CONSUMER CONCERNS…TELEPHONE USERS’ ALERTNESS PREVENTS EXPLOITATION

Jan 22, 2017 News

---

By PAT DIAL

The motto of the Guyana Consumers Association is “Value For Money.”  The meaning of this motto is that in buying goods and services, consumers must make the best choice, which they could only arrive at by comparison. In other words consumers need to shop around, comparing prices and quality before making a choice.
The other meaning of “Value For Money” is that consumers have to be on the alert that they are not exploited or overcharged, especially by the Public Utilities.
In this offering we will alert consumers of a few of the snares the Telephone industry has quietly placed in their path:-

1) WRONGLY CHARGED FOR CALLS:  Most consumers are unaware that the telephone must ring a minimum of eight times.  To telephones which have voicemail, as soon as the voicemail is activated, then the person making the call is charged for a call.  If the voicemail is activated before eight rings, then by PUC ruling, the caller should not be charged for a call.  But the companies ignore this ruling and illegally charge consumers for such calls.  Numerous consumers have told us that oftentimes they make a phone call, voicemail is activated long before eight rings and they are billed for such calls.
We have raised this issue with the telephone companies and they have promised to put themselves in order but have never done so.  Consumers could protect themselves from such exploitation by making a note of the date and number telephoned, where voicemail is activated before eight rings and write the companies requesting such credit and the companies usually comply.  One could do this on a monthly basis.  Consumers are urged to ask for their money.

2.)  INTERNET OVERCHARGE:  Several consumers have complained that the Internet service they have paid for is not supplied for many hours per week, oftentimes amounting to several days per month.  Consumers should make a note of the time and date such service was not supplied and claim a rebate from the company.  In case the Company is being recalcitrant, bring your complaint to the Public Utilities Commission or the Guyana Consumers Association.  Also when the telephone was out-of-order and your Internet was not working, you could also claim a rebate for these hours and days.  Consumers could be reimbursed quite substantial sums.  Former Government Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill, a few days ago, made a bitter complaint in the press about this failing of GTT.

3.)  UNACCEPTABLE DEMAND FOR PAYMENT FOR REPLACING DEFECTIVE TELEPHONE INSTRUMENTS:  Some consumers have informed us that GTT are now demanding that consumers pay them for replacing defective telephone instruments, a service which obtained without charge for the last 25 years.  From our perspective, GTT are acting wrongly since they are contractually obligated to replace such defective telephone instruments without charge.
Further, when a consumer contracted with GTT to supply a telephone service, the only way such service could have been supplied is with the instrument.  GTT are claiming that they rented the consumer a line, but this is a spurious position, since  consumers cannot speak through or receive messages through a piece of wire.
The GCA has taken up this matter with the PUC and are confident the consumer would be treated justly.  If any consumers have had this kind of problem, they may contact the PUC or the GCA.  The GCA email addresses are at the end of this article.

4.)  GTT ARE PLANNING TO INSERT VOICEMAIL IN ALL LANDLINE PHONES SO THAT THEY COULD COLLECT MORE MONEY FROM TELEPHONE USERS:  At present, if one makes a call and the party to whom the call is made is not present, the caller pays nothing since the call was not completed.  By GTT’s new and surreptitious strategy, by inserting voicemail in the landline, every caller will have to pay.
In addition to the extra financial burden to be placed on the consumer, there are other serious implications:  For once a message is left on one’s voicemail, one becomes obligated to act on it.  Some messages could have legal implications and the recipient of the voicemail becomes liable.  Further, people will have to spend time and energy listening to voicemails at the end of every day, a burden which they do not have to bear now.
This free insertion of voicemail in landline phones will not only collect large sums of money from consumers which they do not now pay, but could also open them to lawsuits, and time-wasting checking of voicemails at the end of each day.
GTT should insert such voicemail in the landline only if the customer requests it; they should not illegally trespass into customers’ telephones, invading their privacy, and inserting voicemail without their permission.  Customers must begin to make their position known before GTT stealthily inserts this voicemail. There are such telephone matters we will address in future articles.

(You can contact the GCA via email: jainarined2001@yahoo.com; patdial26@gmail.com) .

---

---