Update: I called STC’s 902 support, the guy was trying to avoid telling me what I wanted to know but in the end he said “you can call for 48 hours and it’s ok”.
STC’s billing problems have been going on for a long time.
Now STC has announced that they are offering one free month of phone calls starting today November 21st. Mobile (Jawal) and landline (Hatif) can call each other for free. Prepaid (Sawa) is not included.
I have some issues with this promotion:
1. It was mentioned only on STC’s Arabic news page while the English page had nothing.
2. The “press release” claims that it is a historic promotion and no telco has ever done anything like it. Most likely false, then again, not every telco messes up the billing system the way STC did. STC also said that they are “rewarding their customers”.
3. The billing system is still not working, people had their data usage jump from 400MB to 1TB! Arab News is probably the only Saudi newspaper that talked about it: “I’m sick and tired of this chaos. My bill limit is SR500. I received a bill after 4 months of delay for SR2,000. How is that logical?”. STC is trying to cover up their chaotic billing system by bribing customers.
4. This offer is actually limited. You have only 24 hours of free calls (1440 minutes). Assuming an average of 0.35SR per minute, that’s only 504SR! Remember: people were overcharged more than that! In this article someone was charged 2,000SR and their credit limit was only 500SR!
5. You know I’m picky about websites, especially for giant companies such as STC. So here’s an example of bad design: This image linked in the news post is named “freee” and it is actually a BMP file with a JPG extension. That’s annoying!
Many customers were over charged more than 504SR and STC until now did not issue their usual detailed phone bills. They also never announced that they had a billing problem. What I want from STC is: admit and apologize for their mistake and issue honest bills!
Related posts:
It is not an excuse for STC but Please be accurate in calculation..
30Day*24Hour*60Min=43200Min
43200Min*0.35SR=15120(SR
Naat541:
what khaled is saying that STC is playing with words ..
they say 24 hours for 30 days
it’s actually 24 hours Only not 24 hours a day for 30 days
Damn those greedy jerks!
I do have a limit of 500 riyals, recived a bill of around 600 & 5 days later they are asking me to pay another 500 riyals! & I don’t do international calls! Or even much local ones for that matter!
& what the what with the scam their pullin through this add ! I actually thoughf it was for a whole month!!
=(
While I’m not doubting your credibility, I think you need a better source than “someone told me” to back up the 24 hour limit. I’m almost certain this is the case but you can never be too sure.
well not to defend them :p, but it’s very clear in Arabic “يستفيدوا منها بالتواصل للمكالمات الواردة والصادرة مع ما يقارب 25 مليون عميل للجوال والهاتف على مدى 24 ساعة كاملة ولمدة 30 يوماً” it says “3ala mada” which is 24 hours a day : )
no, “3ala mada” means, that you have only 24 hours that can be used in the whole month.
it said
“من الجوال 24 ساعة خلال 30 يوماً ”
24 hours during 30 days. doesn’t mean “24 hours each day”
٢٤ ساعة يوميا.
No matter how you put it, there is just not enough leverage in the wording to support (or oppose) your argument. I fully agree that the misleading wordplay is a possibility, but you’re pretty much grasping for straws until there’s substantial grounding.
the wording is bad, yeah.
Trying to call 902 phone support to have a clear answer.
“You will wait 9 minutes” … then phone disconnects … smooth
Quick update:
I called them, the guy said “it’s clear” that it’s 24 hours, 30 days.
I tried to make him say it, but he said “24 hours 30 days”.
I tried to make him say it again, he said “if you called 48 hours then that’s ok”.
He sounded very upset :p
That’s good to hear. Thanks for taking the time to call the worst customer service in the world. You deserve a reward.
Update: I called STC’s 902 support, the guy was trying to avoid telling me what I wanted to know but in the end (after I repeated my specific question) he said “you can call for 48 hours and it’s ok”. He sounded upset. Even with a full month of 24 hour free calls, that’s no excuse to charge someone with a ceiling credit of 500SR a bill of 2000SR.
no excuse for a company as larg as STC to have made such a mistake but you have to handed to them paying the customers back this way is better then nothing. I think that should account for some thing
Well, I just called 902 too and I was told differently:
العرض يعني أربع وعشرين ساعة يومياً لمدة ثلاثين يوم ، يعني عندك ثلاثين يوم مجاني يا طويل العمر
Just thought I would update the thread with the STC call I made 3 minutes ago..
So it seems. This should be a good stress test on their network and I will probably abuse it
We’ll probably encounter what you stated earlier, calls will drop after the 1st 5 minutes
I see you are looking through the site, thanks =)
yeah, I noticed dropped calls
dude it is so clear “مكالماتك لشهر كامل مجانا”
i dont think there is anything hidden !!!
any way they should admit that they had a problem and apologies, but this really tremendous offer
Man, that’s why they issued my bill last night although I’ve already paid the previous one only a week ago #STC #FAIL, oh that wasn’t twitter
Can’t wait for the new fixed line companies to begin, I’ll spit on STC everyday then until I’m dry
STC is pathetic.
هدية الاتصالات .. هل تعوض المشتركين خسائرهم ؟ http://www.anaween.com/FollowNewsDetail.aspx?Fnid=2323
First of all, STC badly needs to replace their operators who aren’t aware of their own services. Secondly, these billing issues are arising day by day. They need to sort it out before the subscribers angrily starts quitting their agreement with them. I hope, the new Landline Company comes to us as earliest as possible.
Now, this is the STC I know. A nightmare none-ethical company.
Thanks a lot Khaled.
CITC has denied this offer by STC!
I guess you only got 24 hours
What if STC actually needs this. To take all its user off the billing system to sort out this issue offline better then turning every ones service off for a few days. what do you think ? I mean during a THE season and u give every body free calls??!!!
looks like CITC said no before. So STC decided to do it anyway and take the fine.
I agree with the comments about the billing system mess. I have a few friends who does not have a telephone line anymore because they were charge SR 2,000 while they were on vacation. They tried to fix the problem but they were told to pay or else their phones will be cut off. Being Filipinos whose salaries cannot even last until the next one, of course they cannot affort to pay SR 2,000 so they are left without phones anymore. Likewise, calling STC for support on your DSL problem is like calling a none existent support!
I am fighting STC over a land line bill for almost a year now which I’ve disconnected the service over the phone but I’ve been told that it doesn’t work tha way!!!!… OK..
So I’ve tried to get some kind of settlement to stop the continuous billing charges and finance the bill… eventually I succeed last month to stop the billing and disconnect the line!
last week I check my bill! and it has increased! which means that I have been charged again for another month that I never used!!!!!
I am still applying for a line & yet STC charged me with around 3 thousand riyals.w/c means I still haven’t got a telephone line …obviously a huge mistake of which I am now having a nightmare…my salary doesn’t even amount to half of what they have billed me.
the question is where should we go from here? do we have a complaint department here that will protect the rights of consumer like us? who will enlighten us here regarding these…
The best way is to publicly complain about them in every possible way.
Try their facebook page as well
http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Riyadh-Saudi-Arabia/STC-y-shl/140588550635?ref=ts
usually the STC reps have limited power when it comes to money. all they can do is pay first and complain later. go to your regional office in the area (if ur in Jeddah or Riyadh go straight to their head office) ask to talk to the boss (branch manager) explain to him your problem if it takes to long they will give you a ref# and follow up by phone.
Just to clear up a few points:
– STC have not changed their landline billing system, just the mobile one – so it seems the old system had problems too!
– Limits are controlled based on the processing of the calls, during the cutover period, I believe there has been a backlog, meaning that people can make a whole lot of calls before they are cut off when the backlog is processed. Not an excuse, but an explanation.
I would be surprised if people are being billed for calls/usage they didn’t make, it’s just that the usual automatic cut off when their credit ran out did not work (due to the backlog). STC should put a limit on the amount of data usage that is charged = Jawalnet unlimited charge, but for the call usage there is less of an issue.
Hi Guys,
Yes, I can understand STC is not up the mark so there is GO Telecom now in Saudi who can get you Land Lines and DSL.
So if you exp that then please put you comment as well here.
and this is a very good blog.
Thanks
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