NOT USE MILLICOM !

[Defensa del Consumidor]

NO PROBLEMS, NEVER YOU USE MILLICOM!
AVOID PROBLEMS, NEVER USE MILLICOM!


In this to letter there is the UNFORTUNATE story of to Millicom's client in
ARGENTINA

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To the gentleman manager of Millicom Argentina:
with copy a:
quality management
center of attention to the client

Of my greater consideration:

I write these lines to you sunk really in a deep blue by all the problems
in which lamentably I have been myself surrounded in each simple step that
must have had with your company.

In the middle of May of 2001 i called millicom by phone to ask for the
service of domiciliary connection of 24 hours to Internet.

Millicom assigned to me the promoter Alfredo Herrero, with whom I agreed to
an interview to subscribe to me with Millicom for day 23 of May of 2001 at
15 hs in my home.

I am an independent worker, and had to fix my things, and to let go out
work that day to be able to take care of Mr. Alfredo Herrero. The interview
was fixed to the 15 hours to my home, Mr. Alfredo Herrero called by phone
day 23 of May from 2001 at noon, his call was taked by the answering
machine (because I was in the bathroom), and he decided by own account not
to come thinking that I would not be in my home.
I began bad with Millicom, because this promoter made me lose a day of work
leaving me waiting him in my house (being I let go work for being able to
receive it)

How i really needed the service of Millicom I returned to agree to fix the
interview for the following day, 24 of May of 2001.
After Mr. Alfredo Herrero explained to me briefly the millicom service;  I
asked to him precise and specifically if it had some type of minimum
obligation as far as the dwell time like client of the company, that is if
I, when signing that contract, put to me in the obligation to have a
minimum time of contract with Millicom. Mr. Alfredo Herrero answered to me
that there were no minimum terms (of time of contract), that I could be
dropped from millicom as soon as i wanted and for that i did not need any
other thing more than to notify it with a fax. i am very sure that I
specified very well this point with him, many times; and i asked in
different ways to that  was very clear, and he was very clear: THERE IS NOT
OBLIGATION OF A MINIMUM TIME IN YOU MUST PAID MILLICOM SERVICE, YOU CAN GET
OUT WHEN YOU WANT, ONLY SENDING A FAX.

At the time of signing the contract, I saw the "small letter" that all the
contracts have. When i arranged to begin to read it Mr. Alfredo Herrero
said to me that he was hurried, that somebody was waiting for him in
another place, and that if i want, i could read that "small letter" later;
that if i had some doubt on the service i must asked him at that moment to
clear it, and that way, without mediating more proceeding we gave by
finalized the interview and signed the contract. Luckily I have witnesses
of which this was thus.
Then, trusting in the prestige company, like Millicom, i signed the
contract, without read the "small letter"

the 28 of May of 2001, came two people and made the instalation.

At the time of contracting the service, I subscribed with the promotion of
the credit card Visa, which had the benefit of the FIRST month without
charge (free).

Like it was to be expected, that free month did not arrive, millicom billed
June to me, and the proportional days of May. i asked for that money, and
the months continued happening and the month without charge not came.

Every week i called by phone demanding the famous free month, the operators
of millicom always said to me that i was right, that it had been a "system
error" (VERY COMMON EXCUSE IN ARGENTINE), and next month will be free to
me, but that benefit did not arrive. Tired of so lot inefficiency, a day I
called with the spirits a little raised, and i spoke with Mr. Juan Manuel,
that was the 6 of August of 2001. It took note from my reclamation, he said
again to me that i was right, and I will have AT LEAST my free month in the
bill of my card Visa that would pay in the month of September of 2001 (my
connection began in May)

During the months that I used the service of millicom it was to me very
mediocre, in special the phone support. In addition, when i called them by
phone i had to wait for several minutes until obtaining that an operator
took care of to me, if is that the call was not cut before that happened.

Considering this, inefficiency in obtaining that free month, the restricted
schedule of the phone support, that in any case did not solve the problems
to me, and fundamentally the high cost by month in relation to the
bandwidth offered, caused that i took the determination to get out of
Millicom.

When i asked for the instructions that i had to follow to get out Millicom
I did it in first instance by phone, the operator of millicom  said me that
simply i must send a fax to the 4732-8109 explaining my reason of because
terminated the service and my number of client, and that was all.

i really surprised to me that nobody tried "to recover to me" or "to
conserve to me" like client. When I asked for the instructions of
disconection, by phone or (so as I did later) by mail, at no moment anybody
of millicom said to me: " wait a momment, Sir, Why do you want to drop the
service? is there something that us we do to make to satisfy you better?.
When i saw that attitude of complete indifference therefore terminated to
me or not, i understood perfectly the lack of interest or efficiency in the
phone support, and also fitted the lack of administrative efficiency
perfectly as to be able to process a simple free month discount. Sincerely
I thought that Millicom would be for other businesses, like attention to
great companies etc. and that the "domiciliary users" were not mainly their
target.

As I said previously, and for the reasons that already I exposed, I decided
to terminate the service.

In the last days of the month of September of 2001 I sent a fax to Millicom
explaining the reasons by which it requested my cut of service, and let
very clearly that from 1 October 2001 i no longer considered client of
Millicom, reason why millicom did not have right to follow billing me the
service. i did that according to the norms and directions who the employees
of Millicom let know me by phone and mail.

Few days after that I sent that fax, an employee of Millicom called by
phone to my home and he left in the answering machine a message requesting
me that communicates with him to finish with the service. at the following
day, I called by phone, and the operator after waiting for approximately
about 2 minutes in line derived me to an answering machine with a message
saying "this box message is full, please calls at another moment".

I phone five times in that month (October), of course always paying my
phone, waisting my time,  always it happened the same: finished in an
answering machine that a person said to me "the box message of X person is
full, please call at another moment".

Obvious, I have more things in my life. I followed my normal life because I
had do correctly and had requested the cut service according to the
instructions that the own employees of the company had given me.

At the beginning of the month of November a personal situation considered
me, by which probably I had to move myself to another house and I still was
hoping that Millicom comes to retire the antenna and their devices. I
called again millicom at the beginning of November to request  "please"
that somebody come and to retire the antenna. The operator who recived my
call, took note from my reclamation, and she said to me that she was going
it to deliver to the corresponding area in character of "urgent". Obvious
nobody appears, neither called by phone, nor in those weeks, nor in the
following ones. I was then, due to the reason that before mentions to them,
(that probably i had to change of house) I climbed to the terrace of my
building and get off the millicom's antenna

In November day 15 arrived a bill of the period October and november 2001
with an amount of more of U$S 95 each one...

I called again by phone and I spoke with Miss Patricia Salerno, who after
listening to my story said to me that Millicom never had received the fax
in which I requested the cut of service, that i sent in the last days of
September.
Now I ask myself... if Millicom did not receive that fax... Why few days
after that i sent that fax an employee of Millicom called to me by phone to
finish with the adjustments to terminate the service?
In this conversation, day 20 of November, Miss Patricia Salerno asked me
that send again that fax.
I did not have any problem, and I sent again the fax requesting the cut of
service, and I put that it was the second fax that i sent.
In that opportunity, day 20 of November of 2001, Miss Patricia Salerno said
to me that she was going to take the matter  "personally" to make specific
the desvinculación with Millicom definitively.

The days continued happening, nobody came to take the equipment, (antenna
modem and power supply) and thus spent other twenty days more...

At the beginning December of 2001 once again  arrive me a bill from
Millicom with a greater amount: U$S 286 !!!
I spoke again with Miss Patricia Salerno, she told me that this charge was
in "concept of unistall" of the equipment and that was specified in point 3
of the contract that I had signed.

With respect this I want to say:

In the first place, I specifically asked the promoter Alfredo Herrero
before signing the contract what happens if I did not want to continue with
the millicom service, and he said that there are no obligations and no time
in service contract. I asked to him if there were some extra carge and he
said: NOT

Secondly, when I wanted to take the necessary time like being able to read
that contract (what at least demand 40 minutes) the promoter Alfredo
Herrero said me that did not have time to wait for me because somebody was
waiting for him at another place.

Thirdly, when I asked for instructions to terminate the service, this was
by phone and by e-mail, at no moment anybody spoke me about pay the
equivalent to three mounths for uninstall of the equipment.

In fourth place, and this is a irrefutable fact, How Millicom tries to bill
me a charge of unistall of the devices when I personally already made the
unistall?

today, 12 of December of 2001, an employee of Millicom of the accounts area
phone me to say that i have not to pay the uninstall charge...
but i had to pay the month of October and the proportional one of November
(I interpret that it talks about to date in that I returned to send the fax
for the second time).
I said to him that i had not used that service, and i will not pay it,
I imagine that Millicom must have a registry of the activity of all their
users, i requested to him that consult it, and will observe that my account
of connection has no activity from day 1  October 2001.
The employee of millicom who called to me today, said to me that if I did
not want to pay to the month of October and the proportional one of
November millicom would do a legal demand to me.

WHO CAN UNDERSTAND ? according to Patricia Salerno (of the center of
attention to the client) I must pay the UNISTALL CHARGE of an equipment
that already is unistalled by me, and according to the employee of accounts
that called to me today, I do not have to pay the unistall charge, but must
pay the period in which I no longer used the service...

It hoped that this letter arrives at the hands of an honest, intelligent,
responsible, and logic person.
I hope that Millicom has, within its directors, somebody that has the
sufficient common sense like being able to interpret this is the most
valuable information which I am giving to you, because this one is the form
in which your company (millicom) is working. at least in Argentine
I believe that, you must know it, if millicom solve its errors and they
treated a little better to its clients the company would have more future.

I am not the only user of Millicom that have problems trying to obtain a
little "respectful attention to the client". I have friends who have
Millicom internet conection and they have said me that they have suffered
similar things as bad administrative attention and to the no valid
solutions by the phone support. It is more, one of my friends, after to
have invested money of promotion in banners had the disagreeable surprise
of which Millicom changed its extension of electronic mail of millic.com.ar
to millicom.com.ar and she loose many clients and contacts... and all the
money that invested in publicity of those banners in its majority went to
the trash.

i hope a definive solution to all this matter

sorry by my poor english
regards

marcelo michiardi
number of client of millicom argentina 022220