Opinions of Friday, 20 July 2012
Columnist: Solomon, Magaret
Some time ago, I was making
a call when I realized I did not have enough credits, so I took advantage of Tigo’s
advertised “credit borrowing scheme” by requesting from Tigo some credits which
Tigo obliged. I could not use the credits Tigo borrowed to me because the
person I intended to call called me any way. Sometime later when I tried to use
the credits Tigo had taken back the credits it borrowed to me because according
to Tigo it was time bound. Yet, Tigo deducted the amount from my account
and with interest the next time I loaded credits on my phone. The point is
that, Tigo took my money and with interest, but did not give me any service.
Yesterday, I had a text
from Tigo shot code 304 with the following message: “Bonus Credit. Get 10mins for
only 12Gp (You save 60%) Just Reply Yes
to this message and get it now! Enjoy this special offer from Tigo.” I took
advantage of the offer and replied “Yes” to shot code 304. Some seconds later, I had
another text from Tigo shot code
304 saying: “kindly hold on your request
is pending. We will notify you when the service in activated” just
immediately, another text massage came in saying “Your request was successful, you
have received 10 mins for calls to
all Tigo lines, you were charged 12 Gp. Your offer is valid till 11:59pm TODAY” I
have not made any call with my Tigo line since yesterday, the offer has
expired and Tigo has profited by 12Gp without giving me any service. Tigo
should have warned its customers that the offer is time bound and also spell
out the terms and conditions of the offer.
Just imagine the millions
of customers Tigo has in Ghana, if just a hundred thousand of them replied to
this message and did not make any call, Tigo will make GH?12,000.00 free without
providing
any service to them. I wonder if protecting the Ghanaian from the likes of Tigo is
part of the NCA's mandate.
Magaret Solomon
Accra.