MARCH 6 — I find myself in the unenviable position of having to lodge a police report against my broadband provider.
How did it come to this? It was supposed to be a routine equipment upgrade; my brother’s broadband account had been upgraded and a new router was needed.
My brother was charged for the router, despite being told he wouldn’t need to pay if he agreed to extend his contract.
There was nothing on the provider’s website either that mentioned a payment was needed.
Weeks of dispute later and here’s the clincher: said provider insists my brother “signed” his agreement to pay for the modem.
My brother signed no such thing. Thus, if any signature was on any form, it would be a forgery.
Forgery is a criminal offence, and the maximum sentence is 20 years.
If you end up in such a situation, besides filing a police report (I do not look forward to the process) you should also complain to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
If your service provider has let you down and you have legitimate grouses (your broadband is awful, your phone carrier is down most of the time, you have billing issues and so on) do the Malaysian thing and complain.
It’s as easy as mobile banking:
1. Head to https://aduan.skmm.gov.my/
2. Click on the big green “New Complaint” button.
3. Select from the options of what kind of complaint you are lodging — there is even a helpful “Other” if your particular grouse isn’t listed.
4. After that, a page will then ask you for further details and, if needed, image attachments. This will be particularly useful for billing disputes/customer service issues. Screencaps are your friends.
5. Submit your complaint; you will then receive an auto-generated email with your assigned complaint number.
6. Keep the complaint number handy, as you may then use it to follow up with the MCMC on the status of your complaint.
I had previously had billing issues with my mobile carrier and reporting my problem to MCMC helped expedite the matter.
It might not always be the case, depending on MCMC’s caseload but well, it won’t hurt.
In the meantime, I, alas, will have to be shopping for a new broadband provider who will hopefully charge less and not have technicians with a penchant for crime. May your own Internet disputes be less drama-ridden.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
