Customer feeling cheated

I BOUGHT my first mobile phone in 2006 at Best Buy Mt Hagen Pharmacy for K600, SIM included.
The handset was a simple Nokia brand now sold for K30-K50. The service provider was bmobile.
When Digicel came along two years later and sold handsets for K30, I turned my back on bmobile because I felt I had been robbed.
After being with Digicel for some time now I feel I have been cheated more by Digicel than bmobile.
As of the publication I will destroy my two Digicel SIMs. I will resell the phones and go back to bmobile, like many others before me, where the service and rates are much better.
After all bmobile is the state’s company, thus my own company. Why the change?
Put simply the services provided by Digicel has become frustrating, irritating, annoying and expensive for various reasons.
Let me outline some that come to mind readily.
Digicel’s promotions are not really promotions but carefully planned and executed gimmicks to sneak upon its own clients and allegedly steal from them.
As a business rule clients are paramount, the goose that lay the golden egg.
Let’s look at combo promotions as an example.
If you make a call using a combo plan you will not be warned of the minutes been used up if you have credits (cash) in your phone.
Digicel allegedly lets you use up the combo and once the combo minutes run out the money starts being used. When you check your balance all your credits could have disappeared.
It’s the same for data packages.
Why would they warn you when you don’t have credits in your SIM but fail to do so when you have credits?
That’s sneaky and “under the belt” way of hitting your clients.
Using Digicel services have become an irritation.
It’s annoying being constantly bombarded by marketing messages. In a day (24 hour period) I have counted 9-11 pestering messages.
Some messages get repeated. Swearing becomes a norm when you are expecting some important messages and these marketing messages constantly bombard you.
Digicel has to respect its customers and give them space.
The credit loan messages are so annoying it makes one want to smash the handset.
If the message are delivered once in every two or three days or even once a week, it would be less pestering.
However Digicel simply over-kills it.
People have allegedly lost credits for unexplained reasons.
The alleged amounts are usually in the toea range but the sheer volume of customers makes for a handsome gain for Digicel.
There have been many complaints about other products such as the Pay-TV service, and the Easy Pay system where the unsuspecting public have been allegedly robbed.
Now they are embarking on another product, the Cell Moni service which by no means is a charity service.
The main question here is: Is there more control and careful consideration exerted over finances by ordinary PNGeans?
Is it easy to control physical money or electronic money? Has the government given careful considerations about these products before allowing Digicel to roll them out?
A while ago the BIMA Insurance product also provided by Digicel folded leaving many ordinary PNGeans including myself high and dry.
The company has been very silent about how the monies can be refunded.
This reflects a big failure by the government to protect its citizens. Can a good corporate lawyer initiate a “class action” on behalf of BIMA clients?
On the customer care front, village people literally cry when they face such poor and disrespectful quality of service.
They cannot complain because the customer care services are allegedly too alienated and cumbersome.
They feel more comfortable talking to humans than computerised voice prompts that lead clients around in circles which frustrates even the educated person.
The use of computerised customer services means less jobs for PNGeans too which warrants scrutiny by the Labour Department.
Based on the spread and the variety of complaints raised by the citizens, any responsible government would be expected to step in and investigate this monster who steals every minute from millions of customers nationwide.
Can state bodies including National Information and Communications Technology Authority, Independent Consumer and Competition Commission, Labour and others look into Digicel’s marketing, promotions strategies, products and services?
You have a duty to protect the too trusting, unsuspecting clients of Digicel who are being allegedly ripped off by this cooperate client.

Concerned,
Morata II