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Myanmar: Number of consumer complaints set to double this year: official

The Department of Consumer Affairs says that 80 percent of the complaints it receives from the public is regarding telecommunications service providers.

This was revealed by the department’s director U Myint Cho during a press conference earlier this week.

There are currently four companies providing telecommunications services in the country: Myanma Posts and Telecommunications, Oredoo, Telenor,and  My Tel.

“The most common complaints we receive are regarding matters such as being billed for services that weren’t subscribed to or having service terminated unreasonably. However, the companies already have customer-service lines and apps that customers can use at anytime of the day. In many cases, the people who complained to the department would have been better served if they had used their telco’s customer-service facilities.

“Only if the issue is something that can’t be resolved through those channels should members of the public get in touch with the department,” U Myint Cho said, adding that the department is expecting to receive twice as many complaints as it did all of last year.

“For the whole of last year, the department received 400 complaints. We are only in the second week of May this year, but we have already received 500.”

One member of the public who spoke to Myanmar Times said, customer-service hotlines were not helpful in resolving his issues.

“I topped up my phone with K3000 worth of credit one night, but by the next morning I had only K800 in credit left. I thought I was being billed for nothing so I called my service provider’s customer-service line only to get a recording. My problem was only solved after I commented on the company’s Facebook page,” said U Tun.

U Myint Cho said, based on the number of complaints received so far this year, the number of people becoming more aware of their rights as consumers is on the rise and this is an encouraging sign.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/number-consumer-complaints-set-double-year-official.html