Mobile phone users beware!
Check your bill for charges related to such services as ring tone, SMS, MMS that you may not have subscribed.
In the first 11 months of this year, the Consumer Council has received a total of 470 complaints over disputes on such charges.
In one extreme case, the amount involved was over $10,000.
In the majority of cases, complainants were at a loss as to the reason for these charges.
Complainants on auto credit card transfer for bill payment also questioned the practice of telecom companies in passing on payments on their behalf to other service providers without the consent of the users.
As complaints of this nature have continued unabated in recent years - 85 cases in 2006, 244 in 2007 and 608 in 2008, the Consumer Council is of the view that it is in the interest of telecom companies that they review the situation to resolve this issue of growing consumer dissatisfaction.
One suggestion is for telecom operators to first put aside disputed charges until the matter is resolved between the users and the service providers concerned.
Pending the resolution of dispute, the telecom companies are to continue to provide normal service to the users - without insistence of full payment or termination of service.
Consumers, on the other hand, should be on the alert for such unsolicited promotional offers of "free" message service and the like.
And never disclose your personal data to third party on the internet; check your phone bills for any suspicious items of charges.
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