A Taipei city councilor yesterday urged telecoms operator Taiwan Mobile Co to lower charges for multimedia messaging services (MMS) after a customer complained of overcharging.
The customer, surnamed Lin (林), purchased an iPhone last month using Taiwan Mobile’s bundled rate package, which includes a monthly wireless service fee of NT$699 and up to NT$400 in free MMS messages.
Ms Lin only realized that the company charged up to NT$165 for a single message after receiving a bill for more than NT$2,000. She added that the company even charged her for messages that were not delivered.
“Customer representatives never told me about the MMS rates, and I was even billed for messages that were not sent through,” Lin said at Taipei City Council yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) questioned the company about its pricing policy for MMS messages. Kao also called on the National Communications Commission (NCC) to review the differences in MMS fees that telecoms operators charge.
According to Kao, Taiwan Mobile charges NT$128 for an 800KB MMS message. Far EasTone Telecommunications Co charges NT$140 for a message of the same size.
The MMS fees of the two telecoms operators are almost 10 times higher than those of Chunghwa Telecom Co and Vibo Telecom Co, which charge NT$14 for a message of the same size, Kao said.
“There should not be such a big price difference in MMS charges. The NCC should look into the issue to prevent companies from overchaging customers and protect consumer rights,” she said.
Chen Ying-ti (陳英悌), a division chief at the commission’s operations management office, said the office had received many such complaints and would instruct telecoms operators to lower MMS service prices to a “reasonable range.”
As for Taiwan Mobile’s comment that charges are counted once an MMS is sent, Chen said the commission would assist Lin in seeking a refund for MMS messages that did not get through.
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