I am compelled to complain about the various consumer rights violations Nigerians suffer in the hands of DSTV, the leading satellite cable TV service from Multichoice. For many years, DSTV has been short-changing their subscribers with impunity.
I have been using DSTV for eight years and my complaint is based on my personal experience and that of many other subscribers. We don’t usually get quality service due to incessant disruption of service. In many cases, about 70 per cent of the subscription period is lost to this factor. The situation is worse any time it rains as the service will be completely off.
The most annoying thing is that we, the subscribers, bear the burden of poor service without any form of compensation for our loss and physiological stress.
Their poor customer service is another kettle of fish. If you are able to get through to them on phone to make a complaint, they will just offer a dry apology and hang up. Such apology is never genuine and they don’t seem to care how the subscribers feel.
I learnt that the company does not treat its subscribers in South Africa the same way as they are duly compensated for any loss of viewing time.
It would be recalled that Nigeria’s Consumer Protection Council (CPC), earlier this year, sanctioned Multichoice Nigeria Limited for various consumer rights violations, including poor quality of service. CPC had ordered Multichoice to compensate consumers for lost viewing time. Unfortunately, this violation of consumer rights has continued unabated.
I am therefore using this medium to call on the CPC to ensure its order on Multichoice is enforced. DSTV should introduce Pay-as-you-go mode of payment to ensure that subscribers pay for service rendered. With the present system, subscribers are forced to pay in full even for periods when service is disrupted. This is a clear rip-off of our hard-earned money and it must stop.
