Yesterday I wrote a post complaining about underhand and I dare say fraudulent length GLO in conjunction with a VAS company is going to increase their ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). Since then, a few things have happened
- The spam texts have become more desperate. Some of the recent texts i’ve received are “Gooday I met u, I am Rose, wht is ur name?”; “Can I be ur friend?”; “Pls reply me, I want us to chat, am Temi”; “Hello I am very sexy”. etc. I have received a few missed calls too.
- I have an idea of actual VAS company that is behind the ‘service’
- I have got a link that will enable me petition the NCC Executive Vice Chairman directly.
Why this is important.
Unlike Loy who says “rants don’t pay my bills. I’d rather focus on covering startups than waste my time debating telco fraud”, I think this is rather important
- Telcos occupy a rather extraordinarily powerful position in technology ecosystem they should be held to account for misdeeds tat affect a lot of people.
- This is directly related to 3rd party mobile services provided on their platform. If VAS services are abused and become generally known to be unsafe, it affects all of us. We are still trying to get people to start using digital payment methods.
- There is a debate about the role telcos should play in mobile money. If my small prepaid airtime is not safe with telcos, what is the risk of giving the same people access to all my money in the bank?
So I will do my best to follow this up. I am thinking writing to the EVC might be too harsh considering I have not made a complaint to GLO. So during run-around today, I will stop over at their head office to file a complaint formally. I will see how that goes before proceeding with my other options.
Your argument is so right…
Thanks!
please do follow up on this (all the way to NCC) and also copy the Glo customer service manager or director so they know its not to be taken lightly… someone needs these telcos of their commitments to customers. cheers!
Yup. I am trying to get the email addy of an executive in GLO who I will copy in my letter.
//There is a debate about the role telcos should play in mobile money. If my small prepaid airtime is not safe with telcos, what is the risk of giving the same people access to all my money in the bank?//…..
Why this does not make sense on many levels is that based on the CBN mobile payments framework telcos are not meant to be banks and wont have access to “all your money”. They will provide wallets which you may or may not decide to fund depending on your needs unlike a bank account that is the only alternative to having your money under your mattress. They will rather protect money in your bank account than help deplete it.Banks have already proven many times that they are not to be trusted but you still leave your money there anyway because you have no choice.
The power of the telco is with the subscriber they can decide to be with them or not to be. When mobile number portability is pulled off you can decide to move your number to a spam-less network even if it means you will only get service when you are in VI.
While Glo’s acts are despicable and I dont support them, I agree with Loy that rants are of no effect, action is better. I have ranted about GTBank without result and now I am acting with my feet. I am moving my account to Stanbic.
Try to petition the NCC for MNP to be fast-tracked and also agitate for more respect for privacy and consumer protection. We have a consumer protection agency at the national level that is useless and allows people to be promised aeroplanes when they have no private hangars or airports. Someone should remind them of their duty.
Thanks for your comment.
I think my post makes sense.
I said there is a debate. Because currently, there is constant lobbying going on by Telcos not wanting to be shackled to banks and allowed to go their own way. All it takes is a board meeting at CBN for things to change and for telcos to go alone.
But let us take what you said about them having access to “only” my wallet. The fundamental difference between a wallet and pre-paid credit is the limit a person will have at risk. The average top-up amount is a maximum of N500. However, using a wallet would mean you will have money in there for much more thank recharging/topping up. BTW, if I am sending money “to the village” (remittance) via mobile money like they are pushing for, it is possible that all the recipients money would be at risk.
As for number portability, this risk is industry wide therefore moving from one ‘insecure’ telco to another is not a great alternative. I want to telcos to regulate their practices or else an external body would do so.
As for Loy and his views on ranting. The job of the media is to be a watchdog. To fight the peoples fight, to bring awareness. However he states such posts do not feed him so who am I to argue? It is his prerogative to chose what he covers.
You hit the nail about the need for more consumer protection which is why we need to get people talking, ranting and petitioning. It is the job of everyone ESPECIALLY the media.
I am doing my best and will have an update by Monday hopefully.
Glo has been sending me text using the number 8888, through which the still credit like Judas who used to dip his hands into the treasury. I did not sign up for that service. Question , How long has this been going on? Are we no longer to have trust even in the administrators. say day when a network betrays the trust of its customers, but worse to steal from them….