Money for nothing for the cellular phone companies

Money for nothing for the cellular phone companies

By William Furney

JAKARTA (JP): If you think the basic law of business is giving
something (usually money) in return for a product or service,
think again. In what may be an ironic twist amid continuing
revelations of corruption, some Indonesian companies appear to be
taking customers' cash and giving nothing in return. "It's our
regulations," they chant.

What's raising punters' blood pressure is credit expiry dates
on prepaid cell phone cards. Cards from the likes of Telkomsel,
Satelindo and Exelcomindo. If a cell phone is not reloaded with
credit before the expiration of existing credit, you loose the
cash. Worse still, you'll lose the cell phone number if you fail
to reload a month after the active period expires.

"It's very unfair," says Fajar, 24. "I forgot to reload my
card and lost my credit balance of Rp 190,000. I called the
company but they said I couldn't have my credit back. This is
cheating as they have my money but I have nothing in return."

Just how many people lose out each month, and how much are the
companies reaping in easy money?

Data from the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) show that
since the beginning of the year, from a litany of complaints
ranging from objection of prepaid card time limit to low signal,
loss of remaining credit comes out tops. YLKI chairwoman Indah
Suksmaningsih says complaints relating to lost call credit have
been mounting since the start of the year. "People are
complaining because their money is gone as they forgot to reload
their cards. This is the biggest complaint we're getting in terms
of cell phone cards."

Customer service manager at Exelcomindo, the newest player on
the market, Grace Henny says the company receives a number of
complaints every month from customers who have lost their credit.
Although not sure of the exact data, because "the system clears
all the credit on the due date," a number of complaints are
forwarded to her. "People don't understand why it happens, why
they loose their credit. But I explain our regulations to them."

Countries other than Indonesia, particularly in Western
Europe, adopt a system whereby call card credit does not have an
expiry date. When the credit runs out, whenever that is, the
customer reloads at their leisure.

Grace says she too feels "very annoyed" when she forgets to
reload and loses credit. "But my company has a certain strategy
and we have to recoup our investment and pay interest," she says.

According to Exelcomindo, their customers are not overly
concerned about this. "Our target market is people who care more
about their cell phones and not the charges. They are not price
sensitive," says Grace. In terms of setting a time limit on
prepaid calls, it's "a very high-level policy that was decided by
our management."

In the early days of cell phonedom, service providers were
caught out. Monthly billing meant customers could call anyone,
anywhere at will. Until the bill dropped through the mailbox and
they couldn't pay. The companies admit they've been badly stung
and now have what some see as overly strict application measures
for the billing system. But, as some customers point out, it
works both ways.

"I ran up a cell phone bill of almost Rp 2 million. As I was
changing address anyway, I didn't pay it. I don't feel guilty
about it at all," disclosed Noor (not her real name). The
23-year-old secretary says many of her pals had large monthly
bills in the past -- up to Rp 3 million -- and didn't pay up.
"These companies are thieves. They steal from us and we steal
from them. We're just playing the system, that's all," she
maintains.

If you are unfortunate enough not to reload 30 days after your
active period expires, Exelcomindo will take your number back and
sell it to someone else. "The number is deactivated and we keep
it for a minimum of three months. After that, it is recycled,"
said an Exelcomindo service representative.

The euphemism "recycled," despite the fact that new numbers
are sold for vastly inflated prices at mall kiosks, over which
there seems to be little or no control. So what, you may ask, are
you buying? Those familiar with the European timeshare brouhaha
in the 1980s may relate to this situation. Back then, if you
purchased an apartment for two weeks of the year in Lanzarote,
the Canary Islands, for example, you had to make yearly
"maintenance" payments amounting to many thousands of dollars. If
a payment was not made, you lost the apartment, and with it your
investment.

Marketing and communications officer at Satelindo Ellen says
if customers don't read the company's brochure they think
Satelindo is "tricky." "It's hard for us as they won't read
anything," she says.

Satelindo, currently boasting 1 million customers, adopts the
same regulations and practices as other cell phone providers in
the country: loss of credit after the active period and number
after one month, which is then resold. Ellen said customers who
buy the Mentari starter pack (Rp 440,000, including Rp 300,000
call credit) own the number but that Satelindo, whose customers
complained most about credit loss to YLKI, will deactivate and
resell it if the card is not continually reloaded.

On a personal level, Ellen said if she were a customer, and
not working for Satelindo, she would think the practice was
unfair. "I'd want good service; if I was a customer, I'd
complain."

"We do get complaints and we have to point out our
regulations," she said.

A customer service representative at the smallest player
Komselindo, Eka, said on average the company received between
three and four complaints about loss of credit each day. "They
are angry because the credit on their Gesit cards has gone as
they have forgotten to reload. They don't understand what the
regulations are," she said.

A better deal is to be had at Telkomsel. Prepaid card
customers get a 30-day grace period (after 60 days of active
time) in which to reload. Failure to comply during that time will
see your remaining credit and number flitter away. "If the
customer recharges his/her card during this grace period, the
card will be reactivated. Any remaining credit that was still in
the account when the active period ran out will be accumulated to
the newly recharged amount, so customers will not lose any
money," said Telkomsel's general marketing manager, Erik Meijer.

He said the amount of deactivated numbers each month at
Telkomsel is, "a few thousand -- mainly customers choosing to
stop using the simPATI card and those moving to another service.

"We even advertise that people will not lose their remaining
pulse credit after the active period of their number runs out.
Other operators seem to delete this remaining credit in the grace
period," said Eric.

But don't rush out and buy Telkomsel's simPATI starter pack
just yet, as the company says it has none in stock.

For Noor and friends, it's a case of bucking the system. For
the rest of us, it's caveat emptor, and reading the small print.