Complaints against telcos on the rise, says Fomca

The Star

Published: Saturday March 15, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday March 15, 2014 MYT 7:09:34 AM

BY LOH FOON FONG

PETALING JAYA: Complaints against telecommunications service providers have not only increased, but top the list of consumer complaints received by the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca).

Fomca communications dispute resolution and resources mobilisation director T. Saravanan said it received 5,985 complaints in 2012, which is estimated to be at least 5% more than 2011.

The most common complaints are related to billing disputes, charges for unsubscribed services, poor line connections, unsolicited short messages, breach of privacy, and so on, he said.

“We receive complaints relating to telcos every day. It is quite serious,” he said during the launch of Fomca’s “Fix Our Phone Rights” campaign in conjunction with World Consumer Rights Day 2014 here yesterday.

Saravanan said roaming data charges costing a few thousand ringgit remained a concern, while Fomca legal executive Nurul Husna Mohd Yusof highlighted a case where a customer allegedly made a call for only one minute but was charged for one hour.

In Malaysia, 4.5 million households have mobile phones, making the cellular penetration rate 143.3 per 100 persons.

Saravanan said Fomca had set up fixourphonerights on Facebook, which it hopes will garner at least 100,000 likes.

It also planned to submit a memorandum to the Malaysian Communications and Multi­media Commission and telcos to highlight the issues concerned, he said.