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MTN 3G Billing Fraud - Unacceptable
Posted by Afam on December 16, 2008, 6:16 pm
Viewed 35 times
The MTN 3G Internet access service has proven to be pure fraud as regards billing. I got the following text message the very day I subscribed to the service.
Welcome to 3GB 30-Day data plan. Expires: 17.12.2008 13:08. Text 2 to 131 to check balance. 15kobo per kB applies after 3GB, outside bundle, or after expiry. Time: 17/11/2008 12:13:13
I got the following text message on the 15th December 2008, two days before the expiry date
Your 3GB 30-Day data plan is going to expire on 17/12/2008 13:08. Time: 15/12/2008 12:11:52
On the 16th December 2008 I noticed that though connection was possible nothing could be accessed online, browsing was impossible.
I called 180 and the service was either unavailable or customer care agents were unavailable. I called a friend who works at MTN and after informing him that I could not access the internet he asked me to provide the SIM number.
I loaded N400.00 to the SIM and used the SIM to call another number so as to retrieve the number since I wasn't with the SIM pack and didn't store the number anywhere.
When I tried to connect to the internet everything went fine and for some reasons I decided to check the balance and noticed that under 5 minutes over N300.00 was gone from the credit I loaded without my making any call. I clicked on another page and checked the balance again and noticed that a further N30.00 had been taken.
The MTN 3G Internet Access comes with a User Interface where basic information including statistics can be accessed.
As at today, 16th December 2008 the statistics tab has the following information
Daily - uploaded data - 1.02MB/downloaded data - 1.68MB
Monthly - uploaded data - 103.30MB/downloaded data - 1.7GB
Yearly - uploaded data - 179.89MB/downloaded data - 2.81GB
The last information actually represents total data usage for the first month of using this service.
At the bottom of the statistics page we have the following
Please note: These data counter are used for indicative purposes only (exact words, not mine)
So, the facts are
1. The welcome message clearly stated that 15kobo per kB applies after 3GB bundle, outside bundle or after expiry.
The message is clear but the implementation is unprofessional based on the essence of this piece
2. The statistics tab remains the only visual display or data usage tool that gives an indication of data transferred either direction
This means that this tool should be the definitive guide as regards data usage.
3. MTN remained very silent on what constituted 3GB 30-Day plan as regards the data transferred.
This should be clearly stated so that subscribers would understand perfectly what they are paying for. This is a fee based service so the service provider should be honest and open enough to state what was at stake.
4. Is the 3GB made up of just the uploaded data or both the uploaded data and downloaded data?
Assuming the worst case scenario where the 3GB includes both uploaded and downloaded data as at the time of writing this piece (more than 24hrs before expiry, data usage still below 3GB and about N400.00 extra deducted from account) it is still fraudulent for MTN to take money from a subscriber's account without any notice.
5. The combined total of the uploaded data and downloaded data as at the time connection was cut off was less than 3GB.
Based on this fact can MTN prove that the money taken (about N400.00) was not fraudulently taken since all the available parameters and tools support that I have neither exceeded the 30 days allowed nor exceeded the 3GB bundle allowed.
6. Taking over N400.00 for 2.7MB of data (uploaded and downloaded) without any notice is wrong
At this rate then it is very possible for a subscriber to incur up to N15,000.00 (100MB of data) in a single day without knowing and of course without any notice whatsoever from MTN that the data bundle has been exhausted.
As things stand today, no one (not even MTN) can demonstrate when a subscriber hit the limit of 3GB data bandwidth allowed and paid for.
MTN should demonstrate that it is not deliberately taking money belonging to subscribers unjustly by providing a comprehensive statistics of data usage.
MTN should send a notice to subscriber once the 3GB data bundle allowed is exhausted.
MTN should prompt users to accept the extra 15K per kB after notification has been sent so that any user trying to user the facility will immediately know what the cost is.
Without these implementations then the average user of this 3G internet service will have a very bad time.
Take a look at these scenarios
30 days 3GB data bundle - N10,000.00. Comes to about 100MB per day.
The 15kobo per kB after the 3GB bundle expiry (never mind that you don't get any notice or warning) would amount to a massive N450,000.00 in 30 days assuming you kept accessing the internet even if you were still within the 30 days allowed when MTN starts deducting money from your account.
If MTN can send a reminder to subscribers that the 30 day period is about expiring then I believe it will not cost MTN anything to inform or warn subscribers that they have indeed reached the limit that was placed on the bundle.
The only reason why MTN is not doing this is because it will make more money by not doing it. The subscribers cannot determine when they have reached the limit and the only tool provided by MTN cannot be trusted so where lies the ultimate responsibility for accountability here? Certainly not the subscriber who is paying for a service and expects very simple and clear billing process that
can be audited.
May be, the ISPs that have been providing regular dial up services with about 5kbs - 14kbs speed (without upper limit) still have something to offer Nigerians.
As for me, I am going to reactivate one or more data schemes from these ISPs because I don't believe in paying for something that cannot be accounted for especially when the service provider should have necessary tools to make the whole billing process open and simple to understand.
Trip to MTN Service Centre
I visited an MTN Service Centre at Opebi to renew my service plan and to change the scheme. When I complained about the billing fraud a lady asked for my MTN 3G data module, plugged same into her laptop and tried to send some messages and after deleting up to 20 messages from the screen she showed me one that stated that I had exceeded the 3GB bandwidth allowed.
Now, I met someone who came to complain about the same thing and his case was even worse because he loaded N50,000.00 and MTN (in my presence) could only account for N30,000.00 deducted over 3 months as the balance of N20,000.00 disappeared as excess charges for the 15kobo per kB outside the bundle and in fact they informed the man that he still has an outstanding N12,000.00 to pay.
In all these, the man did not get any notice, no message, no warning, no prompt. Money was just being taken away with reckless abandon.
After much talk MTN informed us (at least we were two people complaining now) that we should be sending 101 to 131 to check our balance and when I asked the guy how frequent he would advice us to do this since you never can know when you have exceeded the bandwidth and it does not make any sense to be sending a particular code to a particular MTN number every day or every hour for that matter. The customer service agent could not answer this question as the answer would definitely show (as if he didn't know what MTN was doing) everyone around that MTN was making a lot of money by not notifying subscribers that they have reached the limit.
If MTN can send a 30 day expiry reminder (without the subscriber sending a code) then it can also send a 3GB limit reached/exceeded notice to subscribers without the subscribers having to send a code to MTN every day or every hour.
And why should subscribers keep sending text messages to check balance when most people that use this 3G internet access use it strictly for internet access and not regular calls. This does not make sense. It seems it is a way to make a simple task difficult so that more and more people could be billed without their knowledge.
So, what then is the essence of the Statistics tool when the information it provides is meaningless? Why use a statistics tool that is not only misleading but inaccurate and useless when it comes to billing?
What then is the definitive tool used by MTN to determine that a subscriber has indeed reached or exceeded the 3GB allowed? Assuming there is a tool MTN uses for this what stops MTN from using this particular tool to provide information to subscribers?
I doubt if manpower or technology limitation is the problem here. Obviously, it is a business decision whereby an unsuspecting subscriber (especially post paid plan) could be charged as much as N15,000.00 per day or N450,000.00 in one month just because MTN could not notify the subscriber that the maximum 3GB allowed has been exceeded.
Nigerians deserve better. There is absolutely no reason why Nigerians should be ripped off in this manner. Should we all now budget as much as N450,000.00 for just 3GB data bandwidth at 100MB per day on the average? Even our politicians that make easy money will not find this one funny at all.
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