The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday said there have been numerous complaints about high penalty costs for terminating contracts with telecom service providers after customers found that the Internet connection services were unstable.
As demand for Internet surfing outside of the home or office has risen, many telecom service providers have offered package deals for customers, including 3G wireless cards coupled with 3G wireless service, or cellphones coupled with 3G or Wi-Fi Internet accounts.
However, the consumer rights watchdog said that some customers who started using the services found that their Internet connection was unstable or slow, but when they reported complaints to the telecom companies, they would not receive satisfactory answers or resolutions to their problems.
Those who may have signed up for binding contracts, such as two-year mobile service contracts, face high penalty costs for terminating early, the foundation said.
The foundation recently surveyed the nation’s four major telecom service providers — Chung-hwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far EasTone and Vibo — to check contract details of their packages offered.
The foundation found that the penalty costs for early termination of a contract ranges from NT$2,670 to as much as NT$9,200, depending on the length of the effective period as stated in the contract and the type of services rendered.
Joann Su (蘇錦霞), chairperson of the foundation, said that the National Communications Commission (NCC) should enforce a standard contract for such telecom mobile services, to set a limit on the maximum penalty that a telecom company may charge.
“Considering how in-demand such mobile services are nowadays, consumers are exposed to inadequate protection in the case of consumer disputes if the NCC does not step in to manage the market,” Su said.
The foundation also reminded those shopping for a good telecom service package deal to read contract details carefully and to take note of the penalties involved before making a decision.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
RSS