NEWS: SKMM expects more gripes about poor services

CYBERJAYA: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM) anticipates that it will receive more complaints this year, and that the figure will probably surpass last year’s 6,000 reports.

“We see an increasing demand from consumers for better quality of service, more value for money and niche packages. A clear indicator of this is the number of complaints received.

“This may not necessarily mean that current services are getting worse. It is in fact a signal from consumers that the service providers need to work harder to meet their requirements,” said SKMM chairman Tan Sri Khalid Ramli.

In his speech delivered at the General Consumer Code (GCC) Review Workshop here today, he said gone are the days when best effort in delivering broadband was acceptable.

“Consumers today expect to be surprised. It is now a demand market where service providers, who are not in tune with what the market wants, do so at their own peril,” he added.

Khalid said that guidelines or best-practice benchmarks should also be in tune with what the market demands from the service providers.

“It is vital that the GCC is reviewed periodically so that necessary adjustments can be made,” Khalid said, adding that the Communications and Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia (CFM) — a channel for complaints on communication and multimedia services — also faced a similar situation.

The number of complaints received by CFM this year is expected to surpass the 1,324 reports lodged with the consumer forum last year.

Almost half of those complaints were about poor Internet connection speeds while the remainder centred on inadequate broadband services.

Total complaints increased sharply by 8x to 435 cases in the first quarter this year, against 44 cases in the corresponding quarter, and 46% were complaints about poor services.

Members of the public with unresolved complaints concerning communication and multimedia services can lodge their complaints by calling CFM’s toll free number, 1-800-18-2222, going to www.cfm.org.my, or writing in to aduan@cfm.org.my. — Bernama