Star Diary

Costly Gifts

A couple of days ago, I received a message on my mobile phone from my telecom operator. I was informed that since I was an elite subscriber of that operator, some special gifts – MMS, SMS, talk time and free internet data – were being offered. To receive their gifts, I had to activate the offer by 31st of December and I would have to utilise all those items within seven days of the activation date.

I followed their instructions to activate and pick up their gifts before the 31st of December. Among the gifts, what I needed the most was internet data as I frequently use internet on my mobile phone. To my utter disappointment, I could not get access to the free internet data. I dialed their customer care hotline to get help. After a long conversation, the hotline administrator assured me that within 24 hours, I could browse the internet with the free offer. I got a text message saying I can now use the free amount of internet data, but I was let down again when I tried to use it.

Two days before the expiry of the offer, I again made a call to the helpline to submit my complaint. The internet expert team manager made me wait for a very long time to verify the information, and later, confirmed that the technical hitch had been fixed. However, I was disappointed again. Exasperated, I rang them up again. This time, another executive performed a time-consuming inspection and comforted me with empty promises. But my problem was yet to be resolved and finally, I gave up all hopes of using the free offers.

Even though I couldn't enjoy the free offers, I had to pay surplus money for calling their indelible customer service. Should mobile operators exploit their much valued customers in this way?

Ashim Kumar Paul
Government Edward College
Pabna

---

Who is to Blame?

The other day one of my colleagues narrated the story of how she had been conned by a person who had previously borrowed some money from her. After persistent and repeated reminders, the debtor finally decided to pay her in full. Upon getting a handful of Tk 1000 notes, my colleague was much relieved. The man was leaving for UAE the very next day and was in a great hurry. Understanding the situation, my colleague tried to be sympathetic as not to disconcert him any further and left quietly with the money.

The very next day, she sent a member of her house to deposit the hard-earned cash in her account at a bank nearby. Later, she was shocked to find out that all the notes were fake. The poor woman not only lost a great deal of money to a fraud but was also put in a compromising position when the bank called to enquire how she had the fake notes in her possession.

While she was sharing her tragic experience, she could not help but blame the present situation of our country where criminals take advantage of their victims' vulnerability and ignorance in not knowing the proper authenticity of the new bank notes. It is just very difficult to know who to blame when there is corruption on so many levels.

Naome Syed
Mohammadpur
Dhaka

---