Premium-rate call firms’ policies under spotlight
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Anatolia News Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 29, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - A parliamentary commission discusses the charging policies of premium-rate phone companies given the increasing number of complaints from the public. ’This matter is a cancer; it’s a very serious problem. It’s not five or 10 victims. There are thousands of them. There are thousands of complaints,’ says Ali Çetin, the head of a consumer rights foundation.
With complaints about companies that provide premium phone services -- such as sex lines, chat lines and phone-in competitions -- becoming more frequent, Parliament’s Petition Commission yesterday took up the issue.
It was reported that a citizen, who only wished to be cited by his initials M.B., applied to the petition commission requesting a separation of premium-rate phone lines from standard-rate phone lines. He wanted the lines to operate in a different number group, like "900" lines in order to have the option to block them.
M.B. said in the petition that although he blocked 900 numbers on his fixed phone line, his child used the company Globalstar’s chat lines through GSM, and the fixed line telecom company billed M.B. the equivalent of 633 Turkish liras in 2007. M.B., claiming that he had paid an unjust bill, applied to the arbitration board for consumer problems and the board ruled in his favor; however, when M.B. took the case to the Consumer Court, his appeal was rejected.
Unwilling to disconnect from the world
M.B. said he wanted to block his fixed phone line to GSM and Globalstar services just like he blocked the 900 lines, but when he applied he was told he would not be able to call with mobile phones from his fixed line and would only be able to make local calls. M.B. said he did not want to block his fixed line to mobile or international calls. "I cannot disconnect myself from the world. I have a child under 18; I cannot explain the situation to him," he said.
The commission invited officials from the Transport Ministry, Industry and Commerce Ministry, Telecommunications Authority, Ankara Chamber of Commerce, the GSM operators in Turkey and the Federation of Consumers’ Rights Foundations, or TÜDEF, to the meeting.
Ali Çetin, chairman for TÜDEF, spoke to the Anatolia news agency on the subject and said there were serious problems with services offering chats with sexual content, music downloads and football data. Çetin said the problems emerged particularly from children’s "misguided" use of such services.
Çetin said GSM operators should offer the option to block these kinds of services. "Technically, this is possible. But the GSM operators do not want to give up their profits. They do not want to fix this unjust treatment of their customers," he said.
Çetin said consumers were cheated when they accepted text messages they received without knowing the content. Çetin argued that GSM operators should terminate their contracts with companies that send such messages. "This matter is a cancer; it’s a very serious problem. It’s not five or 10 victims. There are thousands of them. There are thousands of complaints," he said.
It was reported that a citizen, who only wished to be cited by his initials M.B., applied to the petition commission requesting a separation of premium-rate phone lines from standard-rate phone lines. He wanted the lines to operate in a different number group, like "900" lines in order to have the option to block them.
M.B. said in the petition that although he blocked 900 numbers on his fixed phone line, his child used the company Globalstar’s chat lines through GSM, and the fixed line telecom company billed M.B. the equivalent of 633 Turkish liras in 2007. M.B., claiming that he had paid an unjust bill, applied to the arbitration board for consumer problems and the board ruled in his favor; however, when M.B. took the case to the Consumer Court, his appeal was rejected.
Unwilling to disconnect from the world
M.B. said he wanted to block his fixed phone line to GSM and Globalstar services just like he blocked the 900 lines, but when he applied he was told he would not be able to call with mobile phones from his fixed line and would only be able to make local calls. M.B. said he did not want to block his fixed line to mobile or international calls. "I cannot disconnect myself from the world. I have a child under 18; I cannot explain the situation to him," he said.
The commission invited officials from the Transport Ministry, Industry and Commerce Ministry, Telecommunications Authority, Ankara Chamber of Commerce, the GSM operators in Turkey and the Federation of Consumers’ Rights Foundations, or TÜDEF, to the meeting.
Ali Çetin, chairman for TÜDEF, spoke to the Anatolia news agency on the subject and said there were serious problems with services offering chats with sexual content, music downloads and football data. Çetin said the problems emerged particularly from children’s "misguided" use of such services.
Çetin said GSM operators should offer the option to block these kinds of services. "Technically, this is possible. But the GSM operators do not want to give up their profits. They do not want to fix this unjust treatment of their customers," he said.
Çetin said consumers were cheated when they accepted text messages they received without knowing the content. Çetin argued that GSM operators should terminate their contracts with companies that send such messages. "This matter is a cancer; it’s a very serious problem. It’s not five or 10 victims. There are thousands of them. There are thousands of complaints," he said.