NICHOLAS, of Petaling Jaya, is having problems with his Maxis broadband service.

He had signed up for the service through an agent at a mall. There was no mention of any contract at the time - only a seven-day coo ling off period should there be any problems. “I found the Internet connection to be erratic. I was surfing at 7kb/s, which was no faster than a regular dial-up connection.

“Therefore, I lodge a complaint with Maxis and was told that it would take two working days to process my report. “I made the complaint on a weekend, so by the time my report was processed; the day would have been beyond my seven-day coo ling off period.” He was assured that all he had to loose was the RM 100.00 he paid as activation fees. NICHOLAS found no improvement to his connection after the complaint and decided to cancel his subscription, where to his horror, he was imposed a penalty of RM 1,300.00. “According to Maxis, I was tied down to a contract. I was asked to write an official letter to the branch manager, which I did, with two subsequent letters. “On Jan 17, I received a call from Maxis about my outstanding bill. “The caller said he would discuss the mater with his boss after I explained my financial situation to him,” says NICHOLAS, adding that he received a letter from a private collection agency, sent by Maxis, two days later. “This is unfair as I was told to lodge an official complaint, wait for what the Maxis bosses have to say but continued to be billed by Maxis and now threatened legally,” he says.

 v     A MAXIS Communications Berhad Corporate Communications department spokesman says:

“We have investigated NICHOLAS claims and regret our oversight in hand ling the matter. “We apologies to him for the inconvenience.” The spokesman clarifies that NICHOLAS has accepted their apology. He has returned his modem and has been released from his wireless broadband contract without any additional cost. The spokesman explains that the Maxis Wireless Broadband services have always been “contract-based” in which all customers are allowed a seven-day period from the date they signed up to terminate the service and return their modems, if they wish. “After this period, Maxis Wireless Broadband customers are bound to an 18-month Initial Term in their contracts with Maxis. “We would like to advise the public on the following before subscribing the stipulated Maxis 3G/HSDPA coverage area,” the spokesman says. She further advises the public to read the terms and conditions, which can be found in all registration forms that customers are obliged to sign when subscribing to Maxis services. “Call 1-800-822000 for coverage information or visit www.maxis.com.my/personal/general/tnc_maxisbroadband.asp. 

This complaint was sent to MCMC by NCCC for action :

Dear Ybhg Dato',

This is how bad the isu with these service agreements is. In the attached case the complainant is not happy with the service provided by Maxis Broadband but he cannot come out of it because he has signed his "death warrant". Is this fair to the consumer? The terms of these agreements protects the service provider only. What happens to the consumer like in this situation?

On top of this the Maxis spokesman arragontly puts the burden on consumers to ensure that they are within a certain coverage radius. Is it not the duty of the service provider to ensure that a person is indeed within that coverage area before performing the sale? Why is this burden put onto the consumer?

Dato', the MCMC would now have to look at this service agreement issue seriously in order to avoid more consumers from being shortchanged.

Following was reply from MCMC officials.

Dear Mr. Darshan,

This issue has already been addressed by SKMM with Maxis. In case such as these, Maxis will not be charging for any penalty. IT appears that this has not been communicated down to the operational level in Maxis.In fact this practice is also to be extended to Streamyx and Celcom Broadband.

Thank you.

MCMC