『 Please demand your rights 』
* photo by naver
Agencies of mobile comany
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Since the beginning of this year, three mobile companies in Korea (SKT, KTF, and LGT) have hotly competed to draw or try to keep their customers. Formerly, each mobile company had its own number. For example, SKT users used 011(011-0000-0000), KTF users had 016, and LGT users used 019. Therefore if an SKT user wanted to move to KTF, he/she had to change his/her phone number. |
However according to the Phone Portability System adopted under the new government policy, mobile phone users can now move from one company to another (e.g. SKT to KTF or LGT) without changing their phone numbers. Accordingly, mobile phone companies are trying to offer improved services to catch more customers. But some agencies of the three companies have adopted excessive and illegal marketing practices and are selling mobile phones in irregular ways, which is producing many victims. Kyoungpook National University students are not exempt from this situation, so let's listen to the voices of some swindled KNU students.
In front of the KNU North Gate, a victim, "P", joined the "Two-weeks Free" events of "L"; mobile company two months ago. The seller provided the newest stylish phone on condition of using the phone under their company's services for two weeks. The seller told P "If you are not satisfied with our service after two weeks, we will return your phone to its original condition and you will not be charged for calls made during the two weeks. Visit us whenever you want. We will be here everyday." |
* photo by naver
Illegal marketing
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P used the phone for five days, but she could not find any difference between the two companies. So P decided to change back to the original company. But when she returned, the L company seller was nowhere to be seen. Therefore, she visited L company service center and cancelled the contract. However, she found that she had to pay thirty-eight thousand won. Rather surprised, she explained the terms of the contract that she had signed. After a company staff member had called around, he said that the mobile phone seller P had talked to came from Busan and was a part time worker. An agency in Busan had employed some of nightclub waiters and had sent them to Daegu to attract customers with their smooth talk. Because of this, the company employees did not know about the exact contents of the contract, and could not solve the situation.
Another victim, "K," changed from company A to company B, but quickly decided to return to company A, because the new phone was not sufficiently well-connected. She had to pay all the payments in order to return to A. After a month, she received a collect call payment bill (in Korea, collect calls are charged after a month), and she was very angry because the bill demanded additional tax that she had already paid. So she called the service center and complained about the excessive payment, but the receptionists simply repeated that they were just following the company law. K said, "When I called the service center, at first a receptionist said that she was not in charge of that matter and handed over to another person, who also refused to take responsibility." She added, "It's a really unfair system. Because it is such an uncomfortable procedure. Many people will give up asking for their rights in spite of knowing that they have been cheated. Some people don't even know whether it is a reasonable tax or not."
When asked, an agency staff replied "We are in desolate position, because the economy is bad and the mobile-phone market is saturated. So we have no choice. I even heard that some phone agencies sometimes make social security numbers of imaginary five-year-old children, so that they can provide the lower-priced, youth charge system to their adult customers. |
* photo by naver
Various mobile phones
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In spite of these terrible facts, most people are being cheated, and they believe that the irregular system is a special event connected to the terms of discount." The agency staff member also warned that customers must take all the responsibility, because they wrote their signature on the contract, even though they don't know the real facts.
Many phone-call charging systems have some kinds of tricks, so you would do well to examine your charging system compared with that of other companies. For example, the KTF Businessman charging system provides free calling for forty hours on the weekend. Its base charge is eighty-five thousand won a month, and it includes 20 hours on weekdays. However, there is a hidden trick to their system. Even though the five-day working system is becoming more common, KTF does not define Saturday as part of the weekend.
To consider a further example, the Ting charging system of SKT is fixed and available only for people under the age of eighteen. Its base charge is twenty-seven thousand won, but the data transmission service is excluded and young students can apply out without their parent's agreement. It is advisable, therefore, to look at your bill carefully, comparing the rental lists with the demand lists. Your steady and correct behavior will make the companies acknowledge their mistakes. Please demand your rights in this matter. It is up to you, so don't wait for other people to sort it out.
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