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Cancel telecom services is an arduous task

26/08/2013

This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.

 

 

 

 

 



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No Signal: Nivalda Aguiar signed Claro TV in October 2012, but never got to use the service, since both devices burned Photo: Simone Navy / O Globo

RIO - The difficulty to cancel telecommunications services is growing at about the same proportion of bids placed on the market for telecom operators, broadband and pay TV. According to a survey conducted by Procon-SP, complaints about the theme tripled from 2011 to 2012: from 333 to a thousand. Between January and July this year, now total 555 records with consumer problems to suspend contracts with the telcos.

The difficulty canceling contracts, incidentally, is one of the top three complaints that reach the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), which receives about 2.5 million calls per year. Problems canceling reached such proportions that the regulator is working on a new regulation that will make cancellation simpler services. The proposal - which is part of the new regulation "Service, Billing and Offer Consumers the Telecommunications Services" - predicts that clients may terminate contracts automatically in the call centers and even the websites of the companies.

According to Fatima Lemos, technical advisor for the Procon-SP, the new regulations on the subject that is being analyzed by the technical regulatory agency by itself, will not make much difference:

- Do not miss regulation. The decree which ordered the installation of SACs in 2008, foresaw the possibility of cancellation without difficulties, as well as Anatel rules already in place. The problem is that the carriers insist on retaining customers. The FCC should have more flexibility in making arrangements. Could gather operators, exposing the situation, seek compromise and prevent cases multiply - evaluates Fatima.

Billing for services not rendered
In the reports referred to Procon says the expert, consumers say that besides wasting time with endless calls to call centers and being forced to collect protocol numbers, usually have financial losses with the delay of the cancellation. Is that operators, say, charge even if the services are not being used.
The cultural producer Nivalda Aguiar, for example, is being charged since October last year, the pay TV Claro, Embratel Originally, he never used. The service was not even to be activated, the two devices burned when the technician tried to install them:

- He put the antenna on the roof and when it was installing the decoder, the unit caught fire. In a second attempt, the same thing happened and the problem was not the power grid from my house. I told him I no longer wanted the service, that was absurd. I called the company and ordered the immediate cancellation. Even so, they were discounting my current account as the invoice was in debit.

Another consumer who is suffering to cancel service with the course is the businesswoman Sandra Chavantes, who hired in June 2012, four cell lines - two basic and two with internet:

- In the second bill began to charge for internet in a baseline.
Sandra went to the Court, requesting punitive damages and damages for unauthorized charges made by the course. The lawyer Marcelo Nogueira, a specialist in civil law and consumer requested an injunction to prevent further charges, a negative name and restrictions or blocking services, but the court denied, considering the damage repairable.

- We double the return of the amounts collected in bad faith, because the company had already received more than 20 protocols that service was not requested or used. In addition, the bill came to be locked during the recent demonstrations in the streets of downtown Rio, preventing the entrepreneur to manage your business in a moment of obvious risk - Nogueira says.

Beware advantages
On the case of Nivalda, Claro / Embratel said it canceled the contract and the invoices. The company said the reimbursement of amounts wrongly charged would be carried out "on a date agreed with the customer." Regarding Sandra, Claro said he adjusted the values of the invoice of May and that there would be subsequent credit account. The carrier said the service had been canceled and did not appear on invoices July and August.

Cancel the cable TV was not easy for the merchant Sérgio Mendonça de Souza. In May, he contacted Sky to ask for suspension of the contract, yet still continued to receive invoice:

- I'd call the call center and the attendants said that the cancellation was not in the system. I said I had protocols, but no use. It's a situation where we feel powerless.

The Sky is said to have deposited the customer's checking account the amount charged more.
The musician Moreira Irenaeus, St. Paul, says he is sorry to have agreed to continue with the internet Vivo after trying to cancel the service:

- To convince me to continue as a customer, they offered me to increase the speed to 50Mb, keeping the price of 25Mb. But that was not what happened. Four months ago I have to call and ask to return that which is charged extra.

Vivo said the problem should be solved in the coming days.


Read more about this topic in http://oglobo.globo.com/economia/cancelar-servicos-de-telecom-tarefa-ardua-9693184 # ixzz2d4kDCCqR
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Source: The Globe - Online

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