Getting Ripped By Ais

[welo]

When you have a provider who gives free minutes.. Do they tell you when your monthly free minutes are up ??

Yeah, I've occasionally seen such messages on my or my wife's phone. Not sure though whether they were real or just SPAM trying to lure me into another business transaction.

I will try to explain you my point with another example: There are companies that will give benefits to long-term customers - e.g. a free gift like a free car wash, a free book, a discount on the next purchase, free telephone minutes, or whatsoever - in order to maintain a positive relationship and make sure the customer does not even think about doing business somewhere else.

And there are companies that will give you 'free' gifts, e.g. a free hotel stay for 1 day at a 5-star resort. However, in the fineprints they tell you that you have to stay at least 3 days and have to pay 2 days on your own. When you arrive at the hotel you notice that the hotel currently runs a promotion but your company charges you the list price, so that in the end you pay for 2 days the same as if you had booked the hotel yourself for 3 days.

I personally would feel betrayed (or maybe better: disrespected) by a company that will just offer me the 'free' hotel stay mentioned in the second example, even if there is nothing to complain about it in legal terms.

Note: this example is not intended to illustrate the discussed dispute with AIS, but rather to show examples of different company strategies when it comes to doing business. Because surely every company will always try to make profit with their customers, but there are different ways of doing it.

And the logical next question is, which company strategy is more successful in the long run, assuming enough competition is trying to succeed on the market.

welo

[spacemunk]

All that talking about contracts and fineprints etc is basically right, when you look at it only from a legal perspective. What IMHO some posters are lacking here is an understanding of customer service and customer protection. The first is a matter of company policy and market demand, the latter a moral matter to protect a person usually less powerful (the consumer) to be exploited by a more powerful 'person' (the company). We obiously share different opinions here (LivinLOS, HDRIDER, momoson).

I also notice that the discussion kind of goes circles since some focus on the legal perspective, and some on the 'customer experience'.

Wheras I tried to make the point that I - as somebody advocating customer service - understand that AIS did nothing wrong from a legal perspective (at least according to Thai law which doesn't care too much about consumer protection), I fail to see some supporters of the 'legal perspective' group respond to my questions. Probably because from a legal point of view they are not relevant.

About the matter of OPs outstanding bills, I would go with what monty said:

That said, AIS is normally eager to waive charges so you stay on with them. A friendly chat should help out there! Do keep us updated on how they handle it!

welo

The OPs problem is not about "why he got billed for something which he didnt do."

Its about a Iphone User not knowing how the Iphone actually works.

Its the same thing as (a student telling the teacher the dog ate his homework).

It all boils down to the OPs mistake not knowing how to operate the Iphone in a proper way.

Example: If you forget to turn the cars ignition totally off , you drain the battery totally.

Iphone - you dont off everything connected to WiFi/GPRS , you still get or are connected to the internet by any other Application.

[welo]

The OPs problem is not about "why he got billed for something which he didnt do."

Its about a Iphone User not knowing how the Iphone actually works.

[...]

Iphone - you dont off everything connected to WiFi/GPRS , you still get or are connected to the internet by any other Application.

Absolutely right, this is, again, the legal perspective. My questions are about customer service and customer protection, to avoid problems like this (due to user errors) in the first place:

• Why AIS doesn't send a SMS when the 30hrs are over?
  
• Why the bill doesn't allow the customer to find out about such a user error
  

And again, we go in circles here since many people avoid to give me a straight answer to my question, wheras I do when acknowledging that (in my opinion) there actually was a user error involved.

From other posts in this topic it seems that there might indeed be a chance that AIS will not insist on its legal rights but compromise in favor of the customer when approached in a certain manner.

welo

[benchmark]

When you have a provider who gives free minutes.. Do they tell you when your monthly free minutes are up ??

Yeah, I've occasionally seen such messages on my or my wife's phone. Not sure though whether they were real or just SPAM trying to lure me into another business transaction.

I will try to explain you my point with another example: There are companies that will give benefits to long-term customers - e.g. a free gift like a free car wash, a free book, a discount on the next purchase, free telephone minutes, or whatsoever - in order to maintain a positive relationship and make sure the customer does not even think about doing business somewhere else.

And there are companies that will give you 'free' gifts, e.g. a free hotel stay for 1 day at a 5-star resort. However, in the fineprints they tell you that you have to stay at least 3 days and have to pay 2 days on your own. When you arrive at the hotel you notice that the hotel currently runs a promotion but your company charges you the list price, so that in the end you pay for 2 days the same as if you had booked the hotel yourself for 3 days.

I personally would feel betrayed (or maybe better: disrespected) by a company that will just offer me the 'free' hotel stay mentioned in the second example, even if there is nothing to complain about it in legal terms.

Note: this example is not intended to illustrate the discussed dispute with AIS, but rather to show examples of different company strategies when it comes to doing business. Because surely every company will always try to make profit with their customers, but there are different ways of doing it.

And the logical next question is, which company strategy is more successful in the long run, assuming enough competition is trying to succeed on the market.

welo

You are absolutely right. They gave me a discount card and said it can be used for discounts in many places including Major Cinema and when I gave it to the Major people (I had no hopes in getting discounts anyway but just wanted to try) they said they wont accept it. Well its bit shameful when that happens but who cares. Its a one way street like you said the company is calling the shots not the customer.

[benchmark]

All that talking about contracts and fineprints etc is basically right, when you look at it only from a legal perspective. What IMHO some posters are lacking here is an understanding of customer service and customer protection. The first is a matter of company policy and market demand, the latter a moral matter to protect a person usually less powerful (the consumer) to be exploited by a more powerful 'person' (the company). We obiously share different opinions here (LivinLOS, HDRIDER, momoson).

I also notice that the discussion kind of goes circles since some focus on the legal perspective, and some on the 'customer experience'.

Wheras I tried to make the point that I - as somebody advocating customer service - understand that AIS did nothing wrong from a legal perspective (at least according to Thai law which doesn't care too much about consumer protection), I fail to see some supporters of the 'legal perspective' group respond to my questions. Probably because from a legal point of view they are not relevant.

About the matter of OPs outstanding bills, I would go with what monty said:

That said, AIS is normally eager to waive charges so you stay on with them. A friendly chat should help out there! Do keep us updated on how they handle it!

welo

The OPs problem is not about "why he got billed for something which he didnt do."

Its about a Iphone User not knowing how the Iphone actually works.

Its the same thing as (a student telling the teacher the dog ate his homework).

It all boils down to the OPs mistake not knowing how to operate the Iphone in a proper way.

Example: If you forget to turn the cars ignition totally off , you drain the battery totally.

Iphone - you dont off everything connected to WiFi/GPRS , you still get or are connected to the internet by any other Application.

Hey try ton pick a better example than the one you used in your school days.

[welo]

You are absolutely right. They gave me a discount card and said it can be used for discounts in many places [...]

Just wanted to emphasize that my example (the free hotel stay) was NOT an actual experience with AIS or any other Thai company, I just wanted to illustrate my point on different strategies how companies can deal with a customer.

Hey try ton pick a better example than the one you used in your school days.

I hope you don't show communication skills like this when talking to AIS, I am not sure it will serve you well

Did you talk to AIS again, did they offer anything so far?

welo

[benchmark]

You are absolutely right. They gave me a discount card and said it can be used for discounts in many places [...]

Just wanted to emphasize that my example (the free hotel stay) was NOT an actual experience with AIS or any other Thai company, I just wanted to illustrate my point on different strategies how companies can deal with a customer.

Hey try ton pick a better example than the one you used in your school days.

I hope you don't show communication skills like this when talking to AIS, I am not sure it will serve you well

Did you talk to AIS again, did they offer anything so far?

welo

Hey, I got that sorted with them. They will put me on 999 Baht unlimited package and recalculate the usage according to the same package for the last few months too. So no problems there, it was a happy ending. I thought you already saw my comment.

[welo]

Hey, I got that sorted with them. They will put me on 999 Baht unlimited package and recalculate the usage according to the same package for the last few months too. So no problems there, it was a happy ending. I thought you already saw my comment.

Yes, I missed that somehow Glad to here that.

[benchmark]

You are absolutely right. They gave me a discount card and said it can be used for discounts in many places [...]

Just wanted to emphasize that my example (the free hotel stay) was NOT an actual experience with AIS or any other Thai company, I just wanted to illustrate my point on different strategies how companies can deal with a customer.

Hey try ton pick a better example than the one you used in your school days.

I hope you don't show communication skills like this when talking to AIS, I am not sure it will serve you well

Did you talk to AIS again, did they offer anything so far?

welo

Welo it was not meant for you. It was meant for the comment below.

"Its the same thing as (a student telling the teacher the dog ate his homework)."

Hey try to pick a better example than the one you used in your school days.

[welo]

Welo it was not meant for you. It was meant for the comment below.

Sure, I know. Still a bit provoking while I was trying to lead the discussion on a non-personal level

welo

[vicharnuchsiri]

Does anyone know how to set up iphone to usbe with Blackberry 650 package on AIS I'm still being charged 1 Baht per minute. Now I just turned the phone off and use the other phone.

[selftaopath]

Their call centre staff all speak good English and will resolve any problems quickly.

I have not found this to be true. I have called - practically begged them to STOP sending me text messages for various advertisements. Do you think they take my requests seriously? NOT EVEN. They seem to do as they very well please and continue sending SMS messages to me (and probably other) any time day or night. I really don't like it when they send them around midnight. Not only intrusive but just plain rude in my opinion. Can anybody tell me how to finally get them to STOP. FYI I have asked Thai person to request this also.

Cheers,

Keoki