---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Vincent Wayodi <wayodi@gmail.com> Date: 30 March 2012 16:58 Subject: For the attention of Senior Management at Airtel To: customerservice@ke.airtel.com, customercare.ke@airtel.com Dear Airtel Customer Services Could you please have a thorough read of this email and digest, before forwarding it Airtel Senior management for their attention and consideration. So today I received a reply from CCK *[chukuahatua@cck.go.ke] [Ticket#1015890] *to which I am very grateful for.. After making a complaint about unsolicited SMS for Airtel and your rogue practices where you are forcefully taking money out of customers accounts for services they have not subscribed to. This is an example of the unsolicited SMS that I received from Airtel, to which i still have a copy saved on my phone. "Dear Lucky customer you will now enjoy a 7 day trial of Ziki Tunes and then at 15kshs a month. Song chgs: 5 Ksh/mnth. To deactivate send STOP to 155. For more songs call *155 " "Well I am glad that this has now been clarified by CCK as according to the reply email from CCK, shown below, unsolicited SMS are prohibited by the law, regulations and license conditions. So in effect Airtel are breaking their licencing conditions by sending any such SMS to its millions of customers and engaging in such practices which can only be categorised as blatant theft.I have been instructed by CCK to first make an official complaint directly to Airtel to address this issue to which i am doing right now. If no action is taken regarding engaging in such rogue practices and unsolicited emails still get sent to customers, then this issue will be escalated to the commission for necessary regulatory intervention. Please refer to the email thread below. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a nice day. Vincent ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Chukua Hatua <chukuahatua@cck.go.ke> Date: 30 March 2012 08:19 Subject: Re: *[Ticket#1015890]* Rogue telecom companies To: wayodi@gmail.com Dear Vincent, Reference is made to your complaint regarding the above matter. It is indeed unfortunate that you receive unsolicited SMS as these are prohibited by the law, regulations and license conditions. However, kindly note that the procedure on complaints requires one to first lodge a complaint with the service provider to enable them have an opportunity to resolve the same. In case you fail to obtain satisfactory resolution within a reasonable period of time, then you may escalate the same to the Commission for necessary regulatory intervention. Kindly, get in touch with Airtel on the contacts here below: customerservice@ke.airtel.com customercare.ke@Airtel.com Thank you for your request. CCK Consumer Affairs Team ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) Waiyaki Way P.O. Box 14448, 00800 Westlands NAIROBI, Kenya Tel 254-20-4242000 / 254- 20-4349111, Fax 254-20-4451866/43482046 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** ** *From:* Vincent Wayodi [mailto:wayodi@gmail.com] *Sent:* Tuesday, March 27, 2012 10:20 AM *To:* Omo, John *Subject:* Rogue telecom companies**** ** ** Hello **** ** ** So today I received yet another annoying text message from Airtel. But this one was different. "Things in Airtel HQ must be getting bad and it seems that the have resorted to stealing from its customers in broad daylight at any cost "**** **** "Dear Lucky customer you will now enjoy a 7 day trial of Ziki Tunes and then at 15kshs a month. Song chgs: 5 Ksh/mnth. To deactivate send STOP to 155. For more songs call *155 "**** **** "So i sent stop to 155 and was charged 1bob." **** **** Of which I have not yet received a confirmation to the deactivation of this service, that I did not even ask for in the first place. If i send another text i will loose another 1 bob..If i do nothing i will loose 15 ksh , unless i call those guys at customer care, but i did not ask for this in the first place.**** **** Is this even legal?.. "I did not subscribe to this..i don’t even like Ziki tunes or want it".. I just want to be able to make and receive phone calls, plain and simple" looks like airtel just robbed me of 1ksh. My question is that do we have a framework either through CCK or any other government regulatory bodies to deal with such rogue telecom companies practices in Kenya **** ** ** Thanks**** Vincent Wayodi **** vincent **** ** ** Thanks for contacting the CCK Service Desk. A new ticket has been created. Your request is being processed, and we shall revert ASAP. Have a good day! *CCK Consumer Affairs Team*