Progress may have been made in recent years in curbing abuse in the telecommunications industry, but this type of phenomenon is far from gone.

These are mainly cases of poor-quality customer service by some providers, such as what “K” became aware of.

In other words, a telco customer who applied for a prepaid transfer of his contract a few days before its expiration ran into a series of hurdles that cost time and money.

Although the end of his contract was only a matter of days, the prepaid connection would be activated in a month and he would have to pay a €20 conversion fee. But on top of this additional cost, the subscriber was asked to pay a much higher (nominal) price for his plan, since the termination of the contract is accompanied by the deduction of discounts from the original commercial offer.

However, things went the other way: after constant claims and complaints from the subscriber to the representatives of the company, the markups and the monthly wait … disappeared. The contract was transferred to prepayment immediately and free of charge. This story perhaps proves that customer service remains a problem for at least some telecom providers, or depends on overzealousness on the part of some employees to keep a customer. And this is considering that, according to the regulatory framework of the National Telecommunications and Postal Commission (EETT), providers are required to transfer the connection to prepaid no later than two days. Also, the cost of switching from connection to prepaid is not found in all providers, in contrast to the fee for terminating the contract, which is directly provided for by the terms of the contracts. But is there a guide to navigating the labyrinth of telecommunications services?

The main guideline for consumer protection is the new National Telecommunications and Postal Commission (EETT) Code of Ethics, which amends the first Code published in 2008. year and defines the obligations of suppliers to consumers regarding:

– Immediate management of consumer complaints and supplier complaints. More broadly, if the problem has not been resolved after 20 days from the date the company received the complaint or requested additional information, the consumer must contact the EETT in writing.

– In the event of an account dispute, the provider may respond in writing, by email or by phone, depending on the choice of the subscriber, with a detailed explanation of the disputed charges. If the subscriber is justified, the provider credits the corresponding amounts to the subsequent account. In addition, in any case, the consumer can apply to the out-of-court dispute resolution bodies or to the court.

What does the new EETT Code of Conduct provide for, which will come into force before the end of the year?

— Clear information from the provider when concluding an agreement on the maximum time required to activate the connection to the service. If the connection to the service is impossible on the day declared by the provider, then within two business days (from the date of connection), the company must inform the consumer about the reasons for the delay.

– Explicit indication of the company name of the reseller or subcontractor and its relationship with the provider (if the call is made by companies cooperating with the provider). Do not use misleading expressions, such as “I am calling on behalf of an ISP. In addition, the supplier must ensure that its partners (such as resellers) are periodically monitored and vetted so that any problems in the sales process can be dealt with effectively.

– Communication with consumers, which should not be carried out during the hours of general calm, if the callee does not agree to this. As well as the immediate termination of advertising communication if the consumer declares that he is not interested or that he is worried about it.

– Registry in accordance with article 11 of Law 3471/2006, where the provider does not call the consumers who have joined it, asking them not to receive telephone calls for the direct commercial promotion of products and services and for any advertising purposes.

Interruption fee

Another source of confusion for consumers is the termination fee. This, as provided by the EETT regulation, does not apply to perpetual contracts (expired, non-renewable) and prepaid, but only to fixed-term contracts. For the latter, the subscriber undertakes to remain with his provider for a certain period (for example, 12, 18 or 24 months), and if he terminates or terminates the contract before the expiration of the specified time, he is obliged to pay a termination fee. – a complaint. If the interruption occurs during the first two months of the contract, the subscriber pays the balance for two months in addition to the balance corresponding to the time of stay. To this amount is added the remaining depreciation amount for any device subsidy up to the end of the contract, and to this is added the remaining depreciation amount for any subsidy corresponding to 3/4 of the remaining period until the end of the contract. .