Terminating Internet Contract With Cat Telecom Hinet Premium

[jamiesensei]

Hi,

Wondering if anyone has tried to terminate their contract with their ISP because of the failure of the ISP to provide a usable service?

I have been on Cat Telecom Premium Hi-Net for around 3 years here in Chiang Mai. For the first 18 months I was with them the connection was great although expensive. I paid for the premium 2,600 2 Mbps connection for the first 18 months.

Restarted 12 month contract 3/4 months ago

About 6 months ago I changed my contract as prices had come down but unless I changed my contract I was stuck with the original price I signed on with. I changed to using a G-DSL 2 Mbps up and 2 Mbps down internet connection which was offered at the same price I was paying for my old adsl connection. Unfortunately this new connection was dropping the connection all the time so I went back to using plain old adsl. They changed me back to the 2 Mbps adsl I was on previously to changing my connection. I asked them to up the speed to 3 Mbps down 1 Mbps up, which was offered at 2,600 B too, but I am not really sure if they ever did this.

After restarting contract my internet connection is completely unusable

Since having entered into a new contract my internet connection is completely unusable. I have had the technicians over 4/5 times to fix my connection. They manage to get it running when they are here for about 5 minutes then they leave and inevitably it breaks down again almost immediately after they are gone. It comes up for about 2 minutes and then I lose the connection again for 2 minutes repeatedly ad infinitum. And this is after paying for a premium connection!

Visited Office and Attempted to Terminate Contract

Was at the cat telecom service point in the central airport mall yesterday and telling them I wanted to terminate my contract. But they say they want me to pay 3 months internet fees to terminate as I entered into a new contract 3-4 months ago. I think they said I have to pay for a minimum of the first 6 months. This seems absolutely outrageous to me as I have already paid for 3-4 months for a internet connection I cannot use. After some persistence she said I could right out the reason why I wanted to terminate and they would check their records and her boss would consider if they could let me off with out a fine.

Their Usage Records

In some cases it seems that they can terminate the contract with no fine. But they look at their records and see if there has been anyone using the connection at all and if there has then I am thinking they will use that as evidence to support not allowing you to back out of the contract. I have attempted to use the connection repeatedly while I have had it obviously I can occasionally access a few pages of a web site through it before it cuts out again, I have had a ToT home connection and when that one cuts out roughly every hour then I use the CAT telecom one for a few minutes (or more often seconds) until that one cuts out. So according to their records there has been some use. Although it is still totally useless.

Also since the technician last time he came left the wireless router with no password but I am locked out of the settings for the router the wireless router has been open for anyone to use for some time!

Where to go from here - Thai version of consumer rights bureau??

I have the form they gave me to write out the reason why I want to quit and will submit that to them and I guess just see what happens. I am willing to pay usage charges up to the date I went to the office yesterday but do not want to have to pay a fine for opting out of a completely defective service.

My girlfriend mentioned that there is a Thai consumer bureau that offers consumer advice in situations like this. Wonder if it is worth contacting them if as it seems I don't get much joy from the company itself. Obviously I don't want to go to the Thai equivalent of a small claims court or anything like that but maybe if a consumer bureau got involved on my behalf then things might be considered a little more favorably by this faceless Cat Telecom boss who is going to decide my case. I do speak Thai or my girlfriend can on my behalf, does anyone know of such a service and their contact details?? I realize that I shouldn't expect too much of such a bureau in Thailand.

Am tempted to pay the 7,800 B for the remaining 3 months of payments just to be shot of this whole deal and avoid the ongoing hassle but maybe I should stick it out to insist on not having to pay for a defective service, if more people did this then maybe Cat and other service providers would get their act together to protect their bottom line.

Incidentally

I need a good internet connection since I work online. While having all these problems with Cat signed up for a ToT home service. This service is kind of reasonable but cuts out every hour for 2 minutes. Still usable but very annoying!

Just signed up for a True home connection as well. Was really happy for the first 24 hours but now that has lost it's adsl signal entirely and cannot reconnect! Am just hopeful that True will sort out this problem quickly since they have 24 hour call out for their technicians. The True service was recommended to me by a friend who runs an internet shop just round the corner.

Argghhh!

Jamie

Edited September 23, 2010 by jamiesensei

[jamiesensei]

Ah! Some good news to report! My True internet connection, now my third internet connection has just come back up again and is going strong. Seems to have fixed itself for now!

[electau]

How far are you from the exchange? If your telephone line has been checked and complies with the minimum standards for an ASDL connection, check the settings of your wireless router. A speed of 2Mbps is not high.

Have you tried to conect using a standard router RJ45/RJ12 connection?

Drop outs could be caused by heavy network usage and insufficient capacity of the ISP (Cat Telecom) to service its customers.

You definately have a genuine complaint.

And you should enable security on your wireless router.

Why do the techs have to visit your site? Most tests can be done remotely by the ISP when you are on-line.

If you have a SNR of more than 56dB on your telephone line you could experience connectivity problems.

You have two conections with different ISPs on the same telephone line?

Edited September 24, 2010 by electau

[bangkokcitylimits]

'completely unusable service because of constant dropping of connection' (and completely incompetent in problem solving solutions and NEVER keeping appointments to visit me of course without notice, or even to call me back as promised, a 6 year old in Europe would perform better!)

First with TOT in Chiang Mai 'we so solly technician not come because today have rain and technician have motorbike only' (believe it or not) then with TT&T and then with 3BB outside of Chiang Mai, when a talk with a manager with a kind request to waive the bill (e.g. because you 'lost many customers and lost money' thanks to their service -in Thailand it's traditionally not done to disturb people's work or income-) if this does not work just stop paying, months later you might get letter from a collecting office but just trash it, worked fine for me both times.

No good - no pay, simple.

[jamiesensei]

talk with a manager with a kind request to waive the bill (e.g. because you 'lost many customers and lost money' thanks to their service -in Thailand it's traditionally not done to disturb people's work or income-)

Will try this approach first. This will be in effect what I will be doing by filling out the form they have asked me to fill, which will be passed on to a manager.

if this does not work just stop paying, months later you might get letter from a collecting office but just trash it, worked fine for me both times.

No good - no pay, simple.

Have been given the phone no of a friendly lawyer who I intend to consult if I have no luck with my first approach. I don't fancy just not paying as I fear I may be credit black listed or get into some other trouble that may affect me in the long term. I intend to be here in Thailand long term.

Feels like this is turning into a bit of a battle but will take it easy and just put my best foot forward and try to remain jai yen about the whole thing. :-)

[jamiesensei]

You definately have a genuine complaint.

Yes.

And you should enable security on your wireless router.

I have now. I have turned the router off. :-) The best form of security.

Cannot enable any other form as they have somehow locked down the routers settings.

You have two conections with different ISPs on the same telephone line?

No. I have three connections all using different telephone lines! Have no telephones at all, except the mobile variety.

[jamiesensei]

Hi,

A little update.

Wanted to say that my True internet connection here in Chiang Mai is great. I guess your mileage may vary in other parts of the country or even other parts of Chiang Mai but here, for me, right now, it is very reliable and blisteringly fast. Another nice thing about True is that they do not require house registration documents to sign up, I signed up just with my passport.

I translated pretty much what I said above into Thai and gave it to Cat Telecom. They are looking into the reason why there was a problem and will get back to me with a decision in 2 weeks. Am guessing since the technicians could not fix the problem in the 4 months I had it they may also not be able to find the reason for the problem in their network and will try to blame it on me somehow, but we will see.

Jamie