I got cheated burned recently by my favorite yellow man telco, Digi. Seeing a slew of advertising on the road about Digi’s RM5/day 3g plan, I decided to test it out for a few days to gauge the speed and coverage. I was absolutely delighted to find out that there’s no sign up process, its totally automatic. Boy, I was in for a shocker when my bill read RM543.40 for GPRS usage. Sure, they made sure that the maximum I need to pay for GPRS usage is RM149 (which i think its some elaborate thought out plan because I’m definitely not going to pay my bill if its RM500+) which i still think its daylight robbery.
Later, i learned that the Internet Unlimited Max5 is only available for Digi Prepaid customers only. Sure, you can laugh at me for not reading the fine print but in the end, you’ll end up with a pissed off and dissatisfied customer. At least celcom doesn’t discriminate in their RM6/day plan
If you wanted higher adoption rates for your 3g service, why not cap the usage to RM58 instead of RM149 like your Digi Internet Unlimited Monthly 58 plan? That way, it totally breaks the psychological barrier of entry in signing up and committing to a monthly plan. You will most likely get higher adoption rates and save on the marketing work, roadshows, hiring promoters to get people to sign up, and the total administration costs of having another registration process. More importantly, customers don’t have to struggle with internal conflict of committing to a monthly plan.
I don’t understand why telco’s need to confuse customers with dozens of plans with different call rates, sms and data options and then sugarcoat it as giving more choices to customers. Customers don’t need intra-telco choice, we need more telco’s to prevent monopoly and price fixing in this space. Its also irrationally annoying that Digi favors Prepaid way more than Postpaid. Why did I switch to Postpaid again?
Embrace simplicity and your customers will love you for it.
Ironically digi advertises itself as being “easy”
Lesson Learned : Anything “easy” without Sign-Up will most probably rip you off (telco wise)
I’ve been a super strong supporter of Digi, but now I have thoughts of switching away.
You’re right, you should have read the fine print. That’s the 1st thing I always do as with any telcos in our country, there’s usually a catch somewhere. But you’re also right in asking why Digi favours Prepaid & why isn’t the plans made easier instead of the confusing mess we usually end up. Unfortunately, only Digi can answer that.
But to me, Digi is still the easiest among the 3 telcos we have in terms of plans available, for now. Just remember to read the fine print next time, ok? Hehe.
I’ve been through a similar case with Celcom – I fell victim to their RM50 per month plan (with a fine print that says “plus additional charges”). They obscure the fine print like a gawd damn ninja. End up paying RM80+. Lesson learned: If it’s too good to be true, it’s not true. Trust your “blink.”
As for Prepaid vs. Postpaid argument, my guess is that they have more customer base with the former.
i agree with Daniel Marcus on this. The reason why Digi prefers the Prepaid market is due to its large market base. Even I am still on prepaid. It really sucks when you missed reading the fine prints of any offers. There is always a hook to anything being offered for less than what it is especially in Malaysia.
@isaac – Yeah.. telco’s are like insurance companies.. Hidden charges and complex plans
@daniel -Telco’s are just doing stuff so they can maximize profit. Its actually better for the customer if everyone just charges for what you use based on a fixed rate
@alvin – time to move back to prepaid… i don’t see any benefits on postpaid
Oh and.. digi just launched PREPAID INTERNET…. .. interesting…