Telkom's subcontractors

Some time ago, some men came to my house and announced that they wanted to change the connection box for the telephone cable. They were not using a company vehicle, had no Telkom identification badge or uniform and could not show me an assignment letter. Naturally I doubted their legality. So I called the 117 number to ask why a good telephone line needed to be disturbed. A few minutes later I was called back by the Telkom company telling me they didn't send any employees to this area. He thanked me for reporting the case and assured me that Telkom would send an examiner to check it out.

Without any announcement, two days later about 2 p.m. my telephone was suddenly out of order. When I left the house to visit a customer, who I was unable to phone, a group of people with ladders, tools and wires were in front of my house. One person pushed a form under my nose and ordered me to sign it. The paper had the logo of the Telkom company and was a declaration that the customer who signed it had received a connection box free of charge. As a result, the user would agree to be responsible for all the costs of maintaining and repairing the telephone equipment.

Twenty-six hours later my telephone was still out of order. And at the house across the street, whose resident is out of town, the cable was still cut off. What is happening in Medan?

Despite the fact that I have always paid my telephone bill on time, Telkom has cut me off without any warning. And they seem not to be responding to my complaints because the company handed over the maintenance to a subcontractor.

This subcontractor is not capable of doing the job correctly or handling it politely. My prior experience was that whenever the telephone system was malfunctioning, Telkom always responded promptly to any complaint and their employees were always polite and easy to recognize.

As far as I know, telephone subscribers pay a certain amount of money every month (Rp 20,500 without tax) for the use of the equipment. Users are not allowed to change anything because the equipment is the property of Telkom and that company is responsible for it.

If Telkom no longer wants to take care of the equipment, and let the user bear these operation costs, then surely this is not the legal way. According to law, no one (not even Telkom) is permitted to change an agreement if the other side does not agree to the change. Cutting the telephone cable to force the user to sign the agreement is an abuse of power. By permitting this behavior, any agreement between two parties can be ended if one of the parties does not want to adhere to it any longer. Think of the legal implications, no agreement would have any value any more.

Please Telkom, cut off the subcontractors, do the job yourself and don't resort to sneaky ways to achieve your goals. Make your slogan ring true:

* Setia melayani anda (Serving you faithfully).

* Mitra setia usaha anda (Your faithful business partner).

H.B. BREVOORT

Medan, North Sumatra