Features
DStv, Telcos vs Consumerism
Have you ever paid for an item, got home only to realise that item was defective? Then you took it back and you were told once you took it away, nothing could be done about it and you felt dejected.
You bought power from our own Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and suffered a power outage half of the time.
The experiences enumerated above can be very frustrating, not so? Or you went to a spot and asked for a bottle of Coca Cola and the steward brought you a Pepsi Cola instead.
In their minds they are all Cola, no? Then you send your ward to the butchers to purchase mutton and they bring beef home. You go to have the stuff changed only to be met with insults.
Service providers who you paid upfront will deliver a below-par service and get you angry and frustrated. We suffer in silence because many of these are monopolies who do not care about their clients/customers.
You will understand this if you subscribe to DStv bouquets. All that gets to you when you are watching your favourite channel and cumulus clouds gather.
The signals go off and you scratch your head in utter dismay until the clouds dissipate or after the rains have come and gone. DStv will not compensate you for the hours of lost signal.
What comes on your screen is, “There is no signal. This may be due to bad weather or faulty connection in the installation.”
At a point, I called their Customer Service and the lady I spoke to was frank enough to tell me they have no technology to avoid this occurrence. I cannot fault the poor employee, but this does not make any sense. In New York where rain clouds are darker and thunder claps seem to blow your eardrums, satellite television signals do not get interrupted when it rains.
Thunders do not clap in our parts; they only rumble mostly and are not as severe as in the temperate regions, yet satellite signals drizzle once weather itself drizzles rainwater.
The simple answer is that consumer rights do not work in our parts and we do not get angry with service providers enough, especially since some of them do not have competition in the marketplace.
Multichoice, managers of DStv, do not seem minded to invest in technology to keep their clients served irrespective of whatever the weather condition is.
The responsibility of protecting television sets from lightning must rest with the individual owner, not the service provider.
Every Ghanaian seems to own one cellphone or another. This undoubtedly makes life a lot easier for us. But then it is worrying to call a number and the response is that the number you are trying to reach is either switched off or is unavailable.
Many hours later you get through and the person tells you their phone was never off. What accounts for this must be explained by the Telcos.
You call an MTN number and you hear, “The AirtelTigo number you have dialed cannot be reached at this moment. Please, call back later.” AirtelTigo, when you dialed an MTN number? I have a number of MTN numbers especially, and at times I call one from another and I am either told the number cannot be reached or that the number does not exist. How come, when the two phones sit on my table near each other? Can our Telcos explain this?
Methinks the agency responsible for communications should come up with a legislative framework that makes it mandatory for every call to come with identification so as to eliminate scammers in the mobile telephony system, except perhaps numbers of national security interest. In other jurisdictions even calls to landlines come with the Identity of the caller.
Also, numbers patched with the Ghana Card must of necessity reflect when the bearer makes a call. This has the potential to eliminate fraudsters.
It beats my mind that numbers I have not acquired could appear on my Ghana Card as mine. Now with Artificial Intelligence making the waves, only goodness knows what tomorrow may bring.
So far, it is only the Glo network that registers incoming calls even when the recipient’s phone is off. I have not noticed this with the others.
Another annoying phenomenon is when you buy an item, paid for it and after having your receipt, it is stated at the bottom that goods purchased are not returnable. I wonder who came up with this stupidity. I do not think this can stand a test in law, unless there is a bold display of this edict that cannot escape the attention of the customer so that they are aware before making any purchases, otherwise they have a right to return goods they are dissatisfied with.
Having stated all the above brings me to Consumerism in Ghana. Attempts have been made to form consumer groups but those charged with the responsibility of legislating on consumer concerns do not seem to know what to do or are just indifferent. I was a member of a Consumer Protection Movement of Ghana in the late 80s but no matter how hard we tried, our efforts fell on deaf ears.
Consumerism is a big thing in many countries the world over, but it looks like our leaders here do not have a clue as to what Consumerism is all about. The fact that Ghana has a Standards Authority must be the impetus to couch legislation to protect consumers.
In many jurisdictions almost every product is covered by warranty, except perishable consumables which are themselves covered by standards. So, what sense does it make for me to buy an item here only to read that once I have purchased and paid it cannot be returned? How about if the product turned out to be defective?
But can they be blamed? If those elected to take care of us and protect us from capitalist cheats are looking elsewhere, who would not take undue advantage of us? This, of course, is no reason for corporate laxity.
Consumer satisfaction must be the driving principle of goods and service providers because, after all, without consumers no enterprise can flourish. Monopolies must not make a fool of their clients and our government owes us a duty to protect our wellbeing at all times.
*Writer’s email address:*
*akofa45@yahoo.com*
By Dr Akofa K. Segbefia
THE state of feeling rejected, could be a terrifying experience especially for those who have become used to fame. If not properly addressed, it could lead to depression and the consequences, could be disastrous.
When you are on top of your game in whatever profession you find yourself such that you become famous, a lot of people try to associate with you. The phone never ceases to ring and one is tempted to feel loved and very important.
When a disaster strikes and the fame or the money which was the source of the attraction fades away, the circle of friends and fans begin to shrink and the phone will start to stop ringing until the call stops voting completely.
You will be shocked at how people you considered friends, will no longer be calling you or pay casual visits as they used to. You will begin to notice that messages you leave after calling them and not getting a response are not replied to and that is when you begin to know who your true friends are.
One of the most popular movie stars was an actress called Sharon Stone. In an interview with one of the media houses that was published, she spoke about how people who should have come around to encourage her in her moment of depression, shunned her. The calls stopped coming.
This is what the Bible admonishes that the arm of flesh will fail you and therefore we should put our trust in God. It could be a very frightening experience and can easily lead to depression.
Human nature being what it is, people will want to get close if things are okay. Everybody wants to associate themselves with interesting things, famous people, rich people etc for mainly selfish reasons.
We need to develop the habit of putting our trust in God and relying less on human beings. The lesson we have to take along in life is that, no one marries his or her enemy so how come people who took vows that they will love each other become so hostile to each other that they want to go their separate ways in life? Such is the reality of life.
It is therefore prudent for people to recognise that, life is full of uncertainties and so there is the need to prepare your mind for uncertainties so that when they occur, they do not disorganise your mental sanity.
A lot of people have experienced situations where people who they could have sworn will never betray their trust have disappointed them when they were through challenging moments.
If there is one thing famous people should desire, it should be the ability to identify who are true friends are. Countless stories abound regarding incidence of celebrities who have lost their shine and their wives divorcing them soon after.
It is sometimes useful as a famous or rich person to sign a prenuptial agreement before marriage to safeguard or protect yourself from any future unpleasant surprises.
People can be very pretentious these days, it goes both ways. There is this real life story where a man married a divorced wealthy woman and convinced her to sell her house so they could build a new one together, with the excuse that people are gossiping that he is being housed by a woman.
The woman agreed and they put up a new building. After a few years the man asked for a divorce, only for the woman to realise that the land on which the building was situated, was bought in the man’s name.
This can drive a person insane, if you are not mentally tough and this happens to you. When people hear that you are homeless, a lot of your so-called friends will stop calling, so that you do not become a burden on them.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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‘But, er …. I don’t even know your name’.
‘Paul. Paul Allotey. I’m Sarah, by the way. Paul, why don’t you leave me here, since this is the last important thing I’m doing today’.
‘Okay. Now Sarah. I was just thinking. You will be here at the cafe for about an hour. By then it will be about twelve thirty. Then, you would be thinking of buying yourself some lunch, to eat here or to take home. So if you would please allow me, I will take you to one of the nicest eating places in town, and after you have sorted that one out, then I can drop you home. Just that one errand, then I won’t bother you again’.
‘You are not bothering me at all. You are being very kind to me. And I just realised you are a mind reader too. The last item on my agenda was lunch’.
‘I’m so glad I appeared at your doorstep, just in time’.
‘Okay. Now Paul, since you say the cafe is a comfortable place, let’s go in together, and you can do your work while I get my application done’.
‘Okay, Sarah. Thanks. Let’s go’.
We got back in the car at eleven forty-five.
‘So where are we going, Paul?’
‘To Royalty restaurant. It’s a twenty minute drive away’.
‘So, do you enjoy your job?’
‘Most certainly. I won’t change it, not even to be President. And am I right to say that you are preparing to enter the university?’
‘That’s my plan. I hope it works’.
‘It will, if you are determined, and disciplined. You look very much like a disciplined person’.
‘Thank you very much’.
We arrived at Royalty in twenty-five minutes, ‘You are joining me for lunch, Paul’.
‘Thanks for the honour, Sarah. But the bill is on me’.
‘Aren’t you taking on too much for one day?’
‘I never do anything that is bigger than me, Sarah’.
Over the next hour and a half, we discussed fashion, local and international politics, and sports, as we ate and relaxed. Finally, he drove me to the shop.
‘I will never forget you, Paul’.
‘I’m glad to have been helpful. But if you don’t mind, I’ll say it again, your husband is extremely lucky. You are really beautiful’.
‘Thanks again. But do you mind if I call you sometime in the future?’
‘Certainly not. Let me write it here. I will not ask for your number, for obvious reasons. But I will be looking forward to hearing from you. And hopefully, I will see you next month, when I call to drop your bill’.
‘Okay Paul. See you then’. What a lovely day, I said to myself as I opened the front door. I closed the shop and got home by seven. I went straight to the bedroom, stood in the mirror and took a good look at myself. ‘You are a very beautiful woman, Sarah. Never forget that’. I will not forget that, again.
Over the next several weeks, Martin and I had very little to do with each other. In the morning he ate his breakfast and after a shabby ‘I’m going’, he left. He came home around eight at the earliest, ate his dinner and, already soaked in beer, went off to sleep.
He spent the greater part of the weekends at the club house with his friends, playing tennis and partying. My mind was focused on furthering my education, so I didn’t complain to him, and didn’t bother to inform my parents about what was happening. I had decided that I would only take action if he lifted his hand against me again. I spent my free time reading all manner of interesting stuff on the internet, and chatting with my sister on WhatsApp.
One evening, he came home at about eight, rushed to the bedroom and rushed out. An envelope, obviously containing money, dropped out of his pocket, and I picked it up and followed him. I was going to call him and give it to him, but I noticed that there was a young woman in the car, so I went back in, counted it and put it in a drawer in the hall. He came back after some ten minutes.
‘Excuse me, I dropped an envelope containing money. You must have seen it’.
‘Yes, I saw it. Actually, I followed you, and was about to call you and hand it over to you when I realised that there was a woman in the car, so I came back in. I counted it. One thousand cedis.
‘Well let me have it. I have to be going’.
‘I will let you have it if you will tell me who the woman in the car is, and why you are going to give her that amount of money’.
‘Listen, if you waste my time, I will teach you a lesson you will never forget. Give me the money now!’
‘Here’s what we will do, Martin. I know you will give money to her anyway, so I will give it to you, if you will withdraw the threat you just issued. But I want you to know that I will be taking some steps from tomorrow. Things are getting out of hand’.
‘Okay, I’m sorry I threatened you. Can you please give me the money’. I handed it over to him, and he ran out’.
The following morning, I waited for him to finish having breakfast, and told him I wanted to have a word with him urgently.
‘You better be quick. You know I’m going to work’.
‘Well, I want to inform you that I will inform my parents, and your parents, about the situation in this house. As I said yesterday, things are getting out of hand. You spend most of your time drinking. You get drunk every evening, and through the weekend. And you are also spending your time and money on a prostitute’.
‘How dare you? One more stupid word from you …’
‘Am I lying, Martin? You have just started life, yet you are behaving like a rich, elderly man who has already seen his children through university, and can afford a life of fun. As I said, I’m going to inform our parents. Maybe your parents can straighten you out before it is too late’.
‘Look, we can talk this evening. It’s nothing like what you are saying’. He walked away, shocked.
That evening, I was expecting to have a meaningful discussion with him, but his mother called early in the evening to offer me some ‘advice’. Her son had called to say that certain developments at home were disturbing him so much that they were beginning to affect his work.
And, ‘as a loving mother to her daughter’, she was advising me to submit to my husband, and support him in prayer, and not ‘drive him from home’. Men would always be men, and she was telling me ‘from experience’ that no matter how much time Martin stayed away from home, he would always come home to me.
She had been a young wife before, so she understood the challenges I was facing. So I could be assured that if I followed her advice, all would be well. And, of course, she didn’t allow me to tell my side of the story.
Martin came home very late, and very drunk. And from the next morning, he carried on as before. With some hesitation, I called my dad and told him all that had gone on.
‘Well, my daughter. I’m not going to say “I told you so”. I was only trying to protect you. So here’s what we’ll do. Continue doing the best you can, and try not to give him any excuse to harm you, but if things continue to deteriorate, I will take you back.
A couple of days later, my cousin Dinah arrived in Accra from Brussels, having completed her medical course. With Martin’s agreement, I went to Koforidua and spent a couple of days. I spent most of the time chatting about her experiences in the US, but we also discussed my relationship with Martin, and she endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if Martin’s behaviour did not change after two weeks Elaine informed Mom and Dad. We endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if there was no change in two weeks.
Dinah returned with me to Takoradi. Her plan was to spend a couple of weeks, and return to Accra to be posted. I called Paul Allotey, and asked if he would meet her for lunch and, if possible, show her some interesting spots. Delighted, he suggested that we meet at Royalty the next day.
I told Martin about it, to remove any possibility of future disagreement over ‘going out with men’.
‘It’s fine with me’, he said, ‘if, of all the people who could show your sister round this town, you chose a borla man. Doesn’t that indicate the kind of person you are?’
‘ First of all, Martin’, I’ve spoken to him a few times, and he comes across as a decent guy, so I think it is rather unfortunate that you are writing him off when you don’t know him’.
By Ekow de Heer
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