Arkib Aduan Pengguna 
| Complaints - Astro Customers Voice Out... |
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| Written by Administrator |
| Monday, 07 December 2009 17:01 |
 I would like to convey my displeasure over certain matters regarding Astro which I feel compelled to address. The account in question is ******, registered under Caroline. I live there with her and therefore feel I have a valid claim for my complaint.Firstly, after talking to a few friends and family, I found out that many are displeased with Astro. Yes sure, its easy to say that if you are unhappy, stop subscribing to Astro but at what cost. We are dependant on Astro to keep our elderly parents and children entertained. At the same time, there is a monopoly by Astro as there is no other such services provided by another company, thus we basicly have no choice. Reaslistically speaking, no other station can offer us coverage such as football matches or live world events. Yes, we also understand that nothing in life is free and everything comes with a cost. Failure to pay on the said date results in services being disconnected immediately. I understand that this is regardless if its only one month overdue. At the same time, RM 20 is charged. Telekom Malaysia is quite fair on this. They will make calls everyday before they disconnect their service. But even then , it is only partially disconnected and a time frame is given before full termination takes place. With Astro, no such warning is given and termination is done because the system does it automaticly. One has to understand, sometimes termination is done on the weekend or on Friday. Its difficult for people without credit cards to make payment because most of the other outlets are closed. Sometimes, payment is made on the said date, but if payment is made at a post office, its said that it takes 3 days for it to be processed, which also results in it being terminated. And then you have the customer service officer telling you that you should have made plans to pay it earlier. Sometimes, certain things in life are unavoidable, and being compassionate and waiting a day or two is not going to be that dectrimental. If a call is placed to Telekom about late payment, they are normally understanding and give an extension on the payment. Credit card payment is also the same. But Astro seems to be inflexible. With the rate of subscribers increasing, they should be trying to help us find ways to cut down on the bill payment instead of increasing it. Another thing that I think a lot of people are unhappy with is the compulsory subscription of the Family Channel. Since it is pay tv, we should be entitled to choose which package we want , but what Astro should do is enforce a minimum payment subscription to cover its cost , say at RM 30. Furthermore, TV 1, 2, 3, NTV 7, 8TV, 9TV are all free to air TV. It should not even be included in the basic package. It should just come free with Astro. Even though Astro can claim that they do not charge for it, but it still comes under the paid package. I dont think its fair to enforce packages that we do not want just because we are choiceless. I should be entitled to just subscribe, say to the sports package as long as I make the minimum payment for subscription. I made a call to Astro last night late, close to midnight and spoke to 'Harry'. He seemed to be a little irritated with my questions. But the thing that irked me was the line was cut of in the middle of our conversation. I was told all lines are cut off at 12 midnight, which is a little rude. All he had to say was that its closing time and for me to call back in the morning. But even if say, it was a technical error, its only right that he called me back immediately as it would have been more professional. Astro is good entertainment. It does provide good entertainment and all especially for children or my mum who spends most of her time indoors. But sometimes , it needs to look into what the people need as well as being flexible. If it rains at times, we are without the service for hours even if we paid for it, and we are understanding about it as it is an Act of God. Astro needs to be flexible and try to understand its consumers. Status : Matter has been escalated to the Officers in Astro, SKMM and KPDNKK and waiting for their feedback Advice : We urged consumers to voice out their dissatisfaction so that we can bring the matter raised to the service providers and some favorable changes can take place. "Together consumers unite for better changes" The right to voice is yours !!! Ms.Matheevani Marathandan Legal Executive/Complaint Handling Manager National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) Pusat Khidmat Aduan Pengguna Nasional |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 14 January 2010 04:58 |
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