Mobile: Complaints against the bills
Good news for consumers: quality of service of mobile operators and ISPs improve. The complaints have decreased by 28% in 2009 compared to the previous year, according to the latest report of the French association of telecommunications users AFUTT (www.afutt.org). "There is no doubt that operators and service consumers are making significant efforts", says AFUTT.
Of the 5 761 complaints received by the AFUTT in 2009, the Internet is the main black spot with 53% of complaints received, even if the improvement is constant for three years. The mobile focus, these, 33.8% of complaints.
In the hit parade of complaints, billing problems came first (16.2% of complaints), before the break of service (14.1%) and termination (14%).
However, "often the bill is not wrong", recognizes the AFUTT."This raises questions is the understanding of supply and lack of clarity in tariff." In mobile, the invoice is the primary source of litigation, almost four a complaint. On the Internet, this includes "Advance billings": the box has not yet been delivered but the subscription is already taken, or not requested options are added to the total payday loan lenders.
Despite progress, the AFUTT thus draws the whistle on three topics. First, the notion of unlimited misleading."The limit is over emphasized, even though it does not exist because there is still limited in volume, or area covered … Consumers are discovering to their cost," explains Jacques Pomonti, president of the AFUTT.
We remember the astronomical sums – up to 159 000 – claimed last fall to some customers for mobile Internet offers so-called unlimited.
"The fear of overheating"
Second concern of the association: the saturation of mobile and fixed networks. "With the explosion of mobile Internet usage and video on the fixed Internet, you are exposed to saturation of the networks. There are fears of overheating, warns Jacques Pomonti. Especially since the operators are not willing to pay only to offer more bandwidth, while some American content providers pocket all the profits. "