don't fuck with a kwok

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian KWOK Zhen Ting
Sent: Wed 10/3/2007 10:07 PM
To: Austin I PULLE
Subject: hi prof


Dear Prof,

I apologise for having to walk in and out of class several times today. This came from a dispute that I had to settle with Singtel, which brings me to the reason I am writing to you. Unfortunately this is beyond the scope of The Ethicist, and I have to consult you for your ethical and legal knowledge.

This story arose from the fact that I bought a new handphone for my grandmother to use. Before class, I decided to buy a Singtel mobile prepaid Hi card for my grandmother as it was a cheaper alternative to subscribing to a plan. My grandmother doesn't use the phone often so it's more to use in case of emergency.

The card wrote "Free Incoming Calls" and I thought how nice. I would get to make some savings on her incoming calls that way. But after using it for awhile I realised I was being charged for the calls. I checked the booklet that came with the card, and lo and behold, I saw the words "*terms and conditions apply" on the card, and in the booklet was the terms.

The terms stated that the "free incoming calls" were free if I paid a $0.60 subscription daily. Very upset, I immediately called Singtel to voice my displeasure with their terms. Most of their replies started with, "Oh but you didn't read the terms..", and most of my replies ended with 'I guess you cannot help me. I would like to speak to your boss."

After they played human ping pong with me 6 times, I was finally bounced to the head of the hi card department who said that she would look into the advertising and marketing regarding the wording, but there was nothing she could do except offer me a ridiculous $8 rebate. I told her this would not solve my problem of still having to pay the recurring charge. I have told them that they will have to solve my problem or else I will make this a public issue with case and the newspapers for their PR department to contend with. Alot of people are affected as well. I was just short of explaining to them what a rule utilitarian framework was.


Several points in contention:

1. yes it did state terms and conditions, but they were only laid out inside a booklet that was sealed with the hi card, which means we wouldn't have access to it. you can see the words "free incoming calls" from the outside nice and clear, but you have to open the packaging to read the terms.

2. it is fair for them to have terms and conditions, eg. "spend $20 and have free incoming calls", "subscribe to roaming and get free incoming calls", but it is not correct for them to make me pay a daily subscription specifically for the incoming calls because then they cannot be considered free by logic. Otherwise one could say "free mercedes SLK *oh but a monthly charge of $10,000 for it". One cannot pay specifically for something that is free.

3. they could have stated "unlimited incoming calls" with terms and conditions, instead of using the word "free" which necessarily means you should not be paying for it. If it is free by other terms such as a minimum usage/spending amount then it is ok because you are not paying for something which is supposed to be "free".



I believe it wasn't smart of me not to look at the booklet beforehand, but it wasn't readily available, and even if the terms were clearly stated, the definition of "free" was abused in this case. The funny thing was I told my maid about it and she was duped as well along with many of her friends. The foreign workers are the ones who really suffer from the way in which these pre paid cards are being advertised because they are the ones who use them. The worst part is that they are the ones who are most unlikely to lodge a complaint or make this a real issue. This poses a real problem because there are other service providers doing the same thing.

Even the people at Singtel agree they will have to have a look into their marketing. Free things with fine print is annoying enough, we don't need the big companies telling us that we have to pay for what is free. This is beyond what is legal or not, because it's just fundamentally wrong to charge people what they're not supposed to pay for. Singtel will be calling me back tomorrow.

Well just hope to hear your honest opinion. Thanks. I am honestly grateful for all your lessons, and unfortunately the staff at Singtel will have to face the consequences of ethics 101.


Best regards,

Ian