Dubai: Following the Telecommunications and Regulatory Authority's instructions to suspend all BlackBerry services in the UAE as of October 11, it expects the number of complaints to go up between now and the date of suspension of the service.
"The service providers, in this case etisalat and du, are committed to abide by the regulations of the TRA, but they will also have to stop any charges once the service is suspended," said Omar Bu Shahab, Chief Executive Officer of the DED's Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Division. "We expect to get a lot of complaints, especially about the long-term packages."
Consumers who have paid in advance for the service must be refunded, he said. "They have to and we will make sure to communicate that with the telecom companies as well."
Bu Shahab said that the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Division will meet with officials from the TRA next week to "discuss the kinds of complaints they will receive from consumers and to put a plan in place on how to deal with them".
Quick solution
Bu Shahab suspects that there will be an alternative solution, especially when a lot of businesses depend heavily on the service. "In their announcement, they have cancelled the service; they have stopped it which means there's a study for this," he said. "There needs to be a quick solution."
While the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Division will work on making sure consumers do not pay for services they are not provided with, Bu Shahab said that there's little they can do for consumers who have already bought a BlackBerry phone.
Those who desire to return their phones will have to abide by the return policy followed by the retailer from whom they bought their phone. "We can't hold the retailers responsible for the decision of a third party," he said. "If there's a flaw in the phone, then it's a different situation altogether" and the consumer can file his/her complaint.
Tawfiq Othman is a media relations manager who uses his BlackBerry for work almost all the time. "I access my emails wherever I am. I can check whatever I need and make replies. And in case of an emergency I am in touch with clients on the spot," he told Gulf News.
Regulation
"I can't imagine how it's going to be like," he said. "I don't know if there's going to be a solution or if we will go back to the old services and carry our laptops wherever we go."
Rami Zahran, 25, has had his BlackBerry for the past year and a half. "I'm always planning things with friends on BBM [BlackBerry Messenger]," he told Gulf News.
With 75 contacts on his BBM, Zahran said that the new regulation might actually get people calling each other up again. "You get a lot less calls when people can message you for free," he said. "People will probably start picking up the phone and calling each other up."
While Zahran admits it will be inconvenient for people who are used to constantly doing business over their phone, he said "there was life before BlackBerry". "Sure it added an extra level of communication, but there are other methods. It's not the end of the world."
