The latest 2018 annual report from the Communications and Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia (CFM) revealed that Telekom Malaysia (TM) continues to receive the most number of complaints in 2018 with 2779 reports, almost doubled from 1412 complaints it got in 2017, and also the highest in 2016.
CFM is also a channel for complaints redress on Communications and Multimedia services in Malaysia.
In 2018, Celcom Axiata, Digi, redONE managed to reduce and resolve most of the complaints received compared to 2017. Meanwhile there’s been a huge increase of complaints on Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Maxis indicating that these service providers have failed to resolve customer issues when it was 1st reported to them.
Below are the number of complaints on major service providers in Malaysia, based on fixed, broadband and mobile, with only Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Maxis registering more than 1,000 complaints in the following list:
- Telekom Malaysia (TM): 2779 (1412 in 2017)
- Maxis: 1197 (807 in 2017)
- Celcom Axiata: 685 (789 in 2017)
- Digi: 515 (553 in 2017)
- U Mobile: 363 (341 in 2017)
- redONE: 92 (111 in 2017)
- Tune Talk: 72 (19 in 2017)
- YTL: 136 (378 in 2017)
- TIME dotCom: 90 (47 in 2017)
By the end of 2018, a total of 6,330 valid complaints regarding telecommunications services were received by CFM, an increase by 33% from 4,746 complaints in 2017. General enquiries continued to grow, registering 15,732 compared to 4,092 in 2017. For complaints that are beyond CFM purview were referred to the relevant authorities for their next course of action. These complaints included non-delivery of online purchase items, copyright issues, gambling etc.
Complaints about cellular services remain the highest proportion of 40% in total complaints despite declining by 1% compared to 2,546 complaints in 2017. Complaints relating to HSBB increased by 227, representing 37% of total complaints for the year compared to 15% in 2017. One of the reason for the increase was the reduction of domestic broadband price up to 56%.
Breakdown of complaints that CFM received in 2018:
Charging: Total complaints received on Billing and Charging accounted at 1,822, a slight increase by 9% compared to 1,669 complaints in 2017. Interestingly, Billing Dispute complaints recorded a total of 854, the same Billing and number as the previous year. Compared to last year, Blacklisted issues increased by 59% from 98 complaints to 156 complaints in 2018 and put them in Top 4 replacing Roaming issue, decreased by 27% to only 92 complaints in 2018. Most blacklisted issues are involving unsatisfied service leads to non-payment, customer ignored or unaware of notifications received. Customer was unaware about billing mechanism often leads to dispute on charges and unsettle overdue amount.
Network: Substantial increase in Service Disruption/Downtime related complaints accounted at 625, posted 88% increase compared to 332 complaints in 2017. Notably, the highest complaints are related to High Speed Network Broadband (HSBB). We have seen the demand for HSBB services from consumers located in Selangor and Petaling district increased up to 158% greater than in 2017. This represented a total of 436 complaints in 2018 compared to 169 complaints in 2017. Meanwhile, complaints about Internet Connection/Speed continued to increase by 106% compared to the same period in 2017.
Service Delivery: Complaints under the subcategory Others and Installation/activation recorded a significant increase of Service 327% and 155% respectively. We identified issues with regard to phone insurance claim, promised gifts or freebies undelivered to complainants or any special issues pertaining to service delivery. This category ranked number three (3) among the most common issue recorded since Integrated Complaint Management System (ICMS) introduced by MCMC.
Pricing: Between September to December 2018 complaints about Higher Rate increased by more than five-fold as compared to 2017; accounted at 494 complaints in 2018. One of the reasons was broadband price reduction by the Service Providers in line with Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing (MSAP) that triggered new trend in complaints.
Unfair Practice: Overall, complaints on Unfair Practice accounted at 244 complaints declined by 17%, 295 complaints in 2017. Under this category, complaints about False/Fraud Registration and Termination without Notice are among the highest subcategories although decreases by 24% and 45% respectively compared to last year. This is followed by complaints about Auto Migration accounted at 57 complaints, recorded 200% increased. Customers raised concern not to change the package without their consent. CFM also received complaints on prepaid grace period validity.
In the first half of 2019 (January-June), CFM said it has received 4,635 complaints with Network issues such as Service Disruption are among the highest. This is followed by other categories which include Billing and Charging, Service Delivery, Mobile Number Portability (MNP), SMS Service, Unfair Practice, Misrepresentation of Service, Pricing and Dispute Terms and Conditions.
Network issues received by CFM from consumers recorded 1,938 complaints from the total number of complaints received in H1 2019. Among the issues on network frequently reported are service disruption and service downtime, poor coverage 4G/LTE, no coverage 4G/LTE and no coverage high-speed broadband.
Apart from that, one of the most recent issues that caught CFM’s attention this year was Direct Carrier Billing which is a service that provides mobile device users with the ability to make payment digitally for any purchase in Google Play Store or Apple App Store via the user’s monthly mobile phone bill or prepaid credit.
At the recent Annual General Meeting (AGM), CFM appointed 13 new Council Members for the 2019-2021 term. Datin Mohana Mohariff from Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) has been elected as the new CFM Chairperson for 2019-2021 term and will be supported by the Deputy Chairman Mohamad Yusrizal Dato’ Yusoff (CAKE), Secretary – Azlinda Zainal Abidin (ASTRO), and Treasurer – Abdul Rahman Samad (KPM). The other council members include PEKOMA, MACFEA, PKPM, CAM, MMCP, Celcom Axiata, YTL TV3 and ALTEL.
[PDF]– CFM Annual Report 2018
