Telkom's subcontractors

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