The confusing phone charges of the network operators

A bill of 1.1 billion VND for more than 6,000 calls in one day, a text message fee of half a million VND per month... are cases of network operators' charges that make customers angry.

The amount of 1.14 billion VND collected from Ca Mau Telecom customers in January 2014 was recorded as a record high overage case in Vietnam. Accordingly, this amount of collection mainly occurred in one day when the customer, before reporting the loss of the phone, requested to lock the SIM.

According to the network operator, the high charges are due to the large number of calls from customers, up to 6,000. Most of the calls are made roaming abroad, including some confusing calls such as 9 times at the same time (same second, same minute, same hour) and 49 calls within one minute.

This case also marks the first time a network operator has handled customer billing through the court, without having to permanently cut off service or share responsibility between the provider and the customer.

At the mediation, the customer only agreed to pay the charges incurred before the phone was lost, while the network maintained its stance of collecting the full 1.14 billion VND. The lawsuit was suspended for re-investigation, which required clarification of the complex details related to duplicate calls and the possibility of continuous roaming charges in a short period of time.

Network operators rarely use complaints to collect fees from customers because these businesses have the business of blocking and cutting numbers. Photo: FinancialPost.

Previously, roaming and 3G services were also considered the cause of many cases of customers complaining about fees with network operators. On the morning of April 10, 2010, a MobiFone customer was visited by a network operator to inform him that the 3G fee was up to 7.3 million VND. By the afternoon, the debt had reached 15 million VND, but it was "only an estimated number, because the actual number is much higher".

Talking to the network operator, the customer was informed that the promotional 3G package he was using had ended, so the over-package fee would be applied. Previously, the customer had registered for a 3G package for 3 million VND per month from MobiFone.

Believing that the policy change was sudden and unilateral from the network operator, the customer refused to pay the bill. Afterwards, the network operator and the customer sought a solution to share this unexpected incident.

In November 2010, a VinaPhone customer received a bill of 9 million VND for roaming service charges during a 10-day business trip to the US, even though the company's call center staff had previously assured the customer that the charges would "not be worth much money."

Not accepting this fee, the customer only agreed to pay 1.5 million VND to VinaPhone. The situation reached a deadlock when neither the customer nor the network operator would give in, leading to the network operator "threatening" to permanently cut off the user's service.

In addition to data and international roaming services, telecom users also encounter cases where network operators charge them up to half a million VND per month for texting fees. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang, a communications employee in District 11, Ho Chi Minh City, said that a few months ago, she had to pay up to 500,000 VND per month for a phone number that had not been used for a long time, but the network operator explained that it was a texting fee.

"I asked to print the statement but the network staff did not agree, because this was only the fee for text messages. This person also said that the collection of money was based on the bill, if customers had any questions, they could go to the head office in Hanoi to complain. Not to mention that I live in Ho Chi Minh City, so how could I go to Hanoi to complain? Just being able to send enough text messages to pay up to 500,000 VND in fees was unreasonable. If that was true, my finger could be deformed," Ms. Hang said indignantly.

According to Zing.vn