objective to find out the range of consumers affected by the issue and the paths they took to solve the problem, will be distributed to consumers.

Most of the surveys would be done online to cover several countries in Europe and Latin America. Also, a number of surveys would be done in person within Spain.

The main objective of this project is to make the issue public and relevant to consumers and regulators, whilst promoting changes that impede the use of this or any other technical restriction by telecom operators.

The report that will be produced from the project will be the final evidence that we will disseminate widely among consumers, operators and the public administrations in charge of consumer affairs and telecommunications; promoting a change that will put an end to this practice and to the inconveniences and costs related to it.

WCRD 2014: How consumers are tricked into joining high cost 'text clubs'

As we head toward World Consumer Rights Day on March 15, Boštjan Okorn, head of testing and technology expert at Slovene Consumers' Association (ZPS – Zveza Potrošnikov Slovenije), explains how consumers in his country are being  tricked by mobile companies. 

The advertisement is inviting - you just need to send an entry after completing the crossword puzzle and you will have the chance to win 1,000 Euros.


One consumer, Mrs Vidmar, saw this ad while she was finishing up a crossword puzzle in her favourite newspaper. She decided to enter and was asked for her mobile phone number.

Mrs. Vidmar did not win  - what she was not aware of though is that when she sent out her completed raffle entry form, she instantly became a member of an “SMS club”.

Not long after she sent her entry form, her mobile phone started to receive unwanted commercial  messages.

Although irritating, she ignored these spam messages  since the only messages she reads are those from her family and friends.

When her phone bill arrived, she was surprised that it was much higher than she expected. Commercial services charged her as a result of her automatic subscription to the SMS club.

Sadly, the number of mobile consumers who are being tricked and misled into being members of an SMS club continues to shoot up in Slovenia.

Indeed, automatic subscription to SMS clubs has been one of the major concerns of mobile consumers in the country.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) describes this consumer right violation as cramming. According to OECD, cramming is the collective term for consumer abuse in which the consumers are billed with products or services they did not purchase or products or services they did not receive or when they are charged at a higher fee than the fee that was advertised.

Consumers International aims to highlight and address this sort of abuse for World Consumer Rights Day 2014: Fix Our Phone Rights.

In the CI's five-point WCRD agenda, it calls for providers to “provide consumers with fair and transparent billing”. This encapsulates consumers' demands for fairness and transparency in billing and protection from fraud.

As the number of mobile consumers continues to increase, ZPS is advancing its campaign against the automatic subscription of consumers to any commercial service or product like SMS clubs.

Apart from being more active in writing advice and warnings to mobile consumers to avoid being tricked by SMS clubs, ZPS launched a campaign to ban costly commercial messages being sent without the consumers' consent.

Although the telecommunication operators and regulators in the country rejected the ZPS' call, mobile consumers in Slovenia still had a reason to celebrate for pushing the campaign which ZPS led.

Through the campaign, mobile users can now terminate their membership simply by returning an SMS with the standard word 'stop'.

Since this consumer movement success in Slovenia, the SMS club, in return, became more aggressive in their marketing strategies which in effect continues to mislead mobile consumers.

With support from CI, ZPS aims to convince operators to change the existing SMS club system from opt-out to opt-in.

ZPS believes that such reform will significantly improve the level of transparency in the telecommunication industry. Consumers will be provided adequate information with regard to the service they avail.

ZPS calls for regulators and market inspectors to have a proactive system that will address consumer complaints on misleading advertising that leads to unwilling SMS club membership.

Providers should be more transparent in advertising the price of commercial messages and consumers should always be given the option to stop being a member of the SMS club.