Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news
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All entries are written by Anders Borg, CEO and Consultant of Abiro, that has a long experience in strategic planning, developing embedded and Java software, usability aspects, and the mobile phone industry in general. You can also read the latest Mobile News entries on your phone via wap.abiro.com, and we provide many News Feeds from popular news services. For advertising and contribution queries, please use the feedback form. News feed (local) FeedBurner Feed
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Tuesday, October 03, 2006
When yes is a really bad word
I did it: I got tricked into getting a new subscription via a telemarketer. I still wonder how I could be so stupid, as I normally hang up very quickly on such calls.
They recorded my voice and then mean that’s a binding contract. I still haven’t got a clear answer from a lawyer whether that’s actually true. The only response I’ve received is that what’s agreed to is binding. Of course the telemarketer didn’t mention anything about a grace period, so seemingly there’s none. A consumer automatically gets a grace period of 14 days in my country, but not so for companies.
What made matters worse is that the guy I spoke to completely misunderstood my requirements: I needed an account with free SMSs and MMSs and a low rate on data. I instead got a subscription with very expensive SMS, MMS and data, simply because that was what he offered, but he explained it as if it was in compliance with my requirements. Voice I didn’t care about, as the sub and the phone were intended for testing Java applications. Despite this they can’t accept to cancel the subscription, and of course my specification was never part of the voice recording, so it doesn’t help to refer to that.
They will cancel my previous subscription, which means I will have to pay the remainder of that subscription, adding to the cost. Still, without getting anything beneficial to me.
They can’t be contacted for a discussion: The operator refers to the telemarketing company, the sales guy refers to customer support, and customer support refers to a binding contract. Even though the subscription is in my name, the operator doesn’t allow me to cancel the subscription. Also, the telemarketing company never responds to e-mail. Probably because that could be used as evidence.
I will pay roughly $1700 in total for a subscription and a phone I don’t need. That’s not the worst part (even though $1700 for nothing sucks). The worst is my lack of judgment in this case. That still gives me cold sweat.
When I added up the cost for the phone over time I will actually pay full price for that, despite I get a binding subscription for 24 months. The nightmare continues.
A few conclusions:
* Telemarketers are ruthless, and their incompetence hits back on you.
* Companies have no implicit cancelling rights when buying things.
* Signing up to a new subscription via the phone is a way too complex thing to do. Misunderstandings are mandatory.
* The only sensible response is “Thanks, but no thanks” and hang up the phone, ALWAYS.
They recorded my voice and then mean that’s a binding contract. I still haven’t got a clear answer from a lawyer whether that’s actually true. The only response I’ve received is that what’s agreed to is binding. Of course the telemarketer didn’t mention anything about a grace period, so seemingly there’s none. A consumer automatically gets a grace period of 14 days in my country, but not so for companies.
What made matters worse is that the guy I spoke to completely misunderstood my requirements: I needed an account with free SMSs and MMSs and a low rate on data. I instead got a subscription with very expensive SMS, MMS and data, simply because that was what he offered, but he explained it as if it was in compliance with my requirements. Voice I didn’t care about, as the sub and the phone were intended for testing Java applications. Despite this they can’t accept to cancel the subscription, and of course my specification was never part of the voice recording, so it doesn’t help to refer to that.
They will cancel my previous subscription, which means I will have to pay the remainder of that subscription, adding to the cost. Still, without getting anything beneficial to me.
They can’t be contacted for a discussion: The operator refers to the telemarketing company, the sales guy refers to customer support, and customer support refers to a binding contract. Even though the subscription is in my name, the operator doesn’t allow me to cancel the subscription. Also, the telemarketing company never responds to e-mail. Probably because that could be used as evidence.
I will pay roughly $1700 in total for a subscription and a phone I don’t need. That’s not the worst part (even though $1700 for nothing sucks). The worst is my lack of judgment in this case. That still gives me cold sweat.
When I added up the cost for the phone over time I will actually pay full price for that, despite I get a binding subscription for 24 months. The nightmare continues.
A few conclusions:
* Telemarketers are ruthless, and their incompetence hits back on you.
* Companies have no implicit cancelling rights when buying things.
* Signing up to a new subscription via the phone is a way too complex thing to do. Misunderstandings are mandatory.
* The only sensible response is “Thanks, but no thanks” and hang up the phone, ALWAYS.
