[auchan]

Hi all,
I signed up for a 3g plan for my blackberry, thinking that I could use it for gprs data. The sales associate who was at one of the outside stalls didn't know any better either.

It turns out you need a specialized Blackberry data plan in order to have gprs enabled. So the plan I have now is pretty useless... all it can do is be used for regular phone service.

Does anyone have any experience in cancelling the PCCW 3G contract (it doesn't seem possible). When I told them I wanted to switch to a Blackberry Enterprise Plan they said it wasn't possible (even though they'd be making more money!!)

Please help!!!

[auchan]

Our Reference:1958829/KMM3957929I1L0KM

Dear Aug,

Thank you again for your email.

Having looked into your account profile, I would like to let you know
that the captioned mobile account xxxx-xxxx has signed 6 months contract
with us with effective from 17 March to 16 September 2008. Under this
contract, your service fee is $198.00 per month and you are offering
$130 rebate at the 6th bill statement as well free VAS (now TV and MOOV)
for your mobile service.

As perhaps, there may have been a miscommunication between our staff and
you during the service registration. At the normal circumstances, our
sales representatives must provide the full details of service to
customer and completed the order after received the customer's
agreement and signature on the contract. However, the mobile service
was activated by your consent with signature. Under this situation, we
regret that we are unable to comply with your request to change the
service from voice to Blackberry service.

Should you have any other queries, please feel free to email us again or
contact our 24-hour Customer Care Hotline at 1833 800.

Yours sincerely,

Sophia
Customer Service Department
PCCW Mobile Service
Contact us: cs@pccwmobile.com

[PDLM]

That is shockingly bad English for PCCW - they're normally better than that in my experience. (Although of course PCCW Mobile is still essentially Sunday, not PCCW.)

Anyway, I would go to a PCCW shop and haggle - the people in the shops are on commission, and if you are upgrading from $198/month (expensive by the way for a basic 3G service) to, say, $300/month for Blackberry then they should be able to work out a way, particularly if you commit to a longer timeframe.

[KnowItAll]

Get the consumer council involved .... worst case scenario, drop a note to the consumer column in the SCMP.

The telco industry should have something like the financial sector and offer a 1 week time incase you need to change your mind.

I know one of the vendors (who I shall not name) has agents that prey on unsuspecting filipinas on their holidays and get them to sign contracts that are in chinese.. "don't worry this is normal stuff"...

After a fair bit of stink and noise we managed to get a couple of contracts changed.

If I were you and none of the above works ... OR if you want to just get it done with quickly, walk into a shop and do the loud gwailo routine. You'd be surprised how well that works when there are other customers they're trying to signup ... and you're accusing them of misleading you and offering bad service.

Just a few thoughts, don't blame me if they get you arrested

[KnowItAll]

By the way, get rid of the Now TV and Moov if you can. That is another scam .. like how often are you going to watch TV on your mobile phone? It will turn into a $40 line item on your bill soon (like it has on mine..)

[PDLM]

One other thing - when you buy something from one of those outside stalls (who are generally just subcontract sales agents ("street fighters" in the jargon)) then you should have received a confirmatory phonecall from PCCW Mobile confirming what it was you signed up to.

I have found from experience that it really pays to listen carefully to this call because the operators claim that it is that phonecall which actually forms the contract, superseding whatever the streetfighter said. Now I think that principle is a bit dodgy to say the least, particularly since it is extremely difficult to get a copy of this oral contract from the operator, but that's beside the point. The people who make the phone calls do tend to have a very good understanding of what is and isn't in the contract so question them closely, and if it isn't what you want then you have the opportunity to back out at this point. Don't, whatever you do, say, "yes, yes yes it's all fine just connect me" - that's just asking for trouble. If it isn't convenient when they call then ask them to call back later - they will do this.

[auchan]

The people at the shops can not sell Blackberry Enterprise Service (BES) - only Blackberry Internet Service. So I'm talking with their corporate over the phone right now. They said they couldn't do anything either. I will file a complaint and let's see what happens.

[KnowItAll]

Got an account manager who could perhaps intervene?

[auchan]

I don't have a corporate account manager.... just a 'street fighter' who is trying to do the right thing but I think his hands are pretty tied. Today was a holiday, I'll try tomorrow.

[longbeard]

Originally Posted by auchan

I don't have a corporate account manager.... just a 'street fighter' who is trying to do the right thing but I think his hands are pretty tied. Today was a holiday, I'll try tomorrow.

We're you able to resolve the issue with the PCCW Subscription? I'm thinking of getting the Unlimited Blackberry Service (BIS) of PCCW, HKD$1,038 a month.. It is truly unlimited? Some companies advertise it as unlimited (Peoples but the cap is 50MB for the BIS).