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.