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Johannesburg - National Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi
Mohlala has served telecommunications operators with compliance notices after
they refused to amend their customer contracts to explain their call rates.
Signing the notice would legally bind the operators and
allowed liability claims by consumers, the Business Day reported on Thursday.
Mohlala served the companies with compliance notices on
Wednesday after they refused to sign consent orders acknowledging their
contracts did not comply with the Consumer Protection Act and undertaking to
amend them.
The commission had been at loggerheads with the sector since
it came into operation in April and received a flood of complaints from irate
consumers. To date, no penalties had been imposed on the operators for
non-compliance with the act.
Mohlala had given the operators until mid-September to agree
to change their contracts' terms and conditions or oppose her demands.
The new contracts should give consumers the right to
terminate contracts by giving 20 days' notice; adequately explain pricing such
as call rates; and remove the automatic renewal of contracts without consumers'
consent.
Mohlala said if the companies failed to consent to the
amendments, she would take the matter to the National Consumer Tribunal and
argue for sanctions of 10 percent of annual revenue.
Only Neotel had agreed to amend its contracts and it had not
been served with a compliance notice, she said.