my rights, your r.i.g.h.t.s.

Please be aware that the following entry is solely based on my humble and personal opinion and mindset...

When Companies competes, consumer wins! So true, so, so true... Let's take a look at some prime examples:

Competing Companies :: TelCos (Celcom, Maxis, DiGi)
Remember how much a Hotlink Starter pack costs few years back? Yes, a whopping rm256.00 (Can even buy a decent phone with that now)!!! Inclusive of a Nokia 3210, it costs me close to a month's salary working part-time as a sales assistant to get "connected". That was way back in 2001.

Fast forward to current day, its only rm8.80 (McValue meal anyone?). That's 2901.00% decrease in cost required to get hooked up to the mobile community. Let's say a Proton requires rm55K back then; with the same amount of depreciation, you can buy Proton Cars @ only rm1896.00. Got your attention, finally?

Because of these competitions (healthy, unhealthy, I dunno lar), the TelCos are always on the look for better, cheaper, more efficient alternatives to address the needs of its consumers. Although there are still lots of room for improvement, at least we're getting services which are at least "parallel" to the "fees" we pay...

Monopolizing Company :: TM, TNB
With monopolization; the providers/manufacturers reaps all the benefits. Lack of (or zero) competition leads to deprivation of initiative and motivation to become better, which envelopes each and every personnel. Thus the "Not satisfied ah? Don't use lar" attitude. With that, enough said!!!

Example, take a look at the fee of a home line phone rental supplied by TM. Since Eons ago, the price has remained the same (heck, if I remembered clearly, it has even gone up). And it will remain the same as long as you live (else, price hike lor). When mun yee moved to Bkt Pandan 2-3 years ago, new never expect that till today, there's still no phone line...

Next, to the typical story of a Streamyx consumer :: How many have experienced their customer support nightmare which consists of:
I. Your line being passed around endlessly
II. They don't understand what your talking about, vice versa
III. Report filed, closed, filed, closed, filed again, closed again, filed...
And all it needed was 5 minutes from a technician to rectify the problem...diewz...

Government :: Government lor!
What has our government anything to do with this, you ask. Well, our government is actually protecting these companies (not limiting to these few mentioned above) as if they are little babies from global competitors. In one sense, its beneficial because local economy will be able to grow steadfastly and compete globally (that's the vision). On the other hand, too much protection has actually been provided... thus, dunno wtf happened (that's the outcome).

Example, take a good look @ Proton. 25 years down the road of its establishment, Proton is actually loosing customers and market share to Perodua, which existed merely 10 years. Heck, the government is even protecting Proton locally by disallowing Perodua to produce Sedan Vehicles (thus all the compact cars only) and there's still zero (0) "attacks" from global market yet!!! This is how bad things really are...
Imagine TM facing competition... I would love to see that...

Consumers :: Us
We are the new era consumers equipped richly with knowledge and intelligence; we should learn of our rights and fight for them (consumer wise, no other sectors intended). Stand up if we're right and throw away the mentality of lackluster!!! Remember, we as consumers are always right (but please, don't abuse it lar... we educated people what)... With the mass media surrounding us daily, its never hard to reach out to lots of people in a short amount of time!


truth of the day ::
Did you know that the costs (in terms or resources) to get new customers are way higher compared to the costs of retaining existing customers. So, don't be afraid to complain or voice out dissatisfactions!
Did you also know that a positive feedback from consumers may bring another 5 opportunities but a negative feedback causes 20 opportunities to be lost???

p/s :: the cause of this entry...
Astro, if you still fail (or delay yet again) to replace my decoder by tomorrow, I'm will be giving you a piece of my mind!!!