Always on, always paying

Joseph Waring
28 Apr 2010
00:00
Bill shock hit home this week for Telecom Asia. My son racked up a HK$16,000 (US$2,000) data service bill in less than two weeks after activating GPRS on his HTC Magic -- without once being informed how much he was being charged or that the charge had reached a high level.
He did receive an SMS alert after about a week when the usage hit 130k (which means nothing to me, much less a 14-year-old). That would seems a bit late; at HK$0.10/kb, that usage turns out to be HK$13,000. And then the alerts came daily; but with the HTC Magic turning off GPRS isn’t an option. He was forced to turn phone to "airplane" mode at most times since apps such a Gmail, Facebook and some games automatically connect to the internet without clicking the app.
At the very least a subscriber should receive a text stating how he is charged (the cost per kb) and a warning text, email or phone call stating the bill had reached a high level (staring at perhaps HK$500, then again at $1,000), and finally the service should be cut off at some reasonable point.
Yet none of this happened. How can the operator allow a customer to build up a HK$16,000 bill? This was while in Hong Kong -- roaming would be even higher as we see from the South China Morning Post yesterday, when a host for an online radio station had a roaming bill of HK$29,000 on a three-day trip to Thailand.
But it's not over. On a visit to the company’s retail outline to figure out how to turn off GPRS on his phone and cut off his data service, I was told it can't be turned off on the HTC Magic and that the data services can't be terminated (which isn't the case; a manager later said he can do so with authorization; so why didn't the agent cut off when asked?).

Pages

Follow Telecom Asia Sport!
Comments
No Comments Yet! Be the first to share what you think!
This website uses cookies
This provides customers with a personalized experience and increases the efficiency of visiting the site, allowing us to provide the most efficient service. By using the website and accepting the terms of the policy, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy.