NCA urges telecom consumers to be on the alert

Nana Defie Badu, the Director Consumer and Corporate Affairs of National Communications Authority, (NCA) Wednesday urged the public to look out for the thumbs-up Digital Ghana logo when buying a set-top-box as there are fake ones on the market.

 

The set-top-box is a unit that receives the digital TV signal captured over the air by antenna and decodes the digital signal into a format that can be understood and displayed by an analogue TV.

 

Nana Defie gave the advice when the NCA organised an outreach programme, which sought to educate traders and buyers at Tema Station, to commemorate the World Consumer Rights Day.

 

Nana Defie Badu, the Director of Consumer and Corporate Affairs of the NCA, said they were focusing on telecom consumers to enable them to know their rights in dealing with their telecommunication networks.

 

The Programme is on the theme:“Know your Telecoms Rights”.

 

Mrs Badu said consumers had the right to redress from their service providers when they were dissatisfied with customer services circumstances; the right to request information on bills or opt out of unsolicited electronic messages.

 

They also had the right to make informed choices, complain about unfair and deceptive market practices and had the right to consumer education.

 

She said the initiative, therefore, sought to bring education to the door-step of the people and to attend to their complaints concerning their various network providers.

 

There are about 38 million telecom consumers in Ghana, she said.

 

Mrs Badu said there were a number of laws and policies that consumers needed to know about to enable them to deal fairly with telecom providers but because these policies were on their blind side, they are mostly cheated.

 

“This is the reason why the NCA has embarked on a number of outreach projects such as this is to keep consumers in the know,” she explained 

 

The NCA cautioned consumers not to rely solely on the information and the choices  provided by their service providers but to read carefully and comprehend the terms and conditions on contracts, promotions and adverts before selecting any.

 

Consumers could call NCA’s toll free line on 0800110622 and Hotline on 0307011419 to lodge their various complaints in any language they were comfortable with, it said.

 

The consumer is, however, cautioned to desist from sending obscene or threatening messages contrary to the laws and regulations.

 

In cases of lost SIM cards, the consumer must inform service providers and also provide information about their personal circumstances, such as change in name or address.

They should also keep receipts, cancelled contracts, bills and instructions as they would be helpful in complaints and problem solving.

 

Source: GNA