Telecom firms charge unreasonable penalties

CF investigated five local telecom companies that provide USB modem services and found that three of them would not allow consumers to end the contract upon request without paying a premature termination fine.

The same three companies – Taiwan mobile, Far East Tone, and Vibo – also disregard the agreement to exempt the monthly fee when consumers cannot be connected to the Internet for a consecutive 120 hours, which was stated in the contracts.

When the consumers requested to stop the service because of poor connection, the three companies would ask for a premature termination penalty.

CF Director Hsieh Tien-ren pointed out that if the companies could not provide the services they stated on the contract, the consumers have the right to ask for monetary compensation or reduction of the monthly fees.

　　He added that the companies have no rights to charge the consumers for ending contracts early.

Liu Li-chiu, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Telecommunication Industry Development Association (TTIDA) said the companies did not charge the customers for terminating the service.

　　She said instead of the so-called “penalty” that CF referred to, the telecom companies charge a “compensation fee,” in hopes to prevent people from terminating the contract after having used the services or purchased products for free, or at a discounted price.

Liu said there had not been any reports of connection failure for more than 120 hours.

According to CF statistics, 50 complaints were filed regarding poor USB modem services in the last year alone.

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