Customers Of Telecom Companies Unhappy

Customers of the various telecom companies (telecos) are still complaining about the services they receive from their respective operators in spite of the heightened competition among the players in the industry.

According to them, while they receive poor reception in terms of network quality, they are also unable to reach the people working in the office to complain to. Instead they receive machine recorded messages that never get their challenges sorted out.

The Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the National Communications Authority (NCA), Mr Mawuko Zormelo, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview after the authority undertook a fact-finding tour of the Northern Region.

The tour was to interact with the customers on the various networks to ascertain their level of satisfaction with their service providers.

“They do not seem happy at all with the services they get and we were alarmed at the kinds of complaints they made to us,” he said.

The complaints comes at a time when the Ministry of Communications, through the NCA, has instituted measures to offer choice to the customers and to increase competition through which the service quality at all levels will improve.

One of such major initiatives is the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) which offers customers the free hand to move from their existing networks to the others without losing their original numbers.

Mr Zormelo also mentioned the various packages advertised by the industry players on the airwaves and said “ the few customers we spoke with are confused about the many packages introduced.”

He said the customers were of the view that they were not enjoying what was being advertised so they described the packages as fake and not real but an attempt to get them hooked to their existing networks.

On the airwaves, both radio and television and the print media as well, there are always new packages being introduced to entice customers on the various networks.

The packages are so many that sometimes it is confusing which one is most appropriate and cheaper as advertised.

A typical example is the Internet packages introduced which are cumbersome and also expensive when compared to the past when one could only buy credit and enjoy speed at lower rates.

Another issue raised was about the inconsistent Internet service on the Blackberries introduced by the various operators.

Mr Zormelo said while the NCA shared in the frustration of the customers up north, it was yet to authenticate their allegations.

“We are back in Accra and we will subject the various concerns to strict scrutiny to ascertain the truth,” he assured.

According to him, any of the complaints that would confirmed would be dealt with according to the rules and policies of the authority.

He said it was up to the authority to ensure that customers were not shortchanged in anyway while ensuring that they had value for money.

“Anything in violation of that will attract the necessary sanctions,” he said.