SINGAPORE: An online user recently claimed that telco company, Circles, overcharged an elderly couple nearly S$600 and reportedly offered a goodwill refund of S$40. Responding to the alleged incident, while some netizens shared the user’s frustration, others pointed out that the user should have done the due diligence of reading the fine print.
“Circles overcharged my elderly parents almost $600 and offered a $40 goodwill refund,” wrote a customer who took an issue with Circles to an online news forum on Monday (July 31).
“Has anybody fallen for this before and could advise us?” the customer asked before sharing a brief backstory. “Before I moved overseas, I ported both my elderly parents into Circles from M1. The offer at that time was $18 for 50GB of data. It worked pretty awesome for the first couple of months, everything was in order. I checked the bill and it was truly $18/month. Recently, I came back and found out that after 6 months for my mum and 1 year for my dad, they were charged an extra $20 per month for unlimited data,” the customer wrote.
The online user then claimed, “I asked Circles what’s up with it and they said that it’s an automatic subscription which requires the consumer to opt out of. It seems that they sneaked this into their ‘no-contract plan’ at sign up and placed the burden of disputing it on the consumer. Naturally, given that my parents use an average of 3GB a month, I told them there was no need for this and requested an adjustment. Months of this subscription came up to around $600 in total. They offered $40 as a goodwill refund… Do we have any options at all?”
In response to the news, a handful of netizens shared the writer’s frustration. However, others pointed out that auto-subscriptions are quite normal, and it is the customer’s duty to read the fine print to avoid such unwanted charges.
“They didn’t overcharge you,” said one. “They provided the service for an extra $20/month. The only scummy thing they did was to make it auto-subscribe if true. Doubt they can add in auto-subscribe. Maybe ten dollars off promo is still possible. Anyway, you had the bill for 6 months and 1 year, and you agreed to pay it. So I don’t see how it’s overcharging.”
“Unfortunately this was probably sneaked into the T&Cs in the service agreement that I assume was legitimately signed,” another netizen said. “If your parents are illiterate you might have some kind of legal recourse but the time and effort taken to pursue the $600 will not be worth it at all.”
The Independent Singapore has reached out to Circles for comment.
Circles overcharged my elderly parents almost $600 and offered a $40 goodwill refund
by u/Final-Share1548 in singapore
UPDATE: Aug 2, 2023
A spokesperson from Circles clarified the matter with the below statement:
The customer had purchased two Circles.Life Plus2020 plans, one in June 2021 and another in September 2021. Under a special promotion at the time of offer, a $20 discount was applied to the plans for the duration of 6 months for the first account (up to Dec 2021) and 12 months for the second account (up to Sept 2022).
In line with our commitment to provide plans that are transparent, affordable and of good value to our customers, the full terms and conditions of the Circles.LIfe Plus2020 plan and the duration of the promotional discounts were indicated on our website, during the selection of the mobile plan.
Following the fulfillment of the promotional discounts, the plans reverted back to their usual price. The discount and charges were indicated in the monthly billings to the customer. It is on the onus of the customer to check the monthly charges and dispute any discrepancies within 60 days of bill receipt, as per our terms and conditions indicated on all billings.
The customer reached out to Circles.Life customer service recently in July 2023, demanding a full waiver of the monthly bills where the promotional discount was not applicable, far exceeding the 60 days duration for billing disputes.
Having said that, we at Circles are committed to always putting our customers first, and have offered a one-time goodwill waiver to the customer. We hope that this reflects our sincerity and unwavering support to our customers, and our commitment to deliver delightful digital experiences for all.