PROMOTION OF DIGICEL TRIPLECREDIT: IS IT BONUS OR FRAUD?
DIGICEL THE FRAUDSTER OF THE YEAR 2012
Dear readers,
If you receive this message from Digicel "Starting the new
year with TRIPLE CREDIT! As a gift to start the New Year, send and receive
TRIPLE credit this weekend. Just send a refill of a minimum of 1100 on Gdes www.digicelhaiti.com 3
times and get credit with Digicel Top Up online. Tip: To check your balance
dial * 120 * 14 # "....... Well, think again do not be fooled.
Imagine the cost of telephoning in Haiti. I spent 7 days in the
country and spent more than $40 to replenish my cellular with triple credit.
The total costs were $120 and surprise, surprise, the equivalent of minutes
worth about $120 American dollars vanished in 7 days.
The first scam Digicel employs is the fact that when checking your
balance at the end, Digicel intentionally neglects to mention the date of
expiration for the additional minutes. So the customer sees his triple credit
disappear in less than 48 hours.
Other scams used by Digicel: By purchasing the company VOILA,
Digicel first created a monopoly in telecommunications with 95% coverage in the
country. In addition, the cost of the phone service with this acquisition has
become more expensive.
Besides this, the Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, a well-educated
investor in the field of telecommunications has clearly failed in its
responsibility by leaving such a purchase consummated under his leadership,
which leads us to suspect certain complicity.
More people are currently out of work as a result of the merger,
fewer taxes are paid into the educational fund, consumers are being currently
ripped off, and the diaspora once again is being victimized by this decision.
Giving a monopoly to Digicel, makes it also difficult to penetrate
the market in the decades to come, unless a new communication technology is
discovered, thereby giving control and assuring the destruction of the
communication system in the country.
We know that the Prime Minister knows that competition is the
right economic tool which leads to better service, more competitive prices and
therefore, indispensable to economic prosperity within the country.
Competition drives companies to produce better products at cheaper
prices. It is actually very favorable to the consumer. So why eliminate a
public service as lucrative as the phone?
I had two numbers, one of Digicel and another of Voila dating less
than a year. Shortly after the purchase of the company, my VOILA SIM no longer
works. I had to buy a Digicel SIM amounting to 165gds with the promise to
automatically receive an equivalent of 10 minutes for local calls and 20
minutes for international. Since December 20, 2012 and until the publication of
this article, I still have not received the minutes promised.
I called the company’s customer service at the Port-au-Prince
airport where I completed the transaction…no answer and no way to leave a
message. I then called the central office of Digicel… no one to speak to in
customer care, no response and no access to voicemail. It is unthinkable that a
company as powerful as Digicel in Haiti treats its customers with such
condescension. It must change. It is difficult to force their hand in Haiti; it
can be done through the United States, where they conducted the transaction
under the auspices of the Inter State Commerce laws.
The customer service is almost non-existent at Digicel. The
Diaspora must demonstrate its ingenuity in defending those abuses at all costs
and its rights to honest and efficient services. The marketing used by Digicel
is disappointing and the beneficiaries of the largesse of the diaspora do not
really benefit from the promised additional minutes.
Haitian Priorities Project calls upon all those who have purchased
minutes on behalf of their family and fell victim to marketing dishonesty on
the part of Digicel, email info@hpp4haiti.com indicating:
date, number of transactions, amount spent, name, address, and phone number to
help us take action against Digicel.
Our voices count and can help put an end to malpractices which
tend to ruin our country already in shambles. Help the Haitian government end
endemic corruption which has been a practice at home for too long. Once and for
all, the Haitian Diaspora must unite and demand respect both for themselves and
for those in Haiti by asking that restitution be given in order to restore what
was stolen.
François Jacob, MBA
Haitian Priorities Project
"Our forefathers liberated us from the shackles of slavery. We owe it to the new generation of Haitians to help eliminate mental slavery, and negative attitudes toward the common goals of our people. Promote patriotism and self-determination, thus propelling Haiti into a modern nation and an icon to the world in fighting against oppression".
Jacob François.WWW.HPP4HAITI.COM
WWW.PROJECT2000INTERNATIONAL.ORG
312-735-6297