A subscriber's lack of rejection of any offer can't be treated as acceptance, says TRA
The UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has obliged the country's telecom operators etisalat (Emirates Telecommunications Corporation) and du (Emirates Integrated Telecommunications) to not collect any cancellation fee from customers for services they did not request to be subscribed to.
The TRA told Arabic daily Emarat Al Youm that telecom operators are not eligible for imposing any fees on users without the prior and complete approval of the subscribers.
The authority noted that service providers should not take a subscriber's lack of rejection of any offer as affirmative, and therefore should not automatically enroll subscriber's to such services.
The TRA confirmed that the operators should inform the subscribers through a written notification, and stressed its obligations to protect subscribers from deception and distortion, and practices of marketing and the inappropriate communication in the market.
Emarat Al Youm said it received several complaints from subscribers of both operators in the UAE where they said they were surprised for being charged cancellation fee from the credit on their mobiles as a result of their request for cancellation of services.
The complainants stressed they did not request subscription of such services in the first place and were therefore alarmed to learn that they would be charged between Dh100 and Dh200 as cancellation fees.
They explained that some of these services fall under the category of electronic marketing messages sent to the receiver on their mobile phones without the consent, or so-called spam messages.
The TRA stressed the need for the operators to fix prices on services and conditions of cancellation and the time zone in a prominent place in the contract between the operator and the subscribers.
The TRA highlighted that the operator should alert subscribers during the signing of the contract to any financial obligations that he or she might entail, especially in the case of cancellation of service.
The TRA also advised telecom operators to not force their subscribers into utilizing services they did not request for. The TRA as well added the operators have no right to charge for cancellation of such services.
The TRA asked participants to submit complaints to operators, and in case they weren't satisfied with the operators' response, to then submit a complaint to the TRA.
© Emirates 24|7 2012
